Industrial symbiosis: Analysis of a case study in Belgium

Details

Supervisors

Gailly, Benoît

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] en Ingénieur de gestion

Abstract

When sustainable development seems to be the only way out to most of the environmental and socio-economic challenges faced by our societies, the field of industrial symbiosis (IS) represents a possible tool for achieving environmentally sustainable production and consumption. IS aims for the minimization of waste and for an optimized use of natural resources by engaging companies in physical exchanges of materials, energy and by- products. The purpose of this work is to analyze an IS steam network and confront the empirical findings to the theoretical principles learned from literature in order to extend the existing knowledge on IS realizations. The case we analyzed is a steam network, which came up under the name ECLUSE, that was recently developed in the Port of Antwerp in Belgium and that will start operating by the end of 2018, after the release of this research. The system is composed of one waste-to-energy plant supplying heat and steam to six neighboring companies that are mostly active in the chemical sector. This analysis allowed to confirm the vast majority of the advantages and key success factors that are known to be related to IS. First, we demonstrated that steam networks can have significant environmental advantages, while remaining economically viable for the companies involved. Furthermore, they contribute to local social and economic development and they represent a cost-effective tool for public authorities to promote sustainable development. We also observed that some of the expected disadvantages of IS do not apply in this particular case of steam network, which is partly due to the specific context in which the network emerged. Beyond the validation or rebuttal of the main theoretical aspects of IS, this analysis uncovered a new price risk that is run by companies trading resources within a symbiotic network. This risk originates from the potential price fluctuation of the resources exchanged, which is relevant as changes in price could distort the economical balance of trade, making the IS network no longer profitable for the participating companies.