Minimizing Environmental Effects of Lapping Film Production

Lapping film is a high tech sand paper, which has been used in the fiber optic industry for polishing optics, fiber optic connectors and other substrates in order to optimize the coupling, launching or collecting of photons. However, consistency and having smaller particle size are imperative to polish fiber optics in comparison with the polishing of a nice oak dresser.

The production of high-tech lapping film involves filtering and size sorting of hyper-pure compounds, such as diamond, silicon dioxide, silicon carbide, and aluminum oxide, as the first step. This is followed by mixing of the resulting materials into paste, which is then applied over a Mylar film. This is the area where thoughtful engineering will be helpful to reduce the environmental effects, according to Fiber Optic Center and its partner.

After applying the paste onto the Mylar backing, it needs to be rapidly and uniformly dried. The resulting Mylar film is then loaded onto a roll, followed by running through a machine in a fashion similar to printing of a newspaper. The paste is rapidly dried by means of heating elements.

In this process, solvents used may also contain volatile organic compounds (VOC). Improper treatment of the resulting vapors generated from these organic solvents could result in the pollutants found in smog formation.

Environmental Effect Reduction

Treating the vapor is the first step. A regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) is used for this purpose. The VOCs released as part of the drying process is treated using the RTO. The harmful substances present in the gas are removed subsequent to the treatment in the burning process of the RTO. The lapping film partner further reduces the environmental effects by using the waste heat generated as fuel for its boiler.

Finding new chemistries that do not require VOCs is the next step. Fiber Optic Center's lapping film supplier is seeking the options of using water-soluble materials wherever possible. These water-soluble materials are eco-friendly, thus eliminating the need for using additional scrubbing prior to the release of by-products generated into the atmosphere.

As part of its efforts to minimize adverse emissions and optimize energy efficiency, Fiber Optic Center's lapping film supplier has started using the latest liquefied natural gas (LNG) boiler technology as heat source in place of petroleum. Besides higher energy efficiency, a LNG boiler produces no sulfur oxide or soot dust, less nitrogen oxide or carbon dioxide in comparison with petroleum.

In addition, Fiber Optic Center's lapping film supplier has 810 units of photovoltaic panels with 120kW maximum output capacity, which are mounted on the panel racks and rooftop at its facility. The electricity produced from these panels is used to meet the power requirements of the supplier's facility, thus lowering carbon emissions by roughly 52 tons per year.