Water Reuse in Industrial Symbiosis

Water is indispensable and irreplaceable resources. It is consumed every day and everywhere from domestic use to agricultural, industrial purposes. By its sector, industry accounts for 12% of global water withdrawal (UN Water, 2021), and this is estimated to increase faster than that of agriculture. Growth of industrial water use is predicted in almost every country in the world including Africa, where the water demand is expected to escalate by 800% by 2050 (Boretti and Rosa, 2019). Water-intensive industries, such as manufacturing, chemicals, mining and textile, are particularly vulnerable to fluctuating water availability. It is prospected these highly water-dependent businesses with the famous brands will face the big reputational threats as well as unpredictability due to water shortage (WWF, 2009). Becker (2019) highlighted the importance of Integrated Industrial Water Management referring the fact that water crisis will cause the most crucial social impacts in next 10 years. As solutions to buffer water risk in industry, water reuse, Industrial Symbiosis and Eco-Industrial Park (EIP) were suggested. The concept of water reuse emerged to change conventional way of water consumption (use and disposal) to circular economical approach (reduce, reuse and recycle) within a single plant.

Technologies, such as water pinch and mathematical optimization, were devised to maximize water efficiency and minimize the wastewater discharge (Yoo et al., 2007). The development of water reuse network evolved from a single plant-based to multiple user level (Misrol et al., 2021), and this can be explained by the concept of Industrial Symbiosis (IS). According to Chertow (2000), Industrial symbiosis is defined as “traditionally separate industries in a collective approach to competitive advantage involving physical exchange of materials, energy, water, and by-products.” Participants can benefit by sharing by-product, waste, and utilities that enlarge revenue and reduce the cost of raw materials, facility maintenance, and waste disposal (Lovelady et al., 2009). As a similar concept to Industrial Symbiosis, Eco- Industrial Park (EIP) is often accompanied with IS since both are based on businesses cooperation. However, to perform as EIP, there are more requirements to fulfil including application of renewable energy and geographical vicinity between partners. In other words, IS can take place between physically distant partners although geographic proximity was selected as a key factor of collaboration (Chertow et al., 2000).