Chapter 19 - Effect of Normalization Protocol on Pulping Process Selection Using TOPSIS Multicriteria Decision-Making Method—A Case Study of Palm Oil Empty Fruit Bunches

Abstract

Empty fruit bunches are the major solid waste generated from palm oil industries. These lignocellulosic solid waste can be transformed into pulp and paper products through several pulping processes. However, the selection of the most preferred pulping process among various alternatives transcends to complicated decision-making problems because of many contradictory pulping criteria. This chapter demonstrates a framework to appraise and rank different high-boiling point organosolv pulping processes for palm oil empty fruit bunches (POEFB) to manufacture pulp and paper using entropy coupled classical TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) multicriteria decision-making method. While implementing TOPSIS, the normalization procedure may alter the ranking of alternatives and hereafter the choice of the apt alternative. Hence, this chapter also illustrates the effect of six different normalization procedures on the ranking and selection of POEFB organosolv pulping processes. Further, an approach to assess these normalization rules for classifying the most appropriate one that can be implemented in the aforementioned TOPSIS-based pulping process selection problem has also been presented. The ethanolamine pulping with process conditions 80% concentration, 180oC temperature, and 150 min time was found to be the best organosolv- pulping alternative for POEFB. The Gaussian normalization emerged as the best normalization protocol followed by the vector normalization. Thus this chapter describes the entropy integrated classical TOPSIS methodology operated with an appropriate normalization protocol for making an efficient decision in the selection of the best pulping process to produce pulp and paper.