Assessment of a critical mineral recycling network: A case study on nickel recovery from production waste in Korean eco‐industrial parks

The shift in industrial paradigms toward achieving global carbon neutrality and strengthening national material security may initially appear unrelated; however, both domains share a crucial intermediary: critical minerals. Despite global initiatives aimed at securing critical minerals through established supply chains, persistent challenges have arisen owing to resource depletion, geopolitical instability, and intricate international dynamics. Eco‐industrial parks (EIPs) are instrumental in mitigating these challenges by facilitating the recycling of resources embedded within waste and by‐products. This strategy is essential to minimize resource consumption and foster resilient domestic supply chains, particularly in resource‐scarce nations. This study evaluates the recovery potential of nickel, a critical material for green technologies, within a closed‐loop system utilizing an industrial symbiosis development framework with public and open‐source data of industry. This approach enhances supply‐ and demand‐matching schemes within industrial symbiosis networks, specifically focusing on nickel recovery technologies within the Korean EIP project. The findings revealed that these networks within industrial complexes encompassed 86% of the manufacturing industry, thus establishing a cohesive framework for the development of a nickel integration network. Notably, among the 190 companies across 74 industrial complexes, 135 of the 27 designated EIPs participated in the recycling network. This indicates that EIPs could serve as a viable alternative for resource recovery to secure critical minerals. The implementation of such networks in concentrated industrial complexes with diverse manufacturing sectors is expected to significantly enhance critical mineral self‐sufficiency in high‐demand countries.