A REVITALIZATION OF CHEMICAL-ENGINEERING KNOWLEDGE WITH FUZZY CALCULUS

Realistic conventional chemical engineering data (usually in the form of tables, simple correlations, graphs) are partially inconsistent and sparse. The revitalization involves application of methods of knowled ge engineering and integration of specific and rather isolated informa tion items based on systematic identification of all inconsistencies, and formalizing and consequently incorporating such information which is too vague for conventional formal tools. Any revitalization is a hi ghly subjective and ad hoc process. The objectivity of the revitalizat ion can be increased by revitalization algorithms. One of these, discr iminative power evaluation, is described. The discriminative power qua ntifies the ability of the information to return distinguishably diffe rent answers to similar queries. A case study (a 13-dimensional decisi on-making problem, solid-liquid separation) is presented in detail.