| The last century witnessed unprecedented economic growth and technological development throughout the world. Applications in science and engineering led to mass-produced automobiles, air flight for the masses, and deciphering the structure of DNA, among countless other advances that have improved the quality of human life immensely. Food, fuel, consumer goods, and other intermediate and final products are transported around the globe and are accessible to remote regions---sometimes in a matter of days. With increasing demands for high technology goods and high standards of living in developed and developing nations, which are dependent on high levels of energy and resource use, however, concerns have been raised regarding the sustainability of the status quo.;People are demanding sustainable products and sustainable development. Sustainable development commonly refers to development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (WECD, 1987), and should consider economic, environmental, and societal impacts. As the purveyor of goods to society, it is incumbent upon the manufacturing industry to evaluate and improve products and processes from a sustainability perspective.;Prior research has led to the development of process modeling and analysis methods mainly focused on productivity and cost improvement and optimization. Models of manufacturing processes can also be applied to improve environmental performance in terms of energy consumption, resource use, and related wastes and emissions. Such models can be used to supply data required to complete life cycle impact analysis or as a part of optimization strategies at the process or system level.;Models for predicting and improving environmental performance have been developed as a part of this dissertation for major processes in the manufacture of large steel components, namely electric arc furnace steelmaking, sand casting, and heat treatment operations. The development of the models is described and the models are then applied to several scenarios that demonstrate the potential for improving manufacturing environmental performance measures for the production of a large steel casting.;It is shown that variations in steelmaking material inputs are predicted to reduce electrical energy use by 10-20% for two different alloys. Sand casting modeling predicts metal waste to be reduced by nearly 6%, sand waste to be reduced by over 20%, and casting emissions to be reduced by nearly 30% when comparing two casting designs for the same product. Heat treatment modeling for a chain of heat treatment processes illustrates potential reductions in natural gas use of 15% and over 5% fewer emissions, including nitrogen and carbon dioxide, in addition to increased productivity. |
