What Is the Current State of Sustainability in the Decorative Electroplating Industry? A Close Look at New Practices and Advances

Abstract

Electroplating is a key process in many industrial fields such as automotive, electronics and decorative applications; this process makes it possible to provide new properties to substrates materials such as corrosion resistance, hardness and aesthetic value. Nonetheless, electroplating is considered one of the most non-sustainable industries related to the manufacturing sector, from both an environmental and a social point of view. With the approaching deadlines set by the United Nations for the 2030 Agenda, electroplating companies have started a trend of innovating their production processes with a focus on sustainability, acting on several fronts: performing simulations to predict criticalities and optimize working procedures, reducing the material used and recovering it from processing water. The purpose of this communication is to highlight the state of the art of sustainable practices peculiar to the electroplating industry, critically analyzing ongoing challenges to achieve and exceed the targets set by regulatory agencies. Both atomistic and multiphysics simulations will be analyzed as powerful tools to design both new sustainable formulations and items; then, the problem of metal dispersion will be discussed, evaluating different industrial approaches; finally, the focus will be shifted towards the general procedures to recover metal from wastewater.