Construction And Optimization Of Industrial Ecosystem Based On Textile Enterprises

As the basic necessities of human life, food, clothing, housing and transportation are of great importance to everyone, and the changes in these essential requirements of people can clearly manifest the development level of a society. China is a dominant textile producer in the world, with the textile export accounting for a large proportion of its overall trade export. In recent years, however, our textile export has encountered great challenges from both home and abroad. On the one hand, Green Barrier has raised its limits to China's textile export; on the other hand, people have laid a greater emphasis on environmental protection and their health, both of which call for advanced technology in the field of ecological textile. Yet the fact is that the development of China's ecological textile is still confined to the use of innocuous raw materials and its processing confined to the category of cleaner production and industrial communities. Since researches on the establishment of a textile eco-industrial park covering the domains of economic, environmental and social development with textile industry as its core member are still rather limited, this paper will focus on the topic, building, analyzing and optimizing a textile eco-industrial park by means of theories and approaches concerning the eco-industrial system, including those of ecological chain and ecological niche. The theoretical and practical researches will be conducted from the following perspectives:(1) Analogical researches on the eco-industrial system and the natural evalution systemThe theories of ecological chain and ecological nache are applied to the study of the eco-industrial system, with the example of Kalundborg Eco-industrial Park to verify these theories. A new model, namely the ecological nache extension model of the system is built so that its stability can be measured according to the correlation between different ecological units.(2) Building of a complex adaptive system model for the eco-industrial systemThe threshold value of the eco-industrial system is figured out by use of the Kuznets curve and a conceptual model regarding the rigidness and smoothness of the textile eco-industrial system is built. The symbiosis and cooperation between products of the pricipal parts as well as the impacts of the interaction between these parts and the external environment on the system are studied by reference to the adaptive feedback mechanism of the pricipal parts within the system, so that the optimum systematic structure and external environment for the mobilization of resources in the system can be determined.(3) Evaluation of the textile ecological chain and green designThe emergy quantitative analytical approach is used for the evaluation of the textile ecological chain and the consequent green design.(4) The theories of ecological chain and ecological nache are applied to the establishment of the textile eco-industrial park. Through a combination of the bifurcation theory and the Kuznets curve, the threshold value of the eco-industrial system is figured out. By use of the bifurction theory, a qualitative analysis of the system's evolution model is given to illustrate its structure, function and optimization mechanism.The main results and significance of the research are listed as follows:(1) By means of the analogical approach, the ecological chain of the eco-industrial system is studied from the perspectives of length theory and structural theory. As an example for verification, Kalundborg Eco-industrial Park proves to comply with the two ecological chain theories. Then the ecological nache breadth, extension, and overlapping and separation models of the eco-industrial system are built. Besides, a new evolution model—c model is added to the research of the ecological nache extension model. This new model is the best one for popularization under the present conditions of a lack of resources in our country, for its ecological nache not only relies nothing upon supplements of resources but in fact supplements the ecological nache of the whole system despite the limitation of resources. These theories have enriched and broaden the theories of the natural ecological system.(2) On the basis of the theories of the eco-industrial system, by coupling textile industry with other industries, analyzing them and setting Hanchuan Textile Industrial Park as an example, a textile eco-industrial park is established. Its ecological chain is vertically closed and horizontally coupled to make sure that all industrial chains are green and can be recycled and that every ecological unit is kept green during its whole life circle, including the process of drawing materials, production, application and disposal. The design of the park has covered various domains like farms, fisheries, waste fibre reproducing companies, etc. and broken the limits of previous designs that are confined to industries. It is an open and composite system that is determined by the rules of the natural ecological system as well as market economy. Comparative analysis has been made on the designed park and Hanchuan Textile Industrial Park by means of the length theory, structural theory and correlation degree, with the result that the the former is better than the latter in the structure of the ecological chain and in the correlation degree of ecological units.(3) The Kuznets curve or rather the inverted U curve is used to determine the ecological threshold value—a figure to measure the stability of the ecological system, on the basis of which its evolution model is built. Within the range of the ecological threshold value, the system is relatively stable, and the Kuznets curve can well explain its development trend of evolution. Apart from that, a model concerning the rigidness and smoothness of the system is built in this paper, because for an eco-industrial system, it is of great necessity to pay attention to its flexibility so that the rigidness and smoothness of the system can coordinate with and promote each other and its stability and jumping can be unified. The textile eco-industrial system conforms to the complex adaptive system theory and is also affected by human activities. It develops in a spiral way though its self-organized evolution and artificial optimization. After reaching a branch point, the system moves towards a higher level through mutation, which is the result of the combination of evolution and optimization. Besides, the establishment of the evolution model also helps to better illustrate the evolution process of the textile eco-industrial system. The research in this paper breaks through the limited categories concerning the stable development of systems, integrates mutation into the system's evolution model and explains its structure, function and optimization mechanism.(4) By means of emergy analysis, emergy calculation and research have been made on the eco-economic systems of China's three main cotton regions:the Region of the Yangtze River Valley, the Region of the Yellow River Valley and the Region of Northwest Inland. The result shows that Xinjiang cotton region has significant advantages in its emergy self-sufficiency ratio, emergy investment ratio, emergy net yield ratio, environmental load ratio, environmental sustainability index and emergy/environmental sustainability index, especially the last one, which is hundreds of times that of Hubei cotton region. For instance, in 2007, the maximum emergy/environmental sustainability index in Xinjiang is 844.12 while the maximum figure in Hubei is only 1.91. The statistics above show that Xinjiang Cotton Eco-economic system has more comprehensive advantages in emergy value, anti-pressure ability against the environment, self-organizing ability and sustainability than Hubei and Shandong Cotton Eco-economic systems. This analysis can provide data reference and guidance for China to take reform measures or bring in new technology so that energy consumption can be reduced and land use rate as well as economic benefits of relative planting industries can be increased. Besides, it also introduces a few evaluation approaches to emergy analysis of textile eco-industrial parks and can provide some reference for the quantitative researches of textile eco-industrial systems.