Dynamic Material Flow Analysis of steel: state of art and methodology development
Résumé
Modern society accumulated a huge amount of metals in form of metal-containing products. This stock-in-use represents a significant source of a secondary raw material and its future availability could be evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively. Steel is an important material for economic development; it is present in most sectors of economic activity. Steel recyclability makes it a good case study for this kind of evaluation. Material Flow Assessment (MFA) is an appropriate tool for physical accountability of materials flows and stocks through and in a system. Dynamic approach of MFA (DMFA) considers also lifetime distribution to quantify changes in stocks, Basing on the current DMFA studies, a methodology for steel industry in Europe is described. It aims to consider all process flows from material extraction to waste management. The realization of the analysis helps to understand the use of steel, its stock as a secondary raw material per industrial sector. Using this data enables to describe scenario of future trends of steel consumption. This analysis could be a policy support within sustainable material management framework. It is a part of a project “Life Cycle Assessment and Recycling” of a French governmental investment initiative within IRT M2P.