Progress News
Industrial synergies in the Gladstone Region
1st June, 2005
With the ever increasing demands on companies to be more sustainable, the opportunities to re-use and recycle wastes or by-products become more attractive. In the Gladstone region, one of the most industrially intense areas in , there is a range of opportunities for the re-use and recycling of wastes or by-products from one industry to another industry.
The Co-operative Research Centre for Sustainable Resource Processing (www.csrp.com.au) is funding a project to investigate opportunities for industrial synergies within the Gladstone region. The main aim of the project, which is being supported by the Gladstone Area Industry Network (GAIN), is to assist operations to achieve greater efficiencies in energy, water and materials consumption, and reductions in waste and emission generation.
Dr Glen Corder has been running the Gladstone Regional Synergies Project since it commenced in April 2004. Although Glen is based in Brisbane at the University of Queensland ’s Sustainable Minerals Institute (www.smi.uq.edu.au), he visits Gladstone every two to three weeks.
From the outset, a significant on-the-ground presence was recognised as a key factor in the success of this project as well as ready access to corporate head offices in Brisbane . When in Gladstone, Glen is based at the PELM (Process Engineering and Light Metals) Centre at CQU’s Gladstone campus. Although the research activities at PELM are not directly related to this project, the expectation is that collaborative research opportunities could flow onto PELM.
Initially the main focus of the project concentrated on reviewing earlier sustainability studies and updating the previously established regional raw material and by–products database for the GAIN industries (“Better Gladstone, Better World – Sustainability Report for the Gladstone Region 2001” and the “By-Products Mapping Study”). The updated database provided a reference point for identifying opportunities for using wastes and by-products from industrial operations in the region as inputs into other operations.
Based on the collected data, interviews with the GAIN industries and independent research, a list of both short-term (ones that could be relatively easily implemented) and long-term synergies (ones that need more research but ultimately could have large benefits to the region) were identified.
These potential synergies were evaluated through a workshop process with the GAIN industries, local councils and the Environmental Protection Agency Sustainable Industries Division, to select the opportunities with the best benefits for the region. In the short-term, the key opportunities identified were the consolidation of wastes for use as an alternative fuel source, thus reducing the use of traditional non-renewable fuels such as coal, and the opportunities for re-use of water, along similar lines to the Calliope River Sewage Treatment effluent re-use scheme at Queensland Alumina.
As the project enters its second year, the aims will be to both facilitate the implementation of the identified industrial synergy opportunities and develop initiatives that explore the re-use and recycling alternatives for the large waste and by-product streams within the region, such as red mud, fly ash and gaseous emissions.
For further information contact Dr Glen Corder at www.csrm.uq.edu.au
