Author(s): Haresh Dash; Recep Kaan Dereli; Behzad Mozafari; Sarah Cotterill
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: MCDM ANP Urine treatment technologies Fertilisers
Abstract: The growing demand for agricultural fertilisers due to population growth has driven interest in alternative fertiliser production technologies beyond conventional resource-intensive industrial methods. Human urine, which has a high N, P, and K concentration, and low volume in domestic wastewater, is considered a viable substrate for source-separation and fertiliser production. There are several urine treatment technologies (singular + hybrid) capable of delivering fertiliser products. However, each technology is unique with respect to its performance, operation, economic aspects, and the type of fertiliser product delivered. The large number of available urine treatment methods can create challenges in selecting the most appropriate technology. Moreover, the selection of a treatment technology depends upon factors including recovery efficiency, maintenance cost, area requirement, emissions, and the type of fertiliser product - each of which may vary depending on context and can interact differently with each other. To address this, this study uses the Analytic Network Process (ANP), a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method, to consider interactions and interdependencies between decision parameters and the considered alternatives. The main objective of this work is to translate the decision problem into a structured ANP framework, considering technical feasibility and economic benefits.
Year: 2025