STUDY AND PROGRESS ON INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY AND ECO-INDUSTRIAL PARKS
Industrial ecology (IE) and eco-industrial Park (EIP) have been the emerging frontiers for sustainable development in recent years. The latest academic and practical progresses of IE and EIP are introduced in this paper. The study of IE with the approach of process systems engineering is especially pointed out, including mass integration and energy integration in an industrial ecosystem. Mass integration aims to utilize materials and minimize wastes to the maximal extents. It includes synthesis of reaction path and synthesis of mass exchange network for purification. The authors' work on reaction path synthesis is introduced. The energy integration aims to utilize energy effectively. Mass and energy integration in the context of industrial ecosystem will greatly improve the economic and environmental efficiency of EIP. Some other areas needed further study are also outlined in this paper. The areas include the study of the analogy between industrial ecosystem and non-human biological ecosystem with the concept of energy and exergy, the study of information system and decision support system for EIP, the study of the flexibility of EIP under uncertain factors, etc.