In this paper, we develop a skeletal ontology for eco-industrial parks. A top-down conceptual framework including five operating levels (unit operations, processes, plants, industrial resource networks and eco-industrial parks) is employed to guide the design of the ontology structure. The detailed ontological representation of each level is realized through adapting and extending OntoCAPE, an ontology of the chemical engineering domain. Based on the proposed ontology, a framework for distributed information management is proposed for eco-industrial parks. As an example, this ontology is used to create a knowledge base for Jurong Island, an industrial park in Singapore. Its potential uses in supporting process modeling and optimization and facilitating industrial symbiosis are also discussed in the paper. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.