Recovery of cutting fluids and silicon carbide from slurry waste

The wafer slicing process generates large amounts of slurry waste. The recovery of cutting oil and abrasives from slurry waste can reduce both the cost and environmental damage. A process combining magnetic precipitation and flocculation was developed for the recovery of cutting oil. A magnetic precipitation tank was employed for storage of the slurry and acceleration of the settlement of suspended particles. The larger particles further aggregate upon adding a non-aqueous flocculant comprising polyacrylamide (PAM) and ethylene glycol (EG). The recycled oil product is obtained by centrifugation and bag filtration. The physical properties and wafer dicing tests indicate that the recycled oil is qualified. Wafer manufacturers can thus reduce costs by using this process to produce recycled oil. A magnetic reactor with alkaline aqueous successfully recycled the SiC powder from the slurry waste by converting all the silicon species into sodium silica for further use. The results demonstrate that the magnetic reactor is able to remove most metal species and that the alkaline aqueous medium can recover all the Si substances in a sodium silicate solution, also called water glass.