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Integrating resource criticality assessment into evaluation of cleaner production possibilities for increasing resource efficiency

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Abstract

A stable and secure source of raw materials is the key to any successful industrial activity. Resource criticality is often discussed in the context of the impact on the economies of certain geographic regions. However, the availability of required resources first of all concerns the competitiveness of industrial companies, especially in those countries which do not possess abundant natural resources. The Lithuanian economy relies heavily on imports since the country does not have abundant natural resources. The paper introduces resource criticality as an additional dimension for evaluating and prioritizing resource efficiency improvement options. Evaluation of resource criticality was integrated into the methodology for evaluation of Cleaner Production. Simple additive weighting (SAW) was used to solve the multi-criteria decision-making problem. The previous study on the natural resources that are imported to Lithuania revealed that metals are among the most important raw materials in terms of economic importance, supply, and environmental risks. Therefore, a typical metal processing company in Lithuania was selected for the detailed investigation of technological processes and Cleaner Production possibilities. The selected company processes about 3000 tons of various metals per year. The results of Process Material Flow Analysis show that most of the metal waste is generated during the metal plate cutting process (about 30.3 % of total metal consumption). Three resource efficiency improvement alternatives were evaluated and compared. The suggested decision support system was tested in order to decide on a definitive solution. The results reveal that evaluation of resource criticality in terms of geostrategic supply risk and economic importance can be used as an advantageous criterion to support the prioritization of Cleaner Production alternatives.

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Abbreviations

EI i :

Relative environmental indicator for input or output flow i

X i (t):

Amount of input or output flow i per year

P(t):

Production volume

IM i :

Economic importance of resource i

p i :

Annual expenses for resource i

TC:

Total annual costs of production for the company

SR i :

Geostrategic supply risk of resource i

WGI c :

Rescaled score of the World Governance Indicator of country c

a i,c :

Share % of the supply of resource i from origin country c

ρi,1 :

Share of pre-consumer recycled material (new scrap)

W plan :

Environmental effect

P :

Payback period

I :

Total project investments

S :

Savings

v(a n ):

Value function of simple additive weighting

w k :

Weight assigned to criterion k

v k (f(a n )):

One-dimensional value function

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Environmental Engineering, Kaunas University of Technology, Kaunas, Lithuania

    Milda Malinauskienė, Irina Kliopova, Milda Slavickaitė & Jurgis Kazimieras Staniškis

Authors
  1. Milda Malinauskienė
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  2. Irina Kliopova
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  3. Milda Slavickaitė
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  4. Jurgis Kazimieras Staniškis
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Correspondence to Milda Malinauskienė.

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Malinauskienė, M., Kliopova, I., Slavickaitė, M. et al. Integrating resource criticality assessment into evaluation of cleaner production possibilities for increasing resource efficiency. Clean Techn Environ Policy 18, 1333–1344 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-016-1091-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-016-1091-5

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