Rapid development of technologies and production systems is often accompanied
by the increased generation of hazardous or toxic wastes. Among these wastes, waste solutions containing cyanide cause a particularly serious problem, threatening both public health and environment. It appears that the best way to minimize the cyanide-containing wastes is to reduce their production in electroplating plants. Numerous techniques have been developed for this purpose, and much experience has been gained by applying such techniques. A n expert system, MIN-CYANIDE, has been constructed to assist engineers and technicians in the source reduction of cyanide-waste solutions in an electroplating plant by resorting to these techniques and experience, and to train plant operators in the application of the techniques. MIN-CYANIDE evaluates options, such as dragout minimization, bath-life extension, rinse-water reduction, replacement with a non-cyanide solution, use of an alternative plating technique, and improvement of the operating procedure; furthermore, it identifies the most effective among them. The knowledge about the cyanide source reduction is acquired from available publications, represented by numerous fuzzy or nonfuzzy heuristic rules, and codified into a commercial export system shell, Personal Consultant Plus, on an IBM PC/A T compatible computer. MIN-CYANIDE provides a userfriendly interface; in operating it, the user answers various questions concerning the operational situations of the production and/or current equipment and techniques in the plant. In response, MIN-CYANIDE will present instantaneously a series of options for cyanide minimization and eventually rank them.