Pii: S0022-1694(99)00016-5

A method based on fuzzy set theory is presented to incorporate imprecise thermodynamic parameters into chemical equilibrium calculations of aqueous systems. Imprecision may arise from uncertainties in experimental parameter determination as well as from inconsistency of available data in the literature. Fuzzy numbers with different shapes of membership functions are used to express imprecision in a non-probabilistic sense. A solution algorithm for a system of nonlinear algebraic equations calculating the chemical equilibrium composition is combined with level set operations to solve the fuzzy chemical equlibrium problem. The method results in multiple minimizing/maximizing procedures from which the membership functions of equilibrium species concentrations are determined. An application of the proposed method to an aqueous cadmium-sulfide system illustrates the acquisition of membership functions for the thermodynamic constants out of given information. Stochastic information on measurement data are appropriately transformed into fuzzy numbers to allow for the combined calculation of different kinds of uncertainty. The results of four calculation scenarios show their strong impact on the resulting membership functions of chemical equilibrium composition and are discussed in the context of data evaluation and decision making in geochemistry. q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.