Industrial Symbiosis for the Development of Biofuel Production
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LINKÖPING STUDIES IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY THESIS NO. 1441 INDUSTRIAL SYMBIOSIS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF BIOFUEL PRODUCTION MICHAEL MARTIN Environmental Technology and Management Department of Management and Engineering Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden COVER ART The cover portrays the author’s artistic view of industrial symbiosis. Many small to large firms and industries in the symbiotic activities are represented by circles. Linkages between these entities exist in various colors to represent the material and energy flows and their quantity. Interestingly, the circles and linkages are not all adjacent to one another and some can be seen as outliers, similar to those on the back cover. Furthermore, some of the exchanges do not take place directly between two firms, but use another firm to transfer the materials or even upgrade them for further use. Much like real world exchanges, this picture shows the relationship between firms under symbiotic activities from a holistic view, without boundaries and models. LIU-TEK-LIC-2010:12 ISBN 978-91-7393-373-5 ISSN 0280-7971 Printed by: LiU-Tryck, Linköping 2010. ABSTRACT In recent years the popularity of biofuels has been transformed from a sustainable option for transportation to a questionable and criticized method. Many reports have therefore been produced to view biofuel production from a life cycle perspective; though results may be misleading. In a number of the reports, biofuel production is viewed in a linear manner, i.e. crops and energy in and biofuel out. However there is a large quantity of material and energy flows associated with biofuel production and these must be accounted for. Industrial symbiosis concepts have therefore been applied in this thesis to the biofuel industry to identify possibilities to improve the material and energy flows. This has been done by mapping the exchanges and thereafter identifying possible synergies between biofuel firms and with external industries. Examples from regional biofuel synergies and exchanges with industrial partners have been highlighted. Many of the concepts have led to the identification of methods for increased integration and improvements, including the use of a renewable energy provider and the cooperation with external industries. Biofuels have therefore been found to profit from wastes, and instead of competition, benefit from one another, contrary to belief. This leads to an expanded market of raw materials for biofuel production. Benefits do not only occur for the biofuel industry; from the application of biofuels, industrial symbiosis may gain further benefits. Several new concepts have been produced in this thesis to account for the unique material handling possibilities that biofuel production firms encompass. These include using biofuels as upcyclers of materials and the use of renewable energy as a way to improve environmental performance. Furthermore, a classification method has been produced to add more detail about individual exchanges for the industrial symbiosis literature in addition to viewing industrial symbiosis from an expanded system view to include exchanges beyond geographic proximity typical to the field. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The writing of this thesis has been a difficult yet exciting path to say the least. There have been plenty of distractions, frustration and obstacles along the way to overcome. However, in your hands you are holding the compilation of the first two years of my research. I am very proud of my results; results which could not have been possible without the help of many others. To begin, I would like to thank Mats Eklund for his vision, guidance and support in the project. Thereafter, my colleagues at the Division of Environmental Technology and Management deserve gratitude for their help, insight and most importantly coffee breaks where one can escape the lonely world of researching. The research project could not have been possible without the help and support of many regional biofuel actors. Our Biofuel Reference Group deserves immense gratitude. I would like to thank our contacts at Tekniska Verken, Svensk Biogas, Agroetanol and Ageratec for their cooperation and invaluable information for this research project. Furthermore, I am grateful for those funding the project, FORMAS and the biofuel reference group, for whom I hope that conclusions from this research will end up being implemented. I would also like to thank Sofia Lingegård for her support. Thank you for listening and consoling me during times of frustration in both my work and life. Finally, I am very happy about the new member of our family, our new dog, a Hungarian Vizsla, Nívós for which I have gained an immense drive to finish writing this thesis. LIST OF APPENDED ARTICLES Article I- Improving the Environmental Performance of Biofuels with Industrial Symbiosis (Submitted to Biomass and Bioenergy Journal) Article II- An Inventory and Analysis of Synergies in the Biofuel Industry (Submitted to Bioresource Technology) Article III- Classification of Industrial Symbiosis Synergies: Application in the Biofuels Industry (Submitted and Revised for the Journal of Industrial Ecology) My Contribution to Articles Article I- Major contribution; both data collection and writing. Article II- Major contribution; data collection, writing, etc. Article III- Major contribution; writing and shared contribution for data collection. Related Publications Martin, M., & Fonseca, J. (2010). A systematic literature review of biofuel synergies Linköping University-IEI Report Number: LIU-IEI-R--10/0092—SE. Martin, M., Ivner, J., Svensson, N., & Eklund, M. (2009). Biofuel synergy development: Classification and identification of synergies using industrial symbiosis. Linköping University-IEI Report Number- LIU-IEI-R--09/0063—SE. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Aim................................................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Definitions........................................................................................................................ 3 2 SYSTEM BOUNDARIES AND LIMITATIONS............................................................................ 5 2.1 Biofuel Production Systems and System Boundaries ...................................................... 5 2.2 Industrial Symbiosis Limitations ..................................................................................... 6 3 BIOFUELS ............................................................................................................................ 7 3.1 Biodiesel........................................................................................................................... 7 3.2 Biogas............................................................................................................................... 9 3.3 Ethanol ........................................................................................................................... 11 3.4 Biofuel Production in Retrospect ................................................................................... 12 4 INDUSTRIAL SYMBIOSIS .................................................................................................... 13 4.1 Industrial Symbiosis as a Branch of Industrial Ecology ................................................ 13 4.2 By-Product and Utility Exchanges................................................................................. 14 4.3 Co-Location and Geographical Proximity ..................................................................... 14 4.4 Energy Systems for Eco-Industrial Parks....................................................................... 15 4.5 Industrial Symbiosis Taxonomy in this Work................................................................ 15 4.6 Industrial Symbiosis in Retrospect................................................................................. 17 5 METHODOLOGY................................................................................................................. 19 5.1 Research Process and Strategy Identification ................................................................ 19 5.2 Biofuel and Industrial Symbiosis Literature .................................................................. 20 5.3 Interviews and Focus Group Interviews......................................................................... 21 5.4 Field Visits ..................................................................................................................... 21 5.5 Using a Case Study ........................................................................................................ 22 5.5.1 Selection of Cases: Symbiosis Activities of Östergötland............................... 23 5.5.2 Data Collection and Analysis........................................................................... 24 5.5.3 Shaping Theories and Enfolding Literature ..................................................... 24 5.6 Contribution of Appended Articles and Methods Employed......................................... 25 6 RESULTS............................................................................................................................ 27 6.1 Händelö as an Example of Industrial Symbiosis Applied in the Biofuel Industry ........ 27 6.2 Linköping: Symbiotic Activities for Biogas Production...............................................