Industrial symbiosis potential of the Sines oil refinery – environmental and economic evaluation

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia do Ambiente – Perfil Gestão e Sistemas Ambientais

Industrial symbiosis is an application of industrial ecology that consists of a collaborative approach between different industries and firms aimed at improving their environmental and economic performance involving the exchange of waste/byproducts as substitutes for raw materials. This collaboration is conditioned by the geographic proximity between industries and may face some information, economic, regulatory or motivational barriers. The main objective of this thesis was to develop a methodology to find and evaluate new potential exchanges in light of industrial symbiosis and to apply it to Sines oil refinery case study. The methodology was divided into four phases. The first phase is where, through the analysis of similar case studies, the potential new exchanges are uncovered.The second was made based on a literature review on the main barriers to industrial symbiosis development. This phase was developed to swiftly filter potential synergies that would face barriers to its development. The other two phases were only applied to the potential synergies that successfully passed the “filter”. Those phases consisted of an environmental evaluation through a LCA and a financial analysis. The application of the methodology showed two new potential synergetic possibilities for the Sines oil refinery. The results of the evaluation of those potential synergies were very promising both environmentally and financially. This research thus demonstrates the potential and benefits associated with the development of industrial symbiosis networks if the barriers to this development can be successfully surpassed.