Industrial symbiosis (IS) activities within an industrial complex can enhance environmental and economic efficiencies. This study proposed a simplified life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology as an effective tool with which to evaluate the reduction of environmental impact of IS activities. In this method, the variation of resources and energy consumptions before and after IS activities are proposed to simply evaluate its lifecycle environmental impacts. The simplified LCA was applied to an IS case between an industrial waste incineration plant and a steam production plant of a paper mill firm in the metropolitan city Ulsan. The system boundary and inventory were set for this IS, and an environmental impact assessment was carried out by standard and proposed LCA methods. The results showed that the environmental impacts after IS decreased in all impact categories with regard to the consumption reduction of boiler fuel used at the paper mill. Furthermore, the performance of environmental improvement activities such as IS can be simply evaluated by only considering the input and output changes in the environmental improvement activities. In this IS case study, the environmental impact was decreased by 11.7% (weighted impact base). This was due to the utilization of waste heat generated from an incineration plant in the process of the paper mill firm.

제21차 파리 기후변화협약 당사국총회(COP21)에서 신기후변화체제인 파리협정이 채택되었으며, 파리협정은 각 국가가 국가별 기여방안(INDC)을 스스로 정하여 매 5년마다 상향된 감축 목표를 제출하도록 하고 있다. 우리나라는 2030년 총 국가 배출량 전망치(BAU) 대비 37%를 감축하겠다는 내용의 국가별 기여방안을 UN에 제출하였다. 이러한 국제 및 국내 환경은 온실가스 배출 및 감축량 산정의 중요성을 부각시키며, 국내의 다수의 기업들은 온실가스 배출의 감축을 위하여 부산물, 폐수, 에너지 등을 교환하는 산업공생을 진행하고 있다. 산업공생은 공급기업, 수요기업 등의 다수의 이해당사자가 관련되어 있으므로, 산업공생으로 발생하는 온실가스 감축 크레딧의 할당이 중요하다. 현재 우리나라의 경우 온실가스 감축 크레딧을 기업의 경계를 기준으로 부여 및 할당하고 있으며, 이와 같은 방법은 전체적인 온실가스의 발생량은 저감시킬 수 있으나, 산업공생에 기여한 일부 이해당사자의 온실가스 배출량을 오히려 증가시킬 수 있는 문제점이 발생한다. 이러한 결과는 산업공생을 추진하는데 있어 커다란 장애요인으로 온실가스 감축노력을 활성화시키기 위해 산업공생 활동이 활발히 일어나도록 온실가스 감축 크레딧의 할당에 대한 제도개선이 필요하다. 산업공생에 의하여 발생하는 온실가스 감축 크레딧은 산업공생과 관련된 이해당사자들의 노력에 의한 결과이므로 총량범위 내에서 상호협의하여 할당하는 유연성을 가지도록 제도개선이 필요하다고 판단된다. 한편, 본 연구에서는 울산광역시에서 현재 이루어지고 있는 실제 산업공생사례를 대상으로 연구를 수행하였다.

This work aimed to analyze current status of by-products generation and industrial symbiosis network in Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea. Manufacturing sector of the province mainly consists of electronics, machinery, steel, metal-working industries. Gumi and Pohang have the 1st and 2nd largest worker population in the manufacturing sector. 21,950.7 ton/d of waste is generated from the industries in 2011, of which 82.2% is recycled. The industrial waste, which is not recycled, is mainly composed of sludge cake from domestic wastewater treatment plants, waste plastic, incinerator ash, and slag. Pohang is the largest generating city of both total and the non-recycled industrial waste in the province, and most of the waste is from Pohang steel industrial park. Symbiosis map in Pohang steel industrial park shows that most of the current material symbiosis in the industrial park is for waste refractories and slag.

Reuse, recycling and recovery (3R) of industrial wastes are common and encouraging in Korea. Industrial symbiosis is one of typical methods for implementing 3R and has been defined as engaging “traditionally separate industries in a collective approach to competitive advantage involving physical exchange of materials, energy, water, and by-products”. The keys to industrial symbiosis are collaboration and the synergistic possibilities offered by geographic proximity. Recently, several countries in East Asia such as Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and China are promoting ‘designed’ symbiosis networks in various industrial complexes based on their national Eco-industrial Park (EIP) demonstration programs. Despite the recently promoted EIP initiatives worldwide, only very few studies furnish the operational and functional details of ‘designed’ industrial symbiosis networks, starting from the planning to implementation stage. The production of terephthalic acid (TPA) in Korea is 6.5 million ton based on 2011. The production of waste generated in the process of TPA is about 15,000 ton/yr and included useful materials like residue TPA as well as isophthalic acid (iPA), benzoic acid (BA) and p-toluic acid (p-TL). Until now, TPA waste was incinerated due to high caloric value. This study was conducted for recovery of valuable materials from industrial waste and utilization of recovered material as an example of Korean EIP. In this study, the experiment was performed to separate above four materials from the waste by solvent (methanol and water) extraction. The solubility of TPA (0.1g/100g) for methanol is relatively low compared to other materials. Also the solubility of BA (68g/L at 95℃) and p-TL (11.6g/L at 98℃) for water is relatively high in comparison with other materials. Finally, BA was separated from p-TL by molecular distillation system. The purity of recovered materials was analyzed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (Waters Xevo TQ system). The recovery rate and purity of BA is 90% and 93%. The recovered BA could be recycled the companies which are produced plastic plasticizer and paints.

This study is focused on the industrial symbiosis based on industrial ecosystem theory. At first, the concept of industrial ecosystem was introduced. Industrial symbiosis is a good tool in order to make a harmony between industry and natural ecosystem. The good example of industrial symbiosis is the case of Kalundborg in Denmark, where 11 networks are working in four enterprises and one community nearby. It was proved that savings of natural resources and economic benefit are achieved by use of industrial symbiosis. Moreover, the control of pollutant emission was also done by use of advanced technology and investments. Based on this case, It was shown that industrial symbiosis through eco-industrial complex in Korea was confronted with many difficulties. First of all, loose emmision criteria, recycling system on wastes, and the absence of will for industrial symbiosis should be solved in Korea.