Automated machine learning-aided prediction and interpretation of gaseous by-products from the hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass.

Journal: The Science of the total environment
PMID:

Abstract

Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is a thermochemical conversion technology that produces bio-oil from wet biomass without drying. However, by-product gases will inevitably be produced, and their formation is unclear. Therefore, an automated machine learning (AutoML) approach, automatically training without human intervention, was used to aid in predicting gaseous production and interpreting the formation mechanisms of four gases (CO, CH, CO, and H). Specifically, four accurate optimal single-target models based on AutoML were developed with elemental compositions and HTL conditions as inputs for four gases. Herein, the gradient boosting machine (GBM) performed excellently with train R ≥ 0.99 and test R ≥ 0.80. Then, the screened GBM algorithm-based ML multi-target models (maximum average test R = 0.89 and RMSE = 0.39) were built to predict four gases simultaneously. Results indicated that biomass carbon, solid content, pressure, and biomass hydrogen were the top four factors for gas production from HTL of biomass. This study proposed an AutoML-aided prediction and interpretation framework, which could provide new insight for rapid prediction and revelation of gaseous compositions from the HTL process.

Authors

  • Weijin Zhang
    School of Energy Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, PR China.
  • Zejian Ai
    School of Energy Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China.
  • Qingyue Chen
    School of Energy Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China.
  • Jiefeng Chen
    School of Energy Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China.
  • Donghai Xu
    Key Laboratory of Thermo-Fluid Science·& Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiao Tong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province 710049, China.
  • Jianbing Cao
    Research Department of Hunan eco-environmental Affairs Center, Changsha 410000, China.
  • Krzysztof Kapusta
    Główny Instytut Górnictwa (Central Mining Tnstitute), Gwarków 1, 40-166 Katowice, Poland.
  • Haoyi Peng
    School of Energy Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China.
  • Lijian Leng
    School of Energy Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China; Xiangjiang Laboratory, Changsha 410205, China. Electronic address: lljchs@126.com.
  • Hailong Li
    College of Energy, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005 People's Republic of China.