Clustering and optimising regional segregated resource allocation networks

Policymakers and officials worldwide are making more stringent environmental norms and waste disposal policies to encourage industries to move towards cleaner production. One of the main challenges that industries face moving towards cleaner production is the adoption of different strategies for optimising their resource utilisation and waste reduction economically. This is particularly challenging for large-scale industries or a group of industrial plants located in an industrial region. This paper presents a novel approach to economic resource optimisation focussed mainly on large-scale industries, different industrial plants located in the vicinity of each other, or an industrial symbiosis network. In this work, a clustering algorithm is developed to segregate the given plants into different clusters based on the concept of load deficits and surpluses of each plant. The concept ideally allows only the plants with surpluses to send out their unused sources and plants with deficits to only receive external sources/resources. The clusters are formed based on the distances between plants, which in turn helps in saving transportation and communication costs. The clustered plants are then easy to optimise and manage for resource and cost optimality. The applicability of the proposed clustering algorithm is demonstrated using two case studies from the domain of water recycling networks containing multiple contaminants with detailed network design, highlighting the importance of clustering in an industrial symbiosis network. It is observed that directing the excess flows from one plant to other plants in the same cluster can save a considerable amount of fresh resources. It implies that in the broader aspect, the developed methodology can address the optimisation of economic resources and can aid in the better management of overall resources for a large-scale industrial symbiosis network.