Elementary and intermediate flows

Definitions

The standard definitions of elementary and intermediate flows distinguish the two catalog types. Cumulative LCI queries concern elementary flows. A dataset's reference product corresponds to an intermediate flow.

The reference product flow identifies the dataset's reference product. See activities and reference products for the relationship between activities, datasets and products. Flow catalogs provide metadata such as names, units and classifications. Catalog entries do not specify a process's exchange amounts.

Fields

See the column definitions for Intermediate Exchanges and Elementary Exchanges.

Catalog scope

Use the intermediate flow catalog to find flows corresponding to public reference products. Use the elementary flow catalog to find resource or emission flows in the corresponding release inputs. The scope of both worksheets is defined in Database Overview.

The catalog's public scope differs from an authorized cumulative LCI query, which returns elementary flow quantities.