Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Osaka City, President: Osamu Inoue, hereinafter referred to as "the Company") has concluded a contract with DPS Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Nishikyoku, Kyoto City, President: Hiroshi Shiraku, hereinafter referred to as "DPS") on November 8 for the recovery of rare metals used in the manufacturing process of flexible printed circuits (FPC).
In the FPC manufacturing process, various plating treatments are performed, such as copper plating for electrically connecting the circuit layers and gold plating for surface treatment of connection points with external components. Palladium, a rare metal, is widely used as a catalyst to carry out these plating treatments efficiently, and during the cleaning process, when flushing away the solution containing the Pd adhered to the FPC surface, the challenge has been that conventional methods could not recover trace amounts of Pd, which were thus treated as cleaning wastewater.
Through the "Asia Business Creation Platform*1," a technology proposal was received from DPS to our FPC manufacturing base in Vietnam*2, utilizing the company's proprietary silica gel "DualPore" to adsorb and recover Pd contained in wastewater at ultra-low concentrations. Following verification, the decision was made to adopt this proposal.
Furthermore, by establishing a scheme to sell the recovered Pd to metal refining companies within japan, it becomes possible to promote cost reduction while contributing to the international resource circulation of the rare metal Pd and reducing the environmental impact associated with mining and refining.