(20d) Towards Sustainable Manufacturing in Electroplating Industry: A Hierarchical Decision-Making Approach for Integrated P3 Technology Development

Electroplating plants produce numerous types of plated parts for the automotive, electronics, aerospace, and many other manufacturing industries. But at the same time, they generate huge amounts of waste through emission and discharge of wastewater, sludge, and spent solutions. Due to increasingly stringent environmental regulations, platers are under tremendous pressure for sustainable manufacturing. In recent years, a novel profitable pollution prevention (P3) theory for electroplating was introduced. This theory provides a fundamental basis for simultaneous economic and environmental optimality of manufacturing. A set of P3 technologies has been developed, which focuses on in-process waste reduction and manufacturing improvement through addressing opportunities with parts processing flow, energy, chemical, and water flow, and waste flow. It is proved that the economic and environmental benefits can be maximized only when the opportunities with all the flows are systematically addressed. This paper explores the opportunities for developing integrated P3 (IP3) technologies. By resorting to a hierarchical decision-making strategy as well as integrated system characterization and optimization methods, technically sound IP3 technologies can be systematically identified. A successful application of the methodology in a bronze cyanide plating system will demonstrate how IP3 technologies can help the industry achieve sustainable manufacturing.