Evaluating the economic viability of a material recovery system: the case of cathode ray tube glass.
This paper presents an analysis of the material recovery system for leaded glass from cathode ray tubes (CRTs) using a dynamic material flow analysis. In particular, the global mass flow of primary and secondary CRT glass and the theoretical capacities for using secondary CRT glass to make new CRT glass are analyzed. The global mass flow analysis indicates that the amount of new glass required is decreasing, but is much greater than the amount of secondary glass collected, which is increasing. The comparison of the ratio of secondary glass collected to the amount of new glass required from the mass flow analysis indicates that the material recovery system is sustainable for the foreseeable future. However, a prediction of the time at which the market for secondary glass will collapse due to excess capacity is not possible at the moment due to several sources of uncertainty.
Gregory
Jeremy R
JR
Materials Systems Laboratory, Engineering Systems Division, and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. jgregory@mit.edu
Nadeau
Marie-Claude
MC
Kirchain
Randolph E
RE
D055984:Cathode Ray Tube; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics*; D017743:Equipment Reuse / Q000191:economics*; D005898:Glass; D008962:Models, Theoretical