ABSTRACT

This chapter presents a preliminary methodology for assessing the effectiveness of recovery systems, and employs an analogy to chemical processing plants and the underlying principles for the optimal operation of such plants. The effectiveness of industrial ecology strategies, however, relies strictly on policy formulation and policy instruments. Unless supported by effective policy instruments, it may in practice be difficult to establish effective operating regimes for recovery systems. A plant and a recovery system consist of integrated modules with stocks or holdups within each module, and in both systems these modules are interconnected via material and energy flows. Every module may be portrayed as a process driven forward by input of mass and energy, resulting in output of desired and unwanted products. The analogy between a processing plant and a recovery system, however, also reveals some differences.