Impact of Industrial Symbiosis on Sustainability

Ashok Kumar Pandey,Ravi Prakash

doi:10.4236/ojee.2019.82006

Abstract

This paper quantitatively examines the impact of industrial symbiosis on sustainability. The quantitative approach, as developed by the authors, is based on the concept of Industrial Sustainability Index (ISI), which represents the socio-economic benefit of an industry per unit of its carbon emissions. The ISI was evaluated for a chemical production plant both in independent and symbiotic modes with different energy technologies. The ISI value for the chemical production plant in independent mode was found to be 6 units. This was three times more than in the case of the existing symbiotic mode with an adjacent pulp & paper industry having coal fired CHP plant. With the adoption of more energy efficient technologies e.g. natural gas based combined cycle power plant and solar PV electricity generation; the ISI in the modified symbiotic mode can be increased to 18 units. The results indicate that industrial symbiosis can help in sustainability improvement when the technologies used by the industries are energy efficient.

Highlights

The Industrial sector involves various types of resource consumption e.g. materials, energy and manpower with associated emissions and wastes
The Industrial Sustainability Index (ISI) was evaluated for a chemical production plant both in independent and symbiotic modes with different energy technologies
The results indicate that industrial symbiosis can help in sustainability improvement when the technologies used by the industries are energy efficient

Summary

Introduction

The Industrial sector involves various types of resource consumption e.g. materials, energy and manpower with associated emissions and wastes. Indian industrial sector approximately used 57.71% of the total national energy consumption for the year of 2017 [2]. Due to huge resource consumption and carbon emissions, the industrial sector needs to be examined for its sustainability in order to provide. Such sustainability assessments fall in the domain of industrial ecology (IE), which defines the industry as an artificial ecosystem that operates as a natural ecosystem with the interdependence of its various components [3] [4]

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Conclusion