Mimicking nature to design eco-industrial parks: Exploring the influence of connectance on industrial network optimization

Abstract

The accelerating exhaustion of non-renewable natural resources and the urgent need for sustainable practices have prompted the exploration of alternative methodologies in production processes. Food webs illustrate the predator-prey relationships between species in natural ecosystems, and their properties can offer valuable insights for improving economic and industrial systems, potentially leading to reduced emissions, costs, and improved process efficiency. While some food web metrics have been used for various purposes like establishing industry-nature analogies, comparing industrial networks to natural ecosystems, and configuring industrial networks, investigation of the role of the connectance metric in designing industrial networks, particularly in optimizing theoretical EIPs, is still scarce. This study investigates the role of connectance in optimizing industrial networks within eco-industrial parks, specifically focusing on the construction sector. A scenario analysis for seven conceptual eco-industrial parks serves as an illustration of how this approach can be used. The food web metric values of these eco-industrial parks are compared among themselves and against biological averages. The results reveal that maximizing connectance in eco-industrial parks is not an effective strategy for network optimization, as indicated by previous literature which points to potential instability. Instead, configurations that closely resemble natural food web metrics may provide better sustainability and efficiency if the limitations of the study are addressed, and the validity of this assumption is confirmed through quantitative tests. This study contributes theoretically by developing a guide for designing eco-industrial parks and introduces two key methodologies: based on particular criteria, a method for identifying and selecting potential future industrial symbiosis implementations targeted a sector and an innovative approach for sector-specific park design based on natural objectives and constraints, serving as a valuable decision-making tool for practitioners and policymakers.