Prioritizing the gaseous alternatives for the road transport sector of Pakistan: A multi criteria decision making analysis

Highlights: • Three gaseous alternatives CNG, LPG and LNG are evaluated. • MCDM and AHP are utilized for evaluating. • Analysis reveals that CNG is more suitable. • Its technical, economic, social and environmental acceptability favors it as an alternative fuel. • Provision of CNG to road transport from local production and cross-border trade. Availability of gaseous alternatives enhances the diversification of fuel choices for the road transport sector in a country. Additionally, these fuels being environment-friendly may also contribute to the sustainable development. Pakistan has a number of gaseous fuels available for the road transport sector with a varying level of economic, environmental and social significance. It is still required to study the suitability of these gaseous resources from different perspectives. This paper utilizes a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis approach based on Analytical Hierarchy Process for evaluating the three gaseous alternatives namely Compressed Natural Gas, Liquefied Petroleum Gas and Liquefied Natural Gas. Initially, four main criteria, technical, economic, environmental and social aspects and eleven sub-criteria were identified from a comprehensive literature review. Then an appropriate decision model was formulated consisting of goals, criteria, sub-criteria and alternatives. The empirical data for criteria was collected from various government and academic sources. The results revealed Compressed Natural Gas as a most favorable fuel choice for the road transport sector of Pakistan. Besides the ranking and prioritization of three fuel technologies, the results of the proposed decision framework are significant for formulating a policy on the usage of different fuels in the transportation sector of Pakistan.