Dynamical Properties Of Product Life Cycles: Implications To The Design And Operation Of Industrial Processes

Life cycle assessment (LCA) offers a systematic approach in identifying the potential in reducing the environmental burden throughout the product life cycle. Generally, it deals with the steady state aspect of material and/or energy balances under the recycle structure. In this work, the dynamic behavior of the product life cycles is studied. First, the well-known block diagram analysis is incorporated in the LCA, and the implications of recycling to process dynamics are explored. The result indicates that, as a result of the positive feedback from material recycling, the overall production dynamics becomes much slower.