Winter 1993

Practical Methods for Electroless Copper Waste Treatment

Tat Yin Choo, Morton Electronic Materials

Many methods are used in the Printed Wiring Board Industry to treat spent electroless copper. This paper contains a collection of several methods used by the industry.

Many of these methods rely on the principle of shifting the chemical equilibrium in the electroless copper chemistry to precipitate copper from solution. This means that any process that upsets the chemical equilibrium and results in copper "plating out" is a potential method for treatment for electroless copper baths.