Multi-attribute sustainability evaluation of alternative aviation fuels based on fuzzy ANP and fuzzy grey relational analysis

Abstract

The objective of this study is to develop a multi-attribute sustainability evaluation model for assessing the sustainability of various alternative aviation fuels. Fuzzy Analytic Network Process (ANP) which can incorporate the interdependences and interactions among the criteria was used for weights determination. Fuzzy Grey Relational Analysis (FGRA) was employed to determine the integrated priority of each alternative aviation fuel. Four alternative aviation fuels (petroleum refining -A1, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis based on natural gas -A2, algal-based fuel -A3, and soybean -based fuel -A4) were studied by the model, the sustainability order from the best to the worst determined based on the preferences/opinions of the three groups of stakeholders/decision-makers was Algal-based fuel (A3), soybean -based fuel (A4), petroleum refining (A1), and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis based on natural gas (A2). The method presented in this study was validated by comparing the results determine by the proposed method with that determined fuzzy TOPSIS and fuzzy sum weighted method, and the results in the case study were also validated by a programming based multi-criteria decision-making which partially using the real data to determine the sustainability order of the four aviation fuels. In order to investigate the effects of the weights on the sustainability order, sensitivity analysis was also carried out in this study.