(397g) Semantically Enabled Technology for Port Symbiosis

Ontology Engineering is proved to be a leading technology in the field of Industrial Symbiosis. Classification of processes, raw materials, products, byproducts, emissions and energy as well as several relationships among them are already presented in several studies. Primary data are used to produce new metadata, where numerous connections are uncovered. On top of this, enablers can serve as imaginary industrial units, to reveal initially impossible connections. Enablers can be mechanical, chemical, biochemical, thermochemical, electrochemical units etc. Additionally, it is apparent that for every new type of classification, such as EWC, a number of new possibilities is added to the system.

Although ontology engineering is a reliable way to produce superstructures of material valorization routes, manual work is required in order to refine and quantify results. For this reason an expansion to the conventional practice is proposed, where tacit knowledge is valorized in a mathematical way. Semantic distance should not be limited to the “number of production steps” and “geospatial distance”. The user needs to optimize the superstructure using the criteria an Engineer would use on “ITSELF” (Infrastructure, Technical, Social, Environmental, Legal, Financial) methodology.

During the EPIC2020 project, workshops and interviews took place as communication channels for both collecting data and disseminating the project. The workshops were attended by stakeholders, academics, policy makers, SME’s and individuals. They all brought up significant views concerning new bioenergy production activities. These should be modeled, investigated and evaluated for maximizing the project’s impact.

The above input is grouped in six categories. Infrastructure: information dealing with the existance, size and development status of Natural Gas Network, District Heating Network, Steam Network, car biofuels and current symbiotic solutions. Technical: Technology compatibility based on factors such as moisture content, technology maturity, chemical resemblance (i.e. Hydrogen to Carbon ratio and Oxygen to Carbon ratio of the functional units’ inputs and outputs for estimation of entropy difference). Social: these models evaluate mainly the number of new jobs, both construction workers and operators. Environmental: Pollution levels, noise levels, greenhouse gas savings. Legal issues: biogas feed mixture, maximum capacity eligible for national financing, bioenergy production subsidy. Financial information concerns the supply and demand of the candidate products as well as the capital investments and their payback time.