BenQ Dialysis Technology Corp. is working to reduce material waste and associated carbon emissions during the production of hemodialyzers by improving usage patterns and mold design.
BenQ Dialysis Technology Corp., a designer and manufacturer of hemodialyzers, addresses the issues of plastic waste and carbon emissions by minimizing material waste during manufacturing.
Improved Usage Patterns and Mold Design
In the potting process for hemodialyzers, manufacturing materials such as potting rings, potting caps, and potting trays face challenges related to reuse. For example, potting rings were originally designed as single-use components and are destroyed after use; potting caps often have residual gel issues, making the handling of residual gel economically unfeasible; and potting trays require manual postprocessing. BenQ Dialysis Technology Corp. has tackled these issues by improving usage patterns, enabling potting rings to be used more than three times, potting caps to be used more than ten times, and increasing the reuse count of potting trays from 5 to 150 times.
Material Sorting and Recycling
Sorting materials of different quality is a significant challenge. The process and equipment team has developed an automated feeding and Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) system to provide a more scientific and effective method for determining reusable manufacturing materials. Materials that do not meet reuse quality standards are either converted into items like electrical enclosures and other consumer products or mixed into solid recovered fuel (SRF) for energy use.
Benefits
- Reduce the annual use of potting rings and caps by over 2 million pieces.
- Cut the annual waste volume by over 7,245 kilograms.
- Decrease annual carbon dioxide emissions by over 34,377 kilograms.