2011, November – Environmental obligations are getting tougher; the demand for a more sustainable use of resources is much stronger. Atotech intends to meet all of its customers’ requirements for environmentally friendlier technologies, offering at the same time considerable cost-saving advantages. With its newest auxiliary equipment Ni Recovery Unit NIY, Atotech has made a further step in this direction. In fact, the system allows customers to save a significant amount of Ni raw material costs.

Ni Recovery Unit NIY is an innovative auxiliary system for the recovery of nickel from the rinse water of semi-bright, bright, satin and microporous nickel processes. Designed to achieve a more efficient use of raw materials, Ni Recovery Unit NIY considerably improves nickel plating profitability.

• Ni ions recovery from rinse water
• Final nickel sulfate solution reusable for semi-bright, bright,
  satin and microporous nickel processes
• Recovered solution with Ni concentration of approx. 35 g/l
• Improved nickel plating profitability

2011, September – Tricotect®, the regeneration unit (ion exchange) for plating of corrosion resistant coatings, regenerates Atotech´s Cr(VI)-free passivate solutions, which are mainly used for the post-treatment of corrosion resistant zinc and zinc alloy coatings in diverse industrial applications (e.g. automotive or aerospace).

Combining innovative chemical products with dedicated equipment, Atotech's integrated solutions meet the most demanding requirements for consistent high plating performance and efficient use of resources.

• The Total Ecosolutions advantage: The continuous purification of trivalent chromium passivates allows for a potentially unlimited solution lifetime, resulting in lower raw material consumption and less wastewater. Tricotect® operates online and does not require any interruption of the production process.
• Environmental performance: The significant environmental improvement is based on the reduced consumption of metals during the passivation process. Depending on the application, Tricotect can save up to 99% of the metals.

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2011, September – EDEN® is a regeneration unit (based on electrodialysis) for electroless nickel plating baths. Electroless nickel suffers from limited bath life due to the accumulation of by-products formed during the autocatalytic reaction. Atotech´s patented EDEN® process solves the problem of decreasing quality by a fully automated electrodialysis system.

• The Total Ecosolutions advantage: EDEN® allows continuous online purification of the electroless nickel bath, providing a potentially unlimited bath life by removing the by-products. Customers can benefit from a reduction of process chemistry and waste, combined with constant high plating quality.
• Environmental performance: The significant environmental improvement of the EDEN® system is based on the reduced chemistry consumption of the electroless nickel process: More than 70% of nickel and more than 75% of sodium hypophosphite are saved by using EDEN®.

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2011, February – The On-line Analytics are the result of many years of experience in product processes optimization and fully represent Atotech’s unmatched expertise in the design of advanced auxiliary equipment for the surface finishing industry. On-line Analytics constantly monitor the plating solutions by performing a whole range of automated analyses, from titration and spectroscopy to conductivity measurements.

• Easy to implement in existing production lines
• Analysis results are provided in a very short time –
  whole plating process can constantly be maintained at optimum conditions,
  resulting in higher chemistry and production yields
• Combined with dosing units, system allows for automatic adjustment of composition of baths –
  extends their working lifetime and preserves high quality of plated layers
• Reduction of labor times – reduction of production costs