Nexus-Oriented Approach
for Sharing Water Resources:
Development of Eco-Industrial Parks
in the Catchment of Zayandeh Rud
River, Iran
Janis von Koerber, Wolf Raber,
and Petra Schneider
Abstract
In order to ensure sustainable development in
Iran, the government supports the development
of industrial settlements with water reuse. One
approach towards this goal is the Eco-Industrial
Parks (EIP) concept, based on resource sharing
to reduce waste and to optimize water efficiency, enabled through cooperation between
industries. In the German-Iranian research
activity “IWRM Zayandeh Rud” located in
Central Iran, application of the EIP concept was
tested and evaluated in a practical case study.
The scope of the research included the development of a methodology for the quantification
of industrial water volumes and qualities, and
a nexus-oriented water sharing approach
between water users quantified through a flux
analysis with STAN (subSTance flow ANalysis). The investigation examines different
approaches to substituting freshwater with
reused wastewater from another industry, thus
reducing the overall consumption of freshwater. To find the optimum approach, three types
of linking scenarios have been considered:
bilateral principle, nucleus principle, and cascade principle. The investigation results show
that in addition to geographic proximity
between wastewater generation and water
demand, the main requirements for the connection of water fluxes are the capacity and
willingness for collaboration amongst industries with different water qualities, resulting in
symbiotic benefits for the connected industries.
Keywords
Water efficiency Á Substance flow analysis Á
Industrial symbiosis Á Wastewater use
1 Introduction
1.1 Industrial Symbiosis: Resource
Sharing Approaches
in a Circular Economy
Industrial ecology, as a subject of ecological
engineering, tries to reduce the environmental
burden of product life cycles, along the value
chain from raw material extraction to waste
management (Lifset and Graedel 2001), or even
nowadays to a circular economy (McDonough
and Braungart 2002; Braungart et al. 2007).
Resource efficiency is a core issue, focusing on
the most complete possible closure of material
flows. A practical tool to facilitate this is material
J. von Koerber (&) Á P. Schneider
University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal,
Breitscheidstr. 2, 39114 Magdeburg, Germany
e-mail: janiskoerber@msn.com
J. von Koerber Á W. Raber
inter3—Institute for Resource Management,
Otto-Suhr-Allee 59, 10585 Berlin, Germany
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
S. Hülsmann and M. Jampani (eds.), A Nexus Approach for Sustainable Development,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57530-4_13
203
for Sharing Water Resources:
Development of Eco-Industrial Parks
in the Catchment of Zayandeh Rud
River, Iran
Janis von Koerber, Wolf Raber,
and Petra Schneider
Abstract
In order to ensure sustainable development in
Iran, the government supports the development
of industrial settlements with water reuse. One
approach towards this goal is the Eco-Industrial
Parks (EIP) concept, based on resource sharing
to reduce waste and to optimize water efficiency, enabled through cooperation between
industries. In the German-Iranian research
activity “IWRM Zayandeh Rud” located in
Central Iran, application of the EIP concept was
tested and evaluated in a practical case study.
The scope of the research included the development of a methodology for the quantification
of industrial water volumes and qualities, and
a nexus-oriented water sharing approach
between water users quantified through a flux
analysis with STAN (subSTance flow ANalysis). The investigation examines different
approaches to substituting freshwater with
reused wastewater from another industry, thus
reducing the overall consumption of freshwater. To find the optimum approach, three types
of linking scenarios have been considered:
bilateral principle, nucleus principle, and cascade principle. The investigation results show
that in addition to geographic proximity
between wastewater generation and water
demand, the main requirements for the connection of water fluxes are the capacity and
willingness for collaboration amongst industries with different water qualities, resulting in
symbiotic benefits for the connected industries.
Keywords
Water efficiency Á Substance flow analysis Á
Industrial symbiosis Á Wastewater use
1 Introduction
1.1 Industrial Symbiosis: Resource
Sharing Approaches
in a Circular Economy
Industrial ecology, as a subject of ecological
engineering, tries to reduce the environmental
burden of product life cycles, along the value
chain from raw material extraction to waste
management (Lifset and Graedel 2001), or even
nowadays to a circular economy (McDonough
and Braungart 2002; Braungart et al. 2007).
Resource efficiency is a core issue, focusing on
the most complete possible closure of material
flows. A practical tool to facilitate this is material
J. von Koerber (&) Á P. Schneider
University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal,
Breitscheidstr. 2, 39114 Magdeburg, Germany
e-mail: janiskoerber@msn.com
J. von Koerber Á W. Raber
inter3—Institute for Resource Management,
Otto-Suhr-Allee 59, 10585 Berlin, Germany
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
S. Hülsmann and M. Jampani (eds.), A Nexus Approach for Sustainable Development,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57530-4_13
203