Enhancing sustainable production by the combined use of material flow analysis and mathematical programming

Material and energy flow analysis (MEFA) is used by many companies for sustainability assessments of their production systems. MEFA generally leads to large and complex system models for which optimal operating conditions are hard to find manually. This article therefore presents an extension of MEFA towards mathematical programming that provides powerful methods for system optimization. A theoretic concept for this methodological integration is developed, illustrated by means of a simplified example and finally applied to a case study of an industrial waste treatment scenario. Technical feasibility is thus demonstrated. Moreover, the algebraic transformation of material flow models into mathematical programs reveals, on a conceptual level, the basic principles of an optimization-oriented MEFA.