Birk Manufacturing produces flexible heating elements used in life-saving medical devices and aerospace equipment. Their process uses ferric chloride to etch precise circuits into these elements. Afterwards, the product is rinsed to remove debris, which creates metal-contaminated wastewater. This is currently disposed of as hazardous waste, which is a costly process. To address this, Birk Manufacturing uses a system called ion exchange to clean the wastewater on-site, shown in Figure 1a. Wastewater is passed through a column filled with tiny beads that attract and hold onto metal particles, removing them from the water, shown in Figure 1b. However, their system has stopped working effectively and our project aims to determine the reason and propose a solution. Our leading theory is that iron particles from wastewater are clogging the tiny pores on the beads where metal capture happens as shown in Figure 2. We found that under certain conditions, metals can permanently bond to the beads or block their pores entirely, making the beads ineffective at capturing metals from wastewater. We will examine the surfaces of the beads under a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), rinse them with acid and measure the amounts of metals that wash off, check whether their pores have reopened using surface area analysis, and test whether the restored beads can remove metals from water again. We expect our findings will help restore the ion exchange system, lower disposal costs, reduce water waste, and free up resources for what matters most: manufacturing life-saving devices and critical aerospace equipment.