Urban and industrial symbiosis for circular economy: Total EcoSite Integration

Cost and water footprint trade-off in a supply chain optimization model

Abstract

Water footprint (WF) is an appropriate tool to help any water-intensive industrial system to adapt to climate change. WF is a metric where the direct and indirect freshwater consumption of a country, firm, activity, or product are quantified. Most of existing WF literature emphasizes the assessment of products, not the optimal decision making in the supply chain. To address this research gap, a bi-objective optimization model is developed for supplier selection in a supply chain that minimizes costs and WF. Apart from determining the sources of raw materials to use in producing the products, the model also determines the actions to be taken by the firm in case of supply shortages. The model is demonstrated using three illustrative case studies which show that WF embedded in the raw materials can influence the actions to be taken when addressing issues on raw material availability. The WF becomes significant in the decisions in this bi-objective optimization problem when it is given a weight of at least 20% (or the weight of the cost is at most 80%) for case study 1 and at least 50% for case study 2. When the assigned weight in cost reaches the point where WF becomes significant, the increase in the assigned weight in WF has an inverse impact on the total cost. Case study 3 demonstrates the stochastic variant of the model.

Graphical abstract

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10098-023-02549-5.

Symbiotic integration of waste disposal capability within a city cluster: The case of the Yangtze River Delta

With the ongoing urbanization in developing regions, integrating regional waste disposal capability is challenging due to unbalanced economic development and rising environmental issues. This research proposed a multi-dimensional symbiotic integration of waste disposal capability. Applying data from the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) in China, we first explore the waste flows and interactions between cities to identify the possibility of inter-municipal collaboration based on the augmented gravity model. We then employ social network analysis to categorize the cities in the collaborative network of waste disposal into subgroups by functionalities. Finally, we proposed the top-down framework of symbiotic networks for waste disposal. Our findings indicate that YRD cities can be classified into four types according to their waste density and disposal efficiency: High-High, Low-High, Low-Low, and High-Low. We also identify three types of inter-municipal collaborative relationships: between high-density and high-efficiency cities, between high-density cities, and between high-efficiency cities. The city subgroups can be categorized into "high-efficiency clusters," "high-density clusters," and "hub clusters," which pave the way for a shared or complementary urban symbiosis in the waste recycling industry. The division of roles among subgroups enables symbiotic activities within the city cluster. This paper extends the spatial scope of industrial symbiosis literature and has practical implications for transitioning to a circular economy in waste management of developing countries.

Recent Advances in Low-Carbon and Sustainable, Efficient Technology: Strategies and Applications

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the supply chains of traditional fossil fuels. According to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) from 2020, oil-refining activity fell by more than the IEA had anticipated. It was also assumed that the demand in 2021 would likely be 2.6 million bpd below the 2019 levels. However, renewable markets have shown strong resilience during the crisis. It was determined that renewables are on track to meet 80% of the growth in electricity demand over the next 10 years and that sustainable energy will act as the primary source of electricity production instead of coal. On the other hand, the report also emphasized that measures for reducing environmental pollution and CO2 emissions are still insufficient and that significant current investments should be further expanded. The Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES) conference series is dedicated to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge on methods, policies and technologies for improving the sustainability of development by decoupling growth from the use of natural resources. The 15th SDEWES conference was held online from 1–5 September 2020; more than 300 reports with 7 special sections were organized on the virtual conference platform. This paper presents the major achievements of the recommended papers in the Special Issue of Energies. Additionally, related studies connected to the above papers published in the SDEWES series are also introduced, including the four main research fields of energy saving and emission reduction, renewable energy applications, the development of district heating systems, and the economic assessment of sustainable energy.

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.

Agent-based model for simulation of the sustainability revolution in eco-industrial parks

Eco-industrial parks (EIPs) are of increasing importance for implementing industrial ecology strategies and are facing increasing challenges in terms of environmental pollution and resource scarcity. As a complex adaptive system, an EIP involves multiple sectors and faces various disturbances that influence its evolutionary trajectories. This study adopts an agent-based model to simulate the material flows and industrial symbiosis process in the EIP, considering the initiative of each company and the ever-changing environment. The proposed EIP model emphasises the heterogeneity of companies and attempts to reflect multiple and dynamic factors that have received less attention in previous studies. This model contains two types of agents, companies and the external environment. A company agent makes decisions and interacts with other agents following its own behaviour rules, while the external environment agent functions to coordinate the material flows and exert influence on the companies. The model has been verified and validated by simulating a 20-year-period development of an empirical EIP in China. The simulation results are assessed by three indicators: eco-connectance, eco-efficiency, and industrial symbiosis indicator. Results showed that during the growing phase, the eco-connectance increased from 0.02 to 0.1 for the non-disturbance situation. The eco-efficiency and industrial symbiosis indicator also realised 78.5% and 74.8% of their total increments. The outcome of this research provides insights for the design of the strategies to improve the industrial symbiosis performance and is of high potential to facilitate EIPs in promoting eco-transformation and sustainable development.

Sustainable development in period of climate crisis

The ongoing process of climate change has shown that sustainable development of humankind is a necessity. Existing resources need to be used in a form of a circular economy, and no more in a linear economy as has been the case until now. Resources need to be better managed to meet the needs of future generations. Therefore, energy, water and environment systems need to be integrated in order to slow down their overexploitation. This paper discusses some of the latest developments in three main areas of sustainability, i.e., energy, water and environment, that emerged from the four "Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems" (SDEWES) Conferences that took place in 2020. The purpose of this review introduction article is to provide a brief introduction to the field and the articles included in this Virtual Special Issue. As such, it acts as an editorial paper for the virtual special issue of the Journal of Environmental Management, dedicated to the SDEWES 2020 conferences.

Designing the biomethane production chain from urban wastes at the regional level: An application to the Rome Metropolitan Area

This paper proposes a methodology to design the biomethane production chain from MSW at the regional level and to assess the environmental and economic performance of the chain. In the design phase, the following parameters are considered: number and production capacity of biomethane plants, localization of plants, waste flows among municipalities and plants. The model is adopted to design the biomethane chain in the Rome Metropolitan Area (Italy). Several structures of production chain are designed and their performances are assessed. The economic factors mostly able to affect the performance of the chain are waste disposal tariff, biomethane selling price, and the economic incentive provided to biomethane producers. Their impacts are discussed through sensitivity analyses. Results show that the structure maximizing the economic performance has the worst environmental performance and vice versa. Hence, a new structure of the economic incentive is proposed, aimed at re-aligning economic and environmental performance.

A Heat and Power Pinch for Process Integration targeting in hybrid energy systems

Hybrid energy systems have been widely used for residential and industrial purposes. In this system, the total energy requirement of each unit can be met with heat and electricity. Pinch Analysis becomes a widely used tool for Process Integration, and using Pinch Analysis for Heat Integration is well-established. However, for the combined heat and power system, the theory and the corresponding tool deserve some more development. This paper extended the Pinch Analysis concept and proposed a Heat and Power Pinch Analysis to target the amount of heat that should be recovered from the hybrid energy system. Heat and Power Composite Curve (HPCC) is developed to visualise the total energy and the separated heat and power (electricity) requirement of a hybrid energy system in a working time period. The amount of outsourced electricity that should be purchased, and stored electricity at the startup period, and the extra electricity generated by the system at the end of the working period can be demonstrated. A case is studied to illustrate the steps of using this tool, two scenarios are discussed, and the targets are shown.

An Innovative Method of Converting Ferrous Mill Scale Wastes into Superparamagnetic Nanoadsorbents for Water Decontamination

The need to recycle and develop nanomaterials from waste, and use them in environmental applications has become increasingly imperative in recent decades. A new method to convert the mill scale, a waste of the steel industry that contains large quantity of iron and low impurities into a nanoadsorbent that has the necessary properties to be used for water purification is presented. The mill scale waste was used as raw material for iron oxide nanopowder. A thorough characterization was performed in each stage of the conversion process from the mill scale powder to magnetic nanopowder including XRD (X-ray diffraction), SEM (scanning electron microscopy), TEM (transmission electron microscopy), BET (Brunauer, Emmett and Teller) and magnetization properties. Iron oxide nanoparticles were approximately 5-6 nm with high specific surface area and good magnetic properties. These are the necessary properties that a magnetic nanopowder must have in order to be used as nanoadsorbents in the heavy metal removal from waters. The iron oxide nanoparticles were evaluated as adsorbents for the removal of Cu, Cd and Ni ions.

Integration of Photovoltaic Electricity with Shallow Geothermal Systems for Residential Microgrids: Proof of Concept and Techno-Economic Analysis with RES2GEO Model

The European Union aims to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 55% before 2030 compared to 1990 as a reference year. One of the main contributions to GHG emissions comes from the household sector. This paper shows that the household sector, when organised into a form of prosumer microgrids, including renewable sources for electric, heating and cooling energy supply, can be efficiently decarbonised. This paper investigates one hypothetical prosumer microgrid with the model RES2GEO (Renewable Energy Sources to Geothermal). The aim is to integrate a carbon-free photovoltaic electricity source and a shallow geothermal reservoir as a heat source and heat sink during the heating and cooling season. A total of four cases have been evaluated for the Zagreb City location. The results represent a balance of both thermal and electric energy flows within the microgrid, as well as thermal recuperation of the reservoir. The levelised cost of energy for all cases, based on a 20-year modelling horizon, varies between 41 and 63 EUR/MWh. On the other hand, all cases show a decrease in CO2 emissions by more than 75%, with the best case featuring a reduction of more than 85% compared to the base case, where electricity and gas for heating are supplied from the Distribution System Operator at retail prices. With the use of close integration of electricity, heating and cooling demand and supply of energy, cost-effective decarbonisation can be achieved for the household sector.