Industrial ecology and water utilization of the marine chemical industry: A case study of Hai Hua Group (HHG), China

The marine chemical industry is a chemical industry based on coastal advantage. The Chinese government attaches great importance to the marine industry and made it the focal point of China economy in the 12th five-year plan. Water is an important material for the marine chemical industry, but wastewater discharge could undermine the sustainable development of the marine chemical industry. Industrial ecology provides insights for industry to realize a harmonious development with the environment. This paper examined the case of water utilization practice based on industrial ecology of the Hai Hua Group (HHG) in China. The utilization of three kinds of water, i.e., underground brine, seawater and freshwater is characteristic of the industrial ecology implementation of the HHG. In this paper, the water utilization practice of the HHG was described. The relationships among the three kinds of water, the driving force of water utilization, and the challenges of water utilization in the HHG were discussed. We conclude that implementing industrial ecology is a promising choice for the water utilization of marine chemical industry. It could also achieve the coordinated development between sea farming and the marine chemical industry. For non-renewable resource driven regional industrial ecosystems, such as the Hai Hua industrial ecosystem (HHIE) in this paper, seeking a substitute approach is essential for the stable and sustainable development of the whole industrial ecosystem. We also conclude that an industrial ecosystem's operation is driven by the integration of many factors, such as government, market, policy, culture and technique in this paper. This requires us to examine an industrial ecosystem's operation from a wider perspective, which is helpful to comprehensively and systematically understand the impetus of an industrial ecosystem.