A hybrid CRITIC-MAIRCA framework for optimal phase change material selection in solar distillation systems

Phase change materials (PCMs) serve as an efficient thermal energy storage mediums across a range of thermal systems, including solar distillations. The selection of an appropriate PCM candidate is a vital integration aspect that affects solar distillation performance. Therefore, the present research introduces a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) framework for identifying suitable PCM candidates for application in solar distillation systems. Evaluation indices include eighteen PCM alternatives and seven criteria, which were established from the literature. Criteria importance through intercriteria correlation (CRITIC) method was used to assign objective weights to the criteria, followed by the MAIRCA (multi-attributive ideal-real comparative analysis) approach to rank PCM alternatives. The proposed MCDM model suggests the suitability of paraffin wax followed by soy wax and beeswax PCMs for solar distillation applications, respectively. The comparative analysis, sensitivity analysis, and Kendall rank correlation effectively validated the rankings, demonstrating a robust positive correlation among the results. This study can serve as a preliminary step for experimental and simulation-based investigations aimed at optimizing the selection of PCM in the early stage, thereby reducing the time and costs associated with further analysis.