Development of a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making approach for sustainability evaluation of bioenergy production technologies: A case study

Abstract Many countries that derive their energy from fossil fuel sources are turning to renewable, and environmentally friendly energy sources to alleviate the growing concerns about global warming and environmental issues. Bioenergy technology is one of the potential alternatives for renewable energy systems. This paper evaluates sustainable bioenergy production technologies through a case study in Egypt. A comprehensive methodology has been developed in which experts and decision makers are able to use linguistic terms to express their opinions and participate in the decision making required to prioritize the dimensions that affect the sustainability of bioenergy production technologies. Identification of the optimum bioenergy production technology and setting its priorities is a difficult task; many dimensions must be taken into account in the evaluation process, such as the environmental, technical, economic, and social dimensions and their sub-indicators. This paper therefore applies a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach that takes into account many conflicting dimensions. In addition, handling of uncertainty was conducted under a neutrosophic environment using trapezoidal neutrosophic numbers (TNNs). Initially, the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method was employed to identify the relative importance of the dimensions and their sub-indicators. Then, Evaluation based on Distance from Average Solution (EDAS) was employed to rank alternatives. An illustrative case considering seven bioenergy production technologies was studied to confirm the feasibility of the suggested approach, and comparisons were performed to show the advantages of the hybrid MCDM techniques. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to prove the validity and stability of the developed framework with variations in weights. The results of this work provide useful information for energy policy decision makers and the results of the case study indicate that the conversion of agricultural and municipal wastes to biogas is the most suitable sustainable bioenergy technology with a weight of 0.996 followed by oil crops to biodiesel technology with weight 0.539.

[1]  Kuangyuan Zhang,et al.  Mining rate optimization considering the stockpiling: A theoretical economics and real option model , 2016 .

[2]  M. Destek,et al.  Renewable, non-renewable energy consumption, economic growth, trade openness and ecological footprint: Evidence from organisation for economic Co-operation and development countries , 2020, Journal of Cleaner Production.

[3]  Siamak Kheybari,et al.  Evaluation of energy production technologies from biomass using analytical hierarchy process: The case of Iran , 2019, Journal of Cleaner Production.

[4]  Martina Poeschl,et al.  Environmental impacts of biogas deployment – Part II: life cycle assessment of multiple production and utilization pathways , 2012 .

[5]  Marc A. Rosen,et al.  Research frontiers in sustainable development of energy, water and environment systems in a time of climate crisis , 2019, Energy Conversion and Management.

[6]  Victor I. Chang,et al.  Evaluation of the green supply chain management practices: A novel neutrosophic approach , 2019, Comput. Ind..

[7]  Mario Martín-Gamboa,et al.  A review of life-cycle approaches coupled with data envelopment analysis within multi-criteria decision analysis for sustainability assessment of energy systems , 2017 .

[8]  Lazim Abdullah,et al.  A Border Approximation Area Approach Considering Bipolar Neutrosophic Linguistic Variable for Sustainable Energy Selection , 2020, Sustainability.

[9]  Hamed Zamani-Sabzi,et al.  Improving renewable energy policy planning and decision-making through a hybrid MCDM method , 2020, Energy Policy.

[10]  Chih-Hung Wu,et al.  Fuzzy DEMATEL method for developing supplier selection criteria , 2011, Expert Syst. Appl..

[11]  Huang Yong,et al.  Renewable energy project performance evaluation using a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making approach: Case study in Fujian, China , 2019, Journal of Cleaner Production.

[12]  Yasir Ahmed Solangi,et al.  Evaluating the strategies for sustainable energy planning in Pakistan: An integrated SWOT-AHP and Fuzzy-TOPSIS approach , 2019, Journal of Cleaner Production.

[13]  S. Mangla,et al.  A step to clean energy - Sustainability in energy system management in an emerging economy context , 2020 .

[14]  Sobhan mostafayi Darmian,et al.  A hybrid approach based on MCDM methods and Monte Carlo simulation for sustainable evaluation of potential solar sites in east of Iran , 2021 .

[15]  T. Buchholz,et al.  Sustainability criteria for bioenergy systems: results from an expert survey , 2009 .

[16]  Manoj Mathew,et al.  A comprehensive MCDM-based approach using TOPSIS and EDAS as an auxiliary tool for pyrolysis material selection and its application , 2020, Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery.

[17]  Lotfi A. Zadeh,et al.  Fuzzy Sets , 1996, Inf. Control..

[18]  Prasenjit Chatterjee,et al.  A novel integrated decision-making approach for the evaluation and selection of renewable energy technologies , 2018, Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy.

[19]  Tausif Ali,et al.  A hybrid multi-criteria decision-making approach to solve renewable energy technology selection problem for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh , 2020 .

[20]  Jingzheng Ren,et al.  Identification of Critical Success Factors for Sustainable Development of Biofuel Industry in China based on Grey Decision-making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) , 2016 .

[21]  Jafar Rezaei,et al.  Measuring the Importance of Decision-Making Criteria in Biofuel Production Technology Selection , 2019, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.

[22]  Romualdas Bausys,et al.  Implementation of EU energy policy priorities in the Baltic Sea Region countries: Sustainability assessment based on neutrosophic MULTIMOORA method , 2019, Energy Policy.

[23]  Cengiz Kahraman,et al.  A novel neutrosophic CODAS method: Selection among wind energy plant locations , 2019, J. Intell. Fuzzy Syst..

[24]  Mohamed Abdel-Basset,et al.  Evaluation of sustainable hydrogen production options using an advanced hybrid MCDM approach: A case study , 2020 .

[25]  Mohamed Abdel-Basset,et al.  A new hybrid multi-criteria decision-making approach for location selection of sustainable offshore wind energy stations: A case study , 2021 .

[26]  I. Bari,et al.  Assessing the main opportunities of integrated biorefining from agro-bioenergy co/by-products and agroindustrial residues into high-value added products associated to some emerging markets: A review , 2018 .

[27]  Hamed Farrokhi-Asl,et al.  Developing a sustainable supply chain optimization model for switchgrass-based bioenergy production: A case study , 2018, Journal of Cleaner Production.

[28]  James Scott,et al.  A review of multi-criteria decision-making methods for bioenergy systems , 2012 .

[29]  Shu-Yuan Pan,et al.  Strategies on implementation of waste-to-energy (WTE) supply chain for circular economy system: a review , 2015 .

[30]  Mostafa Zandieh,et al.  A multi criteria decision making framework for sustainability assessment of bioenergy production technologies with hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets: The case of Iran , 2017 .

[31]  Yunna Wu,et al.  Decision framework for ocean thermal energy plant site selection from a sustainability perspective: The case of China , 2019, Journal of Cleaner Production.

[32]  Salah Kamel,et al.  RETRACTED: Bioenergy potential from agriculture residues for energy generation in Egypt , 2018, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews.

[33]  Kexin Li,et al.  Selecting sustainable energy conversion technologies for agricultural residues: A fuzzy AHP-VIKOR based prioritization from life cycle perspective , 2019, Resources, Conservation and Recycling.

[34]  Jiangjiang Wang,et al.  Review on multi-criteria decision analysis aid in sustainable energy decision-making , 2009 .

[35]  Mohamed Abdel-Basset,et al.  A hybrid approach of neutrosophic sets and DEMATEL method for developing supplier selection criteria , 2018, Des. Autom. Embed. Syst..

[36]  K. Atanassov.  New operations defined over the intuitionistic fuzzy sets , 1994 .

[37]  Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas,et al.  Multi-Criteria Inventory Classification Using a New Method of Evaluation Based on Distance from Average Solution (EDAS) , 2015, Informatica.

[38]  Aliye Ayca Supciller,et al.  Selection of wind turbines with multi-criteria decision making techniques involving neutrosophic numbers: A case from Turkey , 2020 .

[39]  Veronica Campos-Guzman,et al.  Life Cycle Analysis with Multi-Criteria Decision Making: A review of approaches for the sustainability evaluation of renewable energy technologies , 2019, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews.

[40]  Gwo-Hshiung Tzeng,et al.  A balanced scorecard approach to establish a performance evaluation and relationship model for hot spring hotels based on a hybrid MCDM model combining DEMATEL and ANP , 2011 .

[41]  Rakesh D. Raut,et al.  Sustainable development challenges of the biofuel industry in India based on integrated MCDM approach , 2021 .

[42]  Denys Yemshanov,et al.  Fast-growing poplar plantations as a bioenergy supply source for Canada , 2008 .

[43]  Jutta Geldermann,et al.  Using methods of Multi-Criteria Decision Making to provide decision support concerning local bioenergy projects , 2017 .

[44]  Jacqueline M. Bloemhof,et al.  Designing an eco-efficient biomass-based supply chain using a multi-actor optimisation model , 2019, Journal of Cleaner Production.

[45]  N. Said,et al.  Quantitative appraisal of biomass resources and their energy potential in Egypt , 2013 .

[46]  Arunodaya Raj Mishra,et al.  Novel Multi-Criteria Intuitionistic Fuzzy SWARA–COPRAS Approach for Sustainability Evaluation of the Bioenergy Production Process , 2020, Sustainability.

[47]  Iddrisu Awudu,et al.  Uncertainties and sustainability concepts in biofuel supply chain management: A review , 2012 .

[48]  José M. Merigó,et al.  Towards Human-Centric Aggregation via Ordered Weighted Aggregation Operators and Linguistic Data Summaries: A New Perspective on Zadeh's Inspirations , 2019, IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine.