Water Management in a Large Printed Circuit Board Manufacturer

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TTM’s environmental management is grounded in its Environmental Statement and Environmental Policy, which promote measures that make for a more responsible environmental management process. Our management system helps TTM work toward minimizing its environmental footprint and increasing the sustainability of its operations. TTM monitors its environmental performance just as it monitors its operational performance, and provides the resources required to adhere to the Company’s environmental responsibilities. This enables TTM to reduce the use of natural resources required to manufacture printed circuit boards, electrical assemblies, and electrical parts and components produced at the TTM facilities.

Key to those natural resources is water. Water is a critical operational component for TTM and a critical natural resource for those who live in the communities where we operate. As a result, TTM has taken a very measured approach in the management and treatment of water and wastewater associated with our manufacturing operations. Toward this effort, TTM’s operational goals, key performance indicators (KPIs), capital plans, and sustainability goals have a component that is explicitly directed at water use reduction and water footprint reduction. TTM has undertaken improvement efforts and initiatives to reduce (or eliminate) the impact of each TTM location.

The company’s most critical environmental initiatives with respect to water management fall into the following categories:

Wastewater Treatment and System Upgrades

TTM has gradually replaced existing wastewater treatment (WWT) systems with a treatment technology that relies less on chemical precipitation and more on ion exchange. Although chemical precipitation WWT systems are robust and produce effective and compliant wastewater, and they rely heavily on chemical treatment agents to promote contaminant removal (metals), the precipitate that is produced is typically a sludge with a high moisture content and a low metal content. In the end, the standard precipitant-based WWT systems are an inefficient use of chemical treatment aids and produce a reclaimable material that requires excess energy and/or handling to reclaim the metal, oftentimes resulting in a poor return on the metal recovered, as well as the capital invested.

To read this entire article, which appeared in the March 2024 issue of PCB007 Magazine, click here.