Preamble

The material and heat balance for an operating process is an essential and routine plant record, in much the same way as income and expenditure record is a part of operating a business.

The material balance shows the weights and analysis of input and output materials and the calculated inputs and outputs of each of the important metal elements and compounds.

This accounting also serves as a check on plant data in that the various totals of inputs and outputs should be equal.

The material balance is the starting point for other calculations like energy requirements and cost calculations. From the energy calculations, one can design the energy flow path and identify energy losses to optimize energy consumption.