The global market for electroplating is projected to reach $13.6 billion by the year 2015. Electroplating has evolved over the years to become one of the most applied plating processes within the Inorganic Metal Finishing Technologies (IMFT) market. The typical plating process may involve alkaline cleaning, acid pickling, plating, and rinsing. Massive quantities of wastewater are generated through these procedures, primarily during rinsing. Additionally, disposal of spent acid and cleaning solutions contribute to the complication of waste treatment, necessitating neutralization.
Plating wastewater contains heavy metals and other contaminants that may be considered hazardous to the environment and dangerous to public health. Heavy metals are of great concern due to their toxicity and are captured for removal through remediation. Wastewater must be pre-treated prior to discharge in accordance with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) and the Clean Water Act (CWA).
At this microelectronics plating facility, a DL10 is used to monitor 30" tall tanks for a waste lift station. When the tank is full, liquid is pumped to the central waste system for treatment and discharge. The 4-20mA signal from DL10 is sent to a PLC that uses the information to activate a relay for a pump down operation.
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