Industrial ecosystem

Duchin, F. (1994). Input-output analysis and industrial ecology, In The Greening of Industrial Ecosystems, ed. Allenby, B. R. and Richards, D. Washington, DC National Academy Press, pp. 61-68. 

A Type III industrial ecosystem can become almost self-sustaining, requiring little input to maintain basic functions and to provide a habitat for thousands of different species. Therefore, reaching Type III as a final stage is the goal of IE [11]. Eventually communities, cities, regions, and nations will become sustainable in terms of natural resources and the environment. According to Frosch [9] ... 

Klimisch, R.L. Designing the Modem Automobile for Recycling. Greening Industrial Ecosystems, Allenby, B.R., Richards, D., Eds. National Academy Press Washington, DC. 

Lowe, E. Evans, L. Industrial ecology and industrial ecosystems. J. Cleaner Prod. 1995, 3, 1-2. 

Some contaminants, such as NaCl, are normal constituents of water at low levels, but harmful pollutants at higher levels. The proper design of industrial ecosystems minimizes the release of water pollutants. 

R. U. Ayres, Industrial Metabolism Theory and Policy. The Greening of Industrial Ecosystems, National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1994. (Reprinted from Industrial Metabolism, R. Ayers and U. Simonis, Eds., United Nations University Press, Tokyo, Japan, 1993.)... 

For process optimization with respect to several economic criteria such as net present worth, payback period and operating cost, the classical Williams and Otto (WO) process and an industrial low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plant are considered. Results show that either single optimal solution or Pareto-optimal solutions are possible for process design problems depending on the objectives and model equations. Subsequently, industrial ecosystems are studied for optimization with respect to both economic and environmental objectives. Economic objective is important as companies are inherently profit-driven, and there is often a tradeoff between profit and environmental impact. Pareto-optimal fronts were successfully obtained for the 6-plant industrial ecosystem optimized for multiple objectives by NSGA-ll-aJG. The study and results reported in this chapter show the need and potential for optimization of processes for multiple economic and environmental objectives. 

Keywords Economic criteria, Enviromnental criteria, MOO, Williams and Otto Process, Low-density polyethylene plant. Industrial ecosystems. 

The above background provides the motivation for the study and applications described in this chapter. Here, two types of process optimization problems are described. The first type has only economic objectives the two examples considered for this are the classical Williams and Otto (WO) process used recently by Pintaric and Kravanja (2006), and an industrial low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plant based on our recent studies (Agrawal et al., 2006 and 2007). The economic objectives tried are PBP, NPW, IRR, profit before taxes, and/or operating cost. The second type has both economic and environmental indices for this, the industrial ecosystem with four plants employed by Singh and Lou (2006) is expanded to an ecosystem with six plants and then optimized for multiple objectives. 

Optimizing an Industrial Ecosystem for Economic and Environmental Objectives... 

In this section, we describe optimization of an industrial ecosystem (IE) having 6 plants for multiple economic and environmental objectives. The motivation and model of this IE follows that of Singh and Lou (2006) for an IE with 4 plants. The industrial symbiosis of Kalundborg, Denmark (Jacobsen, 2006), is the classic example of an IE. It began in 1961 when there was limited supply of ground water and the oil refinery, Statoil, initiated a project to utilize the surface water from Lake Tiss0. Thereafter, the number of partners gradually increased as about 20 more collaborative projects were introduced. Today, there are a total of 8... 

Fig. 10.7 Schematic diagram of an industrial ecosystem with 6 plants TU treatment unit for waste streams ---------- waste streams for disposal...

Singh, A. and Lou, H. H. (2006). Hierarchical Pareto Optimization for the Sustainable Development of Industrial Ecosystems, Industrial Engineering Chemistry Research, 45, pp. 3265-3279. 

The third case is successfully working since a long time in the city of Kalundborg, Denmark. " It was chosen, since it demonstrates, that efficient bioresource utilization pathways may be established and may function without extensive public fundings. The Kalundborg SYMBIOSIS is an industrial ecosystem, where the residual product of one enterprise is used as a resource by another enterprise. This case study shall also demonstrate the importance of communication (Chapter 7, Section 4.3.4). 

Howard, Alan G. Aquatic Environmental Chemistry. 1998. Reprint New W>rk Oxford University Press, 2004. Analyzes the chemistry behind freshwater and marine systems. Also includes useful secondary material that contains explanations of unusual terms and advanced chemical and mathematical concepts. Manahan, Stanley E. Environmental Chemistry. 9th ed. Baca Raton, Fla. CRC Press, 2010. Explores the an-throsphere, industrial ecosystems, geochemistry, and aquatic and atmospheric chemistry. Each chapter has a list of further references and cited literature. Index. Schwedt, Geoi. The Essential Guide to Environmental Chemistry. 2001. Reprint. New York John Wiley Sons, 2007. Provides a concise overview of the field. Contains many color illustrations and an index. 

By analogy with natural ecosystems, an industrial ecosystem consists of a group of mutually interacting enterprises practicing industrial ecology. A key measure of the success of such a system can be given by the following relationship ... 

As has been the case with natural ecosystans, the best means of assanbUng industrial ecosystems is through natural selection in which the various interests involved work out mutually advantageous relationships. However, with a knowledge of the feasibility of such systans, external input and various kinds of incentives can be applied to facilitate the establishment of industrial ecosystems. 

FIGURE 14.2 Outline of the major components of an industrial ecosystem. 

An important characteristic of an industrial ecosystem is its scope. A regional scope large enough to encompass several industrial enterprises but small enough for them to interact with each other on a constant basis is probably the most satisfactory scale to consider. Frequently, such systans are based around transportation systems. Webs of interstate highways over which goods and materials move between enterprises by truck may constitute industrial ecosystems. 

An important characteristic of successful biological ecosystems is their inertia, which is their resistance to alteration and damage, the key factors of which are productivity of basic food materials, diversity of species, constancy of numbers of various organisms, and resiiience in the ability of populations to recover from loss. Industrial ecosystems likewise have key attributes that are required for their welfare. These include energy, materials, and diversity. 

Diversity in industrial ecosystems tends to impart a robust character to them, which means that if one part of the system is diminished other parts will take its place and keep the system functioning well. Many communities that have become dependent on one enterprise or just a few major enterprises have suffered painful economic crises when a major employer leaves or cuts back. The fouling of beaches in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida from the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico devastated the tourist trade in that region for some time and forced painful economic adjustments. In many parts of the world, water supply from a single vulnerable source threatens diversity. 

Design of Industrial Ecosystems to Minimize Environmental Impact... 

From the discussion in Section 14.6, it is obvious that industrial activity, broadly defined to include agriculture also, has a high potential to adversely affect the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and geosphere. Inherent to the ways in which properly designed industrial ecosystems operate, however, are measures and systems designed to minimize such impacts. 

Green chemistry (defined in Chapter 1, Section 1.5, and illustrated in Figure 1.5) has an essential role to play in the development of successful industrial ecosystems, especially in making industrial metabolism as efficient, nonpolluting, and safe as possible. The practice of green chemistry... 

---