{"paper_id":"27121c18-87b7-4d62-b056-53b6dcd3d6e2","body_text":"A Multi-Criteria Techno-Economic Evaluation of PEM and Alkaline Electrolysers for Green Hydrogen Production Using Fuzzy BWM, TOPSIS, and WASPAS | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article A Multi-Criteria Techno-Economic Evaluation of PEM and Alkaline Electrolysers for Green Hydrogen Production Using Fuzzy BWM, TOPSIS, and WASPAS Leila Bekrit, Chakib Seladji This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7223428/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The future of green hydrogen is with the selection of electrolysis technologies that harmonize performance, cost, and sustainability. The novel integrated multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach proposed here is a fusion of the Fuzzy Best-Worst Method (FBWM), TOPSIS, and WASPAS to order Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) and Alkaline electrolysers against 30 sub-criteria in five essential dimensions: Technical, Economic, Environmental, Technological, and Social/Policy. Weighting the criteria using FBWM revealed efficiency (0.0899) and capital expenditure (0.0800) as the most prominent, highlighting the significance of cost-performance trade-offs in stakeholder decisions. Greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption scored high on environmental metrics. TOPSIS results showed a narrow lead of PEM (CCi = 0.507) over Alkaline (CCi = 0.493), owing mainly to superior technical parameters like hydrogen purity and current density. WASPAS analysis confirmed this finding, with PEM returning a sum score of 0.432 compared to Alkaline's 0.414. Sensitivity analysis across four weighting scenarios determined the test of rankings robustness: PEM did better in all but the cost-dominant scenario, in which Alkaline did better due to lower CAPEX and longer stack lifespan. Dual-method validation and scenario testing demonstrate the hybrid MCDM methodology's robustness. This framework is a structured, lucid tool to employ when making technology decisions under varying stakeholder priorities, scalable for application in broader hydrogen infrastructure planning Energy Engineering Environmental Engineering Electrolysis PEM Alkaline FBWM TOPSIS WASPAS MCDM Hydrogen Techno-economic analysis Sustainability evaluation Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {\"props\":{\"pageProps\":{\"initialData\":{\"identity\":\"rs-7223428\",\"acceptedTermsAndConditions\":true,\"allowDirectSubmit\":true,\"archivedVersions\":[],\"articleType\":\"Research Article\",\"associatedPublications\":[],\"authors\":[{\"id\":491364305,\"identity\":\"4bd3b05d-edaa-4d31-bf62-e1c700f87a5c\",\"order_by\":0,\"name\":\"Leila Bekrit\",\"email\":\"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA/0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACAwY2BoYEBgsGNnYgL6ECSDAzNxChJUGCgY0ZpOUMSAsjEVoYgFoYQFoY20BiBLSYs7elfXj4Q0KOj5n52YeH82qj+duBWn5UbMOpxbLn2OEZQIcZszGzGc9I3HY8d8ZhxgbGnjO3cTvsRnozyC+JbcwMxgyJ247lNgC1MDO24dFy/zlYS30bM/tnhsQ5x3LnE9Ryg+0wSEsCGzMP0JaGmtwNhLRY9qQlMySkSRi2MfMUMyQcO5C7EajlID6/mLMfM2b8YWMjL9/evpnxR01d7rzzhw8++FGBWws6OAwmDxCtHgjqSFE8CkbBKBgFIwQAACWXVCU06soAAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC\",\"orcid\":\"https://orcid.org/0009-0008-3287-6177\",\"institution\":\"Institute of Water and Energy Sciences, Pan African University, Tlemcen Algeria\",\"correspondingAuthor\":true,\"prefix\":\"\",\"firstName\":\"Leila\",\"middleName\":\"\",\"lastName\":\"Bekrit\",\"suffix\":\"\"},{\"id\":491364341,\"identity\":\"b80fece7-6536-4911-941e-df2686266c9e\",\"order_by\":1,\"name\":\"Chakib Seladji\",\"email\":\"\",\"orcid\":\"\",\"institution\":\"2Laboratory of Energy and Thermal Applied (ETAP), University of Tlemcen, B. 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