Determination effective criteria in optimizing energy consumption in Kaveh paper industry company using analytic Hierarchy process

The aim of this study was to determine effective criteria in optimizing energy consumption in Kaveh paper industry company by using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). For these purposes, after a review of previous studies and some interviews with experts, effective criteria in optimizing energy consumption in Kaveh paper industry company were divided into 6 main categories and 49 subcategories. The degree of importance of the main categories and subcategories was determined after obtaining expert opinions using Expert Choice software. The results of this study showed that the main criteria in optimizing energy consumption are: process modification, technical knowledge, and manpower, implementation of preventive maintenance (PM) system, use of intelligent control systems and process monitoring, and energy recovery. Process modification criterion with a weight of 0.38 has the highest priority in optimizing energy consumption. In addition, among 26 sub-criteria effective in optimizing energy consumption in Kaveh paper industry company, sub-criteria improving stock pulp preparation, the level of education of factory personnel, work experience of personnel, reduction of stops, research and development, online moisture and basis weight paper measurement sensor, respectively, had the highest importance with the weight values of 0.209, 0.119, 0.116, 0.113, 0.066, 051 and 0.087. The inconsistency ratio of the research was 0.01 which shows the results have stability and compatibility. The results can be used to accelerate the implementation of the process of optimizing energy consumption in other paper mills in Iran.