Industrial Symbiosis Network Optimization Model for Supporting By-Products Reuse

The modern industrial scenario is continuously requesting to supply chains and logistic networks to take complex decisions to deal with the recent global crises related to the supply of resources and environmental impacts. Industrial symbiosis (IS) is a paradigm that aims to valorise industrial by-products, redirecting them as inputs for other production processes. IS establishes partnerships and synergies between companies belonging to different industrial sectors, allowing businesses to gain economic, environmental and social benefits. The complex circular network of entities often encounters problems in managing material and information flows and taking common strategic decisions. Linear programming optimization models support decision-making process and they are increasingly used to optimize the exchanges within eco-industrial parks or IS networks (ISNs). This paper presents and applies an optimization model for managing an ISN with the aim of reducing the total cost of the system, one of the main drivers of companies’ decisions. The model considers as entities companies, reprocessing sites and landfills, and it is multiperiod to consider the dynamism of promising ISNs.