Optimal selection of full scale tannery effluent treatment alternative using integrated AHP and GRA approach (original) (raw)
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Using the Fuzzy Grey Relational Analysis Method in Wastewater Treatment Process Selection
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2011
This paper presents an application of the analytical hierarchy process and fuzzy analytical hierarchy process methods for selecting the best wastewater treatment process. The analytical hierarchy process is one of the best ways for deciding among the complex criteria structure in different levels, and the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process is a synthetic extension of the classical method when the fuzziness of the decision makers are considered. After reviewing aerobic treatment processes operated in Iran's industrial estates and determining the main criteria used for treatment process evaluation, they are arranged in a hierarchy structure. Selection of the best wastewater treatment process is a multi-criteria decision making problem. Conventional methods are inadequate for dealing with the imprecise or vague nature of linguistic assessment. To overcome this difficulty, the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process is proposed for dealing with the vagueness of decision makers' judgments. The alternatives consist of extended aeration, absorption bio-oxidation, integrated fixed-film activated sludge, sequencing batch reactor, aerated lagoon. Based on the general condition of industrial estate's wastewater treatment plants, technical/administrative, economic and environmental criteria and their sub-criteria are weighted and then criteria evaluated and priorities of alternatives have been done by analytical hierarchy process and fuzzy analytical hierarchy process methods by the use of triangular fuzzy numbers. Finally, selection of the best process and ranking of these five processes are carried out by these foregoing methods, and some sensitivity analyses are conducted to show the results' sensitiveness to the changes of the weights of the evaluation criteria.
Environmental Modelling & Software, 2011
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Advances in Environmental Technology, 2019
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Using of the fuzzy TOPSIS , fuzzy AHP method for wastewater treatment process selection
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Ecological Engineering, 2015
Multi-criteria decision-making in selection of wastewater treatment alternatives has been explored widely, while few past studies comprehensively addressed the integration of various aspects (e.g., environmental, economical, ecological and management, and technical factors), which is a priority for decision-makers. This paper develops the integrated fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) with multidimensional scaling (MDS) approach to improve current methods for determining the optimal alternative. The integrated method incorporates the weights computed by AHP into the fuzzy matterelement, and allows evaluators to understand the relative importance of each index or criterion at a high level. This is followed by the MDS method to determine the optimal alternative directly through the coordinates associated with each alternative in a two-dimensional configuration. The method was evaluated via specific programming language software packages, and was applied to select natural wastewater treatment alternatives in a case study. Results indicate the stabilization pond was the optimal alternative among five natural wastewater treatment systems. Sensitivity analysis was conducted and reflects the importance of weighing on alternative selection. 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Environment, Development and Sustainability, 2020
The design, implementation and use of wastewater treatment systems (WTS) are fundamental to mitigate hydrological and environmental problems, and to improve population health. Furthermore, the significant advances in treatment systems technology offer, nowadays, several alternatives and provide many combinations of WTS which must be correctly evaluated and constitute a decision problem for public and private investors and decision makers. Thus, this article presents a multi-criteria methodology based on six steps for the evaluation of WTS considering relevant economic, social, technical and environmental criteria. Particularly, forty-eight main criteria were identified and ranked considering their importance based on the previous literature. This methodology was applied in a Brazilian sanitation company in a specific treatment area of approximately five thousand inhabitants and with recurrent environmental problems, such as the contamination and low efficiency of wastewater treatment. Twenty available alternatives were considered and twelve criteria were selected for this application. The AHP and ELECTRE II methods were combined to weight the different criteria and to rank the most suitable WTS. This methodology can be extended and applied in different scenarios to improve the decision-making process.
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Decision making in Environmental Engineering is a complex task due to the existence of various socio-economic, technical and environmental factors. Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) analysis is used to make comparative assessments of various available alternatives by considering various criteria and sub criteria in complex situation. The paper shows the application of three MCDM techniques viz. - AHP, ANP and TOPSIS to a hypothetical problem concerning the choice of the most sustainable wastewater treatment technology amongst Activated Sludge Process (ASP), Bio Tower and Sequential Batch Reactor (SBR) for JSPM Hadapsar, an educational institute campus in Pune. These models enable to consider social, economic, technical and environmental aspects along with their sub criteria and to compare them to find the best alternative. The AHP, ANP and TOPSIS techniques are applied through specific software packages like Expert Choice 11, Super Decisions and Topsis Solver 2012 respectively. ...