Designing eco-industrial water exchange networks using fuzzy mathematical programming

This paper presents a model for optimizing water and wastewater reuse among several plants contained in an eco-industrial park. Although these plants operate independently of each other, the establishment of an eco-industrial network requires mutual cooperation among the different firms. To encourage cooperation it is necessary to look at how the benefits of networking relate to the individual goals and targets of the participants. This aspect is incorporated in the model through fuzzy mathematical programming, which is utilized to identify the optimal network that satisfies the fuzzy goals of the participating plants. Two case studies from literature are presented to illustrate the methodology. Results show that the solution satisfying individual targets does not necessarily coincide with the optimum for the entire eco-industrial park.