Industrial symbiosis tools—A review

Abstract

Sustainability and Industrial Ecology (IE) are the main drivers of industrial symbiosis (InSys) and eco-industrial parks (EIPs). InSys, therefore, extends the idea of industrial ecology (IE) to the industrial sector by adopting a resource-efficient approach where one firm uses the unused or residual resources (materials, energy, water, assets, logistics, and expertise) of another firm. The aim is to enhance a sustainable and cleaner production in an environmentally friendly way, one in which generation of wastes and emission of greenhouse gases (including CO2) is minimized. Although previous literatures have investigated existing InSys tools, the utilization of the process integration (PI) tools for InSys design and planning has mostly operated in isolation of each other and thus concentrated on individual resources which makes the it hard for InSys designers to select the best tools. Furthermore, there is a dearth in research on comprehensive and integrated resource optimization, which considers the integration of all resources (such as energy, water, power, carbon and wastes) within InSys simultaneously. Therefore, this study investigated and surveyed available literatures in order to identify and develop a more comprehensive description of InSys tools, through the analysis of related methodologies and applications by integration of various resources optimization tools together for the design and establishment of EIPs. The tools are inclusive of both insight-based Pinch Analysis and mathematical optimization models approaches. The review also conducted a bibliometric analysis of some keywords using Scopus over a span of twenty-two years (1998–2019). Through the insights and understanding gained from the review, designers will be more equipped to make a more informed choice of working tools to utilize. Finally, suggestions were offered on some tools that will enhance the integration of eco-industrial parks to minimize fresh water/wastewater, minimize fuel use and reduce GHGs emissions and the minimization of cooling, heating and power requirements in Total Sites. The review of integrated resource optimization tools is then followed by identifying future research directions and development.