C o l u m n

The valve market Ultrapure water valve purchasers concentrated in a few companies

The purchases will be concentrated among Valves for ultrapure water applications relatively few companies. The top 20 have to be specially designed and also companies will purchase 37% of the specially manufactured. The materials ultrapure water valves and the top 50 have to eliminate risks of contamination companies will average more than 1% each. of the fluids. Assembly of the valves in The top eight semiconductor companies cleanrooms prevents contamination will account for 17% of the purchases. from the ambient air. Ultrapure water The top 10 power generator purchasers is also required to clean the valves will average 1.4% each. during assembly. So cleanroom valve Samsung will be the leading ultrapure companies are also purchasers of their water valve purchaser due to its production own products. of both semiconductors and flat panel Bray Control’s butterfly valves, Flow-Tek’s displays. Intel and EDF (power) are the ball valves, RitePro’s check valves, as well as only non-Asian purchasers in the top 10. actuation and controls for ultrapure water Pfizer is the top pharmaceutical purchaser services are assembled in a Class 1000 but is only ranked #23 on the list of the 40 cleanroom. The room includes production, Bob McIlvaine is President of the largest purchasers. Roche is #24, Sanofi #25 assembly, cleaning, and bagging of ultra- McIlvaine Company which he and Merck #26. clean valves. founded in 1974. The company provides technical and market Top Ten Purchasers analyses of valves and many other components. It also analyzes the air, # Company semi Other electronic Power water, energy and contamination 1 Samsung x x control industries throughout the 2 Intel x world. Bob can be reached at [email protected] 3 TSMC x 4 EDF x

5 LGE x Power plants, electronics manufacturers, and pharmaceutical producers will spend $200 6 Sony x x million in 2015 for valves used in ultrapure water service. Most of the purchases will be 7 SK Hynix x made in Asia. This is due to the concentration 8 Micron x of electronics plants as well as the large number of new coal fired power generators 9 China Datang x under construction. The only sector where 10 China Guodian x Asia is not leading is pharmaceutical.

UPW EXPENDITURES BY INDUSTRY TOP PURCHASERS OF ULTRAPURE WATER

Power Generation Electronics Pharmaceutical Other Industries Top 8 Semiconductor 17% Other Industries Pharmaceutical Power 4% 11% Generation 39% Top 10 Power Electronics 14% 46% Others 63% Top 4 Flat Panel 6%

1 December 2015 C o l u m n

Crane valves for ultrapure applications Diaphragm valves are used primarily in are assembled in a 120m2 ISO 14644-1 control applications where heavy duty compliant cleanroom with integrated switching cycles and precise reliability and ultrasonic cleaning system, air locks for repeatability of the control of the process material and employees, a test stand media(s) are required. The technical design combination for strength and leakage tests of Gemü’s aseptic weir style stainless as well as helium test stand to determine steel diaphragm valves makes them the gas tightness of bellows and body. sterilizable and autoclavable. If a The individual valve components are first plastic material is required, the cleaned in the ultrasonic cleaning system Gemü PurePlus® High Purity line and then moved into the cleanroom of PVDF weir style through the air lock. After the cleaning diaphragm valves are process the valves are exposed to UV-light, cleaned, assembled as an initial examination for the presence and bagged in a of undesired oil and grease. cleanroom which During the subsequent assembly process, complies with ISO 8 any contamination of the valve interior is (in operation) and ruled out Because of the process optimized GMP class C for sequence. Various tests for leak tightness and assembly technology strength, by using nitrogen and helium, as making them well as another cleanliness inspection under suitable for ultrapure UV-light take place before the finished and water and/or DI Water vacuum sealed valves leave the cleanroom. applications. Malema M-VF-F Series pressure relief valves are designed with an all-PFA molded body suitable for semiconductor, ultrapure water and aggressive chemical applications. Georg Fischer LLC is a major international KSB-Amri ACRIS PFA supplier of valves for ultrapure water. It has lined butterfly valve cleanrooms in various locations including a class 10,000 cleanroom in the U.S. The large ultrapure water valve purchasers KSB-Amri ACRIS PFA lined butterfly valves are moving toward global sourcing for are used in ultrapure applications such several reasons. One is the importance as 18 Mega ohm DI water and ultrapure of the products to the plant operations. HF acid. All wetted parts are PFA Teflon® A single small particle can cause rejection and are molded in a separated clean room of a $300 chip. Contaminated drugs are area of the Houston facility, with assembly one of the biggest concerns of pharmaceutical and additional cleaning in a Class 100 companies. The ultra-supercritical power environment. plants which are now under construction Plast-O-Matic Valves, Inc. for ultrapure liquids require water purity levels far greater are assembled in a class 100 cleanroom where than the sub critical plants which they Gemü Type 650 pneumatic aseptic metal diaphragm the following cleanliness steps are taken are replacing. valve. Photo courtesy of GEMÜ Valves, Inc. 1. Rinse components with DI water. The second reason for global sourcing 2. Flush component with 18 megohm DI is to facilitate evaluations on total cost water for a minimum of five minutes of ownership. The high cost of these under 60 psi of water pressure. evaluations is spread out among a number Optional 8 and 16 hour hot DI water of purchases. The benefits of buying the flush under 60 psi water pressure are best rather than lowest price products far available. outweigh the costs. 3. Scrub and clean component interior The combination of concentration of with designated soft nylon brush. buying power and emphasis on highest 4. Inspect component for smooth clean quality products creates a new and major interior. opportunity for ultrapure valve providers. 5. Rinse component in clean DI water McIlvaine has introduced a program while rotating or otherwise agitating incorporating detailed forecasting of total component. potential sales revenue for each major 6. While under purge, place component prospect, project and OEM purchaser or in a clean 6 Mil polyethylene sleeve valves in each industry. This article has Gemü Type 677 manual PVDF plastic diaphragm and heat seal. Double bagging and been extracted from information available valve. Photo courtesy of GEMÜ Valves, Inc. label per customer requirements. in this program.

2 December 2015