A system dynamics model for industrial symbiosis capacity formation

ABSTRACT Industrial symbiosis involves the coordination and cooperation of different production firms to exchange and reuse waste products as substitute input materials, reducing virgin material consumption and waste disposal. This work develops a system dynamics model to simulate the capacity investment and formation patterns of self-interested production agents involved in an industrial symbiosis network. The developed model can help decision-makers visualise the rate and dynamics of capacity formation and waste material exchanges in the system, test the effect of different capacity planning and incentivisation strategies, and investigate the impact of price disruptions. Numerical studies are performed based on a bread waste case study in Singapore. Various sensitivity analyses have been conducted and several important insights are obtained from the simulation results, including how a coordinated capacity formation model can be more effective than an uncoordinated one in the industrial symbiosis.