The world as a processing plant and the eco-techno-economic simulation of the metal cycles between factories and continents

摘要

Szekely~[1] recently advocated the exploitation of the synergy between the steel and other industries e.g. glass and cement with steel in order to minimize the overall environmental impact.Expanding this view to metallurgy in general,it becomes clear that there exists a web of interlinked processes.Therefore,the question arises as to the best route for producing a specific metal not only in view of technology and economics,but also ecology.This can arguable be done considering the world as a processing plant and the factories therein as unit operations,and simulating this scenario with plant simulation software.