Industrial Symbiosis: Past Researches, Current Findings and Future Direction - repository civitas UGM

  

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  Industrial Symbiosis: Past Researches, Current Findings, and Future Direction Bertha Maya Sopha Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, INDONESIA

  E-mail : bertha_sopha@ugm.ac.id ABSTRACT

  High quality, non-renewable, resource depletion through various consumptive industrial activities, as well as, emissions and wastes during resources transformation have made current industrial systems unsustainable. Industrial symbiosis, coupling economic growth with environment protection, is one of various attempts toward sustainable industrial practice. The literature on industrial symbiosis continues to grow even though the industrial symbiosis practices have been there for quite some time. However, researches on industrial symbiosis are varied and vibrant yet fragmented. This present paper therefore attempts to organize and to review the burgeoning industrial symbiosis literatures by analyzing their state-of-art whether there are gaps. The literature review was based on articles drawn from 13 databases and one internet-based research engine. The literatures are analyzed with respect to evolutions of the concept development and the degree to which material are closed and exchanged, barriers and success factors, performance indicators, and modeling techniques implemented. Research findings are further synthesized to identify direction for potential future research.

  Keywords Industrial Symbiosis, Literature Review, Concept Development, Barriers and Success Factors, Modeling Techniques

  1. INTRODUCTION

  High quality, non-renewable, resource depletion through various consumptive industrial activities, as well as, emissions and wastes during resources transformation have made current industrial systems unsustainable. This will lead that the current resource use dynamics cannot be maintained for existing human populations. Therefore, people are now trying to bring about a change in the way their operation so that the negative impacts towards ecosystem can be stopped or at least minimized. Industrial symbiosis, coupling economic growth with environment protection, is one of various attempts toward sustainable industrial practice. The most famous case study of industrial symbiosis is probably the industrial district at Kalundborg, Denmark. During the development of industrial symbiosis, a number of ways to design and implement industrial symbiosis exist. Moreover, industrial symbiosis has also referred to various names, such as eco-industrial park, industrial eco-system, etc. The literature on industrial symbiosis continues to grow even though the industrial symbiosis practices have been there for quite some time. However, researches on industrial symbiosis are varied and vibrant yet fragmented.

  This present paper therefore attempts to organize and to review the burgeoning industrial symbiosis literatures by analyzing their state-of-art whether there are gaps. The literature review is therefore more than a mere description. The paper follows the following methodological approach to conduct the review: building conceptual framework, searching and collecting literatures, analyzings and synthesizing findings from literatures.

  2. FRAMEWORK

  The industrial symbiosis literatures are ranging from the conceptual study to empirical study, from broad-brush exploration to in-depth case study. This present paper arranges the literatures by creating an organizing template for this work. Although several templates are possible, a framework used in this paper is built in such a way to map the literatures based on its context into two streams of research: conceptual development of industrial symbiosis (group 1) and tool used or applied in designing and implementing industrial symbiosis (group 2). The review is shaped around these streams because each of stream has distinct body of research. Group 1 deals with attempts to investigate industrial symbiosis concept, formulate its principles and elements. As a new field, industrial ecology and/or industrial symbiosis literatures are seeking to formulate a set of fundamental beliefs and cohesive concepts that lend a common meaning to all players in the field. These literatures are mainly based on conceptual-grounded work. Group 2 deals with issues and approaches related to industrial symbiosis establishment such as performance indicators, modeling and evaluation as well as barriers and success factors of industrial symbiosis around the world. The papers on this category are empirically grounded results, experiences from practice.

3. DATA COLLECTION

  Due to the multidisciplinary nature of industrial symbiosis, the literature search was organized so that all the related field of industrial symbiosis was covered so that it could be analyzed in different context. Fields included in the literature research includes engineering, economics, environment, and business. The framework above was applied to all areas. Ten sources from databases, e-journal and internet, most of them containing articles, are explored. The data collection was conducted in four steps following the steps below, 1.

  Screening of databases, journals, conferences proceedings, etc to find references to publications related to industrial symbiosis

  2. All the selected references were coded according to our framework, empirical and conceptual research as well as classified into two groups determined in the framework

3. Investigation of most important/central references

  Identification of potential research themes 4.

  Table 1: Databases and search terms employed in literatures Sources Search term 1.

  1. ISI Web of Science industrial symbiosis 2.

  2. EBSCO industrial ecosystem 3.

  3. ECO Electronic eco-industrial park Collection (OCLC)

  4. eco-industrial estate 4.

  5. Ingenta eco-industrial network 5.

  6. JSTOR by-product synergy 6.

  7. Science direct (Elsevier) by-product exchange 7. SpringerLink 8. Wiley Interscience Journal

9. Blackwell Synergy 10.

  Google scholar (internet)

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1 Literature Description

  Judging from the numbers of references, research on industrial symbiosis have not yet got a foothold. As new emerging discipline the literatures of industrial symbiosis are evoluting in the same way as is industrial ecology. This section addresses the industrial symbiosis literatures evolution to point the center of attention to identify the potential research agenda as well as to provide innovative routes in changing present unsustainable industrial systems.

  The concept of industrial ecology was firstly introduced in 1989 [1]. Figure 1 and 2 illustrate the literatures based on the framework discussed in section 2. Tin the early stage, industrial symbiosis literatures were mainly working on the conceptual definition. With respect to the empirical case, the Kalundborg case in Denmark appeared in 1996 literature was the first working model of industrial symbiosis. Afterwards, the industrial symbiosis concept has been refined and the numbers of case and/or project on industrial symbiosis have been increasing since then. The conceptual literatures have given a baseline for studying the cases while case study literatures have inspired to further distill the concept. Case study literatures also contribute to the development of tools for designing and developing industrial symbiosis. Early study on industrial symbiosis was dominated with the technical and economic perspectives. Therefore, there was unbalance between the social and technology study in the area of industrial symbiosis as sustainability is not only based on technology and economy aspects but also social aspect. Furthermore, Cohen-Rosenthal [2] challenged the reductionist and engineering approaches in industrial ecology in general and industrial symbiosis in particular by stressing the importance of solid understanding of the functioning of industrial network and the role of human resources. Human dimension and inter-organizational issues was then addressed in 2006 literatures. Recent development in industrial symbiosis literatures is an attemp to adopt systemic perspective when designing and evaluating industrial symbiosis. case/project tool concept

  (1989) (1990-1992) (1993-1995) (1996-1998) (1999-2001) (2002-2004) (2005-2007) (2008-2010) (2011-) f irst introduced techno-econo techno-econo-socio analytical approach systemic approach

  Figure 1: Industrial symbiosis literatures (Note: bigger circles reflect more literatures)

  Figure 2 further illustrates that the number of empirical studies are higher than conceptual studies because more literatures presents and explores practices from cases in order to formulate the concept as well as implementing approaches. In turn, the formulated concept will help to learn, design and plan for other cases/projects. The process is however not linear. Theoretical and empirical data collection and generation work is done at the same time.

  60

  50 )

  40 (% e

  30 tag n e rc

  20 e P

10 Conceptual Studies Empirical Studies

  Types of Study Figure 2: Industrial symbiosis literatures by group based on the framework (Group 1: Conceptual studies, Group 2: Empirical studies)

4.2 Industrial Symbiosis Definition

  Industrial symbiosis is perhaps the best-known application of Industrial Ecology principles. There are various definitions of the concept with different implications. Industrial symbiosis normally regards as the exchange of by-products, energy, water, emissions among closely situated firms. There are several terms in the literatures which are used interchangeably. Table 2 provides the terms as well as the definition which develops over time. The early definition is put more focus on trading material, and then it is enriched by the synergy/collaboration within geographic proximity in addition to material exchange. Table 2 also implies that the expressions from different authors are varying depending on the system boundaries, specifics of the project, its management umbrella or geographical location. However, they have one thing in common is that they attempt to create a system by exchanging material/energy with collaboration among companies within region/geographic proximity whose objective to improve economic, environmental, social performance.

  Tabel 2: Concepts and definitions in Industrial Symbiosis

Term used Definition References

  Industrial In an Industrial Ecosystem, the traditional model of industrial activity is transformed into a [1] Ecosystem more integrated system, in which the consumption of energy and materials is optimized and the effluents of one process serve as the raw material for another process Industrial A community or network of companies and other organizations in a region who choose to [3]

  Ecosystem interact by exchanging and making use of byproducts and/or energy in a way that provides

one or more of the following benefits over traditional,non-linked operations: reduction in the

use of virgin materials as resources input, increased energy efficiency leading to reduced

  

Term used Definition References

systemic energy use, reduction in the volume of waste products requiring disposal, increase in

the amount and types of process output that have market value

  Eco-industrial park a community of manufacturing and service firms located together in a common property. [4]

Member businesses seek enhanced environmental, economic and social performance through

collaboration in managing environmental and resource issues. By working together, the

community of businesses seeks a collective benefit that is greater then the sum of individual

benefits each company would realize by only optimizing its individual performance Industrial Industrial Symbiosis engages traditionally separate industries in a collective approach to [5] symbiosis competitive advantage involving physical exchange of materials, energy, water, and/or

byproducts. The keys to Industrial Symbiosis are collaboration and the synergistic

possibilities offered by geographic proximity The latest definition on industrial symbiosis also takes into account on the common objectives to pursue performance targets.

  This is quite in line with principles proposed by Korhonen [6], the development of natural ecosystems is driven by roundput, diversity, locality and gradual change, as industrial ecology metaphors.

  Table 3: Ecosystem principles applied to natural and industrial ecosystem (adapted from [6]) Ecosystem principles In Natural Ecosystem In industrial Ecosystem

  Roundput Recycling of matter Recycling of matter Cascading of energy Cascading of energy Diversity Biodiversity Diversity in actors, in interdependency, Diversity in species, organism and in co-operation

  Diversity in interdependency and Diversity in industrial input and output cooperation Diversity in information Locality Utilizing local resources Utilizing local resources, wastes Respecting the local natural limiting Respecting the local natural limiting

factors factors

Local interdependency and cooperation Co-operation between local actors Gradual change Evolution using solar energy Using waste material and energy and Evolution through reproduction renewable resources Cyclical time, seasons time Gradual development of the system Slow time rates in development of system diversity diversity

  Summarizing, the basic concept of industrial symbiosis is attempting to learn and apply ecosystem principles to an industrial system. The ability to articulate and conceptualize industrial symbiosis is crucial because different conceptualizations of industrial ecology suggest different political solutions and different focuses on the environment [7]. Moreover, the principles can be useful either for stimulating creative thinking, innovation, and for providing inspiration for establish industrial symbiosis.

4.3 Barriers and Success Factors

  There are two opinions regarding the IS establishment. First, based on the success story of existing IS, the development of IS is

  self-organizing driven by market forces, spontaneously evolved market coordination [8]. Industrial symbiosis is a complex

  system that is very difficult to intentionally plan, design or manage [9]. However, the second opinion is that the IS development is planning-based is that the public planning could foster greater level of industrial symbiosis [10]. There are various barriers and success factors found in the literatures. For example, Ehrenfeld and Gertler [9] found barriers toward industrial symbiosis included lack of technical and economic appeal of continuous sources of feedstock, high transaction costs, small lot sizes, and cognitive domain when wastes have such a long history of being ignored that it is difficult for firms to integrate these output of their activities into their strategic processes. Case study of a Swedish municipality with a developed forest industry results that the greatest barriers were lack of knowledge and resources, attitudes, time frames, development consent and lack of continuity and local power for some companies [11]. On the study of CHP- based energy production in an industrial recycling network, Korhonen [6] identified the barriers are economic barrier, unhealthy dependencies (conflicting interest or diversity of technical requirements), regulation and policy (taxation of fossil fuels), large unit sizes and awareness related to information and know-how. He also discussed on the conditions of success including renewable flow resources as fuels, co-production of district heat and electricity, co-production of industrial heat/steam and electricity, public ownership in related to trust and inability to corporate as well as local condition that provides market in which this is very much in line with the success factors for Kalunborg due to chemical and other technical compatibility, economic feasibility, organizational arrangements that minimizes transaction cost, regulatory context that is consultative, open and flexible to further reduce emission and adjust prices to make industrial symbiosis economically attractive [9]. Furthermore, case studies of eight eco-industrial park in the Netherlands showed that factors of social cohesion between the partner companies plays, physical and social features as well as the nature of the decision making process determine the degree of success in achieving symbiosis and/or utility sharing in eco-industrial park [12]. Furthermore, the comparative study conducted on six industrial symbiosis projects in the US and the Netherland pointed the factor that essential to project success is active participation from a number of stakeholders in the planning stages of the project, however, the reasons causing problems or failure is more diverse in nature, ranging from lack of finances, lack of company interest, relatively large distance between companies, different opinions and interest among stakeholders [13]. Summarizing, barrier and success factors on industrial symbiosis project are case-specific; however, there are some commons also among the cases. Summarized, the development and functioning of industrial symbiosis depend on the various factors rooted in the different domains [13,14],

  Technical: an exchange is technically feasible in terms of physical, chemical and spatial attributes of in- and output

• streams, compatibilities between needs and capacities, availability of reliable and cost efficient technologies Economic: an exchange might be economically sound or economically not risky from a company perspective in terms
• of costs of virgin inputs, value of waste and by-product streams, transaction and opportunity costs, size of capital investment and discount rates Political/regulatory/legal: caused by the jungle of environmental laws and regulations for example: overarching
• environmental policies, nature and implications of relevant laws and regulations, relevant fiscal elements (taxes, fees, fines, levies, subsidies and credits) Informational: the right people have the needed information at the right time, for example: access to relevant info,
• availability of timely and reliable information from a wide spectrum of areas to the right parties, continued review of information. Organizational and Institutional: the intended exchange might not fit in the current corporate organizational structure
• in terms of trust, openness, environmental maturity, level of social interaction and mental proximity, local availability of decision-making power, organization history, nature of interaction among industry, policy makers and regulators, social embeddings (degree of familiarity).

4.4 Tools

  In order to able to reproduce the success of industrial symbiosis at Kalundborg, Denmark to other places around the world, researchers from different area attempt to develop tools, instruments and/or approaches derived from other different fields. This sub-section will discussed tools and approaches found in the literatures for evaluating industrial symbiosis. Most the published studies on evaluation of industrial symbiosis evaluation is mainly descriptive, leaving out the specific methodology utilized. This section limits discussion by addressing only on performance indicator and modeling techniques of industrial symbiosis.

  4.4.1 Performance Indicators

  There is very few literatures presenting on the performance indicators of industrial symbiosis. The indicators for evaluating industrial symbiosis should incorporate both environment and economic aspects. Some authors therefore suggest eco- efficiency indicators to measure environmental and financial performances. The study conducted by Biswas et al. [15] stated that indicators which reflect environmental, economic, health and safety issues, have been categorized as micro-ecometrics and macro-ecometrics, and often economic, technical and societal factors are embedded into these measures. The paper however left out specific indicators to measure environmental, economic and social performances.

  4.4.2 Modeling Techniques

  The primary requirement for establishing industrial symbiosis is that it must be technically feasible. Therefore, the first attempt towards modeling of industrial symbiosis is by modeling the material (raw materials, products, by-products, waste) and energy flow. Tools used for modeling technical aspect are chemical process simulation, linear programming, other operation research tools such as game theory, queue theory, monte carlo simulation, system dynamics, etc. There are many studies that have been done by chemical engineers to seek for the potential linkages among the member in the industrial symbiosis. It can be evaluated using a variety of techniques, such as exergy analysis [16] and emergy analysis[17,18]. They are modeling exergy or emergy flow of the system. This type of modeling tried to model the influence of uncertainty such as market fluctuation, operational uncertainty, etc., using operational research principles, for example game theory [18] and hierarchical pareto optimization [19]. This modeling is to seek the optimal operation of industrial symbiosis economically and environmentally. Moreover, there is industrial ecosystems toolkit developed by Industrial Economics Inc. in partnership with Clark University for the US EPA’s Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation, Urban and Economic Development Division in 1999. It consists of Facility Synergy Tool (FaST), Designing Industrial Ecosystems Tool (DIET), Regulatory, Economic and Logistics Tool (REaLiTy). Other toolkits such as MatchMaker that matches the user specific or generic data, Integrated Materials Exchange Tool that integrates linier programming optimization with a visual GIS map based framework, was also available. The presented modeling techniques seek to model the technical system, on the other hand, industrial symbiosis is not only consisting of machine and money but also man (human) in which poorly addressed. Therefore, the recent proposal for modeling industrial symbiosis is the use of agent-based modeling to facilitate the interaction of stakeholder in industrial symbiosis [20,21], however, the application toward real cases are still lack.

5. FUTURE DIRECTION

  Extracted from the literatures, this section identifies themes which are crucial to be considered when establishing and developing industrial symbiosis. The themes relate to industrial symbiosis concept, performance indicator, human dimension, linkage to business, as well as, modeling techniques. With respect to the concept of industrial symbiosis, due to various proposed definition, no single consensus, it calls to more further research in order to refine the concept of industrial ecology that is widely accepted and useful as the metaphor to be a source of inspiration and creativity in the transformation of management and strategic visions towards a new sustainability culture. Furthermore, with respect to performance indicator, a set of indicators informing stakeholders on how well the system is working is necessary. The future research could be studying on developing key performance indicators to measure industrial symbiosis performance in terms of economy, technology, as well as, environment. Based on the previous findings mentioned on the barrier of industrial symbiosis establishment and development, it is seen that, sometimes, other barriers and incentives exist which are not directly linked to whether the investment on industrial symbiosis is profitable or not. Human are unique among species, possessing language and intentionality. There is other factor that important for integration, that is human dimension, i.e., inter-organizational management, human action toward the vision of Industrial symbiosis. It echo to the slogan “knowledge makes it possible, people make it happen”. Therefore, research on human dimension toward the industrial symbiosis establishment is also required. The linkage toward business models is also particularly important. More often that not it tends to look at industrial ecosystems, industrial metabolism and industrial symbiosis from a biological and engineering point of view. Business people look things differently and even have different languages. There is a need towards any efforts to try to understand symbiosis using business models. This will allow to make better cases once all of the business benefits are understood. Reducing environmental impacts and even making more efficient use of resources don't appear to be enough to make symbioses happen [22]. It is supported by Baumann [23] emphasizes that different ways of managing industrial production results in different environmental performance. Industrial performance does not depend on solely the technology but also depend on how we manage it. Since industrial symbiosis is complex system, there is a call for applying the systemic approach to understand the problem. There is a strong need for a systemic approach to better understand the full implications of the choice and its attractiveness in terms of resilience [24]. Moreover, Garner and Keoleian [25] argued that environmental problems from industrial processes are systemic and would need a system approach in proffering solutions to them which would involve connections linking industrial practices to human activities in addition to maintaining environmental or ecological integrity. Most authors believe that a systems approach also provides a holistic view of environmental problems thereby making it possible to see and solve these problems that would in turn create advantages towards achieving sustainable industrial systems. To sum up, there is a strong need to provide the modeling technique that can model the system based on the holistic perspective. The possible contribution towards the knowledge development in the area of industrial symbiosis could be on the development of simulation software, optimization techniques (multi-scale) as well as policy that drives or may hinder industrial symbiosis. At the end, all the mentioned potential research themes would contribute to the building of practical framework to establish industrial symbiosis.

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