Material Flow Analysis

Introduction

Material flow analysis (MFA) is a methodology to analyze the flow of "materials" in-and-out of a system.

Built upon the law of conservation of energy, where energy can never be created or destroyed, only transferred, you can use material-balance equations to model complex systems such as the Seed Eco-Home.

See Material flow Analysis on Wikipedia for additional information.

Unanswered Research Questions

• Can the formal concept of "Material flow analysis (MFA)" prove useful in the design of close-looped sustainable systems?

Definitions & Terms

Taken from Chapter 2.1 of Practical handbook of material flow analysis:

1. Substance - any (chemical) element or compound composed of uniform units (e.g. Carbon (C), Nitrogen (N), Carbon Dioxide (CO₂), and Ammonium (NH₃)).
2. Good - economic entities of matter with a positive or negative economic value (e.g. wood, drinking water, mineral ores, concrete, and automobiles)
3. Material - umbrella term for Substance and Good
4. Process - transformation, transportation, or storage of Materials.
5. Flow and Flux
6. Transfer Coefficient
7. System and System Boundaries
8. Activities
9. Anthroposphere and Metabolism
10. Material Flow Analysis
11. Materials Accounting

Diagrams

Box and Arrow

Using mainly simple boxes and arrows to represent materials flows with a few observed rules.

Sankey

A diagram related to MFA that may prove useful are Sankey diagrams.

Resources

• Practical Handbook of Material Flow Analysis by Paul H. Brunner and Helmut Rechberger