Title :
Agent-based simulation of economic sustainability in waste-to-material recovery
Author :
Yang, Q.Z. ; Sheng, Y.Z. ; Shen, Z.Q.
Author_Institution :
Singapore Inst. of Manuf. Technol., Singapore, Singapore
Abstract :
This paper presents an agent-based approach to the economic sustainability evaluation of adopting competitive recycling technologies in waste-to-material recovery. The emphasis is put on the development of economic sustainability metrics for this evaluation and on the software implementation of an agent system to evaluate sustainability by using these metrics as agent simulation models. A set of model-driven sustainability metrics were defined to quantify the economic impact of technical innovations in waste management. A software agent was designed and implemented for simulating process scenarios to consistently evaluate the economic sustainability of different waste-to-material recovery systems. Using the sustainability metrics and the agent developed, a case study was conducted. Two recovery processes were evaluated and compared for their economic sustainability, measured in unit cost, share of cost of materials, process efficiency, in-process recycling rate and economic efficiency.
Keywords :
costing; industrial economics; industrial waste; innovation management; recycling; software agents; sustainable development; waste recovery; agent-based simulation; competitive recycling technology; cost of materials; economic efficiency; economic impact; economic sustainability evaluation; economic sustainability metrics; in-process recycling rate; process efficiency; process scenario simulation; software agent; technical innovation; unit cost; waste management; waste-to-material recovery; Biological system modeling; Economics; Materials; Measurement; Metals; Production; Recycling; Economic sustainability; agent-based simulation; sustainability metrics; waste-to-material recovery;
Conference_Titel :
Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management (IEEM), 2011 IEEE International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Singapore
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4577-0740-7
Electronic_ISBN :
2157-3611
DOI :
10.1109/IEEM.2011.6118095