Industrial symbiosis in the Swedish forest industry

Abstract

The research presented in this thesis draws upon the research field of Industrial Ecology, in particular Industrial Symbiosis, assuming that it is possible for an industry to increase its product value and simultaneously decrease its use of resources and production of waste material if its material and energy flows are effectively integrated into a larger system. The objective of this work was to apply the framework of IS to the Swedish forest industry, both to gain empirical evidence, which can be used for further conceptual development, and to evaluate how the industrial symbiosis approach can contribute to the forest industry. Occurrence, development and evaluation of integrated systems have been addressed. The results are mainly based on case studies. To evaluate the economic and environmental effects of industrial symbiosis the MIND method, which is an optimization program based on mixed integer linear programming, has been used.It is argued that several cases of industrial symbiosis exist within the Swedish forest industry today, and in the cases studied the integration is considered fruitful from the companies' point of view. The human dimensions of increased integration are discussed, and it is seen that the conditions for implementation differ depending on the type of system considered. The most important conditions common for all systems are a positive attitude from the companies involved, willingness to act and power relations. Lack of resources, imperfect environmental regulations, time frames and the risks involved when adopting new technologies were among the barriers identified. The results from the evaluation indicate some support to the theories that industrial symbiosis can have benefits both from an economical and an environmental point of view. However, it is seen that the results vary considerably depending on the assumptions made and it is concluded that great care should be taken in choosing method and boundary conditions depending on the case and the nature of the study, the MIND method being one possible method. Language: English Keywords: forest industry, integration, industrial symbiosis, evaluation, human dimensions, MIND method II III SAMMANFATTNINGForskningen som presenteras i denna avhandling anknyter till forskningsfältet Industriell Ekologi och då särskilt den gren som kallas Industriell Symbios (IS). Inom IS förordas att ett företag kan öka produktionen och samtidigt minska resursanvändningen genom att effektivt integrera energioch materialflöden i ett större system. Utbyte av tex spillvärme och biprodukter mellan olika industrier kan minska behovet av primärvärme och råmaterial. Syftet med avhandlingen är att undersöka hur det teoretiska ramverk som byggts upp inom IS kan appliceras på den svenska skogsindustrin. Detta leder till empiriskt material som kan bidra till vidare teroriutveckling, samt ger en insikt om hur IS kan bidra till resurseffektiviteten inom skogsindustrin. Avhandlingen behandlar teman som existens, utveckling och utvärdering av integrerade system. Fr...

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