Eco-industrial Parks Research Articles

Spatial and temporal evolution of synergizing the reduction of pollution and carbon emissions and examination on comprehensive pilot effects–evidence from the national eco-industrial demonstration parks in China

Synergistic governance for reducing pollution and carbon emissions can generate savings in policy costs and respond to ecological and environmental change pressures effectively. For exploring the temporal-spatial evolution of pollution and carbon reduction, and probing the synergistic of promoting pollution and carbon reduction at the urban level, this study utilizes panel data from 275 Chinese cities between 2006 and 2019, we examine the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics of pollution and carbon reduction, the synergistic effects and spatial spillover effects of national eco-industrial demonstration parks (NEDP) on pollution and carbon reduction. And we do this work by using spatial analysis tools such as spatial autocorrelation, local cold-hot spot analysis, kernel density analysis, standard deviation ellipses, as well as multi-period double difference and spatial double difference models. We find that: (1) Carbon dioxide emissions and sulfur dioxide emissions display a geographical clustering trend during the study period, with high-density emission areas spreading from coastal regions to central and western ones. The center of emissions is located in Henan Province and shifting towards the northwest of China. (2) The development of NEDP in cities may greatly cut carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide emissions. (3) National eco-industrial demonstration parks may significantly increase the synergistic impact of pollution and carbon reduction in the neighboring cities due to their significant spatial spillover effect. To enhance the synergistic effect of pollution and carbon reduction in the future, we need actively explore the construction of NEDP, and lay out these parks based on the level of resource endowment, industrial structure, and economic development.

Inter-firm exchanges, distributed renewable energy generation, and battery energy storage system integration via microgrids for energy symbiosis

Policymakers and entrepreneurs are aware that reducing energy waste and underutilization are mandatory to actually foster the green transition. Nevertheless, small–medium enterprises usually meet technical and overwhelming financial constraints. They are unable to make profits, become less energy-sensitive, and cut down on their emissions simultaneously. Industrial districts are a source of both wealth and GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions. Eco-industrial parks (EIPs) supply a suitable strategy to ease symbiotic exchanges among various organizations. Surplus electricity from larger, energy-autonomous companies will be a new input for more vulnerable ones. This type of district is challenging, and it can provide an unexplored opportunity to cooperate, invest in renewable energy sources, and form alliances. To better exploit underutilized energy in industrial districts, it is essential to explore energy symbiosis (ES), i.e., an energy-based perspective of industrial symbiosis. This study presents an original mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) optimization model that aims to identify possible inter-firm exchanges and introduce microgrid-based support for distributed renewable-energy generators (DREGs) and battery energy storage systems (BESS) over a one-year simulation period. The model simultaneously targets economic and ecological objectives. The paper compares two case studies, one with battery support and one without. The optimization model was tested using a case study and found to improve energy efficiency (with a 43.46% saving in energy costs) and reduce greenhouse gas emissions (with an 84.59% reduction in GHG) by facilitating symbiotic exchanges among SMEs in industrial districts. The inclusion of BESS support further enhanced the model's ability to utilize green and recovered energy. These findings have implications for policymakers, entrepreneurs, and SMEs seeking to transition to more sustainable energy practices. Future work could explore the applicability of the MILP optimization model in other contexts and the potential for scaling up the model to larger industrial districts.

Beyond compliance: public voluntary standards and their effect on state institutional capacity in Vietnam

ABSTRACT Public certification standards have received limited scholarly attention, especially the institutional capacity of public authorities that develop and implement these standards to address complex challenges, such as the promotion of industrial ecology and industrial symbiosis for enhancing resource use efficiency. This research uses an institutional capacity assessment framework to examine the ways in which a voluntary public standard for certifying eco-industrial parks affected the Vietnamese state’s capacity to coordinate and implement industrial ecology. The article draws upon the interviews and a review of official documentation to show that the benefits of public standards extend beyond compliance to the enhancement of state capacities to coordinate complex policy domains such as industrial ecology. The findings contribute to providing a basis to redesign standard-setting processes to move beyond end-user compliance and provide insights into how public actors can more effectively address ‘systemic’ sustainability challenges – from circular economy ambitions to the Sustainable Development Goals.

Water- food- energy- ecosystem nexus model development: Resource scarcity and regional development

Demographic, economic, social, and climate change are all putting pressure increasing on natural resources through global energy, food, and water demand growth, which threatens the well-being of the ecosystems. To address this scientific and political challenge, a dual-purpose optimization tool has been proposed with the approach of minimizing the environmental effects and development costs of the region in line with resource consumption management, which optimally takes resources from the ecosystem, and regarding development approach (ecotourism development in this study), it has suggested the optimal strategy to improve the economic benefits. Moreover, this model is able to propose some effective management policies on resource planning at the regional level. This approach has been applied to Shif Island in the south of Iran. The main results are: (i) The regional potential has the possibility of increasing more than 2067 tourism numbers per year, which can compensate for a large part of the regional development costs. (ii) The regional management strategy of wastewater and solid waste resources with the view of the nexus approach development of the system (development of the eco-industrial park) and the ecosystem (the relationship between the soil and plant model) and the system development models in line with the regional demand), can reduce waste production to about zero and provide more than 90% of the region's fertilizer needs in order to improve the ecosystem's performance. (iii) In this model, the producers of materials and energy are the main inputs of the ecosystem, and the outputs of the ecosystem include the outputs of the agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishing process in the remote areas, as well as mineral resources (industrial raw materials and fossil resources), renewable energy, etc. Consumers consist of humans and living organisms of the urban-rural ecosystem.In general, in this paper, the aim is to develop a practical method for analyzing the symbiosis of living and non-living parts of the ecosystem in terms of water- Food-Energy and Ecosystem nexus model. In this regard, a hybrid technology model has been suggested to minimize the dynamic cost of changes in line to reach an optimal path for the development of living and non-living interaction.

Assessment of Eco-industrial Park (EIP) Performance at the Preliminary Step in Vietnam

Vietnam has recently accelerated the process of converting traditional parks into eco-industrial parks (EIP), which is a foundational strategy for sustainable prosperity. The purpose of this investigation is to evaluate the efficiency of EIP operations at Ninh Binh, Danang, and Can Tho pilots. The full permutation polygon synthetic indicator method (FPPSI) was used to evaluate the initial effectiveness of the application of the EIP program with many different indicators. The results indicated a number of interesting outcomes. In particular, there were saving of 51% in LPG fuel, 67.1% in coal, and 78.1% in wastewater in Ninh Binh pilot compared to the overall figure for each category. At the Can Tho pilot project, it was found that savings of freshwater of 77%, an electricity cuts of over 66.8%, a COD decline of 77%, and cost benefits of 56%. Generally speaking, our economy needs to promote business engagement in the heavy industry sector in the near future. This will involve developing inventive symbiosis networks that run simultaneously.

Perspectives of the China-Belarus’ «Great Stone» industrial park development as an eco-industrial park

Proposals have been developed for the transition of the Chinese-Belarusian industrial park “Great Stone” to the model of an eco-industrial park. A review of the Chinese experience in the formation of eco-in-dustrial parks was carried out. Based on the results of a sociological survey of residents of the Chinese-Belarusian industrial park “Great Stone”, the conditions and directions for strengthening its environmental orientation were determined. The expediency of creating an ecological center in the park management structure is substantiated and the directions of its activity are proposed.

Green location-oriented policies and carbon efficiency: a quasi-natural experiment from National Eco-industrial Demonstration Parks in China.

This paper investigates how National Eco-industrial Demonstration Parks (NEDP) in China affects carbon emission efficiency. The difference-in-differences (DID) strategy is used for analysis. This paper finds that the construction of NEDP is conducive to the improvement of carbon emission efficiency, and the findings remain robust through placebo tests and propensity score matching. Heterogeneity analysis shows NEDP construction has greater utility on carbon efficiency in non-resource-based cities as well as in environmentally friendly cities. The mechanism analysis found that green technology innovation, industrial restructuring, and the relocation of industrial enterprises are effective ways to improve carbon efficiency in NEDP. Finally, this paper finds that the construction of NEDP has obvious spatial spillover effects on carbon efficiency, which can effectively heighten the carbon efficiency level of this locality and nearby areas.

Development of Eco-Industrial Parks in China

Development of Eco-Industrial Parks in China

Development of Eco-Industrial Parks in China

Development of Eco-Industrial Parks in China

Spatial spillover effects of national-level eco-industrial park establishment on regional ecological efficiency: evidence from 271 cities in China.

Using a panel dataset of 271 Chinese cities at the city level from 2004 to 2018, this study is the first to adopt a staggered spatial difference-in-differences (SDID) model to investigate the effect and mechanism of the national-level eco-industrial park (NEIP) policies on eco-efficiency. Moreover, this study deeply identifies the policy effect by using a spatial difference-in-difference-in-differences (SDDID) model, spatial attenuation boundary, and event study method. The results show that NEIP can significantly and consistently improve urban eco-efficiency. However, NEIP has a continuous negative effect on the eco-efficiency of the surrounding area. The siphoning effect of the NEIP on eco-efficiency is more pronounced in cities with more than one NEIP or in provincial capitals and municipalities with NEIPs. In addition, the spatial effect of the eco-efficiency of the NEIP can spread for approximately 100km; i.e., there is a negative impact on the cities in the immediate vicinity of the NEIP (within 100km). Moreover, the impact of the NEIP on urban and even regional eco-efficiency is mainly realized through the crowding out effect of heavily polluting enterprises and the technological innovation effect. Therefore, based on continuing to expand the NEIP pilot cities, the government should establish several regional eco-industrial city clusters centered on the pilot cities, adopt policies, and build the corresponding infrastructure. In addition, taking into account regional differences, the government should construct differentiated eco-industrial park goals and support policies to achieve regional economic development based on environmental protection.

Industrial Symbiosis for Sustainable Management of Meat Waste: The Case of Śmiłowo Eco-Industrial Park, Poland.

This study presents the developing process of the Śmiłowo Eco-Park, located in the Noteć valley region (Poland), is a part of the biggest Polish agri-food consortium, from its initial small waste management company to its final structure as an eco-industrial park using industrial symbiosis methods. The industrial symbiosis applied in the Eco-park promotes a business model which covers the whole life cycle of the products starting from the plant growing by animal feed preparation, livestock breeding, meat preparations, meat-bone meal production from animal waste, and the use of pig slurry as a fertilizer. The Eco-park model is presented in the form of a system of connected stream flows of materials and energy covering the full lifecycle of products, from cereal cultivation, through the production of industrial feed, and poultry and pig breeding for the production of meat products. The solutions used include the prevention of environmental pollution through the modernization of existing processes, implementation of new technologies, reduction of waste and its reuse, recycling, and recovery of materials and energy, the substitution of raw materials with waste, and thermal treatment of waste and its use as biofuel. This case study allows for analyses of the organizational and technical key strategic activities which enable waste, including hazardous waste, to be transformed into valuable materials and energy. These activities have modified the system of material and energy flows through the value chain to realize the goal of allowing profitable management of waste according to circular economy methods and also indicates methods of supporting modifications of supply chains in terms of implementation of the industrial symbiosis business model according to its relationship with sustainable development, cleaner production, and circular economy models. EIP Śmiłowo annually utilizes 300,000 t meat waste, produces 110,000 t meat bone meal biofuel, uses 120,000 t of pig manure as fertilizers, produces 460,000 GJ bioenergy, eliminates 92,000 t CO2 emissions.

Digital technologies for net-zero energy transition: a preliminary study

This paper reviews current progress and future challenges of digital technology applications for energy system transition in the context of net-zero. A list of case studies for such digitization enabled optimal design and operation of energy systems at various temporal and spatial scales are reviewed in the paper, including model predictive control, enterprise-wide optimization, eco-industrial park data management, and smart city. The key technological innovations across these applications, such as virtual representation of physical entities, ontological knowledge base, data-driven high dimensional surrogate model based parameterization are also inspected in the paper. Future challenges in terms of data privacy and security are also discussed as potential barriers for digitalization enabled net-zero energy system transition.

Remediation Process in Landfill in Arctic Region - A Case of Circular Economy

The Arctic region is a vast and inhospitable environment that presents significant challenges for waste management. Spanning 27 million Sq. km and shared by eight nations, the region has limited infrastructure and only 11% of waste has been treated properly. The high cost of waste removal in the Arctic, due to logistical and technological constraints, makes the challenge of safe waste management even greater insisting on the need for elaborate research in extracting such resources. Concerning those, this study was conducted to fill this gap by investigating the feasibility of extracting secondary resources from two specific sites: an MSW landfill in Dudinka, Russia and an industrial waste deposition site located in the permafrost zone in the Krasnoyarsk region. The research will evaluate the environmental and ecosystem impacts of these landfills and examine various technical and economic approaches for reclaiming resources from them. The findings of this study will provide valuable insights into the viability of extracting secondary resources from waste in the Arctic and inform future waste management strategies in the region. By applying the principles of the circular economy, that identifies that the best approach for addressing the waste management problem in Dudinka is the creation of an eco-industrial park for deep processing and manufacturing of products from secondary resources reducing the environmental impact of waste disposal and promote sustainable resource utilization in the permafrost regions.

Fate of antibiotic resistance genes and bacteria in a coupled water-processing system with wastewater treatment plants and constructed wetlands in coastal eco-industrial parks

In coastal eco-industrial zones, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and constructed wetlands (CWs) can alleviate the challenge of water shortage and the negative effect of sewage discharge, while the problems of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have not attracted enough attention. In this research, the Wafergen SmartChip system was adopted to investigate the ARG profiles in a coupled system combined WWTPs and CWs in a coastal industrial park. Potential risks of antibiotic resistance in chemical industrial wastewater were confirmed due to the higher abundance of target ARGs (> 107 copies/mL). General decline with partial enrichment in absolute and relative abundance of ARGs from the WWTPs to CWs revealed the effective removal of ARGs in the coupled system, while the fate of different ARG types varied greatly. Aminoglycoside and sulfonamide ARGs were detected with higher abundance (up to 5.34 ×107 and 3.61 ×107 copies/mL), especially aac(6′)-Ib and sul1. Denitrification, secondary sedimentation, and acid hydrolysis contributed to the removal of aminoglycoside, sulfonamide, β-lactamase, chloramphenicol, and multidrug ARGs. Catalytic ozonation contributed to the removal of tetracycline and MLSB ARGs. Subsurface CWs worked effectively for the removal of sulfonamide, tetracycline, and multidrug ARGs, especially tetX, cphA, tetG, and strB. Close correlations between ARGs and MGEs emphasized the vital roles of anthropogenic pollutants and horizontal gene transfer on the diffusion of ARGs. Actinobacteria, Bacteroidota, and Cyanobacteria were dominant in the CWs, while Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Planctomycetota were prevalent in the WWTPs. Redundancy analysis and variance partitioning analysis indicated that transposase and water quality posed greater influences on the distribution of ARGs. Co-occurrence network revealed that potential multiple antibiotic resistant pathogenic bacteria decreased in the CWs. The coupled system has a limited effect on the reduction of ARGs and potential ARG hosts, providing a comprehensive insight into the fate of ARGs in conventional water-processing systems.

Innovative and Investment Activities of Enterprises within Eco-Industrial Parks in the Circular Economy Context

Innovative and Investment Activities of Enterprises within Eco-Industrial Parks in the Circular Economy Context

Eco-industrial parks and green technological progress: Evidence from Chinese cities

In this paper, the impact of national eco-industrial parks (EIPs) on green technological progress is assessed, with a focus on Chinese cities. Staggered difference-in-differences is used to analyze panel data from 314 prefecture-level cities in China from 2002 to 2017, and the results show that EIPs significantly increase green technological progress. Various robustness checks, including the use of event study, Oster omitted variable detection, and relevant city slope as instruments, corroborated the robustness of this finding. The research expenditure intensity, scale agglomeration level, and industrial structure optimization are channels with which EIPs stimulate green technological progress. Further, it is demonstrated that heterogeneity (with an inverted U-shape) exists between the green innovation effect of EIPs and the city scale.

Nonlinear Effects of Eco-Industrial Parks on Sulfur Dioxide and Carbon Dioxide Emissions—Estimation Based on Nonlinear DID

Eco-industrial parks (EIPs) promote the coordination of economic development and environmental protection. This paper uses the nonlinear DID method, with the data of 288 cities spanning from 2003–2019, to study the nonlinear effects of EIPs on SO2 and CO2 emissions, aiming to portray the nonlinear and heterogeneous characteristics of EIP’s effects. Meanwhile, this paper examines the effects of EIPs more accurately and completely. The main results are as follows: 1. EIPs can significantly reduce CO2 and SO2 emissions, but there is significant heterogeneity between the effects. 2. The effect of EIPs on SO2 and CO2 emissions is nonlinear. In addition, it shows significant nonlinear characteristics as the change of foreign investment and population density in cities. Therefore, it is important to consider these nonlinear characteristics when establishing and evaluating EIPs. This paper accurately identifies the nonlinear effects of EIPs and provides some suggestions for the future development of EIPs.

Industrial symbiosis and agri-food system: Themes, links, and relationships

Industrial symbiosis is an eco-innovative system concept that is based on a circular economy and industrial ecology ideas. This process comprises the movement of materials, energy, and skills across enterprises located within eco-industrial parks, and strives to provide economic, environmental, and social competitive advantages for all the involved parties. Considering that the agri-food system creates a vast quantity of by-products along the supply chain, it is a sector that has huge potential within material and energy recovery systems and fits well into eco-industrial parks. The current study is a literature review that aims to evaluate the interest exhibited so far by scientific research in the topic of industrial symbiosis in the agri-food sector and to highlight the primary analytical techniques that have been used for this topic. Using the paradigm of multiple correspondence analysis, a content analysis was conducted from which the major themes of the researched phenomena emerged. The results indicate that the topic areas are unrelated and somewhat distant from each other. The analyzed case studies have revealed that the authors had neglected the communicative and collaborative elements among stakeholders, and instead focused on the potential use of some tools and approaches. Furthermore, it has been hypothesized that the hiding of information within a supply chain prevents industrial symbiosis procedures from being implemented. This research suggests the necessity of creating communication and cooperation platforms among stakeholders, which would promote the introduction of new techniques and tools for the development of circular production systems.

Optimal design of exchange water networks with control inputs in Eco-Industrial Parks

Industrial water conservation is an important adaptation to preserve the environment. Eco-Industrial Parks (EIPs) have been designed to encourage the establishment of water exchange networks between enterprises in order to minimize freshwater consumption and wastewater discharge by maximizing wastewater reuse. In this paper, a mathematical programming model for designing and optimizing industrial water networks in EIPs is studied by formulating and solving Single-Leader–Multi-Follower (SLMF) game problems. Enterprises (followers) aim to minimize their operating costs by reusing wastewater from other enterprises, while the designer (leader) aims to minimize the consumption of natural resources within the ecopark. Moreover, when participating in the ecopark, enterprises can control all their input fluxes and the designer guarantees a minimal relative improvement in comparison with the stand-alone operation of each enterprise. The SLMF game is transformed into a single mixed-integer optimization problem. The obtained results are compared with the results of the blind-input model (Salas et al., 2020).

Smart projects on the development of green intellectual capital in eco-industrial parks

The study examines problems related to excessive environmental pressure on the ecosystem caused by industrial activities. It suggests constructing eco-industrial parks to optimize production and natural resources, monitor the condition of environmental safety in a limited territory with a developed infrastructure, and create green intellectual capital. The approach to the maximum automation of territories and introducing startups for the continuous modernization of the production and landscape park as part of the eco-industrial park is substantiated. It is proven that smart projects on the development of green intellectual capital based on eco-industrial parks will positively affect their implementation, can become a promising project for foreign investors, and can enhance the environmental safety of settlements. According to the model, for a settlement with a population of 1,500 people that works in an eco-industrial park, the utility function per person will increase by 12% when building a joint system of innovative ecological production and increasing the level of the country’s green capital.