| Waste management has been a hot subject globally in recent decades as a result of the steady growth in municipal solid waste(MSW)creation,which is becoming increasingly challenging to manage using traditional waste management strategies.In several developing countries,where population growth and urbanization are becoming uncontrollable,the situation is considerably worse.Both the energy and waste management sectors of Ghana are confronted with numerous issues,such as unsustainable waste management methods and an imbalance between electricity supply and demand,which necessitates the implementation of an optimal waste-to-energy(Wt E)system plan.Generating electricity from municipal solid waste will assist Ghana in attaining sustainability by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the requirement for land to dispose of solid waste while simultaneously addressing the electricity problems of the country.Considering the increasing number of new technological options for recovering energy from waste,the comprehensive decision-making process for the selection of an optimal waste-to-energy alternative for a country/region is very complicated hence,the need for a multi-criteria decision-making approach.Multicriteria decision-making methods are becoming more prevalent in this field since several energy selection problems require several and frequently contradictory criteria.The primary aim of the current study therefore,is to present an integrated multicriteria decision-making technique based on fuzzy set theory for selecting an optimal waste-to-energy technology for investment and implementation in Ghana among several alternatives.Ten experts were permitted to participate in the decision-making process,and they were allowed to utilize linguistic variables to rank the alternatives and define the weights of the evaluation criteria in this research.The analytical hierarchy process(AHP)method was utilized to estimate the weights of the evaluation criteria by analyzing the distinct connections among the various selected criteria.The fuzzy Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution(TOPSIS)model was then devised to rank the waste-to-energy alternatives.Four alternative technologies for energy recovery from waste were evaluated(anaerobic digestion,gasification,pyrolysis and plasma gasification)against twelve sub-criteria under technical,economic,environmental and social criteria.The AHP results from the criteria weight determination showed that technical criteria must be given the highest priority in the selection of a Wt E technology for implementation in Ghana.This is followed by economic,environmental and social criteria as the least important in the decision-making process.From the overall ranking of all sub-criteria,power generation capacity of a Wt E plant obtained the highest priority weight while health impact was ranked as the least important.The final ranking results of waste-to-energy alternatives from the fuzzy TOPSIS procedure also indicated that anaerobic digestion is the optimal Wt E alternative for implementation in Ghana on the basis of the selected evaluation criteria.Gasification ranked second followed by pyrolysis and plasma gasification as the least preferred alternative.The reported findings indicate a high level of consistency,robustness,and stability,according to the sensitivity analysis.The current research suggests that integrating anaerobic digestion and gasification technologies is most ideal for Wt E development in Ghana since it has the potential to provide a well-balanced Wt E system under all selection criteria compared to the stand-alone systems.Results of the current study may help the government of Ghana and other prospective investors select a suitable Wt E technology that offers the greatest benefit under multiple criteria for minimizing Ghana’s electricity and waste management problems.Additionally,the assessment of the most important sustainability criteria could serve as an index system for future waste-to-energy research in Ghana. |
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