Sewage sludge contains significant amounts of resources, such as nutrients and organic matter. At the same time, the organic contaminants (OC) found in sewage sludge are of growing concern. Consequently, in many European countries incineration is currently favored over recycling in agriculture. This study presents a Multi-Attribute Value Theory (MAVT)-based decision support tool (DST) for facilitating sludge treatment decisions. Essential decision criteria were recognized and prioritized, i.e., weighted, by experts from water utilities. Since the fate of organic contaminants was in focus, a simple scoring method was developed to take into account their environmental risks. The final DST assigns each sludge treatment method a preference score expressing its superiority compared to alternative methods.

The DST was validated by testing it with data from two Finnish municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). The validation results of the first case study preferred sludge pyrolysis (preference score: 0.629) to other alternatives: composting and incineration (score 0.580, and 0.484 respectively). The preference scores were influenced by WWTP dependent factors, i.e., the operating environment and the weighting of the criteria. A lack of data emerged as the main practical limitation. Therefore, not all of the relevant criteria could be included in the value tree. More data are needed on the effects of treatment methods on the availability of nutrients, the quality of organic matter and sludge-borne OCs. Despite these shortcomings, the DST proved useful and adaptable in decision-making. It can also help achieve a more transparent, understandable and comprehensive decision-making process.

污水污泥包含大量资源，例如营养物质和有机物。同时，污水污泥中发现的有机污染物（OC）受到越来越多的关注。因此，在许多欧洲国家中，目前相对于农业的循环利用，焚化受到了青睐。这项研究提出了一种基于多属性价值理论（MAVT）的决策支持工具（DST），用于促进污泥处理决策。自来水公司的专家对基本决策标准进行了确认并确定了优先级，即对其进行了加权。由于关注有机污染物的命运，因此开发了一种简单的评分方法，以考虑到其环境风险。最终的DST会为每种污泥处理方法分配一个优先评分，以表示其与其他方法相比的优越性。

DST通过使用来自两个芬兰市政废水处理厂（WWTP）的数据进行测试进行了验证。第一个案例研究的验证结果优先选择了污泥热解法（优先评分：0.629），而不是堆肥和焚烧（分别为0.580和0.484）。偏好分数受WWTP依赖因素（即操作环境和标准的权重）的影响。缺乏数据已成为主要的实际限制。因此，并非所有相关标准都可以包含在价值树中。需要更多的数据来说明处理方法对养分有效性，有机物质量和污泥中OCs的影响。尽管存在这些缺点，但事实证明，DST在决策中很有用且适应性强。它还可以帮助实现更加透明的效果，