A multi-level programming for shale gas-water supply chains accounting for tradeoffs between economic and environmental concerns

摘要

This study develops a multi-level programming model for planning the shale gas-water supply chains. A set of leader-follower-interactive objectives with emphases of water consumption, economic performance, and pollutant discharge are integrated into a sequential decision-making process. Satisfactory degree is introduced to tackle the computationally challenging problem based on an interactive fuzzy approach. Operational decisions regarding water resources allocation, transportation mode selection, and pollutant discharge control would be achieved. Results reveal that the environmentally- or economically-aggressive strategies would be generated when a single goal for optimizing economic benefits or pollutant discharge. The multi-objective decisions are limited by the selected weights. However, the multi-level model would provide more comprehensive schemes due to its sequential consideration of the economic/environmental concerns. Findings from the multi-level model can facilitate (a) balancing the conflicts among different decision makers, (b) timing and siting for shale gas production, and (c) managing water resources for pollutant discharge control.