Substance Flow Analysis of arsenic in Taiwan

Arsenic and its compounds are widely applied in multiple industrial processes and products such as glasses, semiconductors and optoelectronics production, and wood preservatives. However, arsenic and its compounds have been characterized with both carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic toxicities. Therefore, flows of arsenic should be nalyzed because of their indispensability in a wide range of industrial processes. his study applied material flow analysis to investigate both the application of arsenic in human economic activities and the environmental release of arsenic due to human activities to build up the material flow network model of arsenic. The study also investigated the temporal pattern of arsenic usage, spatial distribution, and related industrial structure by using material flow analysis. Furthermore, the esults of material flow analysis were integrated with Input-Output Analysis method to link environmental burden with industrial structure. hrough the integrated analysis, current status of arsenic usage in Taiwan can be interpreted, and the input-output correlation of arsenic among industries can be further identified. ased on the results of material flow analysis, arsenic and its compounds are mainly applied in glasses, cement, lead acid batteries, semiconductors and optoelectronics production and wood preservatives industries in the anthroposphere. As for the environmental release, major eleasing hotspots are cements production, coal burning, oil and metal mineral refining processes. Multiple-year trend of arsenic flow were further dipcted to examine the industrial structural change in arsenic use. ccording to the results of input-output analysis, the sectors of non-metal mineral products, other metals, and electricity have greater arsenic use and environmental release per output value. As for amplification effect of environmental burdens from arsenic-containing ndustries, service industry revealed greater accumulation and amplification effects of environmental burdens than manufacturing and primary industries. The results also showed that the sectors of non-metal mineral products, other metals, electricity, and petroleum refining products have greater industrial linkages, including forward and ackward linkages. When industrial consumption was allocated into household consumption, housing, transportation, and service industries generated greatest arsenic use and environmental releases. Finally, omparing data of physical trade balance (PTB) of arsenic, regional input-output analysis and distribution of consumption patterns in different regions in Taiwan, high consumption regions (e. g. Taipei City, Taichung ity, and Kaohsiung City) were found to bear lower arsenic nvironmental releases, whereas some low consumption regions (e. g. Hualien County and Yunlin County) bear high environmental burden of arsenic due to industries with high arsenic intensity within these regions. The results demonstrated the environmental inequity among regions in Taiwan.