A Natural Language Approach for the Design of Batch Operating Procedures

A computer-aided environment for the synthesis of processing schemes for the production of pharmaceuticals is presented. Human developers are guided through the innovative development process through a hierarchy of decision-levels following the principle of hierarchical decomposition. Progress of the development is organized through a knowledge-based model of process chemicals and their transformations involving quantitative and qualitative knowledge. Process chemists can directly implement their processing ideas by using a "natural" language used for the description of lab recipes. The computer-aided environment maintains consistency with first principles, offers assistance for crucial design decisions and solves autonomously specific sub-problems. The presented methodology demonstrates an example for the successful man-computer interaction in the innovative task of process synthesis.