Advancing Sustainability Through Industrial Symbiosis: A Technoeconomic Approach Using Material Flow Cost Accounting and Cost–Benefit Analysis

Investigating the use of network analysis metrics to benchmark Industrial Symbiosis development

Industrial Symbiosis (IS) is a systemic and collaborative business approach to optimize cycles of material and energy by connecting the supply and demand of various industries. IS provides approaches for advanced circular/cascading systems, in which the energy and material flows are prolonged for multiple utilization within industrial systems in order to increase resource productivity and efficiency. This study aims to present the conceptual IT-supported IS tool and its corresponding prototype, developed for the identification of IS opportunities in IPs. This IS tool serves as an IS facilitating platform, providing transparency among market players and proposing potential cooperation partners according to selectable criteria (e.g. geographical radius, material properties, material quality, purchase quantity, delivery period). So this IS tool builds the technology-enabled environment for the processes of first screening of IS possibilities and initiation for further complex business-driven negotiations and agreements for long-term IS business relationships. The central core of the web application is the analysis and modelling of material and energy flows, which refer to the entire industrial park as well as to individual companies. Methods of Material Flow Analysis (MFA) and Material Flow Cost Accounting (MFCA) are used to identify possible input–output- and supply–demand matchings. The second central core of the web application is the identification of existing and potential cooperation partners for the development of IS networks. In order to achieve this, a combinatorial approach of Social Network Analysis (SNA) and a deposited geographical map are inserted, so that same suppliers and recycling/disposal companies can be detected.

Industrial symbiosis is a collaboration of several industries to share their necessities such material, energy, technology as well as waste management. As a part of industrial ecology, in principle, this system attempts to emulate ecosystem where waste of an organism is being used by another organism, therefore there is no waste in the nature. This system becomes an effort to optimize resources (material and energy) as well as minimize waste. Considerable, in a symbiosis incure material and energy flows among industries. Material and energy in an industry are known as cost carriers, thus flow analysis in this system can be conducted in perspective of material, energy and cost, or called as material flow cost accounting (MFCA) that is an economic and ecological appraisal approach. Previous researches shown that MFCA implementation could be used to evaluate an industry’s environmental-related efficiency as well as in planning, business control and decision making. Moreover, the MFCA has been extended to assess environmental performance of SMEs Cluster or industrial symbiosis in SMEs Cluster, even to make preliminary design of an industrial symbiosis base on a major industry. This paper describes the use of MFCA to asses performance of SMEs industrial symbiosis and to improve the performance.

Current industrial symbiosis (IS) research focuses to a large extent on either (1) how likely different factors and conditions are to lead to the development of IS exchanges, (2) barriers to IS or (3) on network theories. There is less focus on how to realize actual exchanges between companies. The purpose of this paper is thus to operationalize current theories and knowledge of such IS barriers in order to provide a guideline on realization of IS projects and hereby make the knowledge of the scientific community applicable in the everyday work of companies. The findings of previous IS research are combined with both research on two companies currently in the process of establishing an IS exchange, as well as practitioners working with facilitation of such exchanges. Lastly, the findings and research are combined to determine what should be the content of a guideline on IS, so that it provides motivated companies with knowledge on potential barriers and opportunities in a way that is directly applicable to their everyday work. The study shows that important barriers for realizing IS-exchanges that can be influenced by companies are mainly related to a lack of resources in the form of money, time, and knowledge, technical issues and collaborative issues. This leads to the recommendation that the contents of a guideline should address information about the concept and benefits of IS, local facilitation programs, if available, and what to be aware of, if there are no facilitation programs or if the companies decide not to take advantage of them.

Evaluation of promoting industrial symbiosis in a chemical industrial park: A case of Midong

Insight into industrial symbiosis and carbon metabolism from the evolution of iron and steel industrial network

Industrial Symbiosis (IS) is a systematic and collective (business) approach to optimizing the use of materials and energy among cross-sectoral industries in order to initiate and exhaust extended cascading systems; it is associated with (synergistic) environmental, technical, social, and economic benefits. For monitoring and controlling the development and progress of an IS system, an indicator system must be set up to standardize and assess the IS (sustainability) performance. This study aims to present a quantitative indicator system to enable the tracking of set sustainability targets of an IS system in Industrial Parks (IPs) for goal-directed IS management. The presented guiding framework encourages IP members in IS systems to set sustainability objectives and to evaluate and track their performance over time with a quantitative indicator system. In particular, established and (partly) internationally standardized methods—such as Material Flow Analysis (MFA), Material Flow Cost Accounting (MFCA), Social Network Analysis (SNA), and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)—are used in order to place the indicator system on a solid and robust foundation and to adequately meet the multi-faceted sustainability perspectives in the form of a combinatorial application for deriving suitable quantitative indicators for all three (environmental, economic, social) dimensions of sustainability. The indicator system, once embedded in an Information Technology (IT)-supported IS tool, contributes crucially to the technology-enabled environment of IS systems, driving sustainability trajectories.

The implementation of Industrial Symbiosis and Energy Efficiency is linked to the ongoing technological development. New technologies can lead to an increased up-take of these concepts, which affect all areas of process industries and involve the whole workforce. The present paper describes part of the work developed in the early stage of a current Erasmus+ project entitled “Skills Alliance for Industrial Symbiosis: A Cross-sectoral Blueprint for a Sustainable Process Industry (SPIRE-SAIS)”. Such project aims at developing an industry-driven and proactive skills strategy to assist the implementation and exploitation of Industrial Symbiosis and Energy Efficiency across the energy-intensive industrial sectors, which are represented by the association of Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency (SPIRE). The main aspects of the current state of implementation of Industrial Symbiosis and Energy Efficiency in European process industries are analyzed. In addition, upcoming techniques and developments are taken into account for the main considered sectors, e.g., Iron and Steel, Chemical, Non-ferrous Metals, Mineral, Water, Ceramics, and Cement. Achieved results on implementation of technologies and practices based on Industrial Symbiosis and Energy Efficiency, as well as new challenges coming from their accomplishments are considered. Companies’ perceptions on future implementation of Industrial Symbiosis and Energy Efficiency are explored, together with possible barriers resulting in implementation practices and expected solutions to satisfy related ongoing and future skill demands.

The influence of policy on industrial symbiosis from the Firm's perspective: A framework

Achieving carbon emission reduction through industrial & urban symbiosis: A case of Kawasaki

In light of advancements in information technology, economic innovation and changing demands for environmental information, information systems are of great importance as it is the basic fundament for a broader agenda of environmental management and sustainable development within and between companies. In the field of information systems, the full potentials of synergies between environmental management and information systems, as well as of Industrial Symbiosis (IS) and the method Material Flow Cost Accounting (MFCA) have not yet been realized to the possible extent. Previous research has shown that significant environmental and economic benefits have been achieved by implementing and applying MFCA. Additionally, it offers great potential by applying it beyond its original scope and purpose, especially in IS. This paper reveals various impulses for Environmental Management Information Systems (EMIS) by the extended fields of application of the method MFCA in the context of IS, proposing a preliminary concept for an IT-supported IS tool for the identification and assessment of IS opportunities based on a conducted systematic literature review. By incorporating a variety of environmental management tools and techniques such as material flow accounting (MFA) and MFCA, EMIS can be expanded modularly adapting to the information needs of the company as well as their internal and external stakeholders, driving significantly the dynamics and speed of (further) development of existing and future approaches.

Industrial symbiosis (IS) is an ideal initiative for co-located industries to gain a competitive advantage through physical exchange of materials, energy, water, and by-products within a closed loop industrial system. IS has been created a considerable impact on the environmental and economic development through water savings, reduction of raw material extraction and carbon emissions reductions. As many developing countries are suffering from the environmental degradation due to industrial operations, initiating IS networks is vital to improve the business and environmental performance of industries. Since it is a novel concept, it is important to examine the insights from global IS projects to foresee the future challenges. Thus, in this study, PESTEL framework is employed to examine the impact of political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal external factors on global IS projects. The secondary data collected from nine global IS projects were analysed using PESTEL analysis. The analysis clearly describes the several facets that could influence on industries deploying the IS networks, such as the pressure made by government, external parties, collective cost and environmental benefits, infrastructure sharing, social benefits, and influence made by laws and regulations. Accordingly, a PESTEL framework is developed, which provides a firm base to foresee the possible future changes, challenges and opportunities that can be effectively considered in strategic business decisions for deploying IS networks in Sri Lanka.

The increase of industrial symbiosis (IS) activities around the world has strongly contributed to promote awareness among companies on the benefits of this business model and, consequently, their interest to apply/incorporate dedicated IS actions in their activities. In most cases, companies assume self-learning and ongoing approaches for the adaption of synergies, ignoring some fundamental aspects as the full spectrum of considerations regarding these processes. Unexpected barriers frequently appear during the implementation process and become hardly overcome due to incomplete systematic approaches and the lack of information. In this context, it is important to promote effective and sequential guidance procedures regarding IS implementation processes to support companies in their transition to full IS processes implementation. This paper aims to advance the synergy implementation emerging process, through the identification, promotion, and definition of the core steps to be considered in an IS implementation process. This study is based on a comprehensive perspective for the definition of contents to be considered in a step-by-step guideline that includes the different theoretical, technical, and strategic approaches for large-scale IS promotion. The main outputs of this paper are a final set of independent and sequential information clusters, their associated contents identification process, and a comprehensive description of the systematic approach used to support companies in the implementation of their pre-identified stages. The guideline methodology proposed in this study is an important support tool for companies, practitioners, and agents intending to initiate IS synergies implementation and also a strong contribution to the development of complementary guidance activities regarding IS implementation process.

Rethinking environmental benefit allocation in industrial symbiosis.

Material flow cost accounting (MFCA) for the circular economy: An empirical study of the triadic relationship between MFCA, environmental performance, and the economic performance of Japanese companies