The importance of resource efficiency within industry has gained significant traction in recent years, and is now firmly established as an effective means of cost reduction for manufacturing companies of all sizes. This focus has been driven by a number of factors including the rising cost of energy and raw materials, market volatility, declines in resource availability/accessibility, and external regulation pressures. The ability to simultaneously reduce processing costs and reduce environmental impact has allowed resource efficiency to act as key bridge between business operators and environmental policymakers. From an economic and environmental perspective, it’s a win-win situation.
Why resource efficiency is important but still poorly established
Despite a wider consensus on why resource efficiency is important, effective methods of optimisation are still poorly established. There are a number of analytical process techniques which are suitable for use in the chemical industry (including material flow networks, flow sheet simulation, material-flow cost accounting, heat integration and life-cycle analysis); however the isolated use of any of these presents significant drawbacks. Effective action requires not only process scalability and full supply-chain analysis, but also method integration combining aspects of process and chemical engineering, operations research, environmental assessment and managerial accounting. Such systematic approaches are currently rare, primarily due to a lack of platforms available to do so.
InReff — tackling both cost reduction and carbon emissions within the chemical industry
Recognition of this need for more established integrative methods was the basis for the design of InReff (Integrated Resource Efficiency Analysis for Reducing Climate Impacts in the Chemical Industry)—an interdisciplinary project created and partly funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), featuring the collaboration of three chemical industry producers, an IT software-based company, and two academic partners based in thermal and chemical engineering. The overall aim of InReff is to develop an integrated IT-based support platform which companies (primarily aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises; SMEs) can utilise to optimise resource efficiency — tackling both cost reduction and carbon emissions within the chemical industry.
How to capture the complexity of chemical processes
Traditional resource efficiency enhancement methods typically involve the use of material and energy flow analysis (MEFA). In simple terms, this involves an average measurement of material and energy inputs and outputs of a system over a given period of time; calculating the balance of inputs and outputs in each process allows a business to identify their largest waste streams. MEFA methods prove effective for broad, high-level identification of whole-process inefficiencies. However, the black box approach is insufficient at capturing the complexity of chemical processes including non-linear transitions, material loops and recycling, and design-level thermodynamic specifications. The integration of higher resolution, process specific causalities to coarse-grained MEFA methods forms the basis of the InReff integrative techniques.
- Products & Solutions (99)
- Trends & Technology (99)
- News & Updates (68)
- Challenges (67)
- Sustainability (48)
- life cycle assessment (44)
- Compliance (29)
- Energy efficiency (29)
- carbon footprint (23)
- circular economy (23)
- echa (21)
- Resource efficiency (19)
- SCIP (19)
- LCA (18)
- material efficiency (18)
- Umberto (17)
- Climate Change (16)
- Material flow cost accounting (15)
- material flow analysis (12)
- Renewable energy (11)
- Process Optimization (10)
- environmental product declaration (9)
- Ecodesign (8)
- Efficiency (8)
- Transparency (8)
- Trends (8)
- life cycle inventory (8)
- Customer driven-sustainability (7)
- Eco label (7)
- Ecological footprint (7)
- Ipoint suite (7)
- Lca databases (7)
- Supply chain (7)
- Survey (7)
- Sustainable development (7)
- automotive (7)
- blockchain (7)
- Reach (6)
- Renewable heat (6)
- research (6)
- China (5)
- Corporate carbon footprint (5)
- Digitalization (5)
- Industrial ecology (5)
- Materialflusskostenrechnung (5)
- carbon footprinting (5)
- carbon neutrality (5)
- digital product passport (5)
- waste management (5)
- Climate protection (4)
- Cobalt reporting (4)
- Dematerialization (4)
- EPD (4)
- GHG reduction (4)
- Green construction (4)
- OECD (4)
- Okobilanzierung (4)
- Social metabolism (4)
- Sustainable transport (4)
- carbon neutral (4)
- construction industry (4)
- germany (4)
- Big Data (3)
- Brexit (3)
- Chemical industry (3)
- Conflict minerals (3)
- Corporate Social Responsibility (3)
- Database (3)
- Due diligence (3)
- E-mobility (3)
- Environmental product declarations (3)
- Eutrophication (3)
- IFEU (3)
- ISO 50001 (3)
- Industrial sector (3)
- Innovation (3)
- Leed (3)
- Life cycle management (3)
- Medical device (3)
- Photovoltaics (3)
- Ressourceneffizienz (3)
- Social media (3)
- building sector (3)
- greenhouse gas inventory (3)
- svhc (3)
- transport sector (3)
- water footprint (3)
- 20-20-20 Objectives (2)
- 3D printing (2)
- BASF (2)
- Christian-Doppler-Laboratory (2)
- Competence center (2)
- Conflict minerals reporting (2)
- Cycling (2)
- E-car (2)
- Electric car (2)
- Emerging economies (2)
- Environmental impact (2)
- Environmental management (2)
- Environmental performance (2)
- Environmental sustainability index (2)
- European commission (2)
- Fish (2)
- Gate to gate (2)
- Global warming (2)
- Governance (2)
- Green business 2 (2)
- Green investment (2)
- Human rights (2)
- ISO-14051 (2)
- Inatba (2)
- Integrated reporting (2)
- Integrative approach (2)
- Knowledge economy (2)
- LCA data from suppliers (2)
- Life cycle thinking (2)
- MFA (2)
- Manufacturing industry (2)
- Okobilanz (2)
- Renewable Resources (2)
- Sdgs (2)
- Software (2)
- Steady state economy (2)
- Sustainable business (2)
- Sustainable lifestyle (2)
- UK REACH (2)
- Umberto for carbon footprint (2)
- Umweltbundesamt (2)
- Wastewater treatment (2)
- Water management (2)
- agriculture (2)
- best practice (2)
- biodiversity (2)
- biomass (2)
- building standards (2)
- carbon emissions (2)
- carbon intensity (2)
- carbon relocation (2)
- collaborative consumption (2)
- consistency (2)
- corporate material flow modeling (2)
- cost savings (2)
- developing world (2)
- eLCAr (2)
- energiewende (2)
- energy (2)
- esankey (2)
- food industry (2)
- green jobs (2)
- holistic approach (2)
- milk (2)
- modern slavery (2)
- okobilanzdaten (2)
- productivity (2)
- resilience (2)
- sankey diagram (2)
- seafood (2)
- transport (2)
- 2012 (1)
- 3 scopes (1)
- ACHEMA (1)
- AI (1)
- Abfallwirtschaft (1)
- Ankara (1)
- B2B (1)
- BMBF (1)
- BREEAM (1)
- Bachelor program (1)
- Bauwesen (1)
- Brazil (1)
- CFC (1)
- CO2-Fußabdruck (1)
- Carbon Accounting (1)
- Central america (1)
- Circular Economy Action Plan (1)
- Club of Rome (1)
- Co2 Pricing (1)
- Commercial Sector (1)
- Comparative life cycle assessment (1)
- Compliance agent (1)
- Composite indicator (1)
- Construction (1)
- Consumer goods (1)
- Consumption (1)
- Country Attractiveness (1)
- Creative sustainability (1)
- Critique of the green economy (1)
- Csr report (1)
- Dairy (1)
- Dashboard of sustainability (1)
- Data (1)
- Data collection (1)
- Davos (1)
- Decarbonization (1)
- Denmark (1)
- Design (1)
- Deutschland (1)
- Developing countries (1)
- Dienstleistungen (1)
- Digital twin (1)
- Distributed manufacturing (1)
- Divestment (1)
- Domestic fuel consumption (1)
- Domestic sector (1)
- Duty of care (1)
- Earth Sciences (1)
- Earth summit (1)
- Ecolabelling (1)
- Ecologic footprint (1)
- Ecological resilience (1)
- Education (1)
- Efficiency measures (1)
- Effizienzfabrik (1)
- Ehs (1)
- Emission relocation (1)
- Ems (1)
- Energieeffizienz (1)
- Energy Intensity by Sector (1)
- Energy contracting (1)
- Energy efficiency directive (1)
- Energy transition (1)
- Engineering excellence (1)
- Enhipro (1)
- Environment (1)
- Environmental Contracting (1)
- Environmental Engineering (1)
- Environmental balance (1)
- Environmental capital (1)
- Environmental labeling (1)
- Environmental management accounting (1)
- Environmental profit and loss statement (1)
- Environmental standard (1)
- Environmentally Weighed Material Consumption (1)
- European Comission (1)
- European Green Cars Initiative (1)
- Evaleau (1)
- Events (1)
- External effects (1)
- Fifa (1)
- Fishery (1)
- Fmd (1)
- Food footprint (1)
- Food production (1)
- Ford (1)
- Forest ecosystems (1)
- France (1)
- Free trade (1)
- Freighter travel (1)
- Full cost accounting (1)
- GHG mitigation (1)
- Ghg reduction goals (1)
- Global compact (1)
- Global justice (1)
- Global warming potential (1)
- Green building (1)
- Green business models (1)
- Green consumers (1)
- Green deal (1)
- Green new deal (1)
- Greenwash (1)
- HVAC (1)
- Happy life years (1)
- Harmonization (1)
- Harze (1)
- Hdpe (1)
- Human development index (1)
- Human trafficking (1)
- ILCD Handbook (1)
- IPCA (1)
- IPCC (1)
- ISO 14015 (1)
- ISO 14031 (1)
- ISO 14064 (1)
- ISO 14067 (1)
- ISO-14000 (1)
- ISO-14008 (1)
- ISO-14025 (1)
- ISO-14046 (1)
- Impact category (1)
- Incentive (1)
- Incentive based pay (1)
- Incineration (1)
- India (1)
- Industry-4-0 (1)
- Information design (1)
- Input output (1)
- Input output databases (1)
- Input output economics (1)
- Inreff (1)
- Intellectual property (1)
- Internalization of externalities (1)
- International standards (1)
- Interplant collaboration (1)
- Iso 14001 (1)
- Jevons paradox (1)
- Klimawandel (1)
- Konsumguter (1)
- Kuznets curve (1)
- LIFE AskREACH (1)
- Lieferkettengesetz (1)
- Life cycle analysis (1)
- Life cycle perspective (1)
- Life style (1)
- Linkedin (1)
- Living planet report (1)
- Long-Term Pay (1)
- Material consumption (1)
- Material flow modeling (1)
- Material flowcosts (1)
- Material footprint (1)
- Medical device regulation (1)
- Metal industry (1)
- Mexico (1)
- Monetize external costs (1)
- Montreal Protocol (1)
- Municipal solid waste (1)
- Natural Cost Accounting (1)
- Nature conservation (1)
- Nitrate pollution (1)
- Nutrients balance (1)
- Nutrients cycle (1)
- OECD Environment Policy Committee (1)
- Okobilanzdatenbanken (1)
- Okolabelling (1)
- Okologischer fusabdruck (1)
- Online Resource Efficiency Platform OREP (1)
- Operational efficiency (1)
- Outsourcing (1)
- PET (1)
- Pas (1)
- Pcf (1)
- Philippines (1)
- Pilot program (1)
- Plastic industry (1)
- Polio (1)
- Pollution haven hypothesis (1)
- Process engineering (1)
- Process improvement (1)
- Process system engineering (1)
- Product management (1)
- Product stewardship (1)
- Product sustainability (1)
- Production based CO2 Productivity (1)
- Production planning (1)
- Produktlebensdauer (1)
- Prop 65 (1)
- Protection proprietary data (1)
- Qatar (1)
- Quality (1)
- Quality journalism (1)
- Rapid prototyping (1)
- Refuse derived fuel plant (1)
- Renewable energy in manufacturing (1)
- Renewable methane (1)
- Renewable process heat (1)
- Renewable raw material (1)
- Resource flows (1)
- Retailer (1)
- Rio20 summit (1)
- Rolf Dobelli (1)
- Sap (1)
- Sfdr (1)
- Shopping rage (1)
- Smart grid (1)
- Social ecological resilience (1)
- Solar thermal energy (1)
- Sorgfaltspflichtengesetz (1)
- South africa (1)
- Soy milk (1)
- Stakeholder management (1)
- Supermarket chain (1)
- Sustainability indicators (1)
- Sustainability performance (1)
- Sustainability strategy (1)
- Sustainable architecture (1)
- Sustainable construction (1)
- Sustainable living (1)
- Sustainable process index (1)
- Sustainable resins (1)
- Sustainable resource management (1)
- Sydney (1)
- System analysis (1)
- Telecommunications (1)
- Tobias viere (1)
- Total material consumption (1)
- Treibhauspotenzial (1)
- Turkey (1)
- UK CA (1)
- University (1)
- Upcycling (1)
- VDMA (1)
- Vertical cooperation (1)
- Waste prevention (1)
- Water abstraction rate (1)
- Water extraction (1)
- Wind power (1)
- World cup (1)
- World vegan day (1)
- Yet (1)
- Zero carbon city (1)
- Zero emission mobility (1)
- academia (1)
- acidification (1)
- air quality (1)
- aluminum (1)
- amazon (1)
- antarctic ozone hole (1)
- apocalypse (1)
- apple (1)
- assessment (1)
- atmospheric carbon measurement (1)
- background database (1)
- battery change station (1)
- bike sharing (1)
- bio capacity (1)
- bio-economy (1)
- biocapacity (1)
- biological gas treatment (1)
- blogs (1)
- books (1)
- business opportunity (1)
- car (1)
- carbon free city (1)
- carbon leakage (1)
- carbon management (1)
- carbon management 2 (1)
- carbon reduction (1)
- carbon tax (1)
- carbon-neutral travel (1)
- cargo shipping (1)
- carton (1)
- certification (1)
- change (1)
- climate impact (1)
- climate neutral (1)
- co2 fusabdruck (1)
- cogeneration (1)
- combined reporting (1)
- commons (1)
- cooperation along product (1)
- cradle to cradle (1)
- de-growth economy (1)
- digital battery passport (1)
- ecarus (1)
- eco design (1)
- ecoinvent (1)
- ecological tax reform (1)
- ecosystem disturbance (1)
- efficiency investment (1)
- efficient construction (1)
- energy efficiency in production (1)
- energy sources (1)
- environmental accounting (1)
- environmental impact data (1)
- environmental management system (1)
- environmental performance indicator (1)
- environmental technology verification (1)
- environmentally friendly raw materials (1)
- esg (1)
- fashion (1)
- food loss (1)
- food sector (1)
- geopolymer cement (1)
- green Christmas (1)
- green buildings (1)
- green paradox (1)
- green production (1)
- greenhouse (1)
- handprinting (1)
- holistic sustainability (1)
- lca recommendations (1)
- lca-software (1)
- lcia (1)
- lifecycle (1)
- logitech (1)
- management models (1)
- material flow balance (1)
- material losses (1)
- material-flow-accounts (1)
- media (1)
- modeling (1)
- nuclear phase out (1)
- policy instruments (1)
- politics (1)
- post oil age (1)
- product environmental footprint (1)
- production circle (1)
- ressource efficiency analysis (1)
- saving potentials (1)
- scope 3 (1)
- season's greetings (1)
- smart meter (1)
- social cost accounting (1)
- stranded assets (1)
- sustainability control (1)
- sustainability projects (1)
- sustainable products (1)
- tajikistan (1)
- textile industry (1)
- textile refinement (1)
- toyota (1)
- trade (1)
- transport emissions (1)
- uk-rohs (1)
- umweltbilanz (1)
- urban carbon emissions (1)
- velib (1)
- volvo (1)
- waste air treatment (1)
- waste hierarchy (1)
- wastewater (1)
- water stress (1)
- wind gas (1)
- world statistics day (1)
- zero growth (1)
- Ökologischer Fußabdruck (1)