Patent ID: 7794582

Claim:
A method of recovering metal from waste plating stream and using the recovered metal comprising: providing a metal plating system comprising a soluble anode that provides nickel ions to a plating solution and a cathode that provides a substrate to be deposited with the nickel ions; providing an aqueous rinse bath for washing the substrate after deposition of some of the nickel ions on the substrate; providing a waste metal plating stream from the aqueous rinse bath containing an aqueous solution that includes nickel ions that did not deposit onto the substrate; passing the waste metal plating stream into an electrochemical cell assembly having an inlet for the waste metal plating stream, a plurality of alternating anodes and cathodes porous to the waste metal plating stream, a plurality of ceramic diaphragms that separate the anodes and cathodes, and an exit from the electrochemical cell assembly, wherein the cathodes are formed from sintered powder nickel; passing the waste metal plating stream through pores of the cathodes; passing an electrical current through the anodes and cathodes of the electrochemical cell assembly, thereby depositing a portion of the nickel ions in the waste metal plating stream onto the cathodes and reducing the amount of the nickel ions in the waste metal plating stream; recycling the waste metal plating stream exiting the electrochemical cell assembly back to the aqueous rinse bath, and using the deposited nickel on one of the cathodes and the cathode as the soluble anode in the metal plating system to provide a source of the nickel ions to be deposited in a subsequent metal plating process.