Integrated AHP-TOPSIS under a Fuzzy Environment for the Selection of Waste-To-Energy Technologies in Ghana: A Performance Analysis and Socio-Enviro-Economic Feasibility Study

Sandylove Afrane, Jeffrey Dankwa Ampah, Ephraim Bonah Agyekum, Prince Oppong Amoh, Abdulfatah Abdu Yusuf, Islam Md Rizwanul Fattah, Ebenezer Agbozo, Elmazeg Elgamli, Mokhtar Shouran, Guozhu Mao and Salah Kamel
Additional contact information
Sandylove Afrane: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Jeffrey Dankwa Ampah: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Ephraim Bonah Agyekum: Department of Nuclear and Renewable Energy, Ural Federal University Named after the First President of Russia Boris Yeltsin, 19 Mira Street, 620002 Ekaterinburg, Russia
Prince Oppong Amoh: Environmental Engineering Department, Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology, New Borg El Arab 5221241, Egypt
Abdulfatah Abdu Yusuf: Department of Mechanical and Automobile Engineering, Sharda University, Knowledge Park III, Greater Noida 201310, UP, India
Islam Md Rizwanul Fattah: Centre for Green Technology, Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia
Ebenezer Agbozo: Department of Big Data Analytics and Methods of Video Analysis, Ural Federal University Named after the First President of 10 Russia Boris Yeltsin, 19 Mira Street, 620002 Ekaterinburg, Russia
Elmazeg Elgamli: Wolfson Centre for Magnetics, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UK
Mokhtar Shouran: Wolfson Centre for Magnetics, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UK
Guozhu Mao: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Salah Kamel: Electrical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Aswan University, Aswan 81542, Egypt

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 14, 1-31

Abstract: Energy recovery from waste presents a promising alternative for several countries, including Ghana, which has struggled with unsustainable waste treatment methods and an inadequate power supply for several decades. The current study adopts a comprehensive multi-criteria decision-making approach for the selection of an optimal waste-to-energy (WtE) technology for implementation in Ghana. Four WtE technologies are evaluated against twelve selection criteria. An integrated AHP-fuzzy TOPSIS method is applied to estimate the criteria’s weights and rank the WtE alternatives. From the AHP results, technical criteria obtained the highest priority weight, while social criteria emerged as the least important in the selection process. The overall ranking order of WtE technologies obtained by fuzzy TOPSIS is as follows: anaerobic digestion > gasification > pyrolysis > plasma gasification. The sensitivity analysis indicates highly consistent and sturdy results regarding the optimal selection. This study recommends adopting a hybrid system of anaerobic digestion and gasification technologies, as this offers a well-balanced system under all of the evaluation criteria compared to the standalone systems. The results of the current study may help the government of Ghana and other prospective investors select a suitable WtE technology, and could serve as an index system for future WtE research in Ghana.

Keywords: AHP; circular economy; fuzzy TOPSIS; multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM); municipal solid waste (MSW); waste-to-energy (WtE); zero waste (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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