Abstracts of Magazine FUJITSU 2001-5 (VOL.52, NO.3)

Special Issue : Environment

• Fujitsu's Global Environmental Protection Program

Recognizing the importance of its corporate responsibilities, in July 1992, Fujitsu declared in "Fujitsu's Commitment to the Environment" that it would make global environmental protection a primary management task. Then, in March 1993, we established the first edition of the Fujitsu Environmental Protection Program, in which we voluntarily set ourselves ambitious numerical targets for various important themes. We have continued to make strong efforts to meet the targets set out in this program. This paper outlines how we have helped protect the global environment by following the second edition of this program, which was completed at the end of fiscal 2000. This paper also outlines the main points of the third edition, which was started in fiscal 2001 and aims to make Fujitsu an advanced company of the recycling society.

• Decomposition of Dioxins Using Plasma-assisted Catalytic Technology (PACT)

In recent years, a number of papers have investigated the synergistic effects between plasma and catalyst using various types of chemical reactors instead of focusing exclusively on plasma or catalytic technology. We have developed a plasma chemical reactor using plasma-assisted catalytic technology (PACT), which utilizes the synergistic effect between plasma excitation and catalytic activation at atmospheric pressure and room temperature. This reactor has enabled us to establish fundamental technologies for the decomposition of small molecules such as CO₂, NO, and H₂O. Using these technologies, we have conducted research in the fields of gas phase, solid phase, and liquid phase reactions, and have succeeded in decomposing dioxins. In this paper, we first describe the key concepts and principle of PACT, then report in detail on our decomposition of dioxins.

• Biodegradable LSI Packing Materials

Plastic LSI packing materials used to transport and mount LSIs are usually discarded once the LSIs have been mounted. To reduce the environmental impact of this waste plastic, we have focused on a biodegradable plastic that can be "returned naturally" to the environment. This new type of LSI packing material, the first of its kind in the world, is both electro-conductive and biodegradable, and so is decomposed by microorganisms when buried in soil and also protects LSIs against electrostatic discharge. Moreover, incineration of the plastic does not generate harmful gases. This paper explains the technology behind the biodegradable LSI packing material and discusses practical uses for LSI trays and embossed carrier tapes.

• Environmental Technology for Notebook Computer Housings

We have developed two environment-friendly materials for PC housings which can reduce the weight of a PC's housing to 30% of the PC's total weight. The first material is a flame-retardant phosphoric resin which does not pollute the environment by generating dioxin when it is incinerated or by leaching toxins into waterways. The second is an Mg alloy recycled from waste generated by the molding process for mobile and notebook computers. The recycled alloy has the same characteristics as virgin Mg alloy, for example, it is easy to mold into thin sheets and has a high strength and corrosion resistance. The flame-retardant phosphoric resin and recycled Mg alloy have been used in Fujitsu's FMV-BIBLO notebook PCs since 1998.

• Recyclable Environment-friendly Paint

Today, personal computers have become just another household appliance, and are designed to meet diverse consumer needs and shifting market trends. To attract buyers, more effective sales promotions and product campaigns in the store are required, and it is also becoming popular to paint the plastics from which the PC cabinets are made. Cabinet materials are selected according to how the PCs will be used: cabinets of mobile PCs are made of magnesium or aluminum alloy, whereas those of ordinary desktop PCs tend to be made of plastic for simplicity of manufacture and low cost. However, conventional painted plastics are considered to be non-recyclable, so the design should avoid using such painted plastics. This paper describes the present state of PC material recycling and introduces a new paint that is environment-friendly and recyclable.

• Activities for Used Products Recycling

Mass production and mass consumption continue to increase the amount of waste being produced, making it more and more important these days to reduce waste production and recycle more. In 2000, various new laws relating to the environment were established and existing waste and recycling laws were reinforced. Fujitsu has established the "Fujitsu Recycling System" for collecting used products from customers and promoting recycling. The system is run in cooperation with carrier agents all over Japan and currently uses five recycling centers. To comply with the recycling laws, we will establish systems for collection and recycling used personal computers from homes and enterprises and will evaluate and disclose the collected volume to recycling ratio at Fujitsu. Through these systems, Fujitsu is striving to establish a "material recycling and environment-friendly society."

• Recycle System for Printer Supplies

When developing products, their environmental impact in all steps from production to final disposal must be considered. Because of the increasing awareness of environmental issues, many companies are now making considerable efforts to reduce the environmental impact of their products and activities. One of these companies, Fujitsu was the first developed a recycling system that efficiently collects and handles machinery and computer equipment.
This paper describes this recycling system. The system makes "Zero Reclamation Disposal" possible through the collection of printer consumable supplies such as toner cartridges and toner/developer for large printers and through the management of recycle operations.

• Environmental Considerations in Notebook PC Design

The law regarding the promotion of the use of recycled resources was enforced (Amended Recycle Law) in April 2001. The new law requires business owners to do the following: (1) collect and recycle their products, (2) take measures to reduce waste by saving resources and extend the service life of their products (REDUCE), and (3) find ways to reuse the collected products (REUSE). Personal computers are included in the category of products covered by the REDUCE requirement, so new products must be developed to reduce waste. In September 2000, the Japan Environment Association (JEA) established the criteria for authorized Eco Mark products. Under these criteria, personal computers must be approved as suitable for the Eco Mark. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly important to develop products that have less environmental impact. To promote the development of environmentally conscious products, Fujitsu has started saving and recycling the resources we use to make our products and have stopped using regulated substances. Since 1998, Fujitsu has also introduced notebook PCs that we describe as "green products," which is a designation based on our own environmental criteria. Moreover, to receive Eco Mark certification, Fujitsu is actively developing environmentally conscious, recyclable products.

• Environmentally Friendly Production of Image Scanners

At PFU, our Environment Action Plan has promoted various activities in keeping with our basic policy of making all our products environmentally friendly. Some examples of our environmentally friendly image scanners are the PD-PGM50S (also marketed as the Fujitsu fi-4110C), which was released in 1999, and the PD-PGM70S (Fujitsu fi-4210C) and PD-MAR500SD (Fujitsu fi-4750), which were released in 2000.
This article explains how the preservation of natural resources and energy, a higher recycling ratio, easier recycling/disposal and other important environmentally friendly goals were set at the beginning of the development of these image scanners.

• Energy Conservation Measures for Semiconductor Manufacturing

Semiconductor manufacturing technology continues to progress remarkably, with greater device integration and diameter improvements every year. However, as the size of clean rooms has increased in line with the expansion in scale of manufacturing equipment, the energy consumption at semiconductor manufacturing facilities has risen. In semiconductor manufacturing facilities, clean room auxiliary equipment such as HVAC units consumes a considerable amount of energy. It is therefore necessary to use the equipment efficiently and to optimize the manufacturing processes to conserve energy. This paper introduces examples of energy conservation projects being implemented at semiconductor manufacturing facilities, explains energy reduction measures, and examines their effectiveness.

• Technology for Converting Waste Fluid of Copper Chloride into Products at Printed Circuit Board Manufacturing Factory in Vietnam

Although Vietnam is taking measures for handling industrial wastes, the required infrastructure such as proper systems for subcontracting out the treatment of industrial waste fluids or waste liquids containing heavy metals is incomplete, unlike in developed countries such as Japan. In Fujitsu's factory in Vietnam (Fujitsu Computer Products of Vietnam, Inc. [FCV]) which manufactures printed circuit boards, it was therefore very important to treat all waste fluids generated from manufacturing processes within the factory.
In particular, waste fluids of copper chloride generated from the copper etching process contain high concentrations of copper and are strongly acidic, so the removal of heavy metals and neutralization treatment are necessary. However, large amounts of sludge are produced by this general treatment method, so Fujitsu may face difficulties in expanding its business in Vietnam due to the lack of final waste disposal facilities.
Fujitsu therefore focused on reducing the high concentration of copper in the waste fluid, by developing a technique of converting the waste fluid of copper chloride into copper oxide, which has a high value as a raw material for copper products instead of sludge.

• ILAS Data Processing and Operational System

The Ministry of the Environment developed the Improved Limb Atmospheric Spectrometer (ILAS) sensor to observe trace gas constituents in the atmosphere over the polar regions from a satellite. ILAS was designed to investigate the mechanism of ozone layer depletion, and observed the atmosphere over the North and South polar regions from space for 8 months between November 1996 and June 1997.
The authors developed and managed the ILAS Data Processing and Operational System under an agreement with the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), and completed most of the major tasks in the year 2000. Our involvement in the project included the following: (1) We developed a comprehensive system to handle all of the satellite data processing; (2) We continuously developed and improved the algorithms to enhance the data quality; and (3) We used parallel computing technology for the data processing which required huge calculation power and large memory capacity.
This paper describes the core technologies and development of the ILAS Data Processing and Operational System.

• Total Chemical Management System for PRTR

The PRTR (Pollutant Release and Transfer Register) regulations have been restructured for better control of "non-environment-friendly" chemicals, and many businesses are making strong efforts to protect the environment. However, industry still needs to reduce its consumption of non-environment-friendly chemicals and completely eliminate the discharge of these chemicals into the environment. Fujitsu has actively researched areas such as chemical procurement, application, and disposal and has established the total chemical management system to protect the environment and the health of its workers. Based on this system, which conforms to PRTR, we have set new discharge reduction targets for all our factories and plan to reduce our consumption of so-called "non-green" chemicals, for example, by reducing the concentration levels in manufacturing processes, recycling, and substituting with safer chemical alternatives. This paper describes Fujitsu's Total Chemical Management System.

• Fujitsu's Activities for Environmental Accounting

A big revolution is underway to create a recycling-oriented society to protect the environment. An important tool for creating such a society is an environmental accounting system for improving the effectiveness of environmental protection programs and also maintaining and increasing profits. Fujitsu started to develop an environmental accounting system at a time when there was no global standard for environmental accounting and determined the range of costs and effects and the calculation definition standard. Especially, we believe that an important reason for introducing such a system is that it can clarify indirect effects that are difficult to grasp. We therefore defined the expected effects and risk avoidance effects so they could be calculated. This paper describes Fujitsu's environmental accounting system using case examples and focusing on the indirect effects.
This paper also describes an environment burden reduction index we introduced in fiscal 1999 to quantitatively evaluate the cost effectiveness of environmental protection measures.

• Earth Remote Sensing Data Archive and Distribution System

The Earth Observing System (EOS) program is an international cooperation project initiated by NASA to help solve global environmental problems. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) participated in the project and developed an earth-observing sensor called the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), the ASTER Ground Data System, and various ASTER processing algorithms. Fujitsu contributed to each of these ASTER developments.
In this paper, we introduce the Data Archive and Distribution Subsystem (DADS), which is a subsystem that Fujitsu developed for the ASTER Ground Data System. This introduction includes a description of the subsystem's architecture. We also describe how we resolved the system performance problems that we encountered during the subsystem's development.

• High-speed Duplex Color Image Scanners

Fujitsu has developed two high-speed duplex color-image scanners for business use. The new scanners, the fi-4750C and fi-4990C, can continuously capture full-color image data of multiple double-sided documents up to size A3. The capture speeds are 24 images per minute for the fi-4750C and 180 images per minute for the fi-4990C. These speeds exceed the speeds of non-Fujitsu models of the same classes. Both models have several features, for example, they use an almost linear paper path so that a wide variety of paper thicknesses, textures, etc. can be fed smoothly. This paper introduces these two models and outlines their basic principles, technologies, and application software.