Reducing water consumption in Malta

Anthony Scicluna, Facilities Manager, Kirkop, Malta

Facilities team, ST Kirkop, Malta

STMicroelectronics Back-end sites use water during production, mainly to clean parts, but also as part of the infrastructure we need to run our processes, such as air conditioning systems. Conserving water needs a commitment not only to reduce its use, but also to find ways to recycle the water from one operation to another. ST Malta has been able to drastically reduce its water consumption (per unit produced).

Over the years it has done this in a number of ways:

• by using air-cooled heat-exchangers to reduce the need for water in the cooling towers
• by implementing systems which recycle waste water from wafer-saws, electroplating and wet-blast deflashing
• by investing in state of the art technology to convert waste steam back into high quality water for re-use.

As well as its people’s efforts, ST Malta has committed almost two million dollars towards water conservation, the result being a reduction of water consumption to almost a quarter of what it would otherwise have been.