Balance sheet for phosphorus in Malaysia by SFA

• Main Authors: Ghani, Latifah Abdul, Mahmood, Noor Zalina
• Format: Article
• Published: American-Eurasian Network for Scientific Information, Jordan 2011
• Subjects: QH301 Biology
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/10778/; http://www.ajbasweb.com/old/ajbas/2011/December-2011/3069-3079.pdf

Phosphorus (P) is essential element for plant growth, human and animal nutrition. However, is output has long been recognized as major causes of environmental problem, especially eutrouphication for freshwater. Application of Substance Flow Analysis (SFA) has been used to identify the amounts of P through inputs and outputs of different subsystem (pools) of Malaysia region. In this study, the stocks and flows of P in agriculture, household, industry (CITT), waste management and wastewater management were identified and quantified. The P flow and stock was calculated for the year of 2007. Total inputs to Malaysia region was estimated to be 879 kt P a -1, whereas total output was approximately 1151 kt P a -1. Out of this, it is widely recognized that the highest of P accumulates concentrates at industrial (CITT) subsystem is 286 kt P a -1 (38), followed by agricultural subsystem with 266 kt P a -1 (34). The results obtained reveals that imbalanced of industry trade on export and import of P, as well as input-output balance in Malaysia region is another significant area to be improved.