Page 102 - Biorefinery 2030 Future Prospects for the Bioeconomy (2015)

70 3 Industrial Symbiosis at the Bazancourt-Pomacle Biorefinery

Union’s Europe 2020 strategy. Industrial symbiosis is to be found, for example, in
2
the “Resource Efficiency Initiative ”, the document presenting Europe’s future
growth strategy. It is also included in the “Roadmap for a Resource Efficient
3
Europe ” which indicates that one priority is to develop resource efficiency through
industrial symbiosis between all the member states. Although it does not have the
weight of a European Directive, the road map is a reliable indicator of the direction
that future European policy will take. Industrial symbiosis is also highlighted in
other policy areas such as climate change and eco-innovation.
Furthermore, a growing number of national and international institutions and
representative groups support the development of industrial symbiosis. In 2010, the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) stated that
industrial symbiosis was “vital for the future of green growth,” and is currently
carrying out a case study of the NISP (British National Industrial Symbiosis
Programme), considered as a model of innovation. A similar imitative has been
launched in France by the Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development, the
Committee for Sustainable Territorial Management and Industrial Ecology (Comite ´
d’Animation Territoire Durable et Ecologie Industrielle—CATEI).
A great deal of data is still missing on cases of industrial symbiosis; how they
operate is still not clearly understood, and they are difficult to model. Yet the
European Commission now recognises industrial symbiosis as a vital tool for
sustainable economic development, so it is essential to improve understanding of
the concept.
This chapter presents industrial symbiosis as it operates at the Bazancourt-
Pomacle biorefinery. This biorefinery is unique in that it works only with agricul-
tural resources, which makes it a very comprehensive example of industrial symbi-
osis and a genuine process of sustainable development.
It even appears that industrial ecology was designated as one of the priorities of
the Bazancourt-Pomacle site as soon as ARD was launched.
This fact explains why the refinery is recognised today as one of the most
complete examples of a biorefinery in Europe, particularly due to the symbiosis
operating between the different firms on the site.

2 Different Aspects of Industrial Symbiosis at
the Bazancourt-Pomacle Biorefinery

In order to describe the symbiosis at the Bazancourt-Pomacle biorefinery accu-
rately, we need to spend some time describing its environment and the firms present
on the site. We will also study the particular case of water use at the biorefinery.

2
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/resource_efficiency/
3
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/resource_efficiency/pdf/com2011_571.pdf