Expert System Development (Hazardous Waste)
Client Problem
Our client, a small engineering consulting and design firm, was retained by a major industrial and hazardous waste disposal firm to develop a knowledge-based or expert system for hazardous waste treatment selection. The end customer desired a system that could be used by both engineers and its sales force to provide a preliminary treatment methodology given a set of parameters that would characterize the waste stream.
What We Did
For this project, we teamed with our client’s engineers to perform a technology assessment of the principal hazardous waste treatment approaches and their efficacy for treating various types of waste. From this information, we developed the knowledge base that was then codified into the rules which formed the brain of the system. We teamed with our client to perform the technology assessments and the system development and testing, providing expertise in both technology assessment and expert system development methodologies. The knowledge incorporated into the system was obtained from interviews with experts, published sources, and EPA regulations.
Results
The deliverable on this project was a knowledge-based software system that enabled the end user to enter a set of hazardous waste parameters (the waste characterization) to determine the most viable options for treating that waste. In the process of evaluating the various technologies entered into the system, we developed a waste characterization profile comprised of thirteen parameters that could be used to determine how amenable a waste stream would be to treatment by various technologies. The system, which consisted of more than 500 rules, ran on laptop or desktop personal computers and was provided to both the sales force and engineers for conducting preliminary assessments of their customers’ waste streams.
Our client, a small engineering consulting and design firm, was retained by a major industrial and hazardous waste disposal firm to develop a knowledge-based or expert system for hazardous waste treatment selection. The end customer desired a system that could be used by both engineers and its sales force to provide a preliminary treatment methodology given a set of parameters that would characterize the waste stream.
What We Did
For this project, we teamed with our client’s engineers to perform a technology assessment of the principal hazardous waste treatment approaches and their efficacy for treating various types of waste. From this information, we developed the knowledge base that was then codified into the rules which formed the brain of the system. We teamed with our client to perform the technology assessments and the system development and testing, providing expertise in both technology assessment and expert system development methodologies. The knowledge incorporated into the system was obtained from interviews with experts, published sources, and EPA regulations.
Results
The deliverable on this project was a knowledge-based software system that enabled the end user to enter a set of hazardous waste parameters (the waste characterization) to determine the most viable options for treating that waste. In the process of evaluating the various technologies entered into the system, we developed a waste characterization profile comprised of thirteen parameters that could be used to determine how amenable a waste stream would be to treatment by various technologies. The system, which consisted of more than 500 rules, ran on laptop or desktop personal computers and was provided to both the sales force and engineers for conducting preliminary assessments of their customers’ waste streams.