Development Of Industrial Symbiosis Research Articles

Models of industrial symbiosis formation

Industrial symbiosis is actively being developed and implemented in various countries as a tool to reduce the negative impact of business activity on the environment. There are more than 30 implemented examples of industrial symbiosis in the world: Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Japan, China, USA, Brazil, Russia, etc. Existing studies have determined that the practical implementation of the concept occurs, as a rule, in two ways: chaotically / spontaneously or in a planned mode. The purpose of this study is to identify the main models of the formation and development of industrial symbiosis based on the organizational form of its participants (commercial/non–commercial). The main objectives of the research work are the consolidation and analysis of examples of foreign and Russian practices of forming symbiotic chains, research of organizational forms of participants in existing industrial symbioses, comparative study of identified examples, visualization of chains of potential interactions in various conditions. As a result, five models of industrial symbiosis formation were identified and described. The study may be of interest to industry specialists and experts, facilitators, sustainable development managers and others while planning and forming industrial symbiotic chains in various regions of the Russian Federation.

Can industrial symbiosis policies be effective? Evidence from the nationwide industrial symbiosis system in China

Policies directly or indirectly influence the development of industrial symbiosis (IS). Quantitatively analyzing the effects of policies on IS at a national level is necessary, but current research has lagged. Focusing on the symbiotic system that includes the thermal power industry, cement industry, iron and steel industry, and social sector in China, this paper assesses the efficacy of policies on this nationwide IS system between 2015 and 2022. A policy influence framework is proposed, combining a cost-benefit analysis, agent-based model, and comparative analysis. Results show: (1) the symbiosis probability of the nationwide IS system experiences a fluctuating increase. The maximum increments of the symbiosis probability are 5%, and the resulting environmental benefits are equivalent to an emission reduction of 6.99 Mt from blast furnace slag, 20.97 Mt from iron mine tailing, 36.02 Mt from household waste, 25.01 Mt from steel slag, and 22.95 Mt from fly ash. However, the stimulation effects of policies vary across different subsystems. (2) Thermal power-chemical subsystems, thermal power-environmental protection subsystems, iron and steel-environmental protection subsystems, and social sector-cement subsystems need policy support in the future. (3) Approximately 50% of fields in this nationwide IS system is insensitive to current policies; policy approaches should shift from economic stimulation to symbiotic guidance. This paper fills the research gap by quantitatively studying the IS policy efficacy from a national level. The findings can contribute to the improvement of the Chinese IS policy system.

From industrial district to industrial symbiosis: An opportunity. The case of the Ponte Rosso industrial area, Italy

The article highlights the importance of industrial symbiosis in the industrial ecology literature, which refers to geographically close relationships between companies in which networks and geographic proximity play a vital role. Industrial symbiosis traditionally deals with different industries in a collective approach to economic and environmental management. The research was carried out in the northeast of Italy in the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, close to the Slovenian border. The Ponte Rosso was used as a case study. The empirical analysis served to highlight some critical aspects of the environmental, geographic-economic, and social factors that could hinder the development of industrial symbiosis in this region

Structural and Environmental Performance of Evolving Industrial Symbiosis: A Multidimensional Analysis

Industrial symbiosis (IS) involves networks of organizations collaborating through flow exchanges. Scientific research has shown that such systems are able to provide benefits at the environmental level. Structural organization and stability were also studied, as they are linked to resilience (maintenance of activity over time), especially with ecological network analysis (ENA), which considers several dimensions in the assessment of a network organization. Studies combining ENA and environmental assessment are lacking in the literature; therefore, the links between the two dimensions are not well documented. The intention of this study was to fill this gap by analyzing structural and environmental performance simultaneously using ENA and a life-cycle-analysis-based approach focusing on the structural topology of IS. The results show that the two dimensions do not strictly influence each other. Structural performance was found to vary depending on the network structure topology, whereas environmental performance was influenced by the network complexity. To ensure the continuation of IS benefits, the two dimensions should be considered in the decision-making process in IS planification, even if they are independent evaluation criteria. Tradeoffs should be based on IS development possibilities and territorial needs.

From theory to practice: Supporting industrial decarbonization and energy cooperation in Austria

A promising way to enhance sustainability and primary energy efficiency on an industrial scale is energy cooperation or industrial symbiosis. Due to heterogenic structures, there is no standard recipe to implement synergies - but the potential role of facilitators has been mentioned several times before. As external facilitators, we applied a mixed approach of interviews and workshops to push the development of energy cooperation at an Austrian industrial port & business park. The site was chosen to put the development process and theoretical cooperation solutions to the test.In collaboration with the park management and companies, synergy potentials were elaborated. In total 24 companies were interviewed, two workshops with companies and external experts conducted, an energy working group established and an energy roadmap drafted. Among the opportunities identified are i) enforced exchange of information on cooperation potentials and technical opportunities, ii) joint energy purchase and renewable energy communities, iii) inter-company waste heat utilization and iv) joint strategies on optimizing heavy transport.From our experiences we conclude that the most important barriers are missing knowledge and communication on possible synergies. These are followed by economic, technical and framework barriers. The applicability of cooperation solutions is highly case-specific. We found that solutions are more likely to be implemented given continuous information exchange, potentially initiated by a dominant and integrative company or central institution, which is in line with experiences reported for other cases. Thus, we strongly support to continue research on industrial symbiosis and funding of entities, which facilitate industrial symbiosis development.

Tracking industrial symbiosis performance with ecological network approach integrating economic and environmental benefits analysis

Eco-industrial park (EIP) is systematic innovation based on industrial symbiosis (IS). Monitor and track the benefit of industrial symbiosis is critical to EIP performance evaluation. Numerous evaluations were applied based on sustainability indicators. However, dynamically track the contribution of IS from the network perspective, and incorporate the sustainability indicators, are few reported. This paper combines ecological network method, and environmental & economic analysis to dynamically monitor and evaluate the EIP performance. The proposed method presents the IS expansion as the development of EIP. The change of observed environmental and economic flows in the park level is further analyzed to account the indicators. Our method aims to report the benefit that derived from the development of IS better. Kawasaki eco-town, Japan, was applied to demonstrate the developed approach. Results highlighted the approach could effectively track EIP performance based on IS expansion, and attract policymakers and businessmen to EIP transition activities.

Achievement of Sustainable Development Goals through the Implementation of Circular Economy and Developing Regional Cooperation

Circular economy is a tool based on the inclusion of environmental, social, and governance performance (ESG) in decision-making to achieve sustainable development goals (SDG). In recent years, it has become clear that business-as-usual has nothing to do with sustainability, and alternative business models, primarily on technological grounds, must be implemented to mitigate the damage caused by significant and unpredictable effects of climate change. The current situation requires unprecedented and urgent changes to policies and business development models. The current research aimed to target on industrial symbiosis as one of the business models of the circular economy. It evaluated the benefits of symbiosis and the fostering of cooperation between industries and, consequently, has a major impact on resource efficiency ratios. The research is based on quantitative and qualitative research methods, including a literature review, assessment, and application of the triangulation method. As a result of this research, the authors realized a matrix for the development of regional or cross-country industrial symbiosis that can be used by policymakers to foster the development of symbiotic interconnections on a wide scale. The authors also recommend the development of the Baltic University Program (BUP) network center of excellence and methodological justification for industries to engage in industrial symbiosis (IS).

Analysis of the Development of Industrial Symbiosis in Emerging and Frontier Market Countries: Barriers and Drivers

Industrial symbiosis (IS) allows the use of the resources of a productive chain, based on collaboration between companies, finding ways to use the waste of one as inputs or raw materials for the other entity. IS seeks to generate environmental sustainability, maximize resources, and generate social, environmental, and economic benefits based on the physical exchanges of waste, residues, and materials, which generate various advantages for companies and environmental benefits for society. Over the years, research has been conducted worldwide on the implementation of IS in business settings and case studies related to IS in countries with strong economies; however, no papers mapping studies on IS that are focused on emerging and frontier market countries have been identified, and academic literature on research in these countries is also scarce. In this research, an in-depth review of the literature on IS cases in emerging and frontier market countries was conducted to provide future researchers with information on the similarities, weaknesses, strengths, and elements to consider in addressing the topic and closing research gaps in the area. In addition, a mapping was made of the evolution of studies on IS according to country, economic activity, distribution by journal, year of publication, methods used, barriers and drivers in the case studies, and the importance of this topic in the current academic context. In Asian and developing countries, the integration of companies and economic activities takes place in industrial parks, and they have legislation and government regulations that support IS. On the other hand, in the United States and Africa, integrating various sources such as energy, water, coal, and waste in industrial environments is at an early stage of development, and opportunities are being identified to promote IS between companies. This research interests a broad audience, including investors, regulators, policymakers, and researchers interested in fostering IS in emerging and frontier market countries as a mechanism for industrial and economic development.

The industrial symbiosis process as an interplay of public and private agency: Comparing two cases

Industrial symbiosis (IS) can facilitate resource efficiency but requires a complex, dynamic process of sharing tangible and intangible resources between multiple private and public actors. Although IS studies have acknowledged the importance of these actors, they are studied as isolated and static streams. This study examines how public and private agency together contribute to the emergence and development of IS—i.e., the public–private interplay for promoting IS in a longitudinal manner. The study follows narrative and temporal bracketing process research strategies and relies on an in-depth and longitudinal qualitative multiple-case study design. Two IS cases were examined in terms of their actors (public, private), IS level (individual person, organization, network, national), and IS process phases (emergence, probation, development & expansion) within a Finnish context. Comparison of these two cases, which represent the main archetypes of IS models (i.e., IS planned by public actors and IS self-emerging among private actors), showed that the public–private interplay for promoting IS shares many similar features and paths within the cases. Thus, the main contribution of this study's qualitative processual approach toward public–private interplay for promoting IS is the modeling and definition of the IS process as an inherently dynamic interplay of intertwining public and private agency within each process phase and involving several actors on different IS levels. This finding challenges the current, somewhat dichotomic view in IS process studies that consider public and private actors as isolated and static. The findings of this study provide new insights into and practical guidelines for initiating, developing, and participating in IS activities for public and private actors.

The application of MFA for rural industrial symbiosis assessment

One of proposed strategies to solve current environmental challenges includes the industrial symbiosis. However, proper evaluation methods are required to measure the potential benefits of industrial symbiosis, one of those includes the material flow analysis (MFA). MFA develops a unified database and a Step-by-Step process starting from the input, process, and output process to clarify the distribution of waste and the recycling process in the aluminum industry. The aluminum industry is regarded as an energy-intensive and high-pollution industry. The development of industrial symbiosis in the aluminum industry has significantly reduced environmental pressures and facilitated green development and green industry. Home industries that process aluminum slag raw materials require high energy thereby generating high waste during the production process. The applied method includes material flow analysis (MFA). The MFA results indicated that the production elements of the aluminum slag industry consist of 11 elements ranging from raw materials, fuel, clean water, human resources, capital, production processes, production equipment, housekeeping, products produced, waste to waste utilization. Approximately 44% of the industry sold waste to other industries, 42% of the waste was reprocessed, and 14% of the aluminum industry stockpiles production was in the form of waste in open spaces. The industrial symbiosis in the aluminum industry was an open cycle, indicating that the symbiosis produces waste, which had not been fully utilized; but in fact, the waste had potential as a source of raw materials, energy, and materials in other industrial processes.

A holistic technological eco-innovation methodology for industrial symbiosis development

Technological eco-innovation plays a crucial role in improving economic-environmental performance by increasing the resource efficiency. Holistic eco-innovative approaches are more effective than focused ones because they address the product, process, and organizational dimensions simultaneously, and thus, engender better economic-environmental performance. Accordingly, we propose a holistic methodology to improve resource efficiency in production systems by concurrently evaluating three dimensions, namely, introducing new products, reducing process inefficiencies, and creating value through waste exchange within the framework of industrial symbiosis. Thus, industrial symbiosis becomes a part of a holistic eco-innovative strategy by primarily supporting organizational eco-innovation, rather than a stand-alone concept. In this study, the developed methodology follows a combination of an abductive approach and action research through cooperation with an Italian company, which is the object of our case study for observing the effectiveness of the holistic approach. The case study highlights the twofold aspects of resource efficiency improvement, namely, value creation through inefficiency reduction and implementing industrial symbiosis partnerships. Our findings show that addressing both aspects simultaneously can lead to better economic-environmental performance. Moreover, integrating industrial symbiosis with a resource efficiency improvement strategy increases the coordination of eco-innovation actions and can lead to better investment allocation.

The role of biogas solutions for enhanced nutrient recovery in biobased industries—three case studies from different industrial sectors

This study analysed to what extent biogas solutions can improve the nutrient recovery of biobased industrial clusters in different sectors. Three cases representing the agricultural, marine and forest sectors were analysed quantitatively using mass flow analysis. Adding a biogas plant facilitated production expansion and development of collaborative waste management, e.g. a wheat processing biorefinery with a mill and agricultural actors, or a pulp and paper mill with the aquaculture industry. In the marine- and forest-based cases, this decreased the total nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) input by 18% while increasing the recovery rate; e.g. for P from 32 to 96% for the marine-based and from 52 to 91%, for the forest-based. The impact in the agro-based case was minor as the actors were already operating with a high nutrient recovery. For the marine-based case, the impact was due to a huge increase in P recovery for the aquaculture actor while for the forest-based case, N from the aquacultural sector could be reused in the wastewater treatment. For the agro- and marine-based cases, adding a biogas plant also resulted in less transports and more local nutrient recycling; the total transport of organic waste, by-products and biofertilizers (in km x tonne) was reduced by 40% and 90%, respectively. The results demonstrate that biogas solutions can stimulate the development of biobased industrial symbiosis with integrated waste management, and contribute to more efficient recycling of key resources, which is essential for the transition to a circular society.

Developing an Industrial Symbiosis of Chemical Industries: a Case Study

The article considers the approaches to building a circular economy based on the example of a functioning Russian industrial hub. Among the features analyzed are the specificities of the industrial symbiosis development of chemical enterprises and material flows that link different technical processes, namely the production of soda ash, lime, salt, and gypsum. This study assesses the pollutant emissions from the new technical processes and the use of accumulated chrome production wastes as secondary material resources. Likewise, the article demonstrates the possibility of direct absorption of carbon dioxide, as a byproduct of lime production during soda ash manufacturing. The study ends with recommendations for considering the aspects for the use of secondary resources in determining the sectoral and inter-sectoral best available techniques. Similarly, it sheds light on possibilities for optimizing the system of technological regulation and general binding rules application for managing insignificant environmental aspects of industrial production.

The role of local governments in overcoming barriers to industrial symbiosis

The industrial symbiosis (IS) landscape is evolving at high speed. There is a growing interest in knowledge sharing and partnering, as is evident from the establishment of multiple IS networks at local and regional level. This article investigates the role of local governments in industrial symbiosis. It aims to build a theoretical framework explaining how local governments can reduce barriers to implementation of IS by applying different modes of governing. Findings show that local governments can do many things to overcome barriers and thus enhance IS. In many instances, local governments can support IS in an enabling function, by coordinating relationships and material exchanges, providing infrastructure and funding. They can also apply authoritarian and self-governing principles to develop policies and regulations to support IS development, as well as planning and control mechanisms linked to their own material and resource flows. This article concludes by suggesting a number of policy recommendations, such as local governments establishing a clear strategy on IS, and including IS in physical planning.

Urban Strategies Enabling Industrial and Urban Symbiosis: The Case of Slovenia

Industrial symbiosis (IS) recognizes the exchange of waste resources and by-products between companies that do not normally cooperate in resource exchange; on the other hand, urban symbiosis (UrS) recognizes the use of solid waste in cities as input sources for industries that do not normally accept these sources. It is difficult to realize both in a pre-planned process, and there are few successful initiatives based on the exchange of waste and energy. The main objective of this research is to find out whether there are urban strategies that support the emergence, existence and development of IS and/or UrS in Slovenia. National documents, networks, projects, programs, and national statistical sources were examined. The Integrated Sustainable Urban Development Strategies (ISUSD) for eleven cities and municipalities were reviewed against ten selected indicators. The main findings are that there is intense awareness raising on IS and UrS, and adequate overall legislative support, aligned with EU legislation. Nevertheless, there has been surprisingly less waste conversion to energy recovery since 2010. The reuse of by-products either for energy or new products is non-existent or negligible. Selected main urban strategies for cities in Slovenia are far from setting more concrete guidelines for the development of IS and/or UrS. In the future, more successful integration of IS and UrS is possible in the context of regeneration development of brownfield sites.

How Organization Models Impact the Governing of Industrial Symbiosis in Public Wastewater Management. An Explorative Study in Sweden

The industrial symbiosis (IS) landscape is evolving rapidly. While previous studies have argued for the importance of municipalities participating in the governing of IS, research on the implications of different forms of municipal organization is still lacking. This paper aims to investigate how municipal administration and municipally-owned corporations, as two forms of organization, impact the governing of IS in the water and sewage sector. This is explored in relation to the Swedish municipality Simrishamn, which recently underwent changes in the form of organization. Results show that municipal administration contributes to a more inclusive process where many actors can influence and bring ideas and perspectives on how to develop an IS. The risk, however, is that other issues within the municipality are seen as more pressing and, therefore, get prioritized before IS. In corporate form, the development of IS becomes more business-like as the focus is kept on core business. Technology development is strengthened as skills and competencies are promoted through the expertise of the employees. Drawbacks include processes becoming less transparent and political goals, such as citizen welfare not receiving the same level of priority as within municipal administration. There is also a risk that fewer perspectives are included in the process of developing IS, which may inhibit innovation, even if the results also indicate that an increased business focus of the corporate form strengthens the innovation capacity.

Tracking the diffusion of industrial symbiosis scholarship using bibliometrics: Comparing across Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar

AbstractPrevious bibliometric analyses of industrial symbiosis (IS) research have focused on a limited body of literature owing to the scope of keyword searches or limitations of library databases. This study seeks to apply bibliometrics to explore broader, epistemological questions, particularly about the structure and geospatial development of IS as a sub‐field of industrial ecology. We also evaluate the benefits of using Google Scholar, in addition to the conventional databases Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus, for better understanding academic domains. By using WoS and Scopus, 805 articles on IS that met our criteria were identified, published in 212 journals from 1995 through 2018. On average, the cumulative number of relevant articles grew at an exponential rate of 18% per year—more than double the estimated growth of global scientific output. We observed the largest increases in articles that: (1) model the material and energy flows in IS clusters; (2) propose strategies and ideas for implementing symbiosis; and (3) evaluate the performance of IS networks. By the end of 2018, 54 countries were featured in IS articles retrieved from WoS and Scopus, with China as the single most studied country. The analysis of Google Scholar suggested that it can capture more IS articles than the conventional databases owing to its unique characteristic of searching the entire text of documents rather than solely their metadata as with WoS and Scopus. Google Scholar revealed IS discourse from additional countries and disciplines previously omitted, enabling a more acute view of its patterns of diffusion.

Recurring Patterns and Blueprints of Industrial Symbioses as Structural Units for an IT Tool

Industrial Symbiosis (IS) deals with the set-up of advanced circular/cascading systems, in which the energy and material flows are prolonged for multiple material and energetic (re-)utilization within industrial systems. To facilitate the technology-enabling environment of IS systems, this work deals with the identification of recurring patterns in IS systems of specific IS case studies and deduction of elementary blueprints and structural units, setting an initial cornerstone to pool and synthesize existing IS knowledge and to deploy this knowledge base in an Information Technology (IT)-supported IS tool, which would remarkably advance the scope of action and development of IS systems. An explorative cross-case analysis was conducted by investigating 80 IS case studies in depth in order to illuminate recurring (key) patterns in IS systems by generalizing and abstracting IS main structures, compositions, resource exchange activities and measures. It has been shown that similar IS sectoral partnerships and resource exchanges have recurrently formed in different regions and hence, generalizable patterns can be deduced. This study identified common IS compositions, sector clusters and key/core/anchor entities and synthesized a content basis for a database of an IS resource exchange catalog based on existing/available IS information, which can be used in an IT-supported IS tool. It contains information of specific IS resource exchanges, broken down by industrial sectors, differentiating providing and receiving sectors and which respective exchanged waste flows were processed into which secondary material/product. Once this fundamental information/data base is incorporated and applied in an IT-supported IS tool, it enables the facilitated recommendation of potential IS partners and IS actions to optimize existing IS cases or to initiate IS development. Especially, first IS germ cells of (key) entities can be derived and connected to each other considering individual circumstances and (geographical) business environments.

Industrial symbiosis in Tanzania: A case study from the sugar industry

The concept of industrial symbiosis (IS) offers enormous potential for more sustainable manufacturing processes. This paper sets out to explore the IS forms occurring at a case study of the Kilombero Sugar Company Limited (KSCL), the largest sugar refinery in Tanzania; and identify the underlying factors based on the data collected through key informant interviews, observational site visits, and relevant documentary reviews. Findings reveal an evolving IS network at KSCL involving physical exchanges of bagasse, molasses, filter cake, and boiler ash and utility sharing among seven co-located units. Through these modest internal IS arrangements, KSCL has optimized resource use, thereby minimizing negative environmental impacts inherent from emissions, as well as generating additional revenues from resource recovery, in particular the alcohol distillery unit. Results also show that KSCL’s industrial ecosystem is fragile due to limited functional and structural diversity. We identify several drivers and barriers as possible leverage points. The lessons from KSCL are expected to provide a valuable reference for IS development in Africa.

From solid waste management towards the circular economy and digital driven symbiosis

This article is about regional development based on the principles of circular economy and the industrial symbiosis framework. Nowadays tremendous amount of solid waste from household, industrial and agricultural materials accumulate in the territories of different countries around whole world. Finland has experience in waste techno parks design and in the development of waste branch around the whole country. Finland has considered be one of the leading country in Circular Economy and its government strategic goal is to be the leading country in the world in Circular Economy until 2025. The Finnish experience shows that there has to be close co-operation between companies, universities and authorities, but also common goal and understanding.The main questions: which are the elements that could be adapted from the Finnish Circular Economy and the resource efficiency thinking, and how to implement ideas into other cultural and industrial environments in Russia. Our researchers together could discuss and decide which are the key elements that can be used and which of them contradict to using industrial symbiosis development in Russia.