Kalundborg Eco-industrial Park - Savings and Environmental Impacts

Savings and Environmental Impacts

Since its start over 25 years ago, Kalundborg has been operating successfully as an eco-industrial park. One of the main goals of industrial symbiosis is to make goods and services that use the least-cost combination of inputs. These relationships were formed on an economic and environmental basis. As mentioned above, there are over thirty exchanges occurring in Kalundborg. While Kalundborg does operate using trades between various firms in the vicinity, it itself is not self-sufficient or contained to the industrial park. There are many trades that occur with companies outside of this park region.

All of these exchanges have contributed to water savings, and savings in fuel and input chemicals. Wastes were also avoided through these interchanges. For example, in 1997, Asnaes (the power station) saved 30,000 tons of coal (~2% of throughput) by using Statoil (large oil refinery) fuel gas. And 200,000 tons of fly ash and clinker were avoided from Asnaes landfill. These resources savings and waste avoidances, documented before 1997, are illustrated in the tables to the right.

A study in 2002 showed that these exchanges also contributed to more than 95% of the total water supply to the power plant. This is up from 70% in 1990. So, the system is becoming more comprehensive in its ability to save groundwater, however, there is still room for improvement. Out of the 1.2 million m3 of wastewater discharged from Statoil (the refinery), only 9000 m3 were reused at the power plant.

More recent numbers show a vast improvement, when comparing to the numbers from 1997, in resource savings. Data from around 2004 show annual savings of 2.9 million cubic meters of ground water, and 1 million cubic meters of surface water. Gypsum savings are estimated around 170,000 tons, and sulfur dioxide waste avoidance is estimated around 53 Tn. These numbers are mostly estimations. Aspects of the eco-industrial park have changed, and there are many levels to consider when doing these calculations. All together though, these interchanges have shown annual savings of up to $15 million (US), with investments around $78.5 million (US). The total accumulated savings is estimated around $310 million (US).