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Focus on Metal Electroplating

It's hardly news that metal finishing and electroplating companies face significant environmental challenges in managing toxic materials and hazardous wastes. Older, established manufacturing and treatment technologies produce large volumes of waste water and, at times, release significant quantities of hazardous waste into the environment. Treating or disposing of these wastes in accordance with federal and state requirements is a costly proposition.
So why generalte so much waste in the first place? This issue of TECHNOVATION will show you how your business can save money, eliminate waste, and protect the environment. You'll read about recycling and reusing chemicals, and about various technologies that use self-contained or "closed-loop" waste water management systems.

Information about these pollution prevention and cost savings technologies is brought to you by two, EPA Region I-New England groups, the New England Evironmental Assistance Team (NEEAT) and the Center for Environmental Industry and Technology (CEIT). Read on for more information about:
  • The use of polymers that selectively bind with metal ions in rinse baths so that the metals can be effectively and economically recovered using ultrafiltration technology
  • An electro-coalescence technology which injects oxygen and nitrogen ions into waste water to stimulate coagulation, allowing suspended and dissolved contaminants to be easily filtered out of waste water
  • A diffusion dialysis technology which can concentrate a used weak acid up to 95% of its original strength for reuse in plating baths or other wet processes
  • A new degreasing system using less hazardous hexafluoroethane (HFE) and solvating agents designed to replace older, chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) systems
  • An EPA/DOE project focusing on zero discharge technology
It you are interested in obtaining further information about EPA regulations and pollution prevention programs, contact the NEEAT continued on page 4

About CIET Achievement of environmental goals requires more than a continued reliance on existing technologies. In today's competitive business environment, companies must seek out new ways to effectively and economically reduce and prevent pollution. Innovative technologies offer the promise that expanded and continued economic growth can be reconciled with strong environmental protection. Recognizing that New England has a rich supply of innovative ideas and technologies that would benefit both the environment and the economy if they could find their way to the marketplace -- EPA Region I-New England established the Center for Environmental Industry and Technology (CEIT).
This center, developed in coordination with representatives from industry, is promoting New England's environmental technologies and the region's $10 billion environmental industry by: Improving the ability of the industry to gain access to state and Federal programs Continued on page 4

Micro-Set

Micro-Set is the industrial partner of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in charge of commercializing the Polymer Filtration Systems tcchnology. This technology has the proven capability to selectively recover metal ions from waste Water and regenerate valuable resources: water may be returned to the rinse bath, metal ions may be returned to the plating bath, and the polymers may be reused within the system. The combination of these traits creates the potential for a completely closed-loop process.
This low-cost, low-energy, polymer filtration technology incorporate advanced metal ion recovery techniques (employing water soluble, metal-binding polymers) in combination with ultrafiltration to selectively capture valuable metal ions for direct reuse or recovery.
Once the polymer is allowed to rapidly bind to the metal contaminants at neutral pH, the resulting complex's molecular weight is too large to allow it to pass through an ultrafiltration membrane. After all of the contaminants are captured and the solution is concentrated to 100 to 1, the metals can be selec- tively recovered through stepped decreases in the pH level. Other potential applications include pro- cessing waste streams from industrial waste waters and mining operations, eliminating trace impurities from municipal waste water, and removing toxic metals from drinking water. This technology is potentially applicable to every field requiring advanced metal recovery techniques at well below government mandated discharge limits. This technology has been demonstrated on a bench scale, at a Boeing Aircraft electroplating facility, and at a commercial electroplating job shop. No adverse effects were observed in plating quality tests of baths before and after the process. Tests of the residual level of con- taminants in the permeate waters yielded levels of less than 0.01 ppm and the treated water met POTW discharge limits.

Highlights
  • Low energy and capital costs
  • Potential to operate as a closed loop system
  • High capacity and selectivity
  • No sludge formation
  • Resulting water meets or exceeds metal discharge limits

For further information on the Polymer Filtration System contact:
Kirk Dohne or Mike Lima
Micro-Set 703/360-5789 3-1 Next

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