Energy efficiency analysis method based on fuzzy DEA cross-model for ethylene production systems in chemical industry

DEA (data envelopment analysis) has been widely used for the efficiency analysis of industrial production process. However, the conventional DEA model is difficult to analyze the pros and cons of the multi DMUs (decision-making units). The DEACM (DEA cross-model) can distinguish the pros and cons of the effective DMUs, but it is unable to take the effect of the uncertainty data into account. This paper proposes an efficiency analysis method based on FDEACM (fuzzy DEA cross-model) with Fuzzy Data. The proposed method has better objectivity and resolving power for the decision-making. First we obtain the minimum, the median and the maximum values of the multi-criteria ethylene energy consumption data by the data fuzzification. On the basis of the multi-criteria fuzzy data, the benchmark of the effective production situations and the improvement directions of the ineffective of the ethylene plants under different production data configurations are obtained by the FDEACM. The experimental result shows that the proposed method can improve the ethylene production conditions and guide the efficiency of energy utilization during ethylene production process. •This paper proposes an efficiency analysis method based on FDEACM (fuzzy DEA cross-model) with data fuzzification.•The proposed method is more efficient and accurate than other methods.•We obtain an energy efficiency analysis framework and process based on FDEACM in ethylene production industry.•The proposed method is valid and efficient in improvement of energy efficiency in the ethylene plants.