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How to Understand Environmental Standards of PCB Manufacturing in China?

By:PCBBUY 01/22/2025 16:19

How to Understand Environmental Standards of PCB Manufacturing in China?

Printed circuit board manufacturing is a very complex comprehensive processing technology, including dry processes (such as design and wiring photographic plate making, film, exposure, drilling, shape processing, etc.) and wet processes (such as electroless plating, plating, etching, development, film removal, inner layer oxidation, drilling pollution, etc.), in the production process inevitably produces waste and escapes environmental hazards. It is often referred to as "three wastes", "waste gas", "waste water" and "solid waste".


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In particular, the wet process needs to consume a lot of water resources, and in the production and manufacturing process, the waste solution containing a lot of harmful substances and the waste water after cleaning. If not controlled and treated, these "three wastes" not only directly threaten the physical and mental health of front-line production personnel, but also will inevitably deteriorate the local community environment and cause harm to the wider population after being directly discharged into the public space.

 

What Is the Significance of Understanding PCB Environmental Standards?

 

With the continuous growth and expansion of China's printed circuit board industry, it is urgent to coordinate the common development of manufacturing and the environment. In addition, under the dual promotion of environmental protection policies and continuous progress of environmental protection technology, the production management level of printed circuit board manufacturing enterprises has been continuously improved, and the awareness of environmental protection has been continuously enhanced.


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Through nearly ten years of practice and continuous improvement, the environmental protection work of printed circuit board enterprises has entered the current efficient on-site recycling and reuse mode from the past passive collection and disposal of waste, and the environmental protection investment has changed from simply increasing production costs to the benign development of obtaining economic benefits. This chapter introduces the environmental laws and regulations followed by the printed circuit board manufacturing industry in China, focuses on the source of waste and environmental hazards generated in the printed circuit board manufacturing process, the general control technology and recycling and reuse methods, and introduces the recycling of waste printed circuit boards.

 

What Are the Environmental Standards for PCB Manufacturing?

 

RoHS Directive

 

RoHS(Restriction of Hazardous Substances) Directive is a mandatory standard formulated by the European Union legislation. Its full name is the Directive on the Restriction of the use of Certain Hazardous Ingredients in electrical and Electronic Equipment. The directive has been officially implemented on July 1, 2006, and was expanded in November 2011, mainly used to regulate the material and process standards of electronic and electrical products, so that it is more conducive to human health and environmental protection. The purpose of the standard is to eliminate lead, mercury, radium, hexvalent chromium, polyaustralbiphenyl and polyaustraldiphenyl ether (PBDE) in electrical and electronic products, a total of six substances, and focus on the content of the pot can not exceed 0.01%.

 

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The scope of the RoHS directive includes the list of all electronic products exported by China to the EU, such as large household appliances refrigerators, washing machines, microwave ovens, air conditioners, etc., small household appliances vacuum cleaners, electric coilers, hair dryers, ovens, clocks, etc., computers, fax machines, telephones, mobile phones and other communication and IT equipment. There are also Musical Instruments, lighting appliances, power tools, toys/recreational and sports equipment, medical devices, surveillance/control, vending machines, and semiconductor devices.

 

The RoHS directive not only includes the whole machine products, but also includes the parts, raw materials and packaging used in the production of the whole machine, which is related to the entire production chain, and thus has a far-reaching impact on the printed circuit board industry. Prior to the RoHS directive, lead was widely used in the surface treatment and solder of printed circuit boards, while polyAustralian biphenyls (PBBS) and polyaustralian diphenyl ethers (PBDE) were used as flame retardants in PCB substrates.

 

Lead is the first element to be eliminated in the printed circuit board industry, not only lead-containing solder and lead-containing surface treatment technology has been abandoned, but also because lead is a high abundance element in nature, all raw materials and equipment used in the manufacture of printed circuit boards need to be tested for lead content before they can be used. However, the welding reliability problems and corrosion resistance problems of electronic equipment caused by lead-free are still plaguing the electronics industry, and are still the focus and hot spot of industry-wide research.

 

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In the actual RoHS implementation process, not only limited the use of polybiphenyls (PBBS), polydiphenyl ethers (PBDE), in order to eliminate the waste of printed circuit boards produced in diuhm, chlorine and Australian elements are also strictly controlled. This regulation not only requires the basic materials of the printed circuit board to be reformed, the use of dielectric materials, fillers and solder resists that do not contain chlorine and Australian elements, but also puts forward the requirement of no (residual) chlorine and Australian in the printed circuit board manufacturing process, which involves the modification and upgrading of the formula of the treatment liquid in the whole hole, hole metallization, Browning, surface treatment and many other processes. At present, the methods of analyzing RoHS restricted substances used by printed circuit board manufacturers include X-ray light (XRF) method to determine lead, mercury, pan, chromium, and Australian elements; Lead, chromium and mercury were determined by inductively coupled plasma Atomic emission spectrometer (ICP) and flame graphite furnace Atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS). The substances PBBS and PBDE were determined by meteorological chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS).

 

ISO 14000 series standards

 

ISO 14000 series standards are another important series of standards proposed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) after the ISO 9000 series standards. It is a set of new, international, environmental management standards, including environmental management system, environmental audit, environmental labeling, environmental behavior assessment, life cycle assessment, terminology and definitions of 6 aspects, a total of more than 60 standards. Environmental management system certification by a third-party notary agency in accordance with the publicly released ISO 14000 environmental management environmental Protection 407 environmental management system of manufacturing enterprises to implement the assessment, after the assessment is qualified by the third-party agency issued a series of environmental standards, plus system certification certificate. And gave the registration announcement to prove that the manufacturing enterprise has the environmental assurance ability to provide products or services according to the requirements of the deep environment at the root of the established ring field. The wine has passed the environmental management certification, which can confirm that the raw materials, production processes, processing methods, and the use and disposal of products meet the requirements of enterprises with high standards of environmental protection machines.

 

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China's new environmental management system certification standard is B/T 2401-2016 "Guidelines for the Use of Environmental Management systems", equivalent to ISO 14001:2015. "China's printed circuit board manufacturing enterprises through the implementation of SO 14000 series standards, can help enterprises to obtain the international market" license, is conducive to eliminating the "green" barriers in international trade, is conducive to enterprises to comply with laws and regulations and the law to the standard; It is beneficial for enterprises to promote clean production technology, improve the environmental management level of enterprises, and help to raise and improve the environmental awareness of morning workers, reduce environmental risks, and improve the public relations of enterprises; Helps to improve business goodwill. Enhance the market voice competition.

 

ISO 14001 is the only normative standard in the ISO 14000 series of standards that requires organizations to establish an environmental management system, use a set of procedures to establish environmental policies and objectives, achieve and demonstrate to the outside world the capabilities and mechanisms they have to safeguard the environmental management system, and continue to operate with the goal of improving overall environmental performance. Based on practical experience, there are five main guiding principles for the implementation of ISO 14001:

 

1. The goal of environmental management is to improve the production and living environment

 

Under normal circumstances, printed circuit manufacturing enterprises are mainly concerned about their own operation and development, but environmental management work should focus on the social environment and sustainable development. In many cases, companies destroy the local environment in order to survive and grow, pitting business development against environmental management. However, with the development of society, the improvement of public environmental awareness, and the gradual tightening of policies and regulations, enterprises must regard environmental management as the main component of enterprise survival and development.

 

2. The important role of managers

 

In environmental management, managers' understanding and leadership of environmental issues play a very important role in the implementation of environmental management. Managers have a deep understanding of environmental issues, they can make decisions and judgments from the overall mountain, and not brother the whole ring "by reason of the work is handed over to a certain department, resulting in deviation from the work; Leadership is embodied in coordinating the management of various departments. "Make bad" management is deeply and thoroughly carried out and does not stop at the surface. In the process of environmental management, incompetent personnel should not be allowed to work in the east, because once environmental problems are caused, the consequences are serious and irreparable.

 

3. All employees participate in environmental management

 

Environmental management is a management work with full participation, and front-line employees are more likely to find the sense of questioning in environmental management, but they do not have the authority to solve these problems and the overall vision. Therefore, it is necessary for managers to listen, summarize and solve problems efficiently on the basis of fully mobilizing the enthusiasm and initiative of all staff, and make a good example to form a positive interaction of environmental management

 

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4. Implement process control

 

Process control is to control the production process, reduce the possibility of non-conforming products and environmental problems, can significantly reduce the waste caused by defective products and ensure quality. In environmental management, process control to reduce the pollution generated in the production process is more effective and economical than the end management method to treat the generated pollutants. End treatment is often more investment, higher operating costs, and only the transfer of pollutants can not be thoroughly treated, but also caused the waste of raw materials and resources, therefore, the implementation of production process control, reduce the generation of pollution, is the key to fundamentally solve environmental problems.

 

Clean production in PCB manufacturing

 

Cleaner production has different names at different stages of development or in different countries, such as "waste reduction", "waste free process", "pollution prevention" and so on. But its basic connotation is the same, is a process management in manufacturing, that is, the product and product production process, products and services to adopt pollution prevention strategies to reduce waste and pollutants. Enterprises through continuous improvement of design, the use of clean energy and raw materials, the use of more advanced technology and equipment from the source to improve resource utilization efficiency, reduce pollution, is the main means to achieve clean production.

 

Printed circuit board manufacturing process involves a lot of processing technology and raw materials, the implementation of clean production management system, energy saving and emission reduction, waste reduction and efficiency implementation to each link, not only can improve the production environment and protect the physical and mental health of employees, but also can bring actual economic benefits to the enterprise.

 

What Is the Waste Generated in the PCB Manufacture?

 

In order to dispose of the "three wastes" in the production of printed circuit boards, it is necessary to understand its source. No matter the dry process or the wet process, it will produce waste such as scraps and escape harmful substances that pollute the environment. In the process of conventional production of printed circuit boards, the main processes and wastes that will become pollution sources are:

 

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1) Photographic plate making process. There are silver and organic matter in the waste developer and the waste fixing solution.

 

2) Hole metallization and metal copper plating process. The waste liquid and rinsing water contain a large amount of copper and a small amount of tin, formaldehyde, organic complexing agents, trace amounts and chemical oxygen consumption (COD).

 

3) Graphic copper plating and lead tin plating or tin plating process. The waste liquid and rinsing water contain a lot of copper and a little lead, tin, boric acid, chemical oxygen consumption, etc.

 

4) Inner oxidation process. Contains copper, sodium hypochlorite, lye, chemical oxygen consumption, etc

 

5) Decontamination process. Containing copper, potassium high acid, organic reducing agents, etc.

 

6) Gold plating process. Contains gold, nickel and trace cyanide, some also contain trace lead, tin.

 

7) Etching process. The waste liquid and rinsing water contain a lot of copper and ammonia, a small amount of lead, tin and so on.

 

8) Development and film removal process. Contains a large number of organic photoresist, lye and chemical oxygen consumption

 

9) Copper foil film reduction and deburring process. Contains a lot of copper powder.

 

10) Machining processes. Such as cutting, drilling, sanding, milling, sawing, chamfering and grooving will produce noise and dust harmful to the health of the staff. Gold coating and gold-bearing powder produced in the scraps after contour processing.

 

11) From the acidic or alkaline gases produced in the wet processing workshop, such as sulfuric acid, acid fog of hydrochloric acid, ammonia and organic bases, it can be seen that the pollution sources and wastes generated in the production process of printed circuit boards have three different forms of gas, liquid and solid. From the perspective of composition, a large number of them are copper and copper ions, organic polymer debris and glass particles, a small amount of lead, tin, nickel, silver, gold, giant, manganese and other metals and ions, organic matter and organic complexing agents in aqueous solutions, organic solvents and volatile organic compounds.

 

Reference

He Wei, PCB Basic Electrical Information Science and Technology, China Machine Press402-408

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