Combining a Geographical Information System and Process Engineering to Design an Agricultural-Industrial Ecosystem

Summary A methodology to systematically construct an industrial ecosystem is presented in the context of a specific biomass input of peanut hulls and a process complex of activated carbon, adhesive precursor, and hydrogen. The methodology consists of three phases: locating sources and sinks of potential materials for exchange or upgrading; filtering feasible exchanges, the exchange candidates, and locations for new infrastructure; and generating optimal configurations for the industrial ecosystem based on the objective of maximizing the system benefit, defined in the particular case study as the revenue that is generated by the system. To implement the methodology two computer tools are combined: geographic information systems (GIS) and mathematical programming. A screening problem formulation is developed that uses feasibility contours to help reduce the number of candidate material and energy linkages. A case study describing a prospective agro‐industrial complex in the state of Georgia, U.S.A., is given.