COLLEGE OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE

MANAGEMENT

MASTER OF SCIENCE
IN ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE MANAGEMENT

A REVIEW ON MATERIAL FLOW ANALYSIS

IN THE CASE OF GLASS AND BOTTLE INDUSTRIES

BY
BEREKET YEMANBIRHAN

SUBMITTED TO - ALEMAYEHU AGIZEW

June 2020
Table of content

Contents
Table of content ........................................................................................................................................................ i
List figures ................................................................................................................................................................ ii
CHAPTER ONE
MATERIAL FLOW ANALYSIS
1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 OBJECTIVES OF MFA ................................................................................................................................ 2
CHAPTER TWO
MATERIAL FLOW ANALYSIS
IN THE CASE OF GLASS AND BOTTLE INDUSTRIES .................................................................................... 3
2.1 BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE CASE ............................................................................................................ 3
CHAPTER THREE
APPLICATION OF THE MATERIAL FLOW ANALYSIS
IN THE CASE OF GLASS AND BOTTLE INDUSTRIES .................................................................................... 5
3.1 Stage 1 transport ............................................................................................................................................ 8
3.2 Stage 2 transport ............................................................................................................................................ 8
3.3 Glass processing plant ................................................................................................................................... 8
3.4. Cullet transfer ............................................................................................................................................... 8
3.5. Glass furnace ................................................................................................................................................ 8
3.6. Refuse collection and landfill transfer .......................................................................................................... 8
3.7. Incineration ................................................................................................................................................... 8
CHAPTER FOUR
GENERAL OBSERVATION OF MFA .................................................................................................................. 9
4.1 Application of MFA and its Positive and negative sides ........................................................................ 9
4.1.1 Environmental Management and Engineering ............................................................................... 9
4.1.2 Industrial Ecology .......................................................................................................................... 9
4.1.3 Resource Management ................................................................................................................. 10
4.1.4 Waste Management...................................................................................................................... 11
4.1.5 Anthropogenic Metabolism ......................................................................................................... 12
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSIONS.................................................................................................................................................... 13
REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................................................... 14
List figures

Figure1.Ethiochina Glass and bottle factory ……………………….………………………4

Figure2. A process of some typical inputs and out puts during glass processing…………..6

Fig 3. Material flow analysis of glass packaging containers………………………….…….7

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CHAPTER ONE
MATERIAL FLOW ANALYSIS
1 INTRODUCTION

Industrial Ecology (IE) is currently a broad umbrella of concepts rather than a unified
theoretical construct. As such, it is described and presented in different ways by different
authors. Based on the authors' perspectives on the current state of industry and the
environment, IE can become either an incremental extension of efficiency improvements
underway in industry, or a radical new paradigm that must be embraced if we are to save the
planet from the impacts of industrial development. Similar to "sustainable development," IE is
vague and broad enough to serve as the catchword for many different arguments. This
ambiguity of course has benefits as it may lead more people to accept IE as a valuable
concept. (Dara, O & Catherine, K 1996)
It also has pitfalls however, as any movement or discipline lacking clarity of goals, objectives,
and specific strategies is likely to founder.
Material flow analysis (MFA) is a systematic assessment of the flows and stocks of materials
within a system defined in space and time. It connects the sources, the pathways, and the
intermediate and final sinks of a material. Because of the law of the conservation of matter,
the results of an MFA can be controlled by a simple material balance comparing all inputs,
stocks, and outputs of a process. It is this distinct characteristic of MFA that makes the
method attractive as a decision-support tool in resource management, waste management, and
environmental management.
An MFA delivers a complete and consistent set of information about all flows and stocks of a
particular material within a system. Through balancing inputs and outputs, the flows of wastes
and environmental loadings become visible, and their sources can be identified.
The depletion or accumulation of material stocks is identified early enough either to take
countermeasures or to promote further buildup and future utilization. Moreover, minor
changes that are too small to be measured in short time scales but that could slowly lead to
long-term damage also become evident.

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1.2 OBJECTIVES OF MFA

MFA is an appropriate tool to investigate the flows and stocks of any material-based system.
It gives insight into the behavior of the system, and when combined with other disciplines
such as energy-flow analysis, economic analysis, and consumer oriented analysis, it facilitates
the control of an anthropogenic system. The objectives of MFA are to:

1. Delineate a system of material flows and stocks by well-defined, uniform terms.

2. Reduce the complexity of the system as far as possible while still guaranteeing a basis
for sound decision making.
3. Assess the relevant flows and stocks in quantitative terms, thereby applying the
balance principle and revealing sensitivities and uncertainties
4. Present results about flows and stocks of a system in a reproducible, understandable,
and transparent way.
5. Use the results as a basis for managing resources, the environment, and wastes, in
particular for:
 Early recognition of potentially harmful or beneficial accumulations and
depletions of stocks, as well as for timely prediction of future environmental
loadings
 b. The setting of priorities regarding measures for environmental protection,
resource conservation, and waste management (what is most important; what
comes first?)
 The design of goods, processes, and systems that promote environmental
protection, resource conservation, and waste management (green design, eco
design, design for recycling, design for disposal, etc.) (Dara, O & Catherine, K
1996)

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CHAPTER TWO
MATERIAL FLOW ANALYSIS
IN THE CASE OF GLASS AND BOTTLE INDUSTRIES
2.1 BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE CASE
Material flow analysis provides a method for connecting the flows of energy and materials
into and out of a defined system in order to identify sources of solid waste generation and
account for hidden flows and sinks that may be unexplained in a more traditional, end-of-the-
pipe solid waste analysis. Using MFA it is possible to address the entire solid waste hierarchy.
It can be used to identify sources for minimizing waste or reveal internal material flows and
potential opportunities for recycling or further material reuse.
MFA characterizes existing disposal practices and treatment mechanisms such that they may
be reformed in a more environmentally sound manner. It can also point to holes or potential
efficiency-improvement links in solid waste service coverage.
Glass has been in use for centuries; the Egyptians were the first to use glass
containers in the fifteenth century BC. Modern use really started at the twentieth
century when in 1903 the first fully automated bottle-making machine was developed in
Ohio, USA. Glass is still widely used despite the introduction of substitute products,
particularly plastics. Glass has wide range of applications and uses depending on its
source of raw materials. The container glasses, tableware and flat glass are termed as soda
lime glasses. The crystal tableware, TV screens and display screen equipment are lead
glasses.
The borosilicate glasses are for making glass fibers, wool insulation, and ovenware and
thermo flasks. The alumino-silicates (technical glasses) are for scientific and optical
apparatus. Certain percentages of electronic and electrical equipment are made of glass.
Glass constitutes about 2.9% of the materials in automobiles (by weight) usually inform
of flat glass.
In 1992 over 40 billion glass were produced in US alone and UK used approximately
2.2 million tons of glass each year. (Hauwa, I 2008)
Recently Glass industries in UK produce over 3 million tons of glass per year.
Glass containers are widely used to package the huge arrays of foods and drinks.

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Majority of these glasses are being recycled. For example in Australia over 1 million tons
of glass are produced per year and almost 20 thousand tons of which are recycled.

Figure 1. Ethiochina Glass and bottle factory.−አስኮ ብርጭቆ ፋብሪካ (Addis Ababa).
Source author Bereket.Y.
The guiding principle behind an MFA is based on a model in which the system being
analyzed is linked to its surrounding environment by the flow of materials and energy.
The model can be further expanded to account for this flow of materials and energy on the
basis of the first law of thermodynamics on the conservation of matter (Eurostat, 2001).
In other words, everything that goes into a defined system must be accounted for in output or
accumulation

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CHAPTER THREE
APPLICATION OF THE MATERIAL FLOW ANALYSIS
IN THE CASE OF GLASS AND BOTTLE INDUSTRIES

Glass Industries produce a lot of waste ranging from the byproducts of the used raw
materials to the damaged glass products. The fuel used during glass production is also
in large quantity. Proper utilization of such wastes from glass cullet‟s (container, flat,
electronics and other glass containing products) can minimize the energy requirements
and reduce production cost. (Hauwa, I 2008)
Various steps are involved in glass production and at each step there is possibility of
waste generation.
This is depicted as in the process flow chart below (Figure 2). Production process
involves series of steps; each step has its own input output and waste. Each step adds
value to the products and also adds a cost from the labor, materials and utilities used
in the process steps. Considering the huge amount of glass being produced annually,
the possibilities, of waste generation from the unset of production of the glass to the
product life-span, a lot of waste will be generated. (Vladimir, K Charles, B & Sonia, H
2005) Glass industries in the West and Asian countries have long been utilizing the
waste generated from the industries ranging from the cullets and the scrap glasses to
produce new ones through recycling process. In glass manufacturing industry a lot of
waste glass or cullets are produced. Currently about 67% of all the cullets is land
filled or stock pilled; only 30% of the cullets are mixed with raw materials to produce
new glass.
The cullets are not only recycled by glass industries, it can also be exported to other
countries instead of throwing it into landfills. Vladimir, K Charles, B & Sonia, H 2005)
Waste minimization aims to reduce the amount of waste being produced and therefore
results in savings in both raw materials and disposal costs as well as to reduce the
potential environmental impact of waste. Waste minimization can also play an
important role in reducing growth rates in the production of house hold waste.
However measures are difficult to implement within households and success cannot be
guaranteed.

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Figure2. A process of some typical inputs and out puts during glass processing.
Source (Vladimir, K Charles, B & Sonia, H 2005)

The raw materials for glass-making are all dusty material and are delivered either as a powder
or as a fine-grained material. Systems for controlling dusty materials tend to be difficult to
maintain, and given the large amounts of material moved each day, only a small amount has
to escape for there to be a dust problem.
Cullet is also moved about in a glass factory and tends to produce fine glass particles when
broken.

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Figure.3 Material flow analysis of glass packaging containers

source (Ching-Ling, T and Uta, K 2012)

For glass it looks at not only the production of cullet (crushed recycled glass containers) from
recycled glass, and use of this cullet in glass manufacture or alternative options, but also how
the glass is transferred from the household to the glass processing plant, and from there to the
glass furnace. It also looks at how the non-recycled glass is disposed of and alternative
options for transfer of the recycled glass from point A to point B.
In such a way that the following are the MFA of a give glass and bottle at various stages

(a) Stage 1 transport (household to bottle bank)

(b) Stage 2 transport (bottle bank to processing plant)

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(c) glass processing plant

(d) Cullet transfer
(e) Glass manufacture
(f) Refuse collection
(g) Landfill transfer
(h) Incineration (Paul, D, Vladimir, K, Charles, B & Souic, H 2005)

3.1 Stage 1 transport

This is the transfer of the recycled glass from the household to the bottle banks.

3.2 Stage 2 transport

The next stage is the transfer of the glass from the bring-site to the glass processing plant.

3.3 Glass processing plant

The glass taken to the processing plant at the docks is crushed and, if required, sorted using
laser-separation equipment capable of sorting a maximum of 40 t/h. Energy consumption for
the crushing/sorting has been estimated from electrical usage (pers. comm.), allowing for an
efficiency for electrical production of 30.2%. 4

3.4. Cullet transfer

Now, the glass is processed locally and the cullet transferred to the glass manufacturing plant,
and it is then transferred to the plant by truck.

3.5. Glass furnace

Cullet is used in glass manufacture in order to reduce the energy required to produce the
melted glass.

3.6. Refuse collection and landfill transfer

In order to complete the glass „waste‟ cycle, it is necessary to also take into account the glass
that is not recycled but remains within the general household waste (refuse).

3.7. Incineration
Although glass is inert incineration is still included in the model as a waste management
option. This is primarily to assess any impact recycling may have on incineration.

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CHAPTER FOUR
GENERAL OBSERVATION OF MFA
4.1 Application of MFA and its Positive and negative sides

MFA has been applied as a basic tool in such diverse fields as economics, environmental
management, resource management, and waste management.
The most important application areas of MFA are discussed in the following sections.
Reasons are given to explain why MFA is an indispensable tool for these applications.
The potential uses and the limits of MFA in each field are outlined.

4.1.1 Environmental Management and Engineering

MFA is used in a variety of environmental-engineering and management applications,

including environmental-impact statements, remediation of hazardous-waste sites, design of
air-pollution control strategies, nutrient management in watersheds, planning of soil-
monitoring programs, and sewage-sludge management.
All of these tasks require a thorough understanding of the flows and stocks of materials within
and between the environment and the anthroposphere.
MFA is also important in management and engineering because it provides transparency.
This is especially important for environmental-impact statements. Emission values alone do
not allow cross-checking when a change in boundary conditions (e.g., change in input or
process design) is appropriate to meet regulations. However, if the material balances and
transfer coefficients of the relevant processes are known, the results of varying conditions can
be cross-checked. (Paul, B & Helmut, R 2005)
There are clear limits to the application of MFA in the fields of environmental engineering
and management. MFA alone is not a sufficient tool to assess or support engineering or
management measures. Nevertheless, MFA is an indispensable first step and a necessary base
for every such task, and it should be followed by an evaluation or design step.

4.1.2 Industrial Ecology

Industrial activities are increasingly in confrontation with ecological systems.

Continued natural resource exploitation and environmental impacts of resource use and

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pollution are cause for concern around the world. One broad approach emerging in response
to these concerns is called Industrial Ecology (IE). IE offers important goals and organizing
principles for reforming industry, providing concepts which are gradually being embraced by
leaders in industry, academia, and government agencies. (Dara, O & Catherine, K 1996)

4.1.3 Resource Management

There are two kinds of resources: first, natural resources such as minerals, water, air, soil,
information, land, and biomass (including plants, animals, and humans), and second, human-
induced resources such as the anthroposphere as a whole, including materials, energy,
information (e.g., “cultural heritage,” knowledge in science and technology, art, ways of life),
and manpower. Given the large-scale exploitation of mines and ores, many natural resources
are massively transformed into anthropogenic resources.
Resource management comprises the analysis, planning and allocation, exploitation, and
upgrading of resources. MFA is of prime importance for analysis and planning. It is the basis
for modeling resource consumption as well as changes in stocks, and therefore it is important
in forecasting the scarcity of resources. MFA is helpful in identifying the accumulation and
depletion of materials in natural and anthropogenic environments. (Paul, B & Helmut, R 2005)
In addition, if MFA is performed in a uniform way at the front and back end of the
anthropogenic system, it is instrumental in linking resources management to environmental
and waste management. It shows the need for final sinks and for recycling measures and it is
helpful in designing strategies for recycling and disposal. Balancing all inflows and outflows
of a given stock yields information on the time period until the stock reaches a critical state of
depletion or accumulation. This could be the slow exhaustion of available phosphorous in
agricultural soil due to the lack of appropriate fertilizer, or it could be the unnoticed buildup
of valuable metals in a landfill of incinerator ash and electroplating sludge. It is difficult to
estimate the change in the stock by direct measurement, especially for stocks with a high
variability in composition and slow changes in time. In such cases, it is more accurate and
cost effective to calculate critical time scales (the time when a limiting or reference value is
reached) by comparing the difference between input and output to the stock from its flow
balance.

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4.1.4 Waste Management

Waste management takes place at the interface between the anthroposphere and the
environment. Today, waste management is an integrated concept of different practices and
treatment options comprising prevention and collection strategies; separation steps for
producing recyclables or for subsequent processing using biological, physical, chemical, and
thermal treatment technologies; and different landfill types. People now have the opportunity
(or, in some places, the duty) to separate paper, glass, metals, biodegradables, plastics,
hazardous wastes, and other materials into individual fractions. The goals of modern waste
management are to:

I. Protect human health and the environment

II. Conserve resources such as materials, energy, and space
III. Treat wastes before disposal so that they do not need aftercare when finally stored in
landfills. (Paul, B & Helmut, R 2005)
MFA is a valuable tool in substance management because it can cost-efficiently determine the
elemental composition of wastes exactly. For example, mixed plastic wastes that cannot be
recycled for process reasons can be used as a secondary fuel in industrial boilers as long as
their content of heavy metals and other contaminants is not too high. MFA is also helpful in
investigating the substance management of recycling/treatment facilities. For instance,
substance control by an incinerator is different from substance control by a mechanical–
biological treatment facility.
Finally, MFA can contribute to the design of better products that are more easily recycled or
treated once they become obsolete and turn into “waste.” These practices are known as design
for recycling, design for disposal, or design for environment.
An MFA-based total material balance shows whether given goals have been achieved.
MFA balance also identifies the processes and flows that have the highest potential for
improvements. Waste management is an integral part of the economy. Some experts who have
experience with MFA suggest that waste management should be replaced by materials and
resource management. They assert that controlling the material flows through the total
economy is more efficient than the current practice of separating management of wastes from
the management of production supply and consumption. (Paul, B & Helmut, R 2005)

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4.1.5 Anthropogenic Metabolism

Anthropogenic Metabolism is a term used in industrial ecology, material flow analysis and
waste management to describe the material and energy turnover of human socity.in modern
societies, the bulk of anthropogenic or manmade material flows is related to one of the
following activities: sanitation, transportation, habitation, and communication. (Wikipedia,
2019)
Planners and engineers are asked to design new urban systems. In the future, the location and
amount of materials in a city‟s stock should be known. Materials should be incorporated into
the stock in a way that allows easy reuse and environmental control. Economies are
challenged to maintain high growth rates, building up ever larger stocks, and setting aside
sufficient resources to maintain and renew this stock properly over long periods of time.
Due to the large growth in consumption, the amount and composition of wastes are changing
and will continue to vary in the future, too. For materials with long residence times, such as
construction materials, a huge stock is being built up before wastes become noticeable at the
back end of the life cycle. Waste management inherits most of the materials in the stock.
Due to the increasing complexity of the goods produced, wastes comprise rising amounts of
new materials, many of them being composed of mixtures that cannot be taken apart by
physical methods. (Dara, O & Catherine, K 1996)
The long-lived stock needs to be protected from degradation by microorganisms, ultraviolet
light, temperature, weathering, erosion, etc. Thus, it contains more hazardous substances
(heavy metals and persistent organic materials as stabilizers and additives) than the short-
lived consumer products that are recycled today (packaging materials, newsprint, and glass).
Therefore, in the future a large amount of hazardous substances will have to be removed from
the wastes of the long-lived stock if materials of the stock are to be recycled safely.

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CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSIONS
I. MFA has been proven as an effective tool for characterizing all of the inputs, outputs, and
internal material cycling of a defined system.
II. The major source of energy savings from glass recycling is through increased use of cullet
in the manufacture of glass.
III. A combination of recycling of glass with incineration of the residual waste stream is, in
terms of energy consumption, the more favorable waste management option. .
MFA has the capacity to characterize the flow patterns of a material of interest on any
scale, so long as there is a fixed boundary that is defined by the user.

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REFERENCES

[1] Dara, O & Catherine, K. (1996). Industrial Ecology: A Critical Review. Retrieved date Jun
25, 2020 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/255598523

[2] Hauwa, I (2008). The need for waste management in the glass industries: A review.
Retrieved date Jun 25, 2020 http://www.academicjournals.org/SRE

[3] Eurostat. (2001). Economy-Wide Material Flow Accounts and Derived Indicators:
A Methodological Guide. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European
Communities, 92pp

[4] Vladimir, K Charles, B & Sonia, H (2005). Energy and material flow of waste-processing
operations. Retrieved date Jun 29, 2020 DOI: 10.1680/ensu.158.1.17.62483

[5] Paul, D, Vladimir, K, Charles, B & Souic, H (2005). Energy and material flow of waste-
processing operations. Retrieved date Jun 25, 2020DOI: 10.1680/ensu.158.1.17.62483

[6] Paul, B & Helmut, R (2005). Practical Handbook of Material Flow Analysis.pdf
[7] Wikipedia (2019) Anthropogenic Metabolism.

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