A Pythagorean Fuzzy Reference-Dependent Regret Theory-Based Model for Assessing Seawater Desalination Projects

Seawater desalination refers to the process of making fresh water from sea water. The construction of a seawater desalination project is beneficial for increasing water resources and regarded as a strategic reserve measure. Therefore, a reference-dependent regret theory-based multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model under a Pythagorean fuzzy environment is proposed to assess seawater desalination projects. From the production perspective, the criteria system for seawater desalination project assessment is put forward based on aspects of project construction and project operation. Furthermore, considering the influence of the degree of initiative on the perception of regret, positivity is defined as the distance between decision information and reference points. The Dempster-Shafer (D-S) evidence theory is used to determine the group reference point, and a more effective fusion of the expectation level of information is realized. Moreover, to overcome the problem that the objective weight cannot comprehensively reflect the importance, the combined weight method formed by the entropy and BWM methods is adopted to determine the criteria weights. Finally, a practical case of seawater desalination project evaluation is used to verify the effectiveness of the method. This study determines the priority of seawater desalination projects and enriches the Pythagorean fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method theory.