Research Projects

The objective is to develop an inexpensive and simple method to clean and reuse micro etch rinse water without affecting the plating process. This involves developing inexpensive capactive demetallization electrodes and a process methodology. The proposed method involves developing highly porous carbon electrodes from biowaste parthenium through carbonization under an inert atmosphere, evaluating their application for capacitive demetallization of micro etch rinse water, and developing a prototype for the printed circuit board industry for water reuse. The printing circuit board PCB plating process involves several basic steps, including cleaning, micro etch, pre-activation acid treatment, activation catalyst adsorption, and Plating. The proposed method helps on-line purification of micro etch rinsed water, allowing the plating process to continue while saving water. Capacitive desalination is a simple and energy-intensive process for purifying water, and this method can be extended for demetallization. The proposed method could save about 25 liters of water in the PCB plating industry. The deliverables include a patent on capacitive demetallization, quality publications in international peer-reviewed journals, PhD students training, and master students training. The goal is to save 400-600 liters of water for every square meter area of the printed circuit board plating process.