Philippine E-Journals

Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for Environmental Impact Analysis and Decision-Making in Industry

Ruby Pineda-henson | Alvin B. Culaba

Discipline: Engineering

 

Abstract:

A structured and comprehensive methodology for environmental decision-making in industry was developed based on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach, where the impacts on the environment at various stages of the manufacturing process were evaluated. To account for any interplay between quantitative and qualitative factors, the LCA was combined with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The latter was used to provide a quantitative tool for the design of a set of weighting factors for impact and improvement analyses. In order to demonstrate the developed methodology, the AHP was applied to pulp and paper manufacture and was found to be a valuable tool for evaluating the environmental impacts and for prioritizing the process improvement options relative to these impacts.