In pursuit of sustainability in manufacturing, physical input-output tables (PIOTs) are an important tool. PIOTs track the flow of materials through the economy. This provides detailed data that can be used to make sustainable and cost-effective decisions for materials and product life cycle design.
Shweta Singh, a Purdue University researcher, has developed a cloud-based platform aimed at mapping inter-industry dependence networks for materials and waste generation among manufacturers in sectors such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals and other industries tied to bio-based economies.
PIOTs provide a detailed mapping of inter-industrial dependence to meet a manufacturing target that can help determine economic and environmental outcomes for various manufacturing pathways based on material requirements.
“Unlike current technologies that use tiered data flow systems or time series approximations to fill data bandgaps, our new platform allows for dynamic changes in manufacturing network via mechanistic models developed as computer codes or simulation systems to update network structure for industrial interactions,” Singh said. “The goal of this technology is to assist manufacturers to track the materials flow and supply network demand to optimize the process and reduce overall waste, as well as assist in the decision-making process to pick the most sustainable and resilient technology in any supplier network.”
Singh said the algorithms in this bottom-up modular model help map resource flows with enhanced accuracy and reliability as data can be more easily reconciled based on mechanistic models through this approach. She added that the platform offers a collaborative, cloud-based environment that may have applications for pharmaceutical, food and chemical processing industries.
Singh leads Purdue’s Sustainable Industrial Natural Coupled Systems (SINCS) Group. The mission of the SINCS group is to enable sustainable growth of bio-based economies and industries along with ensuring local and global ecological sustainability.
The work is supported by the National Science Foundation’s Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport System. This research was supported by the National Science Foundation.
Singh and her team worked with the Purdue Research Foundation and Office of Technology Commercialization to patent the technology. The innovators are looking for partners to continue developing and commercializing their platform technology for various industries.