A resource management optimisation model for Industrial Symbiosis

Industrial Symbiosis (IS) is a resource management approach where companies from different sectors collaborate to optimize the use of materials and by-products to create a sustainable production system. IS facilitates the exchange of resources between industries,fostering more efficient industrial ecosystems.The European Commission has recognized IS as a key tool for achieving circular economy goals(New Circular Economy Action Plan).A production residue from a company is reused as secondary raw material by another company,reducing disposal costs and the need for virgin materials.Often,an additional transformation step is required.Adopting IS is challenging and depends on factors such as industry type,financial incentives,geographic proximity.It requires careful economic evaluation,as it may incur additional costs such as transportation and material transformation.We propose an optimization model designed to evaluate the economic viability of switching to IS.This model enables companies to compare the costs of continuing to purchase virgin raw materials with those of shifting to the IS market.By considering factors like transportation,waste transformation,different potential options(such as setting up an internal waste transformation system or outsourcing to an external organization),the model identifies the optimal amount of waste to integrate into industrial processes,ultimately minimizing overall costs and supporting more informed decision-making for the adopting companies.