Spatial optimization of industrial symbiosis for heat supply of agricultural greenhouses

Abstract

Despite the many benefits of greenhouses, it is challenging to meet their heating demand, as greenhouses belong to the most energy‐intensive production systems in the agriculture sector. Industrial symbiosis can bring an effective solution by utilizing waste heat from other industries to meet the greenhouse heat demand. This study proposes an optimization framework by which optimum symbiotic relationships can be identified. For this aim, the spatial analysis is integrated into an optimization model, in which geographical, technical, and economic parameters are considered simultaneously to identify the optimal location for developing new agricultural greenhouses. The objective function is to minimize the heating costs, that is, the investment cost of piping and electricity cost for pumping heat‐carrying fluid from supplier to demand. The model is applied to the case study of Switzerland, and currently existing municipal solid waste incinerators, cement production plants, and biogas plants are considered potential waste heat sources. Results show that the import of tomato, cucumber, and lettuce to Switzerland can theoretically be replaced by vegetable production in new waste‐heat supplied greenhouses (zero import scenarios). Accounting for the economy of scale for pipeline investment costs leads to selecting large‐scale greenhouses with a cost reduction of 37%. The optimization results suggest that 10% of the greenhouses needed to satisfy the total domestic demand for lettuce, tomato, and cucumber could be placed on a suitable land plot in the direct vicinity of a waste heat source, with low costs of waste heat supply.