Material flow analysis of metals based on the waste input-output model (WIO-MFA model): Application to material cycle of iron and steel

Material Flow Analysis (MFA) has been widely used to identify and trace the flow of materials and substances. Within the frame work of the Waste Input Output (WIO) model (Nakamura and Kondo, JIE, 2002), we have developed a new methodology of MFA, the Waste Input-Output Material Flow Analysis, reported elsewhere (WIO-MFA) (Nakamura and Nakajima, Materials Trans., 2005). In this study, the methodology is applied for the purpose of analyzing the material cycle of iron and steel in Japan. First, we discuss issues of data that we developed for estimating the WIO-MFA table with 395 sectors, and then proceed to the estimation of the metal composition of specific products. Our major concern is the composition of recycled Fe components in the products.