Selection of Wastewater Treatment Technology: AHP Method in Multi-Criteria Decision Making

Abstract

Wastewater treatment is a process that reduces pollution to those quantities and concentrations at which purified wastewater is no longer a threat to human and animal health and safety and does not cause unwanted changes in the environment. Municipal wastewater is classified as biodegradable water. Special importance should be given to wastewater with a high content of organic matter (COD), phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N). MBBR technology, developed on the basis of the conventional activated sludge process and the bio filter process, does not take up much space and does not have problems with activated sludge, as in the case of conventional biological reactors, and has shown good results for the removal of organic matter, phosphorus and nitrogen. The aim of this paper is to optimize the wastewater treatment process in the municipality of Dojran, North Macedonia. Three alternative solutions for improving the capacity for wastewater treatment in the municipality of Dojran were analyzed. The shortlist of variants was made on the basis of several criteria, including: analysis of the system in the tourist season and beyond, assessment of the condition and efficiency of the existing wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in combination with a new treatment plant, treatment efficiency when using different wastewater treatment technologies, the size of the site needed to accommodate the capacity, as well as the financial parameters for the proposed system. The selection of the most favorable solution for the improvement of the wastewater treatment system was made using the AHP (analytic hierarchy process) method. In order to select the optimal solution, a detailed analysis was conducted, considering several decision-making criteria, namely the initial investment, operating costs and management complexity. Based on the obtained results, Variant 3 was recommended, that is, the construction of a completely new station with MBBR technology, with a capacity for 6000 equivalent inhabitants.