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.