Anchor-Tenant Models for the Synthesis of Eco-Industrial Parks through Carbon-Hydrogen-Oxygen Symbiosis Networks

An eco-industrial park (EIP) is a network of entities who choose to interact by exchanging byproducts, wastes and/or energy to gain benefits greater than unintegrated operations. The concept is particularly attractive for developing industrial clusters and integrating processing facilities within an industrial city.

Recently, the concept of Carbon-Hydrogen-Oxygen Symbiosis Network (CHOSYN) has been introduced [1] for the integration of hydrocarbon processing facilities. The key idea of CHOSYN is to use atomic-level information to set targets for the integration opportunities and to employ a multi-scale systems approach to devising macroscopic strategies to attain the atomic-based benchmarks. CHOSYN takes advantage of the common ground of the chemical industry, utilizing streams containing carbon, oxygen and hydrogen atoms, to create synergism among multiple entities. Optimization approaches and shortcut methods have been developed to synthesize implementation alternatives of a mass integrated network that reduces raw material usage and waste disposal while offering significant economic benefits [1, 2].

In synthesizing new CHOSYNs or retrofitting an existing system, it is important to account for the various relationships among the EIP participants. The objective of this paper is to adopt the Anchor-Tenant model in the synthesis of CHOSYNs. Anchors are first invited as the key participants in the EIP. “Tenants” are potential plants that could be developed and integrated with the existing “Anchor(s)” thus creating a genesis of an EIP. A multi-scale optimization approach is developed to identify and screen the tenants and to determine performance benchmarks for individual plants and for the whole EIP. Different cooperative and non-cooperative scenarios are examined. A case study is developed and solved to demonstrate the key theoretical concepts and the applicability of the new approach.

References

[1] Noureldin, M.M.B. and M.M. El-Halwagi, Synthesis of C-H-O Symbiosis Networks. AIChE Journal, 2015. 61(4), 1242-1262.

[2] El-Halwagi, M.M., “A Shortcut Approach to the Multi-Scale Atomic Targeting and Design of C-H-O Symbiosis Networks”, Process Integration and Optimization for Sustainability (DOI: 10.1007/s41660-016-0001-y, 2017)