Entropy-based Multi-criteria Analysis of Thermochemical Conversions for Energy Recovery from Municipal Solid Waste Using Fuzzy VIKOR and ELECTRE III: Case of Azerbaijan Region, Iran

Abstract

Rapidly increasing population, high life-standards, technological advancement and increasing diversity of solid waste have made solid waste management as an important and urgent issue for most of the countries. In this study, we address the complexity of waste-to-energy (WtE) planning considering energy security and sustainability, as a treatment for solid waste, in the Azerbaijan region of Iran. Decision-making for energy planning has gotten manifold quantitative and qualitative confliction which makes it really difficult to rely on exact values for criteria. Fuzzy logic with linguistic terms is utilized to express the uncertainty in the values with respect to defined criteria that are given by experts. In the first phase, the best WtE technology is selected and then suitable installation site is chosen using fuzzy group Viekriterijumsko Kompromisno Rangiranje (VIKOR) and ELimination Et Choix Traduisant la REalite (ELECTRE) III, respectively. Fuzzy entropy method was developed to determine the weights of the evaluation criteria. A case study is done for Azerbaijan region of Iran. Plasma WtE technology was found the best alternative for WtE energy technology and Zanjan province ranked the best location for the establishment of the site. In the sensitivity analysis, plasma technology predominantly stayed the most appropriate technology through different cases of weights, each focused on a specific aspect of criteria. A linear assignment method is used in sensitivity analysis for the WtE technology selection.