title: Forging the anthropogenic iron cycle.
abstract: Metallurgical iron cycles are characterized for four anthropogenic life stages: production, fabrication and manufacturing, use, and waste management and recycling. This analysis is conducted for year 2000 and at three spatial levels: 68 countries and territories, nine world regions, and the planet. Findings include the following: (1) contemporary iron cycles are basically open and substantially dependent on environmental sources and sinks; (2) Asia leads the world regions in iron production and use; Oceania, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and the Commonwealth of Independent States present a highly production-biased iron cycle; (3) purchased scrap contributes a quarter of the global iron and steel production; (4) iron exiting use is three times less than that entering use; (5) about 45% of global iron entering use is devoted to construction, 24% is devoted to transport equipment, and 20% goes to industrial machinery; (6) with respect to international trade of iron ore, iron and steel products, and scrap, 54 out of the 68 countries are net iron importers, while only 14 are net exporters; (7) global iron discharges in tailings, slag, and landfill approximate one-third of the iron mined. Overall, these results provide a foundation for studies of iron-related resource policy, industrial development, and waste and environmental management.
authors: Center for Industrial Ecology, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. t.wang@yale.edu
authors: Tao
authors: T
authors: Wang
authors: Daniel B
authors: DB
authors: Müller
authors: T E
authors: TE
authors: Graedel
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D007501:Iron / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D007501:Iron