A New Systems Thinking Approach to Sustainable Resource Management

A New Systems Thinking Approach to Sustainable Resource Management: Principles and Applications introduces an innovative approach to exploring systems holistically and understanding complex interconnected dynamics effectively among technical systems, natural systems, and human activities to address challenges in resource management.This book covers the fundamental principles of "systems" and "sustainability", and introduces the methodology of "new systems thinking," which comprises system modeling, mapping, integration, analysis, and sustainability assessment. The application of this new systems thinking approach is demonstrated through practical case studies, including waste management systems, food-energy-water nexus, and biorefinery systems. This is an excellent reference for academics, undergraduate and postgraduate students, professional engineers, and policymakers across various disciplines including: chemical and process engineering, environmental science, environmental engineering, and environmental management.- Introduces the "new systems thinking" approach and explains the core principles of system modeling, mapping, integration, analysis, and sustainability assessment- Guides readers through methodologies with step-by-step instructions, illustrated with example problems- Includes practical case studies to equip readers for real-world projects related to sustainable resource management, embracing the new systems thinking approach

Kok Siew Ng is an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering who leads the Biorefinery and Resource Recovery research group at Brunel University London, United Kingdom. Prior to joining Brunel, he was an NERC Industrial Innovation (Rutherford) Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, leading two NERC-funded interdisciplinary projects - SYNERGORS and the Agile Initiative. These projects explored innovative strategies to address organic waste management using a systems approach aimed at achieving a circular economy. He received his MEng (1st Class Honors) and PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. Kok Siew has over 15 years of academic research and industrial consultancy experience. He co-authored an advanced textbook titled Biorefineries and Chemical Processes: Design, Integration and Sustainable Analysis in 2014. He has contributed to over 40 publications and participated in over 10 UK and international projects funded by NERC, EU, Innovate UK, Royal Academy of Engineering, and Newton Fund. Kok Siew's primary research interests focus on sustainable industrial system design and resource recovery from waste. His expertise spans systems engineering, industrial ecology, process design and integration, techno-economic assessment, life cycle assessment, and policy analysis. He extensively applies a systems approach in his work, combining computational modelling, system integration, and sustainability assessment to design and improve chemical, energy and waste treatment systems, with the vision of contributing to energy transition, promoting the circular economy, and achieving net-zero targets. Kok Siew was the recipient of the IChemE Junior Moulton Medal in 2011, recognizing his forward-looking contributions to the development of low-carbon technologies. He serves as a member of the Editorial Board of Resources, Conservation & Recycling Advances journal.Elias Martinez Hernandez is a Senior Researcher at the Mexican Institute of Petroleum (IMP) in the Energy Efficiency and Biofuels Division. He obtained his first-class degree in Chemical Engineering from UNAM (Mexico) in 2009 and his PhD in Process Integration from the University of Manchester (UK) in 2013. He then worked as a Research Fellow at the University of Surrey and the University of Oxford, and later took up the position as a Lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Bath. He is a recognized scientist by the National Researcher System in Mexico. He has coauthored the textbook Biorefineries and Chemical Processes: Design, Integration and Sustainability Analysis and more than 60 peer-reviewed journal publications. He is an Editorial Board Member of the IChemE's journal Food and Bioproducts Processing. Elias has led research in digital chemical engineering applied to bioenergy and biorefinery process development, the foodeenergyewater nexus, and more recently in property prediction and process simulation combining neural networks and community detection in molecular and process graphs. He has developed Biorefsysdbiorefinery systems analysis tool; Nexsymda first-of-its-kind foodeenergyewater nexus simulator that has been featured and reviewed in several articles in this field, as well as the IMP Bio2Energyda tool to evaluate the techno-economics of biomass and bioenergy production considering the whole value chain and employing thermodynamic modeling of steam and water properties. Other developments include IMPESda decision support platform for bioenergy implementation and policymaking in Mexico as part of a Newton Fund Impact Scheme project. His areas of research comprise biorefineries, foodeenergyewater nexus, process modeling, life cycle assessment, bioenergy sustainability indicators, modularity, neural networks, and machine learning methods applied in chemical process systems engineering.

Part 1: Introduction to Systems Thinking for Resource Management1. What is a "System"2. A New Systems Thinking Approach to Sustainable Resource ManagementPart 2: System Definition, Mapping, and Integration3. Problem and System Definitions4. System Modelling and Mapping5. System IntegrationPart 3: Integrated Sustainability Assessment6. Economic Assessment7. Environmental Assessment8. Social AssessmentPart 4: Applications of New Systems Thinking Approach to Resource Management9. Case Study 1: Plastic Packaging System10. Case Study 2: Food-Energy-Water System11. Case Study 3: Biorefinery System