Sound technical content, curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ

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Bacteria in Electroclean Rinse

My employer uses a reel to reel plating process to plate terminals for electronic connectors. Our incoming material is pickled with a vanishing oil that contains animal fats. We have been experiencing bacterial growth in our alkaline electroclean rinse tank. This rinse is heated to 130 °F. It also has a deionized fresh water acid rinse that drains into the tank which results in an overflow to our wastewater treatment system. My question is what possible solutions would result in elimination of bacterial growth in our electroclean rinse tank?

Roger Hoofman
Plating Supervisor - North Little Rock, Arkansas, USA
2004

I believe a piece of metallic silver can do the job, but I am not sure of legality of doing this by USA regulations.

Khair Shishani
aircraft maintenance - Al Ain, UAE
2004

Thanks, Mr. Shishani. Although there are strict regulations about how much silver can be in discharge water, I am not aware of any regulations that would prevent anyone from using silver in the process in the way you suggest.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2004

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