Selection of the best wastewater treatment alternative for HDPE unit of petrochemical research and technology company-Arak center based on the Analytical Hierarchy Process

In countries such as Iran that are facing with water scarcity and water crisis, paying attention to the quantity, quality and sustainable use of water resources is very significant. Petrochemical processes discharge pollutants into the environment, contaminating surface water resources. Therefore, treatment of the wastewater of these industries is necessary. Due to the capabilities of AHP process such as generalization, consideration of various parameters, multi-dimensional selection and quantifying the qualitative parameters by experts, the current study was carried out to select the best wastewater treatment alternative for HDPE plant of petrochemical research and technology company-Arak center based on AHP in 2016.
In this study, both sequencing batch reactors (SBR) and extended aeration activated sludge (EAAS) systems based on environmental, technical-functional, economic and management criteria's according to the expert's opinion were weighted. Then, the paired comparisons of the selected wastewater treatment systems for each criterion were developed. Finally, the results were analyzed to select the best wastewater treatment systems for HDPE unit of petrochemical industries using Expert Choice 11 Software.
The results showed that the SBR wastewater treatment system was the best method for the wastewater treatment of HDPE plant of petrochemical research and technology company-Arak center as compared with the ESSA system. Also, consistency ratio was ranged from 0 to 0.10 in all emphases. Based on the results of the sensitivity analysis, the SBR system had the highest priority of economic and environmental criteria. The ESSA system had the highest priority of technical-functional and management criteria.
Based on the results, although ESSA method requires more maintainance and management than the SBR method, due to increasing requirement for the compliance of the output effluent quality with permissible limits and the need for less land for the establishment of the treatment plant, the SBR method was selected to be the most suitable process for HDPE plant wastewater treatment.