DEVELOPMENT OF A FULLY AUTOMATED OPEN VESSEL FOCUSED MICROWAVE DIGESTION SYSTEM

This work deals with the application of an expert system to the automa tion of open vessel focused microwave digestion. This requires the def inition of precise guidelines which are stored in a data base as the k nowledge base of the system. Such guidelines were derived from statist ical analysis of 800 tested procedures. This analysis was carried out according to several criteria: selection of reagents, reagent volume, digestion time, average power, and analytical method. At the same time , the digestion programs were better related to the nature of the samp le matrix using an empirical modelling approach. As a starting point o f this expert system, a preliminary study was performed using Kjeldahl nitrogen determination in food samples to define reference digestion procedures. Using this chemical experience and these reference procedu res, rules are written to constitute the knowledge base of the expert system.