Technology Evaluation and Decision Making for Sustainability Enhancement of Industrial Systems Under Uncertainty

Technology-based sustainability enhancement is a key approach for industrial sustainability realization. However, identification of effective technologies for any industrial system could be very challenging. If the available data and information about the industrial system and technologies are incomplete, imprecise, and uncertain, then technology identification could be very difficult. In this article, the authors introduce a simple, yet systematic interval-parameter-based methodology for identifying quickly superior solutions under uncertainty for sustainability performance improvement. The methodology is general enough for the study of sustainability enhancement problems of any size and scope. A case study on sustainable development of biodiesel manufacturing demonstrates methodological efficacy. © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 58: 1841–1852, 2012

[1]  Scott Ferson,et al.  Probability bounds analysis in environmental risk assessments , 2003 .

[2]  Gordon H. Huang,et al.  An interval-parameter multi-stage stochastic programming model for water resources management under uncertainty , 2006 .

[3]  Zheng Liu,et al.  Fuzzy Logic Based System Modification for Industrial Sustainability Enhancement , 2009 .

[4]  D. Skala,et al.  The problems in design and detailed analyses of energy consumption for biodiesel synthesis at supercritical conditions , 2009 .

[5]  Zheng Liu,et al.  Sustainability Assessment of Industrial Systems under Uncertainty: A Fuzzy Logic Based Approach to Short-Term to Midterm Predictions , 2010 .

[6]  Yakov Ben-Haim,et al.  Info-gap Decision Theory For Engineering Design. Or: Why 'Good' is Preferable to 'Best' , 2005 .

[7]  Guohe Huang,et al.  Combination of Differentiated Prediction Approach and Interval Analysis for the Prediction of Weather Variables Under Uncertainty , 1997 .

[8]  Yinlun Huang,et al.  Collaborative profitable pollution prevention: an approach for the sustainable development of complex industrial zones under uncertain information , 2009 .

[9]  R. J. Batterham,et al.  Ten Years of Sustainability: Where Do We Go from Here? , 2003 .

[10]  Naoko Ellis,et al.  Assessment of four biodiesel production processes using HYSYS.Plant. , 2008, Bioresource technology.

[11]  Gareth W. Parry,et al.  The characterization of uncertainty in probabilistic risk assessments of complex systems , 1996 .

[12]  Marion A. Hersh,et al.  Sustainable decision making: the role of decision support systems , 1999, IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern. Part C.

[13]  Dicksen Tanzil,et al.  Transforming sustainability strategy into action : the chemical industry , 2005 .

[14]  Y. Ben-Haim Information-gap decision theory : decisions under severe uncertainty , 2001 .

[15]  Son-Lin Nie,et al.  A dual-interval vertex analysis method and its application to environmental decision making under uncertainty , 2010, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[16]  M. Dubé,et al.  Biodiesel production from waste cooking oil: 1. Process design and technological assessment. , 2003, Bioresource technology.

[17]  Guohe Huang,et al.  IPEM: An Interval-parameter Energy Systems Planning Model , 2008 .

[18]  S. P. Sevionovic,et al.  Risk in sustainable water resources management , 1997 .

[19]  George L. Nemhauser,et al.  Handbooks in operations research and management science , 1989 .

[20]  Jim W. Hall,et al.  Information gap analysis of flood model uncertainties and regional frequency analysis , 2010 .

[21]  Yakov Ben-Haim Info-Gap Decision Theory for Engineering Design , 2004 .

[22]  Lesley F. Wright,et al.  Information Gap Decision Theory: Decisions under Severe Uncertainty , 2004 .

[23]  P. Walley Statistical Reasoning with Imprecise Probabilities , 1990 .

[24]  Yannis A. Phillis,et al.  On a sustainability interval index and its computation through global optimization , 2012 .

[25]  Scott Ferson,et al.  Constructing Probability Boxes and Dempster-Shafer Structures , 2003 .

[26]  Dan Rosbjerg,et al.  Sustainability of water resources under increasing uncertainty , 1997 .

[27]  Guohe Huang,et al.  Interval-Based Air Quality Index Optimization Model for Regional Environmental Management Under Uncertainty , 2009 .

[28]  Li He,et al.  Greenhouse Gas Mitigation-Induced Rough-Interval Programming for Municipal Solid Waste Management , 2008, Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association.