LAUSR

Abstract The stakeholders engaged in industrial symbiosis network context expect to optimize resources to obtain a more significant mutual benefit. This paper intends to analyse the value network composed by the stakeholders and the respective flows involved in the symbiosis process. A real case study is developed in the Portuguese pulp and paper sector describing the value network inherent to the fluidized bed sands commercialization; this type of sands is a by-product produced in the fluidized bed biomass boilers used for energy generation located at the pulp and paper plants. The stakeholders, resources, and flows involved in the industrial symbiosis process are identified and the relative importance of value flows exchanged between them is quantified. The results show that the focal organization, sand producers, and end users of material mixtures containing fluidized bed sands are the entities most powerful in the symbiosis network.