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The concept of eco-industrial park (EIP) has recently become the subject of a great deal of attention from industry and academic research groups. This paper proposes a series of systematic approaches for multi-level modelling and optimisation in EIPs. The novelties of this work include, (1) building a four-level modelling framework (from unit level to process level, plant level and industrial network level) for EIP research, (2) applying advanced mathematical modelling methods to describe each level operation, (3) developing efficient methodologies for solving optimisation problems at different EIP levels, (4) considering symbiotic relations amongst the three networks (material, water and energy networks) at the top EIP level with the boundary conditions of economic, social and legal requirements. For methodology demonstration, two cases at process level and industrial network level respectively are tested and solved with the developed modelling and optimisation strategies. Finally, the challenges and applications in future EIP research are also discussed, including data collection, the extension of the current networks to EIPs, and the feasibility of the proposed methodologies for complex EIP problems. The extended EIPs include the combination of material exchanges, energy systems and waste-water treatment networks. The aspects considered for future industrial ecology are carbon emission, by-product reuse, water consumption, and energy consumption. The main object of this paper is to explain the detailed model construction process and the development of optimisation approaches for a complex EIP system. In future work, this system is expected to share services, utility, and product resources amongst industrial plants to add value, reduce costs, improve environment, and consequently achieve sustainable development in a symbiosis community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The iron and steel industry is one of the most energy-intensive industrial sectors, which makes a significant worldwide contribution to resource and energy consumption, as well as to carbon dioxide emissions. Up to date, much effort has been put into increasing the global efficiency of the internal production processes. Still, the potential for improvements tends to be more and more limited at the level of a steel plant. That is why many methodologies and tools have been, and are still being, developed to study industrial symbiosis in such areas, but most of them propose a static view. Indeed, typically integrated iron and steel plants have a significant role to play in industrial symbiosis. However, the question remains: how to evaluate the economic and environmental benefits or impacts of industrial symbiosis on such industrial sites? Therefore, the objective of this study is to propose a new methodology based on the concepts of system dynamics while providing a systematic approach for assessing these industrial symbiosis performances. This approach relies on a dynamic model resulting from the combination of a physicochemical sub-model and a system dynamics sub-model. This model built and applied a whole steel plant is fed by all resource and energy flows (i.e., not limited to one process but considering all processes). This dynamic model is tested and validated over a two-year simulation period using different statistical tests that show its relevance to industrial symbiosis scenario simulations involving complex systems fed by variable resource and energy flows. This proposal can thus be used to simulate the substitution or exchange of any material and energy streams of steel plants while allowing the economic and environmental benefits or impacts to be quantified from any industrial symbiosis configuration. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CO2 conversion will be at the core of the future of low-carbon chemical and energy industry. This review gives a glimpse into the possibilities in this field by discussing (i) CO2 circular economy and its impact on the chemical and energy value chain, (ii) the role of CO2 in a future scenario of chemical industry, (iii) new routes for CO2 utilization, including emerging biotechnology routes, (iv) the technology roadmap for CO2 chemical utilization, (v) the introduction of renewable energy in the chemical production chain through CO2 utilization, and (vi) CO2 as a suitable C-source to move to a low-carbon chemical industry, discussing in particular syngas and light olefin production from CO2. There are thus many stimulating possibilities offered by using CO2 and this review shows this new perspective on CO2 at the industrial, societal and scientific levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]