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Circular economy plays an essential and useful role in China in considering economic and ecological sustainability. Individual firms, as the primary implements of a circular economy, are facing many obstacles at present in aspects of resource and ecological efficiency. Therefore, this study presents a set of tools to help decision makers better solve these problems and to guide resource-based chemical industries in sustainable development. First, this study describes resource efficiency based on the SFA of a selected P-chemistry firm and identifies the key potential opportunities for improvement using analysis tools and assessment tools. Furthermore, by applying eco-design and decision tools, a firm-level, P-chemical, circular economic system is designed and constructed. A phosphorus chemical optimization model is established, and relevant successive scenarios are generated. Finally, the corresponding feasible solutions and policy recommendations are proposed to improve economic benefit, resource efficiency, waste recycling rate, and eco-efficiency. After industry design, planning, and technological progress, the total economic benefit increases dramatically, and the recycling efficiencies of accompanying resources (F, Si, I, and S) improve by different degrees. The results demonstrate that the economic benefit of phosphorus products increases by 28.5%, and P utilization efficiency correspondingly increases from 81.1% to 94.7%. The comprehensive utilization efficiency of phosphor gypsum increases to 100%, and the eco-efficiency could be improved significantly by eliminating the phosphor gypsum stack. This study demonstrates that technological progress in mineral processing and the production of associated products is the endogenic motivation to increase economic benefit and improve resource efficiency. The method proposed in this paper can be applied, duplicated, and spread not only within the P-chemical industry but also in other resource-based chemical industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern human activities greatly disturb substance flows in nature and senselessly discard massive amounts of precious resources to natural waste reservoirs; phosphorus (P) is a good example of this. In this article, substance flow analysis is employed to quantify and explore the temporal evolution of China's P consumption in main metabolic nodes from 1984 to 2008, and then the environmental implications for P flows into both surface waters and natural soil are investigated. Results show that the metabolic nodes of human life and animal husbandry have demanded increasingly more P inputs, while disseminating more and more P wastes, with the waste recycling ratios of these processes dropping, respectively, from 65.9% and 66.1% in 1984 to 50.7% and 40.6% by 2008. These change traits were closely related to national polices including the Household Contract Responsibility System and the Shopping Basket Program, as well as the policy vacuum existing between China's agricultural and environmental administration departments. To achieve high crop yield, increasingly more inorganic P fertilizers have been utilized in China, but their use efficiency has decreased by 46.3%. From 2003 to 2008, the total P load into surface waters was stabilized at about 900.0 kilotons (kt), while the total P load into natural soil increased by more than 3.8 times to 3,131.3 kt P in 2008. City life and the intensive breeding of crops are identified as the main targets for further pollution control and nutrient recycling in China. Some suggestions for achieving environmentally sound practices and resource sustainability in China are proposed at the end of this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implementing industrial symbiosis has emerged as a pivotal strategy for establishing eco-industrial parks worldwide to promote sustainable development and optimize resource utilization within industrial parks. However, the present evaluation framework for industrial symbiosis is nascent, which may hinder the ecological development of industrial parks. Therefore, to gauge industrial symbiosis efficacy and infrastructure soundness, we propose a revolutionary evaluation system that amalgamates social network analysis and ecological network analysis methodologies. Our evaluation system is meticulously customized to cater to the distinctive features and analytical requirements of eco-industrial parks and encompasses three primary facets: impact dissemination, sustainability, and resource optimization. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed evaluation system, we conducted a case study of Qinghai Salt Lake industrial park. The findings reveal that the industrial symbiosis level in Qinghai Salt Lake industrial park (QSLIP) improved during 2014–2018. Nevertheless, conventional indicators are unable to pinpoint certain issues, such as deterioration in waste reutilization quality, underscoring the significance and necessity of the indicator system proposed in this study. • This study presents a innovative assessment methodology for eco-industrial parks. • A detailed examination of the Qinghai Salt Lake Industrial Park was undertaken. • A fusion of social network analysis and ecological network analysis was introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Process-related carbon emissions, which cannot be completely eliminated by the improvement of processes and energy structure, are recognized as an enormous challenge for in-depth decarbonization. To accelerate the achievement of carbon neutrality, the concept of 'artificial carbon cycle' is proposed based on the integrated system of process-related carbon emissions from high-emitting industries and CCU technology as a potential pathway towards a sustainable future. This paper conducts a systematic review on the integrated system with the case of China, which is the largest carbon-emitting and manufacturing country, to provide a clearer and more meaningful analysis. Multi-index assessment was used to organize the literature and draw the useful conclusion. Based on literature review, the high-quality carbon sources, reasonable carbon capture approaches and promising chemical products were identified and analyzed. Then the potential and practicability of the integrated system was further summarized and analyzed. Finally, key factors of future development including technology improvement, green hydrogen, clean energy and industrial cooperation were stressed to provide a theoretical reference for future researchers and policy makers. • Demonstration on the rationality and importance of applying CCU technology on process-based carbon emissions. • Multi-index assessment on adoptable carbon sources, possible pathways of carbon capture and carbon conversion. • Analysis on the potential and practicability of the integrated system to accelerate carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Traditional and CDU pathways were evaluated multi-dimensionally. • The MFA-LCA-TEA coupled model was conducted with industrial data in China. • 23 pathways and 7 chemicals were covered for systematic analysis. • Low-carbon strategies increase the comprehensive competitiveness of CDU pathways. • CO 2 emissions and economic growth can be decoupled for sustainable chemical production. Carbon dioxide utilization (CDU) for chemical production is beneficial for achieving carbon neutrality and constructing an artificial carbon cycle. However, the industrialization of CDU technology is facing the concerns about environmental impacts, energy consumption and economic effects. To better illustrate the comprehensive performances of CDU technology and optimize chemical production, this study conducts a multi-dimensional evaluation on CDU and traditional pathways following a scenario-based optimization, which covers 23 pathways for 7 identified bulk chemicals. The results reveal that ethanol is the most suitable chemical to be transitioned preferentially and produced with CDU technology based on China's current technology level. The development of electro-catalytic conversion may benefit CDU pathways especially for oxirane. The results of scenario analysis reveal that the competitivity and priority of various pathways may change significantly with the deployment of low-carbon strategies. Then the results of conditional optimization reveal that the transition of chemical production pattern motivated by CDU may significantly impact on resource consumption and technology proportion, which brings about an increase of 680 % in H 2 consumption. The transition may also decouple the relationship between carbon emissions and economic growth, which drives the production emissions to drop from 193 Mt/year to −27 Mt/year and carbon intensity to drop from 80 t/104 USD to −8 t/104 USD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the application of emergy analysis of industrial systems in considering wastes. Making process system engineering decisions that are ecologically conscious requires emergy analysis of both industrial and ecological processes. The traditional emergy analysis methods of a natural ecological system usually do not consider the impact of wastes. This paper considers the impact of wastes and improves existing emergy analysis methods for industrial system. A new index of sustainability for industrial processes is presented. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]