Application of Material Flow Analysis (MFA) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for The Sustainability of The Hard Chrome Plating Process on Dies Products

Abstract

The increasing need for material durability in the manufacturing industry encourages the use of hard chrome plating processes for iron, metal, and steel components. However, this process produces significant environmental impacts due to high energy consumption, carbon emissions, and the use of hazardous compounds such as hexavalent chromium (Cr6+). This study aims to apply MFA and LCA to the hard chrome plating process at PT X. The MFA method is used to map the material flow, including raw material input and output in the form of liquid, solid waste and emissions. Meanwhile, LCA is carried out with a gate-to-gate approach to measure the environmental impact of energy consumption, carbon emissions, and toxic waste, using SimaPro 9 software and the ReCiPe 2016 method. The results showed that the total waste from the process reached 464.59 tons/year with carbon emissions of 5.6 kg CO2-eq/m2 of the layer. The largest impact comes from the use of Cr6+ solution and energy consumption in the process through chemical substitution. Energy and waste efficiency to improve dryness. Strategy recommendations are also provided to reduce environmental impacts and process desirability values ​​at PT X by using the 6R method, such as replacing Cr6+ with Cr3+, using biodiesel, and recirculating air and metals. The results of the 6R method showed that the Human Health impact score decreased from 0.3015 to 0.0681, Resources from 0.0016 to 0.00048 and carbon emissions from 5.6 to 3.0 kg CO2-eq/m2. However, the impact on the Ecosystem increased from 0.0061 to 0.0143 due to the use of biodiesel. This strategy supports energy efficiency and sustainable waste management.