Hybrid Multi-Criteria Decision-Making for Marine SOx Scrubber Systems

Abstract

This paper aims to identify the best solution for three SOx scrubber systems by evaluating their economic, environmental and technical performances: open-loop, closed-loop and hybrid scrubber systems. It adopted a novel muti-criteria decision-making model which can be introduced as the combination of lifecycle cost and lifecycle assessments, and fuzzy-TOPSIS and fuzzy-AHP. The analysis results of the case study of 72,100 gross-ton cargo ships suggested that the closed-loop scrubber systems would be the most effective in the consideration of all of the aspects, overall. It also shows the excellence of the proposed decision-making model to remedy the shortcomings of the conventional multi-criteria decision-making process by directing the analytic process in a wiser way, by means of fuzzy elements. For the environmental impact assessment, the lifecycle assessment approach enables one to obtain a holistic view of the Lifecycle emissions from the cradle to the grave. This paper finally shows the effectiveness of the proposed method, which can improve confidence in decision-making by extending a short-term view widely. Therefore, it was strongly believed that the proposed model is not necessarily/limitedly applied to marine systems but can be broad and noteworthy for a variety of studies requiring appropriate decision-making.