(572l) Life Cycle Water Consumption Assessment of Electroplating Rinse Steel Tanks

The study is focused on the analysis of a Life Cycle Assessment of Water Consumption for rinse-steel tanks, and plastic tanks used for 3 rinsing plate operations. Rinsing is a routine part of the electroplating processes for cleaning the plated materials. Different types of cleaning processes are analyzed for a typical plated material.: single tank, cross-current (2 or 3 tanks) In addition to the direct water usage, the indirect water usagei.e. the water used for manufacturing the tanks, is computed by performing a detailed water-analysis of all the manufacturing processes. The indirect water usage is depreciated over the expected life of the tank, which can vary based on the repair schedule.

Based on the aforementioned methodology, the cumulative water usage is analyzed for: three different types of rinsing operations, type of material of the tanks, different tank designs, and a depreciation period of 20 years. Using this methodology, analogous to the classical life-cycle assessment analysis, results are surprising and show that the differences in the cumulative water usage are within a narrow range for all cases analysis in this study.