10.2190/P9W5-325X-CDDE-XJ50 P9W5325XCDDEXJ50 39 SOLVENT AND PAINT WASTE REDUCTION WITH AN EXPERT SYSTEM FOR INDUSTRIAL WASTE MINIMIZATION 39 53 20030122 20030122 20030122 20030122 P9W5325XCDDEXJ50.pdf http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=P9W5325XCDDEXJ50 1 B. GOPALAKRISHNAN R. W. PLUMMER R. KULKARNI P. MANGALAMPALLI West Virginia University, Morgantown In today's rapidly developing and competitive industrial world, generation of product and process waste has become inevitable. These waste products, be they hazardous or non-hazardous, if improperly dealt with, can threaten both public health and the environment. The application of knowledge-based software systems to waste minimization and waste management in industries seems logical. The expertise gained from Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) research [1] funded by the USDOE Office of Industrial Technologies has led to the development of WASTEX [2, 3], an expert system for industrial waste management and minimization, specifically designed for use by plant managers. This article describes the use of WASTEX for minimizing industrial solvent and paint waste streams. The methodology used in designing the solvent and paint waste minimization modules is described. The execution of WASTEX in this regard is explained in terms of data input and output, with details on economic evaluation. K. N. Lankalapalli, FOREX: An Expert System for Forest Stand Management, master's thesis, Department of Industrial Engineering, West Virginia University, 1993. E. Turban, Expert Systems and Applied Artificial Intelligence, Macmillan, New York, 1992. P. Klahr and A. Waterman, Expert Systems--Techniques, Tools, and Applications, Addison Wesley, Boston, Massachusetts, 1986. L. Bielawski and R. Lewand, Expert Systems Development: Building PC-Based Applications, QED Information Sciences Inc., Wellesley, Massachusetts, 1988. D. G. Dologite, Developing Knowledge Based Systems Using VP-Expert, Maxwell Macmillan International, New York, 1993. S. V. Nagarajan, Design and Development of Expert Systems for Energy Conservation in Manufacturing Industries, master's thesis, Department of Industrial Engineering, West Virginia University, 1995. T. Gupta and B. K. Ghosh, A Survey of Expert Systems in Manufacturing Process Planning, Journal Computer in Industry, 11, pp. 195-204, 1988. S. Mills, M. M. Tanik, C. Erbas, and Y. Hurmuzlu, Selection of Expert System Development Tools for Engineering Applications, Journal of Energy Resources Technology, Transactions of ASME, 114, March 1992. T. E. Higgins, Pollution Prevention Handbook, Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, 1995. C. W. Walton, A. C. Hiller, and G. L. Poppe, Process Options for Waste Minimization and Metal Recovery for the Metal Finishing Industries, The Environmental Challenge of the 1990s, proceedings of the International Conference on Pollution Prevention, Clean Technologies and Clean Products, June 1990. E. Jones, The DBASE Language Reference, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1990. R. J. Avendt, Waste Minimization--Approaches and Techniques, proceedings of the International Conference on Pollution Prevention: Clean Technologies and Clean Products, Washington, D.C., 1990. M. H. Bunnell, HVLP: Types, Advantages, Disadvantages, ROI, Report from Can-Am Engineered Products, Livonia, Michigan, 1997. C. Miller, Waste Product Profile: Magazines and Catalogs, Waste Age, 27, pp. 125-126, September 1996. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Report to Congress--Disposal of Hazardous Wastes, Environmental Protection Publication in the Solid Waste Management Series, Washington, D.C., 1974. B. Sawyer, VP-Expert, Rule-Based Expert System Development Tool, Paperback Software International, Orinda, California, 1989. V. Wang and A. N. Merchant, Metal Cleaning Alternatives for the 1990s, Journal of Metal Finishing, April 1993. D. Hughes, Conventional Spraying vs HVLP, Fine Woodworking, Taunton Press, Newtown, Connecticut, 1994. Industrial Assessment Center Reports, West Virginia University Industrial Assessment Center, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Industrial Technologies, 2000. P. Mangalampalli, A Computer Based Approach to Industrial Waste Minimization, master's thesis, West Virginia University, 1997. R. Kulkarni, WASTEX: An Expert System for Waste Minimization, master's thesis, Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering, West Virginia University, 1997. N. J. Sell, Industrial Pollution Control: Issues and Concepts, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1992.