Research progress on the removal, recovery and direct high-value materialization of valuable metal elements in electroplating/electroless plating waste solution

Abstract

With the continuous development of the electroplating and electroless plating industries, a large amount of waste solution is generated every year, mainly including spent plating solution and plating pieces rinse wastewater. The discharge standard of waste solution is also continuously improved. If the electroplating/electroless plating waste solution is not treated timely and effectively, it will occupy the land resources of the factory increasing the operating cost, and pose a serious threat to the environment and human health. Additionally, the rich valuable metal resources in the waste solution will not be adequately reused. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop more advanced electroplating/electroless plating waste solution treatment technologies. Herein, the electroplating/electroless Ni (Cu) plating waste solution (spent plating solution and plating pieces rinse wastewater) is taken to analyze the causes and component characteristics of the waste solution. The principle, advantages and disadvantages, and optimization progress of the treatment technology for electroplating/electroless plating waste solution are summarized from three aspects: simple and direct removal of valuable metal elements, separation and recovery of valuable metal elements, and direct preparation of high-value materials from waste solution. The technical advantages of multi-method combined treatment of waste solution have been analyzed. Further research direction such as direct high-value materialization utilization of waste solution is proposed.