TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Jixiang Electroplating is embracing a cleaner future with Industrial Technology Research Institute’s Napoglass technology.
The technology turns discarded LCD glass into a nanoporous material that captures heavy metals in electroplating wastewater, per CNA. The result is a cleaner process that saves money, conserves water, and recovers valuable metals for reuse.
Electroplating once polluted fields and ditches in Changhua County in south Taiwan, where home-based factories ran uncontrolled for decades. After criminal indictments and relocation to Changhua Coastal Industrial Park in Lukang, the industry was forced to reform.
Jixiang Electroplating Chair Lin Chen-tung (林振東) recalled early struggles with regulations and rising treatment costs. Seeing the future in cleaner tech, he contacted ITRI for help – sparking a partnership that would repurpose glass waste into high-efficiency filters.
Tu Tzu-pang (杜子邦), manager at ITRI’s Material and Chemical Research Laboratories, explained that Napoglass has pores just 10–20 nanometers wide. Its negative charge attracts positively charged ions like copper, nickel, and lead, filtering them from wastewater without harmful byproducts.
Jixiang Electroplating now runs four industrial filter columns using sixth-generation Napoglass, which no longer needs to be swapped every 30 minutes, as in early trials. The system lasts months, cuts monthly water treatment costs by nearly NT$100,000 (US$3,300), and produces water clean enough to reuse or discharge.
Recovered metals can be harvested from the filters and reused in products with antibacterial and deodorizing functions. ITRI has already developed items like odor-fighting insoles and air filters, with promising commercial applications.
More than 10 companies have adopted Napoglass, though many remain cautious due to plant-specific constraints. ITRI said it hopes growing pressure from water shortages and sustainability goals will drive wider uptake, bringing Taiwan closer to its zero-waste goal.
