Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1507822
SEPTEMBER 2023 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 65 But without the copper recycling system, you need to "feed-and-bleed" the chemistry, always sending in new and sending out spent chemis- try. It's paramount to do recycling to achieve zero waste for the etching operation. Am I right to conclude that this removes process steps? Yes, because you don't have to treat the spent chemistry that you otherwise would end up with. Our system is the treatment, and you can reuse it indefinitely. From your perspective, why was Sigma Mecer a good fit for this project? e primary goal they approached us about was removing as much waste as possible. Of course, SEL did some benchmarking at a few other customer sites that use our equipment to get a proof of concept. It's also important, of course, to believe in what we're doing. To some extent, I think it sounds too good to be true that you can reclaim the copper you're removing from the panel, but it is exactly like that. I presume that the copper you're reclaiming could be turned around and run back through a manufacturing process? We're working on that right now. e copper we are recycling is 99.995% pure. e plating lines which require phosphorus copper would not be compatible, obviously. But the lines that use this pure copper? Yes, absolutely. What's the progress on the process for reclaiming the copper? We have done several laboratory tests and val- idated the possibility to plate out 99.9% pure copper rods that can be cut into the same shape as is used in the pure copper dissolvers on the market. Right now, we are planning a test at one of our customer plants to dissolve the copper cuts from the laboratory tests. We are also validating to plate out the copper rods in their existing full scale electrowinning units, which were supplied by Sigma a few years ago. e intent is to offer an upgrade to exist- ing customers once we have full scale tests verified in an actual PCB operation environ- ment. We want to have this offer available to both new and existing customers by the end of this year. How many worldwide installations of this equipment do you have? About 20–25, something like that. We have had over 120 installs since the start. But of course, many of the plants from the 1980s and 1990s have closed down. ere are still some old installations—20-plus years—still in opera- tion. We're still supplying spares and consum- ables for those machines. Andreas Littorin