Prioritization of biofuels production pathways under uncertainties

As a promising alternative for fossil fuel, biofuel has attracted more and more attentions for its advantages of high renewability, large amount of feedstocks, and fewer emissions compared with the traditional fossil fuels. The objective of this study is to develop a multicriteria decision making method for sustainability ranking of biofuel production systems under uncertainty conditions. The interval analytic hierarchy process (IAHP) method which allows the users to use interval numbers rather than crisp numbers to establish the comparison matrix was used for determining the weights of the criteria. The interval gray relational analysis (IGRA) method which can address the multicriteria decision making matrix comprised of interval numbers was employed to rank the alternative pathways for biofuel production under data uncertainties. Three alternative pathways including wheat-, corn-, and cassava-based technologies for bioethanol production were studied by the proposed method in this study. Sensitivity analysis was also carried out to investigate the effects of the weights of the criteria on the sustainability ranking of the three pathways for biofuel production.