Interval reference point technique for sustainable industrial processs election under uncertainties

Abstract

Abstract Sustainability of industrial processes has been a hot spot and draws the attentions of more and more stakeholders, because determining the synthetic sustainability index can help the decision-makers/stakeholders to make informed decisions towards sustainable industrial processes, especially for selecting the most sustainable industrial process among multiple alternatives. This study aims to develop an interval reference point technique for the prioritization of industrial processes under uncertainties. The hierarchy best-worst method which can determine the weights of the criteria, the local weights of the sub-criteria and the global weights of the sub-criteria simultaneously was employed for weights determination. An interval reference point technique which allows the users to set the aspiration point (the level of acceptance) and the reservation point (the level of desirable expectation) was developed to determine the dual synthetic sustainability indexes, and both the weak synthetic sustainability index (compensatory sustainability index) and the strong synthetic sustainability index (non- compensatory sustainability index) were used to prioritize the industrial processes. A case study with five alternative energy storage technologies has been studied to illustrate the developed framework, and the results reveal that the developed framework is feasible and efficient for sustainability assessment and prioritization of industrial processes.