Abstract
Industrial Symbiosis (IS) is a means for sustainable cluster development. The first consideration for implementing IS in a cluster is to identify technical opportunities for exchanging waste material and or energy. However, the definition and methods for assessing the technical potential of IS are not elaborated in the literature. This research proposes a method to evaluate IS potential that considers different system boundaries. The method allows for explicitly reflecting current and expected developments at plant and cluster level. The suggested method was applied to the Persian Gulf Mining and Metals Special Economic Zone (PGSEZ) in Iran. The case study shows that expanding the system boundaries to include the waste flows inside steelmaking and direct reduction plants could result in an 8% increase in available waste heat. Heat recovery possibilities outside the cluster boundaries offered 118 MW cooling plus 368 MW heating potential compared to 158 MW demand for electricity in the cluster. Furthermore, less than 20% of generated by-products could currently be reused in the cluster, while theoretically all by-products could be utilized today in other industries such as cement and ceramic. These findings support the use of IS as a way to open new perspectives for EIC development policies.
Highlights
Clustering is one of the main industrialization patterns in today’s economies (Porter, 1998)
We looked for academic papers that included Industrial Symbiosis and Iran in the title, abstract, or keywords resulted in only one article in which Vahidi et al (2018) listed available solid wastes for exchange in Alborz industrial state through field study
We looked for the sinks in the literature, regardless of whether the consumer already exists in the Emerging Industrial Clusters (EICs)
Summary
Clustering is one of the main industrialization patterns in today’s economies (Porter, 1998). Material and energy exchanges take place between unit operations, plants, and companies It is not clear in the literature which levels are considered when assessing potentials of IS. The overall storyline of the algorithm is remarkable and is partly followed in this research As they have obtained flow data from available databases, it is not clear how someone can investigate industrial units from scratch to determine IS potential. The paper assesses the impact of plant-level details and cluster development approach on IS potential in EICs. The method is applied in the context of Iron and steel industry on the case of Persian Gulf Mining and Metals Special Economic Zone, Iran.
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