WASTE ORIGINS: All Cleaning Operations (Board Preparation, Electroless Plating, Imaging, and Electroplating)
WASTE TYPES: Spent Process Baths (Etchants, Acid Solutions, Alkaline Solutions, Developing Solutions, Plating Baths, Electroless Copper Baths, Catalysts) Air Emissions (Volatile Organic Compounds, Acid, and Ammonia Fumes) Sludges, Rinse Waters, and Aqueous Metals

WASTE REDUCTION AND RECYCLING OPTIONS:

• Process or equipment modification examples:
  • Installing a system (e.g., Low Solids Fluxer {LSF}) which applies flux to printed wiring boards, leaving little residue, and eliminating the need for cleaning with CFCs.
    Waste Savings/Reduction: reduce CFC emissions over 50 percent.
• Material substitution can reduce cleaning wastes by:
  • Substituting for CFC 113 used in defluxing with:
  • Fully aqueous system using water soluble fluxes;
  • Aqueous system using saponifiers to remove rosin-based fluxes;
  • Semi-aqueous system using terpenes as a solvent;
  • Hydrogenated CFCs with chlorinated solvents.
  • Substituting CFC 113 used in hand cleaning boards with:
    • Blend of HCFC and methanol dispensed from a trigger-grip device that limits the amount of solvent lost to the atmosphere.

Sources

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