Optimising resources and energy efficiency in grassroots eco-industrial park by selecting the optimal tenant companies

Abstract

The generation of oil palm biomass in Malaysia is estimated to reach 100 million tonnes annually. It has vast potential to be monetised to various valuable products such as bioenergy, bio-agriculture, bioproducts and biochemicals. However, the biomass industry has not been able to create value along the industry’s value chain. The industry is also susceptible to several risks including regulatory, financing, technology, feedstock and supply chain, business, and environmental and social risks. Therefore, the selection and control of tenants' access have a vital effect on an Eco- Industrial Park’s (EIP) stability and overall process efficiency. The establishment of the Oil Palm Biomass-based-EIP (OPB-EIP) model might be an effective approach toward optimizing oil palm biomass resources and energy efficiency, promoting sustainable growth and mitigating some risks. Planning a sustainable grassroots OPBEIP can be complicated due to the competition among participating tenant companies. This study provides a systematic approach for selecting tenants. The entry indicator system consists of three primary and ten secondary indicators proposed from the perspective of the park developer. The criteria and sub-criteria are selected according to the industrial symbiosis principles and the three dimensions of sustainability (environment, economic and social dimensions). The technique renders the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) model to prioritise the tenants. The optimal selection of tenants depends on the trade-offs between ten different indicators. The method is easy to use and improves the accuracy of decision-making. But there are two challenges in using this method. The first challenge is the unavailability and unreliability of data. It is difficult to get accurate values for some data and is also subject to manipulation. The second challenge is that an indicator’s value assignment is often influenced by subjective factors such as personal preference and professional knowledge. A case study on 100 acres of proposed OPB-EIP in Pahang is adopted for this research. The results indicated that the proposed indicators and AHP method could select tenants with specified criteria. Conclusively, the systematic methodology presented can help park developers formulate guidelines to control tenants' access to a sustainable OPBEIP.