On the basis of principle of energy cascade utilization, a reconstruction scheme for eco-industrial park, which adopts diesel engines, absorption chiller, liquid dehumidification process and biogas generation to produce cooling, heating and power, is proposed in this paper. The major component of the recommended system is composed of four sets of diesel engines, which produce electricity for the industrial park. Waste heat from engines, including the heat from the exhaust gas and the heat from jacket cooling water, is utilized for absorption refrigeration and for driving the liquid dehumidification process, respectively. Moreover, the wastewater and biomass energy from the living area are recovered to generate biogas, which could be used as fuel for diesel engines. The analysis indicates a superior performance of the recommended system in energy utilization from the viewpoint of the first law and second law of thermodynamics. The energy utilization coefficient, energy saving ratio of fossil fuel (ESRf) and energy efficiency of the recommended system are 84, 34 and 36.22%, with 20, 14 and 4.55 percentage points higher than that of the existing system. Compared with the existing system, biogas can replace about 1.5% heavy oil to generate power, whereas the liquid desiccant can provide about 42% cooling duty to replace the electricity consumption by air-conditioners. The recommended system can reduce CO2 emission by about 48% compared with the single product systems. The results achieved in this research demonstrate that energy cascade utilization in CCHP can make a significant contribution to energy saving in the eco-industrial park. Complementary utilization of fossil energy and renewable energy can not only reduce environmental pollution but can also save energy for the eco-industrial park. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.