Perhaps the largest hurdle to water reuse in preferred and business synergy is precisely labeling wastewater.
So perhaps we should think about what we call remarkable types of water.
As wastewater is not only a renewable resource, it is also a carrier for energy and elements that can be extracted, treated stored and reused.
At a corporate facility I recently visited, they had a proclamation that it isn’t always wastewater before it touches the ground, but that it is then redirected to wastewater treatment and effluent returned to nature.
A commercial symbiosis, in theory, tries to emulate the field of ecology, where the removal of a leaf is the entry point to all other techniques.
Nothing is thrown away in nature. Commercial complexes in co-located industries may be able to accomplish the same.
The key to making it work is open communication and a community commercial discussion board for researching and coordinating the potential of corporate symbiosis.
Smart water industrial symbiotic systems
The circular economy seeks to design waste and pollution management with new value chains by reusing products and materials and regenerating natural systems.
Circular concepts are already being implemented in industry, but the European Commission (EC) is now focusing on ‘Water Smart Industrial Symbiosis (WSIS)’.
Which involves introducing circular symbiotic arrangements between industry and water service providers to create economic value and increased sustainability.
This method will expand prospects for the recovery and reuse of water-embedded resources while also stimulating new circular business arrangements (public-private partnerships, new service providers, specialized technology suppliers, etc.).
A Water Smart Industrial Symbiosis strategy will expand water-integrated resource recovery and reuse prospects.
ULTIMATE is an ongoing EU-funded research and innovation project that supports the transition to water smart industrial symbiosis by systematically addressing technical, digital, socio-economic, governance and business system interdependencies.
By demonstrating successful high-profile WSIS paradigms in which water and industrial sectors collaborate to deliver innovative resource-efficient, circular solutions, with a focus on cross synergies, transferability and applicability of the WSIS concept.
Similarly, it Creates and proves novel exploitation/valorization schemes (value chains) for these resources using a variety of economic models and symbiotic partnerships, and connecting them to existing investments and plans for businesses and water utilities.
Additionally, it designs to promote and drives the corporate transformation to WSIS through active stakeholder involvement and innovation co-creation, with a focus on business-to-business, citizen and Living Lab interaction.
Using technology to redefine symbiosis
The challenge for mitigating and optimizing the growing precariousness of the water-food-energy connection will fall on the internet of things and related technologically innovative solutions.
Modern methods, such as coal or nuclear power plants, refineries and natural gas processing, are infinitely more complex.
Even though they still reinforce the underlying principle that governed more primitive techniques.
we need to withdraw and consume water to produce energy, and we need to consume energy to source, deliver and treat water.
The gradual transition toward renewable energy is an exciting first step toward reducing water use and requirements in energy production, as well as providing efficiency in how we distribute power to a growing population, both locally and globally.
The emphasis must shift to minimizing freshwater demand in energy generation and implementing new technologies that can reuse and recycle the water utilities withdraw.
As IoT technology evolves, so will its capabilities and water-food-energy-related applications, creating new efficiencies in how we conserve all three at scale.
The capital and technology required to improve water and energy utilities’ monitoring and distribution capabilities, upgrade infrastructure, meet energy demand with nonrenewable sources, optimize food production and stabilize the water-food-energy connection will necessitate close collaboration and innovative partnerships at all levels in both the public and private sectors.
Overview of symbiosis at kalundborg
Examining the symbiotic relationship at Kalundborg is informative.
Over 30 streams of “waste” are exchanged here by 17 different firms, including water, steam, heat, rubbish and fabric.
The partnership grew from eight commercial firms in the early 1960s to the massive alternate device we have today.
The symbiosis has evolved over many years and currently includes big firms such as Novo, Statoil, Novozymes, Gyproc and the energy plant and water utility.
All entities contribute to and/or benefit from various byproducts.
Symbiosis has two advantages: financial savings and favorable environmental consequences in the form of fewer pollutants and different waste products.
In general, industrial closeness is the solution for low-grade chemicals.
However, transporting the material over large distances can be advantageous for more expensive materials.
As a result, the concept of symbiosis may be viewed as broadening the concept of water reuse from an intra-organizational to an inter-firm methodology.
References
[1] Neves, A., Godina, R., Azevedo, S. G., & Matias, J. C. (2020). A comprehensive review of industrial symbiosis. Journal of cleaner production, 247, 119113.
[3] Tolstykh, T., Shmeleva, N., & Gamidullaeva, L. (2020). Evaluation of circular and integration potentials of innovation ecosystems for industrial sustainability. Sustainability, 12(11), 4574.
[4] La Greca, S., Drews, M., Åkermann, M., Larsen, M. A. D., & Halsnæs, K. (2017). Infrastructure Systems in a Sustainable City.
[5] Redefining Symbiosis Through Technology, https://www.waterworld.com/home/article/14071168/redefining-symbiosis-through-technology
