Toshiba Mobile Display unveiled its Recycling System of Greenhouse Gas for use in the production of liquid crystal panels.

It is a complete recycling system to recover 99% or more of waste gas by the introduction of a three-staged system and to recycle/purify the waste of CF4 which is a greenhouse gas used now as the main etching gas. The recycled gas is purified up to 99.99% or more to be reused for the liquid crystal etching process.

The recycle system removes nitrogen and other gases with a membrane separator made by Permea of USA, and the concentrated CF4 is then purified with phenolic zeolite made by Air Water. The whole system is engineered by Daido Air Products Electronics.

TMD introduces this system into its new Kahoku Plant (Ishikawa Prefecture) which starts operation in April, but it draws our attention that TMD will not adopt any conventional combustion type of waste gas treatment equipment. TMD says, “We judged possibility of the complete recycling system during our verification tests. The introduction will create a rationalization effect to save about 50 million yen a year and enables depreciation in two years. Furthermore, it will lead to saving of about 50 thousand tons in CO2 equivalent with significant contribution as an environment-protecting means.”