ACT-4IE Project

A systemiC and Territorial approach to decarbonise activity areas with industrial ecology

The ACT-4-IE project proposes to implement a systemic approach to assess, diagnose and optimise industrial estates in order to transform them into agile, low-carbon territories, whereas they are generally managed without taking into account the urban and industrial environment that surrounds them. The aim of this project is to develop methods and tools to encourage integrated and circular management of flows on an area-wide scale, to fuel local interactions. This must include the diversity of stakeholders, their diverse viewpoints and objectives (cost, environmental impact) with a focus on CO₂ emissions and sustainability.

Various categories of flows (materials, waste, energy, data and information) and services need to be interwoven at different scales both within eco-industrial parks and with external water/resource/energy network links. Performance indicators need to be clearly defined to assess the impact of optimal solutions to help decision-makers on a territorial scale. In the light of cyber-physics systems, resource exchange networks need to be adaptable, secure and integrated into an environmental dynamic.

The methodology must take into account multi-level aspects (levels of detail, data management) and the variety of temporal dynamics in sub-systems, as well as the computing time required. The scientific challenges of the proposal are essentially based on the combination of modelling formalism and optimisation methods adapted to multi-level, multi-stakeholder and multi-criteria issues in order to move towards the transformation of the industry.

Six-year term – Budget of €1.44M

Industrial and territorial ecology (ITE) as a vector for transforming the decarbonisation of industries and their sustainability. The implementation of ITE in eco-industrial parks (EIP) is often limited to dedicated hubs, industrial or maritime zones. However, other interior spaces could help to promote the circular management of flows and services within eco-industrial parks, as well as integration using external nodes and networks for resources, water and energy.

Benchmark – identification of several digital platforms, development of classic optimisation tools to optimise energy flows in industries.

Then, to go further using multi-scale, multi-player, multi-criteria strategies to model, optimise and operate decision support for players in order to overcome possible conflicts of objectives, reconcile temporal and spatial scales, balance centralised and decentralised management, take into account data flexibility and uncertainties at the design stage, deal with multi-carrier and multi-location energy systems and other resource networks.

Diagnostic and assessment framework – implementation of systems and networks – performance model analysis – 4IE methodology

Expected results : definition of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to evaluate the transformation of an industrial site: diagnosis and evaluation phase of territorial integration (TRL 4), mathematical formulation and problematisation based on the definition of a superstructure compatible with different optimisation methods ; performance analysis of the methods developed in the project based on case studies, multi-criteria, multi-actor and multi-objective methodology and support tools or evaluating, optimising and controlling territorial synergies.