P2 Internship Final Report

Printed Circuit Board Process Recycling

Recycling of Stripper Solution, Preclean Rinse, and Paper/Plastic
Ammonia Emission reduction
Summer, 1999
Intern: Kathy Driggers
603-622-5977

HADCO Corporation
21 Flagstone Drive
Hudson, NH 03051
Contact Person: Marc Duquette
Environmental, Supervisor
Phone: 603-896-4181
E-mail; mduquette@hadco.com

Table of Contents
Section
Executive Summary

Page #
3

Introduction/Background
Goals/Objectives

3-4
4-5

Approach/Methodology

5-7

Chemical Usage, Equipment needs

Releases/wastes generated at the facility

7-8

Details of work accomplished/project results

8-12

Pollution Prevention Benefits

12

Recommendations for future efforts

12-13

References

14

Appendices/Exhibits

15-end

Executive Summary
There were five major projects I undertook at the HADCO Hudson, NH facility
and a few miscellaneous projects. They were as follows: evaluate the use of a Ceramic
Filter to enable the recycle of developer and stripper solution; the recycle of water in
HADCOs preclean process by evaluating two processes, Reverse Osmosis and Activated
Carbon Absorption of heavy metals; the implementation on additional lines of HCl on the
Etch process; and reinstitute paper/plastic recycling. Two miscellaneous projects were: to
do a cost comparison for the recycling of plastic versus landfill/incineration; and the
second was to gather information to further their effort to get ISO 14001 certified.
Introduction/Background
HADCO, Hudson, NH has three DES manufacturing lines for Innerlayer
production of Printed Circuit Boards (PCB). These are the Developer, Etcher, and
Stripper. Preclean is a step before the DES process and is the process of cleaning the
board done before lamination, because of the oxidation from air. Some copper removal
occurs from this process. The DES lines are described as follows [1]: first, the exposed
core goes through the developer where the resist from non-hardened areas (not
polymerized) is removed with a chemical solution. In the etcher, copper is removed after
the image is developed in areas not covered by film resist an ongoing oxidationreduction reaction [2]. In the stripper, the developed dry film resist is removed chemically
from the panel. The patterns described by the artwork are the only area where copper
remains.
Water purchases are very high in the Hudson facility and options to recycle this
water are needed to reduce water and sewage cost as well as keep Hudson within their
water usage limits. Two options to recycle, Reverse Osmosis and Granular Activated
Carbon/Ion Exchange units were evaluated.
Aqueous Hydrochloric acid addition to the Etch process was proven to reduce
60% of Ammonia emissions from one line in previous study. Implementation on the two
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additional lines is desired.

Pollution prevention is always a goal of HADCOs. Paper recycling needed to be
restarted in the Hudson facility as well as aluminum can recycle expansion. ISO 14001
certification is also desired. A plastic recycling cost comparison for evaluation of
continued improvement for recycling was also needed.
Goals/Objectives
The goals of each project were to reduce cost and/or pollution through their
processes. Each project will be considered individually.
Ceramic Filter: The recycle of the developer/stripper chemistry is a way for the
Hudson facility to potentially save (50% initially) on chemistry costs and immediately see a
reduction in the waste treatment costs through the in-house wastewater treatment done at
HADCO. In order to do this; an evaluation of the Ceramic Filter from PhoenAnkh was
needed to test its viability as an option for recycling. Both the developer and stripper
were targets for this evaluation.
Preclean Rinse Water Process: The recycle of the preclean rinse water is the goal
of this project. Copper removal is needed to meet discharge limits. HADCO wants to
reduce the facilitys water usage and return water with at least city water quality or better.
The better quality is the preferred option as some quality improvements were had by a
previous test of water recycle. Reverse Osmosis (RO) where the water is forced through
a membrane was evaluated through a proposal from Trionetics.
The Granular Activated Carbon option will remove the carbon and will then send
water through an Ion Exchange (IX) unit to further lower the conductivity to meet water
quality requirements. An ENVIRO-CLEAN Granular Activated Carbon absorption (GAC)
unit is being considered from Lewis Environmental Services (LES).
HCl on Etch Lines: Another goal was the implementation of the proven Ammonia
reduction solution of Hydrochloric Acid on the two additional Etch lines.
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Paper/Plastic Recycling: To keep HADCOs pollution prevention goals, mixed

paper and can recycling were reinstituted at the Hudson plant. Also, the cost differences
in recycling of plastic versus sending it to landfill/incineration was evaluated.
ISO 14001: Gathering of information to aid ISO 14001 certification.
Approach/Methodology
Each project created its own set of requirements, which in turn made the approach
slightly different for each.
Ceramic Filter: This filter was installed on DES line #2 and it was determined that
tests would first take place on the stripper as the scrap rate and risk were lower than for
that of the developer because of the various control issues on the developer. The trial
started July 14th and various tests were done to test the viability. These included lab tests
to make sure the Potassium Hydroxide concentration stayed within its threshold range,
and tests on Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) to make sure the filter did not increase the
amount of TDS in the recycled chemistry. Monitoring of other variables included
temperature, pressure, flowrate of chemistry to the stripper, visual oxidation of the boards,
and breakpoint of the panel. These tests were done for the following reasons. The
temperature of the strippers needed to stay in the 130F 142F range as the stripper
would shutdown otherwise. The temperature and pressure on the ceramic filter itself
needed to be monitored because the vendor did not want the ceramic filter to run too high
on either variable. 160F was a high at the time and between 160-170F seemed to be the
maximum temperature the vendor wanted to run the filter. He also did not want the
pressure above 85 psi. The flowrate was monitored to see how much chemistry went
through. Ceramic filter efficiency could also be monitored through the flowrate. As the
rate decreased, the filter seemed to be getting clogged and the waste needed to be
emptied. Visual oxidation was monitored because if oxidation occurred, the conductivity
of the copper currents decreases and lessens usability of the board. The breakpoint of the
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panel was monitored by finding out when the film resist was lifting from the board.
Basically it was done to make sure the breakpoint didnt move past its current breakpoint,
as that would have created problems with the drying process of the panel after stripping.
Cost justification was also done to make sure the ceramic filter would return the
15% after tax investment required.
Preclean Rinse Water Process: Both vendors needed MSDS information as well as
flow information on the Preclean Rinse processes (5 lines). The Reverse Osmosis system
from Trionetics was already being installed in the Derry, NH facility. This option was
considered by getting cost estimates from Trionetics for our size facility. Operating
expenses were also requested and should also be looked at but were not available at the
time of my departure.
Granular Activated Carbon Absorption of metals was an option looked at as an
alternative to the already proven Reverse Osmosis technique. On site meetings, samples
to vendor, and treatability studies offsite and onsite needed to be done to find out if this
was a viable option to recycle water sufficiently.
HCl on Etch Lines: A meeting with pertinent people to determine the best route to
implement the remaining two Etch lines with HCl was needed.
Paper/Plastic Recycling: The need for coordination, and information collection on
what mixed paper can be recycled as well as collection bin options were needed. Cost
data was needed to compare the options of plastic recycle versus landfill.
ISO 14001: Information collection was done for this project.
Chemical Usage, equipment needs
Ceramic Filter: The ceramic filter was installed on Stripper line #2 for testing. A
cleaning solution whether it is a solvent that was discussed or some other chemical will be
needed.
Preclean Rinse Water Process: New equipment will be needed in both the Reverse
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Osmosis option and the Granular Activated Carbon option. No new chemical usage
should result.
HCl on Etch Lines: Hydrochloric acid use will increase as a result.
Paper/Plastic/ISO: No chemicals are needed.
Releases/Wastes generated at the Facility
Ceramic Filter: The cleaner for the ceramic filter will produce more waste but
should be small in comparison to the waste saved by recycling the stripper solution
because the cleaning looks like it can be worked into the monthly maintenance schedule.
Preclean Rinse Water Process: Waste will be decreased in either option by reducing
water usage. The copper adsorbed in the Granular Activated Carbon will be regenerated
offsite by the vendor using Electrolytic Metal Recovery, aiding in the reduction of copper
waste at the plant.
HCl on Etch lines: The hydrochloric acid addition will produce a non-hazardous
waste but will reduce the Ammonia emissions at the plant.
Paper/Plastic recycling: This reduces waste through mixed paper, aluminum cans,
and plastics.
Details of Work Accomplished/Project Results
The ceramic filter is the only project that has data that can be graphically
represented.
Ceramic Filter: Data collection over the trial period this summer can be shown in
Exhibit 1. The recycle capability was successful. Potassium Hydroxide concentrations
were shown to stay pretty much in the threshold % range, 8-12%, shown in Exhibit 2.
TDS was consistently in the 48-62 ppt range. This basically shows that the ceramic filter
did not significantly affect the TDS levels. Additional tests were done by a HADCO
process engineer, Marc Betz on the weekend, and these results are shown in Exhibit 4 and

5 along with Exhibits 6 & 7 of a non filter and closed loop system diagram [3]. At the end
of the summer, the trial was geared towards monitoring the maintained bath level of the
stripper solution with information on the results of loss per hour of solution. The above
trials by Marc Betz were part of these and evaporation and drag out proved to be a
significant chemistry loss. These were measured with the chemistry controller turned off
and the spent pumps to waste treatment shut down to test level of recyclability. The
concentration increased when tests were done over the last few days of the trial with the
spent pumps (not allowing solution to go to waste treatment) turned off (these results are
also shown in Exhibit 1 in the last portion of the graph) showing an upward trend of
concentration.
Waste can be reduced and 50% of Stripper chemistry costs can be realized initially
if implemented on all 3 lines. There were some concerns running the system manually as I
did over the summer. There was a 35-gallon tank on the filter so waste needed to be
emptied after a full day or two of running the filter during the trial. There was a few
temperature issues. One was the performance of the ceramic filter. Usually, it had to be
heated up to the previous ending trial temperature before it performed adequately.
Secondly, as the filter was run longer, the temperature in the stripper baths was elevated to
process shutdown. The filter of course was turned off to allow cooling of the process.
Cooling coils were added to the baths to alleviate this problem. Per the vendor,
temperature deltas of greater than 30F were not good for the filters. These included
adding cleaner at room temperature (~71F) when the system was still running over
130F.
After a meeting with pertinent personnel, the decision was made to use the ceramic
filter in a batch mode and evaluate hooking it up to all three DES lines for recycle. This
alleviates temperature problems, as the filter is run for a lot shorter period.
The waste generated by the filter was put through again to see if the filter would
further concentrate the waste. Results from Marc Betz, process engineer indicated that he
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could reduce 70 gallons of waste to 20 gallons of waste by passing the waste through the
filter until the flowrate on the filter was very low. Automatic set up to dump into waste
treatment instead of the manual operation done now is also planned but further evaluation
of the reduction of waste should be done.
Neither sufficient time nor the easy retrieval of data was available at the time of the
trial to estimate cost savings in waste reduction in connection with the use of the filter.
Preclean Rinse Water Process: Information was received from Trionetics on the
cost of the system and some water quality data. About 80% clean water and 20% reject
water will come through the Reverse Osmosis system.
A partial comparison of the two options, RO and GAC was done but all pertinent
information was not available, like the operating expense data for the Reverse Osmosis
system at the end of the internship. Trionetics was not very responsive to requests and the
sales person was hard to get a hold of. The Derry facility provided some data on my last
day. That information was given to Marc Duquette to look over adjustments will need
to be made as their figures are higher than Hudsons due to the larger flow Derry has to
accommodate. HADCO personnel have this data but the spreadsheet has specific figures
so cannot be provided in this report.
Preliminary meetings and phases I and II of the treatability study in the GAC
process were completed. This involved a sample being sent to LES to evaluate Copper
and conductivity levels of recycled process water. Preliminary tests showed that the TDS
levels were reduced by 58% as well as a 99.8% removal of the copper influent, which was
way below the monthly permit limit of 2.7 mg/l. However, to bring the conductivity levels
to better than city water, it was found that an IX unit must be attached to the GAC unit.
The savings are in the range of $60k-75k/year. IX traditionally provides the option of
recovering 99% of the water back versus the 80% return with RO.
HCl on Etch lines: The addition of aqueous HCl has been proven to reduce the
Ammonia emissions by 60% in one of the Etch lines. Meetings were held to discuss
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implementation options. A tote of HCl will be used for all three Etch lines with a 5M PC
grade HCl makeup with three pumps to the Etch line replenishers. Follow up was done
with Pete Magnin, Project Manager, at HADCO and was basically put into his hands to
finish the project, as he was needed to implement the project.
Paper/Plastic recycling: Mixed paper recycling was restarted at the Hudson plant.
Recycle bins and can recycling bins were ordered, received, and distributed with
educational handouts on what items are recyclable. This was done with the help of Marc
Duquette where he promoted recycling in some employee meetings he attended. I created
some posters for clarity on items to be recycled with actual examples of these items. A
slipsheet (large piece of cardboard like material used in board processing) was sent to BFI
to find out if recycling with the corrugated containers was an option. The aluminum can
recycling proceeds are used for the activity committee. The employee acceptance for the
mixed paper recycling seems to be going well, as the additional outside collection bins
requested from BFI are already needed after the first week of implementation.
The cost comparison of plastic recycling vs. landfill/incineration costs was given to
Marc. The environmental option, recycling, was still chosen even though the cost is
higher than landfill/incineration costs. Again, this comparison is not shown in this report
as it has actual figures.
Miscellaneous: I aided Marc with the collection of data for process evaluation for
ISO 14001 certification. These included surveying process managers on how their
processes produce: emissions to air, releases to water/land, waste management, and the
use of energy and resources.

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Pollution Prevention Benefits

Ceramic Filter: Waste reduction has yet to be determined but recycling capability is
very good and waste reduction is obvious by trial results (and chemistry savings with
recycle).
Preclean Rinse Water Process: In both the RO and GAC/IX options, at least an
80% recycle and reduce in waste will be had.
HCl on Etch lines: Ammonia emissions will be greatly reduced already 60% for
one line.
Paper/Plastic Recycling: The Hudson plant is taking pollution prevention
seriously by recycling mixed paper/aluminum cans and plastic.
Recommendations for future efforts
Ceramic Filter: Follow up to get new temperature/pressure and possibly flowmeter
gauges for the ceramic filter should be done. These gauges did not hold up in the trial
process. They did not appear to be part of the original setup of the machine. Nonetheless,
for future monitoring, these need to be replaced.
Cost analysis on waste reduction should be done on the days that the filter was run
or additional tests just for waste should be performed to get this information. Further tests
on concentrating the waste should be done through the ceramic filter.
Then, implementation of the batch option should be done for use in all three
strippers, as this will prove as the most economical option. An adequate cleaning solution
for the ceramic filter also has to be determined through discussions with the vendor and
HADCO to ensure continued success with the filter. As was the original intention, tests
for recycle on the developer should be done. A belt filter press was also intended for this
trial but was not received until the last few weeks of the summer. Adding this to the
process should be evaluated. However, the pore sizes of the filter cloth on the belt filter
press should be compared to the ceramic filter ability, which was 0.02, or 0.05 m.

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Preclean Rinse Water Process: Additional follow up with Trionetics for operating
expense data is needed
An anionic IX resin also needs to be determined for this preclean solution for the
GAC unit. An onsite test with a 5 gpm pilot unit should be done to confirm test results for
this option. As there is a cost associated with this pilot, HADCO needs to determine if the
pilot test is needed or if the results will be taken as is when evaluating the GAC/IX option
versus RO. But, at the very least an IX evaluation should be done. After these events
take place further analysis on return on investment and benefits of each option need to be
done to determine which option serves HADCO best.
HCl on Etch Lines: Follow up with Pete Magnin to see project implementation
through.
Paper/Plastic Recycling: Continue to promote recycling throughout the Hudson
plant. Follow up with BFI to get the recycling containers requested and get information
whether slipsheets can be recycled with the corrugated containers.
Review ways to minimize plastic recycling costs with low cost options.

References
[1] HADCO training class: How to Build a Circuit Board booklet.
[2] Alkaline Etch Process presentation, Dexter Electronic Materials.
[3] Process information 8/7/99 weekend results done by Marc Betz, HADCO process
engineer.

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Appendix A
Contacts:
Custom Captive Corporation
Kevin P. McDevitt, President
Pencader Corporate Center
100 Pencader Drive
Newark, DE 19702
Phone: (302) 453-0600
Fax: (302) 453-0799
PhoenAnkh/J&M Associates
Jim Jablonsky, President/Sales Eng Mgr
1610 Hedgewood Road
Hatfield, PA 19440
Phone: (215) 368-6822
Fax: (215) 362-0413
E-mail: jmassoc@erols.com
Lewis Environmental Services, Inc.
Tom Lewis, III, President
550 Butler Street
Etna, PA 15223
Phone: (412) 799-0959
Fax: (412) 799-0958
E-mail: tlewis@helicon.net
Website: www.Lesvc
Trionetics, Inc.
Liz Quarm, Technical Sales
2021 Midway Drive
Twinsburg, OH 44087
Phone: (330) 425-2846
Fax: (330) 425-2908
E-mail: lquarm@trionetics.com
Dexter Corporation, Electronic Materials
Richard McCarthy, Account Manager
Steve Wentworth
144 Harvey Road
Londonderry, NH 03053
Phone: (800) 877-9871 ext. 259
Fax: (603) 895-9131
E-mail: rmccarthy@dexelec.com
swentworth@dexelec.com
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BFI
Gary Hiltz
385 Dunstable Road
Tyngsboro, MA 01879
Phone: (800) 442-9006 ext. 255
Fax: (978) 649-4291
Website: www.bfi.com

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