Articles
Recycling Rinsewater Reduces Feedwater Demand And Wastewater Discharge To Overcome Water Shortage
December 9, 2009
•Case Study: Recycling Rinsewater Reduces Feedwater Demand And Wastewater Discharge To Overcome Water Shortage
By Siemens Water Technologies
In the Summer of 2005, a large west coast printed circuit manufacturer contacted Siemens Water Technologies. Regional drought situations prompted the company to consider the potential for water reuse in the face of their facilities' water shortage.
Printed circuit boards are integral in most electronic items used in everyday life. The vast majority are manufactured by bonding a layer of copper over a substrate board and removing the unwanted copper via chemical etch to reveal a circuit pattern specific for the design of the final product. After another layer of substrate is added to finish the base board, the manufacturer will then plate the exposed copper connections with a tin-lead alloy or with new RoHS compliant lead-free compounds made of tin, copper, nickel and germanium. To complete the boards, they are further populated with electronic components to form a final functional assembly that can interconnect with microprocessors, display screens and the power supply.
Siemens evaluated the water usage at the facility and determined that up to 90% of the water used in the board population process was easily recyclable. Siemens' solution features our wastewater ion exchange (WWIX) service. Wastewater ion exchange is a service-based option which utilizes ion exchange resins and other medias selected to remove specific ionic contaminants from groundwater, industrial wastewater, and process water for recycle. DOT approved vessels containing the selected resin or media treat the water until the capacity is reached. Once exhausted, the WWIX vessels are removed and replaced with fresh, DOT-compliant vessels and returned to service. Exhausted vessels are returned to our processing facility where the contaminants are removed from the media/resin.
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