| Abstract |
Much attention has been paid to build, evaluate, and improve the industrial symbiosis network, however, quantifying the impact of symbiotic measures on the evolution of structure and function in the industrial symbiosis network was rarely discussed holistically. This study established a topological conceptual model of the iron and carbon metabolism symbiosis network in the iron and steel industry under four scenarios, calculated the material and energy flow between the industry and its external environment as well as among the actors within the system, and discussed its structure and function using ecological network analysis. The results show that with the intra-firm symbiosis measures increased, both iron and carbon metabolisms were basically in a stable triangular structure from perspective of trophic structure and the structure of the iron and steel industrial symbiosis network become diversified. Under the iron and carbon metabolic models, the direct receiving utility of the external environment increased, in contrast, the indirect receiving utility and direct contribution utility decreased, furthermore, the direct receiving utility of waste management decreased. The most leading symbiotic relationship was mutualism in iron metabolism and exploitation in carbon metabolism while Mutualism Index of iron metabolism increased from 1.78 to 2.06 first and then decreased to 1.45 and carbon metabolism increased from 1.25 to 1.29 (without the external environmental), which all greater than 1. The entire industrial symbiosis network was controlled by the external environment that control degree accounted for over 50% but in a decreasing trend, where control level of node in iron flow was higher than carbon flow. It is worth noting that thermoelectricity, coking, and iron making were the key actors of the symbiosis network which needed to be prioritized to optimize because they are deeply involved in the system's metabolism. This work provides scientific direction for the iron and steel industrial symbiosis network to promote the future low-carbon design and management. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. |
