Industrial ecology is the study of “technical bodies”, the use of their resources, their potential impact on the environment and the ways in which their interactions with the natural world can be restructured to achieve greater sustainability. It is a systemic approach that seeks to optimize the total materials cycle, from raw materials to finished goods, to those used up to their final disposal. Till now various application levels of industrial ecology concepts have been identified which represent a gradually more and more complex process of eco-industrial integration: the exchange of matter and energy can take place into a single company (divided in most production units) or a group, in eco-industrial parks with cooperative or integrated management, or even at regional level through the implementation of complex eco-industrial systems and networks for the operation of which the continuous exchange of information between companies becomes crucial. However, while new projects are always arising in industrial ecology for individual companies, industries or districts, on the other hand, examples of application of industrial ecology to large areas are very limited. The aim of this paper is to present the preliminary results of a model application of the principles and tools of industrial ecology to a wide area to identify possible interactions between the achievable existing productive sectors in the same area and in particular the identification of areas potentially missing and to be implemented to optimize the exchange of matter and energy. The model is then applied to the specific case of the Province of Taranto to test the quality of the needed information. In this case a provincial assessment of the energy use has been established. The energy balance shows that the waste energy deriving from the most energy intensive firms amounts to over 1050 ktep. Such quantity is larger than the energy absorbed by the residential sector of the province. Moreover, for some of the larger amounts of special waste produced in the province, some forms of implementable Industrial Symbiosis (IS) have been proposed. In particular the research was concentrated on the blast furnace and steel slag since the steelmaking factory ILVA produces more than 1,5 Mt of steel slag (currently used to fill quarries) and 1,5Mt of blast furnace slag.
Development of an Application Model of the Principles and Tools of Industrial Ecology to a Wide Area
NOTARNICOLA, Bruno;TASSIELLI, GIUSEPPE;GIUNGATO, Pasquale;RENZULLI, PIETRO ALEXANDER;Di Capua R;
2012-01-01
Abstract
Industrial ecology is the study of “technical bodies”, the use of their resources, their potential impact on the environment and the ways in which their interactions with the natural world can be restructured to achieve greater sustainability. It is a systemic approach that seeks to optimize the total materials cycle, from raw materials to finished goods, to those used up to their final disposal. Till now various application levels of industrial ecology concepts have been identified which represent a gradually more and more complex process of eco-industrial integration: the exchange of matter and energy can take place into a single company (divided in most production units) or a group, in eco-industrial parks with cooperative or integrated management, or even at regional level through the implementation of complex eco-industrial systems and networks for the operation of which the continuous exchange of information between companies becomes crucial. However, while new projects are always arising in industrial ecology for individual companies, industries or districts, on the other hand, examples of application of industrial ecology to large areas are very limited. The aim of this paper is to present the preliminary results of a model application of the principles and tools of industrial ecology to a wide area to identify possible interactions between the achievable existing productive sectors in the same area and in particular the identification of areas potentially missing and to be implemented to optimize the exchange of matter and energy. The model is then applied to the specific case of the Province of Taranto to test the quality of the needed information. In this case a provincial assessment of the energy use has been established. The energy balance shows that the waste energy deriving from the most energy intensive firms amounts to over 1050 ktep. Such quantity is larger than the energy absorbed by the residential sector of the province. Moreover, for some of the larger amounts of special waste produced in the province, some forms of implementable Industrial Symbiosis (IS) have been proposed. In particular the research was concentrated on the blast furnace and steel slag since the steelmaking factory ILVA produces more than 1,5 Mt of steel slag (currently used to fill quarries) and 1,5Mt of blast furnace slag.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
