An Approach to the Control Management of Gaseous Pollutants Emissions from Power Plants Using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)

Abstract

Population growth, industrial pollution and high-energy consumption, cause the release of significant amounts of pollutants in the environment. Power plants play an important role in the release of pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and carbon dioxide. If the necessary measures in the field of prevention and control do not be implemented, human health and other living creatures would be at risk. The aim of this study was to control management of gaseous pollutants emissions from power plants using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). In this study, first, the emission rate of power plant pollutants from existing monitors was directly examined. In order to determine priority control from a variety of pollutants, SO2, NOX, and CO2 gases were selected using the AHP method. Assessment criteria were determined using previous studies. To specify the priority control first the weight matrix of criteria determination and then the relative weight of each of the pollutants was identified. Finally, the ultimate weight of each pollutant was identified using the calculation of the arithmetic mean in the AHP method. Among the trio-selected pollutants determined for priority control, the NOX  with the final weight of 0.577 was regarded as the first priority, SO2  with the final weight of 0.32 considered as the second priority and the third priority was specified to CO2  with the final weight of 0.093. The present study is a new approach to identify and prioritize pollutants. It has provided the ability to plan and carry out the appropriate control design for power plant pollutants.