Hydrogen is widely used as a protective gas in semiconductor manufacturing processes. However, more than 90% of the hydrogen supplied to the process is not actually consumed, but is directly discharged together with process exhaust gas.
The main challenge in effective recycling lies in the fact that hydrogen is mixed with a large amount of nitrogen, which significantly increases the difficulty of separation and purification. Conventional purification technologies typically require the gas to be pressurized to above 10 atm, which not only triggers stringent hazardous gas workplace permit requirements under Taiwan regulations, but also limits purification efficiency and overall economic feasibility.
Toplus’ Hydrogen Purification and Recycling (HPR) solution integrates the Electrochemical Hydrogen Purifier (ECHP), which operates under near-atmospheric pressure, low-pressure-drop, and low-temperature conditions. The ECHP effectively separates hydrogen from high-concentration nitrogen streams, achieving a hydrogen recycling rate of up to 80% while significantly reducing energy consumption and system complexity.
For the removal of additional impurities such as H₂O, O₂, H₂S, NH₃, VOCs, and other contaminants, the system can be combined with the Porous Ceramic Adsorption Purifier (PCAP). The PCAP enables deep purification under near-atmospheric or high-pressure conditions with low pressure drop, increasing hydrogen purity to over 6N to meet semiconductor process requirements. The overall hydrogen recovery rate can reach up to 95%.
As advanced semiconductor processes continue to impose increasingly stringent requirements on gas purity, including the removal of inert gases such as Argon, Toplus’ PCAP system can also be customized according to specific process needs. This further enhances purification performance and ensures gas quality that meets the most demanding process standards.
