Design of alcohol synthesis catalysts assisted by a knowledge-based expert system

Abstract

A new knowledge-based, expert system approach is presented for the design of a family of heterogeneous catalysts for alcohol synthesis. The knowledge base for solving this problem is a hybrid consisting of numerical data, declarative facts, and heuristic rules. An example for a specific case is constructed on the basis of compositional and kinetic data for mixed metal oxide catalysts used to reduce carbon monoxide with hydrogen to alcohols