Kalundborg Eco-industrial Park
Steam from the power plant is sold to Novo Nordisk, a pharmaceutical and enzyme manufacturer, in addition to Statoil oil refinery.
Additionally, a by-product from the power plant's sulfur dioxide scrubber contains gypsum, which is sold to a wallboard manufacturer.
[3] These exchanges of waste, water and materials have greatly increased environmental and economic efficiency, as well as created other less tangible benefits for these actors, including sharing of personnel, equipment, and information.
Early sharing at Kalundborg tended to involve the sale of waste products without significant pretreatment.
[3] Each further link in the system was negotiated as an independent business deal, and was established only if it was expected to be economically beneficial.
The first episode of sharing between two entities was in 1972 when Gyproc, a plaster-board manufacturing plant, established a pipeline to supply gas from Tidewater Oil Company.
[4] Since then, the facilities in Kalundborg have been expanding, and have been sharing a variety of materials and waste products, some for the purpose of industrial symbiosis and some out of necessity, for example, freshwater scarcity in the area has led to water reuse schemes.
Generally speaking, the actors involved in the symbiosis at Kalundborg exchange material wastes, energy, water, and information.
Additionally, other actors, such as Novoren, a recycling and urban land field firm, are formally part of the network but do not contribute tangibly in the exchange.
[5] A researcher studying the evolution of the Kalundborg Symbiosis concluded that a high level of trust between the actors involved represented an essential element to collaborative success.
[2] These products are sent to a fish farm and Novo Nordisk, who receive all of their required steam from Asnaes,[3] and a heating system that supplies 3500 homes.
Statoil pipes 700,000 cubic meters of cooling water per year to Asnaes, which purifies it and uses it as "boiler feed-water.
One of the main goals of industrial symbiosis is to make goods and services that use the least-cost combination of inputs.
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.
The U.S. President's Council on Sustainable Development in 1996 proposed fifteen eco-industrial parks to pursue the idea of industrial symbiosis.
These characteristics include: (1) some form of material exchange between multiple separate entities, (2) industries in close proximity to each other, (3) cooperation between plant management of the different corporations, (4) an existing infrastructure for material sharing that does not require much retooling, and (5) "anchor" tenants (large corporation with resources to support early implementation).
Organizations began to recognize the difficulties associated with forcing eco-industrial parks to coalesce and abandoned the idea.
