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In this study, a mathematical framework was developed for the sustainability prioritization of alternative low-carbon ammonia production routes. In the framework, a four-dimensional assessment system that can incorporate both quantitative and qualitative criteria from the environmental, economic, social-political, and technical concerns was firstly established. Subsequently, a hybrid Entropy-FANP method was employed to determine the criteria's weight by combining the objective data and subjective opinions; a novel PRSRV approach was developed to rigorously rank the alternative routes by aggregating the absolute sustainability performance and relative sustainability balance of each alternative. The proposed framework was applied to prioritize five promising low-carbon routes for ammonia production, i.e. wind turbine electrolysis (WGEA), solar photovoltaic electrolysis (PVEA), hydropower electrolysis (HPEA), biomass gasification electrolysis (BGEA), and nuclear high temperature electrolysis (NTEA), yielding the sustainability ranking of HPEA > BGEA > WGEA > PVEA > NTEA. The robustness and effectiveness of the proposed framework were verified by conducting the sensitivity analysis and comparing the results determined by the proposed framework with those determined using the previous approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harnessing renewable energy (RE) sources to power desalination systems can migrate the pressures of freshwater scarcity and fossil fuel depletion. In this paper, a novel mathematical framework was developed to assess the sustainability of different RE-powered desalination systems, which is very essential for their portfolio selection, by resorting to the fuzzy multi-attribute decision making (MAMD) methods. In the framework, an evaluation system including ten attributes from four dimensions is introduced, while fuzzy triangular numbers and interval values are employed to capture the epistemic and aleatory uncertainties of decision information, respectively. More importantly, three fuzzy MADM methods were proposed in the framework to make the following methodological contributions: (1) fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory-based analytic network process (DANP) offers a reliable weighting result by addressing the interrelationships among the attributes; (2) fuzzy full consistency method (FUCOM) can easily but rigorously quantify the qualitative attributes by using the simplified pair-wise comparisons; (3) interval vector-aided technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (VATOPSIS) generates a rational ranking sequence by incorporating the balance among multi-attributes. To illustrate the proposed framework, six RE-powered desalination systems were studied, showing that the solar thermal-powered multi-effect distillation would be the best option under current conditions. Finally, the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed framework were verified by results comparison and discussion. Image 1 • A framework was proposed to assess the sustainability of RE-powered desalination. • The mathematical framework can address both the epistemic and aleatory uncertainties. • A fuzzy DANP approach was used to assign the weights to the interrelated attributes. • A fuzzy FUCOM method was developed to easily quantify the qualitative attributes. • An interval VATOPSIS method was introduced to rationally rank the alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen has attracted considerable attention as a clean and renewable energy carrier to potentially solve the increasingly serious problems of energy security and environmental pollution. As it can be produced from diverse feedstocks by using a variety of technologies, this study aims to develop a novel multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) mathematical framework for the sustainability assessment of multiple hydrogen production technologies (HPTs). In the proposed method, the criteria weights were determined by combining the grey relational analysis (GRA) and DEMATEL method, which can realize a relatively objective weighting process by considering the causal relationships among criteria. Moreover, the alternatives are also ranked by using the GRA approach to attain the grey correlation coefficients as indicators, which measures the closeness of the corresponding alternative with the ideal scheme. Finally, the developed MCDM method was illustrated by the sustainability prioritization of 9 HPTs. • A MCDM method was established for more objective sustainability assessment of HPTs. • An GRA-incorporated DEMATEL method was developed for determining the criteria weight. • The GRA approach was adopted for ranking the sustainability of HPTs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel two-stage multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method is proposed with the aim to select the most sustainable hydrogen production technology (HPT) by considering the preference information on both attributes and alternatives. In the first stage of the method, the initial sustainability ranking of the alternative HPTs was achieved by using the FBWM (Fuzzy Best-Worst Method) to determine the weights of the criteria and the fuzzy TOPSIS (Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution) method to prioritize the sustainability of alternative HPTs. While, in the second stage, a novel Preference Ranking Linear Programming Method (PRLPM) was used to acquire the final sustainability ranking according to the alternative preference information by following the principle of the outranking method. The proposed method was illustrated by a case study with 8 HTPs, demonstrating that the developed two-stage MCDM method can reflect the alternative preference of the decision-maker more accurately for selecting the most preferred alternative among various HTPs. • The MCDM framework divides the sustainability decision-making into two stages. • Fuzzy best-worst method and fuzzy TOPSIS were used in the first stage. • A novel method based on preference information on alternatives is proposed. • The framework combines preference information on attributes and alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The combination with carbon capture and storage (CCS) can significantly reduce CO 2 emission in power generation systems, however, it remains to be clarified whether the CCS combination can make the power generation systems more sustainable by comprehensively taking account of economic, social and environmental effects. In this study, a novel multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) mathematical framework was developed to evaluate the sustainability of power generation systems using either fossil energy (with or without CCS) or renewable energy sources. In the mathematical framework, interval numbers are used to retain the objective uncertainties, and an improved Grey-Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (G-DEMATEL) method is employed to determine the weights of the evaluation criteria, which can avoid subjective uncertainties while considering the interactions between evaluation criteria. According to the affecting factors calculated by G-DEMATEL, the interaction between criteria can be visualized and key criteria can be identified more intuitively. Finally, the interval Vlsekriterijumska Optimizacijia I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) method is employed to rank the sustainability of alternative power generation systems. In order to verify the developed framework, the sustainability of 6 power generation systems was assessed and compared by considering 10 criteria from dimensions of technology, environment, economy and society. The results show that "Wind power" is assessed as the most sustainable technology and the criterion of "Global warming" has the greatest impact on the sustainability of power generation systems, while the sustainability of power generation systems using fossil energy can be significantly improved by combining with CCS. • A framework for assessing the sustainability of power generation systems is proposed. • The effect of combining with carbon capture and storage is investigated. • An objective weighting method that consider the interaction of criteria is developed. • An approach is developed for visualizing the interaction between the criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More and more groundwater has been polluted recently, and technologies for groundwater contamination remediation are of vital importance; however, it is usually difficult for the users to select the most suitable technology among multiple alternatives. In order to address this, this study aims at developing a sustainability assessment framework for prioritizing the technologies for groundwater contamination remediation by combining the concept of sustainability and multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method. A criterion system which consists of six criteria in three aspects has been proposed for sustainability assessment of technologies for groundwater contamination remediation, and a novel MCDM method by combining the logarithmic fuzzy preference programming based fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and the improved ELECTRE method has been developed for prioritizing the alternatives. In order to illustrate the developed methodology, four technologies including pump-treat (P&T), monitored natural attenuation (MNA), permeable reactive barriers (PRB), and air sparging (AS) have been studied, and the results show that the proposed methodology is feasible for prioritizing the technologies for groundwater contamination remediation for the stakeholders/decision-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shale gas, as an emerging unconventional resource in China, has been regarded as a promising option for diversifying away from traditional fossil fuels and enhancing national security of energy supply. This study analyzed the barriers affecting the sustainable shale gas revolution in China and prioritized the feasible strategic measures by employing the methods of fuzzy Analytic Network Process and Interpretative Structural Modeling. The aim is to help the stakeholders and administrators to better comprehend the relative importance of the barriers and adopt suitable measures. The results demonstrated that the lack of governmental support and guidelines, lack of regulations and standards, and lack of core technologies are the most important barriers hindering the energy transition to shale gas in China. The refinement of subsidies, advanced research, and harmonized standards could in large overcome many of these barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability is an important and difficult consideration for the stakeholders/decision-makers when planning a biofuel supply network. In this paper, a Mixed-Integer Non-linear Programming (MINLP) model was developed with the aim to help the stakeholders/decision-maker to select the most sustainable design. In the proposed model, the emergy sustainability index of the whole biodiesel supply networks in a life cycle perspective is employed as the measure of the sustainability, and multiple feedstocks, multiple transport modes, multiple regions for biodiesel production and multiple distribution centers can be considered. After describing the process and mathematic framework of the model, an illustrative case was studied and demonstrated that the proposed methodology is feasible for finding the most sustainable design and planning of biodiesel supply chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] A model for designing the most sustainable bioethanol supply chain is developed. [•] Ecological footprint is used as a measure of sustainability in the model. [•] Life cycle perspective is incorporated in the design of bioethanol supply chain. [•] Multiple options in each stage of bioethanol supply chain are considered. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]