Empowering rural districts with Urban-Industrial Symbiosis: A multiobjective model for Waste-to-Energy cogeneration and hydrogen sustainable networks

The growing demand for sustainable energy sources and the need to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions have led to increased interest in developing efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly industrial systems. This paper presents a multi-echelon multi-objective network design model for urban-industrial symbiosis, combining biogas and hydrogen production plants with locally sourced organic waste as feedstock. The integrated biogas-hydrogen system utilizes locally sourced agricultural and organic waste as feedstock, enhancing rural processes sustainability and resource efficiency. The model optimizes the location of industrial plants based on environmental and economic parameters, including transportation emissions, energy consumption, and carbon footprint. A case study set in Emilia Romagna validates the model, and a sensitivity analysis examines the impact of varying input parameters on the designed industrial park. Results demonstrate that the novel combined biogas-hydrogen system not only reduces greenhouse gas emissions but also produces hydrogen at a lower cost due to the utilization of excess power from the biogas cogeneration plant. This research has significant implications, offering a sustainable and cost-effective hydrogen source while promoting efficient supply chain management and strategic decision-making in the renewable energy sector. Further study might investigate system robustness against disruptive events, plant design, and the integration of additional renewable sources.