Purity ReSource closed a $681,421 seed funding round in April, raising to bankroll "sustainable material recovery processes." The startup markets products that clean water used in semiconductor manufacturing so that dissolved chemicals can be reclaimed and water can be reused. If it works as advertised, thousands of gallons per year can be recycled in one of the driest places on the planet.
Arizona State University participated in the round, awarding the company a grant to fund technology optimization and field testing of its water purification and chemical extraction, while the Arizona Commerce Authority also invested. However, the amounts of the grants were not disclosed and there may be other investors.
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Purity's technology will recover technical grade or spent isopropanol, better known as isopropyl alcohol, used in chip manufacturing. Purity hopes the process will restore the compound to electronic-grade quality and purify up to 1.06 gallons per minute. It also says it will "remove trace metals to low parts per trillion and moisture to low parts per million."
In addition to wastewater recovery, the Tempe, Arizona-based company is marketing the Ampoule Cleaning Service, which deep cleans a "wide range of chemical ampoules and vessels" used in high-purity semiconductor manufacturing. It says the processes are eco-friendly while providing safe, certified disposal of neutralized byproducts in a three-to-four-week turnaround time.
The global chip industry consumed nearly 300,000 gallons of isopropanol in 2023, according to Purity, worth an estimated $338 million. It warns over 60% of electronic and 100% of ultrahigh purity isopropanol is imported, mostly from China and South Korea. That impacts national security, with chip demand growing an estimated 26% worldwide and 96% in the U.S. by 2027.
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The U.S. semiconductor industry is growing more rapidly than other countries because 2022's CHIPS and Science Act makes local production a major priority, providing incentives for manufacturing and required chemicals to repatriate from Asia and other continents.
Arizona has turned into a world class chip manufacturing hub, with Intel (NYSE:INTC) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) building enormous desert projects in the state. Purity says large production systems operating at these facilities can purify 2.64 gallons of dirty water per minute and recycle close to 370,000 gallons yearly, reducing emissions equal to 300 gas vehicles driven for a year. It estimates potential savings up to 50% of total isopropanol costs.
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Scientists at University of Texas at Austin warn the Southwest mega-drought will probably last until the end of the century. States and the 30 tribes dependent on the Colorado River Basin are under the gun to reach a new water conservation pact before a 2026 deadline. But that might be too late, with Lake Mead now forecast to hit dangerously low levels in 2027.
And the future river pact won't cover millions of gallons of groundwater depleting rapidly under Arizona's Sonoran Desert. The crisis has many experts wondering about the wisdom of water-intensive semiconductor manufacturing in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The industry has responded with new recovery technologies and startups like Purity ReSource.
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