Material Flow Analysis Methods

The purpose of this chapter is to systematically introduce the methods of material flow analysis, which mainly include substance flow analysis, life cycle assessment, input–output analysis, and environmental footprint. These methods are widely used in the field of environmental science and sustainable developmentSustainable development. By measuring and analyzing environmental indicators such as resource utilization, energy consumption, and waste emissions, they can reveal the environmental performance and sustainability of products or systems. In this chapter, we begin to introduce the definition and basic principles of these methods and discuss the background and characteristics. Subsequently, we summarize the development of these methods. Additionally, we elaborate the analytical framework of these methods and explain each step in detail. Lastly, in order to provide a clearer introduction to these methods, we present a specific example to illustrate the application of the methods. Here, we focus on the definition of system boundary in specific applications.