An improved water footprint model of steel production concerning virtual water of personnel: The case of Iran.

The water footprint concept has been widely applied to the agriculture sector; however, little attention has been given to industrial products. In this paper, the concept of water footprint is applied to a large steel plant located in a semi-arid basin in the central part of Iran. The limitations of existing research, including the lack of any advanced approach for assessing the virtual water of personnel's food, working in the plant, and the lack of providing independent data sources, are addressed. An improved water footprint model of steel production is proposed based on the water footprint network methodology and the life cycle assessment framework. Ideas from food ecological footprint are applied to measure the water footprint of personnel's foods. The case of Iran demonstrates that the water footprint of steel production is considerably large compared with other industrial products. The results highlight the relevance of production line technology, energy efficiency measures, and human management on reducing the water footprint of steel products. The paper adds to a growing body of literature on environmentally friendly steel production.