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64 PCB007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2023 Andreas Littorin is CEO at Sigma Engineer- ing AB. e company has been manufacturing equipment for the PCB industry for 45 years, mainly a mature product for copper recycling of alkaline and acidic etchants in the PCB man- ufacturing process. You were recently selected by Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) for its brand- new facility in Idaho. Tell me about your equipment that was selected for its facility. SEL chose an acidic copper recycling system, a quite large one. It's capable of recycling 15 kgs (about 33 pounds) of copper per hour, all day, all year long. ere's also a subsystem for oxida- tion and regeneration of the etchant. So, they have an oxidation reactor system connected to the etching line, and one more for the second etching line that is still coming. When a facility is looking to reduce waste, or even to be zero waste, how important is this sort of equipment? In terms of etching operations, it is very impor- tant. In terms of PCBs, in general, it's just one of the processes customers have in their plant. Sigma Mecer: Turning Copper 'Green' SEL SPECIAL SECTION Mecer's acidic etchant copper recycling system—capacity 180,000 lbs. copper per year— helps make SEL's Moscow factory a zero liquid discharge facility.