Energy efficiency in foundries can be improved through the implementation of material flow cost accounting (MFCA), Environmental & Sustainability Solutions executive director Seakle Godschalk said at the recent Metal Casting Conference.

MFCA is a tool for quantifying the flows and stocks of materials in processes or production lines in the physical and monetary units.

MFCA originated in Germany in the late 1990s and evolved from the ecobalance concept. It was formalised in ISO 14051: Environmental Management, and is being adopted in South Africa as a national standard.

ISO 14051 provides a general framework for MFCA, whereby flows and stocks of materials within a foundry or organisation are traced and quantified in physical units and the costs associated with the material flows are evaluated.

“The resulting information acts as a motivator for managers to seek opportunities to generate financial benefits and reduce environmental impacts,” explained Godschalk.

The tool is applicable to organisations that use materials and energy, regardless of their products, services, size, structure and location, as well as their existing management and accounting systems.

MFCA assists in developing an integrated approach to improve material and energy efficiency in the supply chain.

Foundries are inherently dirty facilities, use a variety of natural resources, are energy intensive and emit carbon emissions. The South African foundry industry faces material efficiency challenges and increasing energy prices that make the country’s foundries less competitive in the world market.

To prove the tool is useful, the South African National Foundry Technology Network (NFTN) conducted a pilot study in 2010 to assess the potential for the application of cleaner production and material efficiency in foundries.

The pilot study was done at five foundries and the main findings were that raw-material efficiency was core to overall efficiency and most raw-material losses were caused by design and inherent process limitations.

The study found that foundry managers were of the opinion that their operations were effective, as most of the material losses were recycled, and that their material and energy losses were not recognised.

“The results indicated a raw-material efficiency range from 15.5% to 69.5% and monetary losses, owing to raw-material inefficiency that excluded labour and equipment factors ranging from R6.1-million to R8.4-million in 2010,” he said.

Further losses included a 3% to 9.8% loss in raw material. Energy comprised about half the total losses caused by material inefficiency at foundries.