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

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