Activated biochar production from young coconut waste (Cocos nucifera) as bioadsorbent: a pathway through Artificial Neural Network (ANN) optimization

This pioneering work explores the immense potential of young coconut waste, a continuously marginalized residue of the food and beverage industry, to serve as an indispensable feedstock in the production of biochar. Through an examination of the key carbonization factors that include time, temperature, and concentrations of the activating agent, KOH, the outcomes offer relevant insights that could be leveraged to maximize biochar production for tailored applications. This study stands out for its innovative use of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) approaches for predictive modeling. Fifty datasets, supplemented with secondary data obtained from the literature and experiments, were utilized for the purposes of training, testing, and validating the neural network model. Here, the datasets were processed utilizing the Deep Neural Network (DNN) framework, which was designed and implemented with the minimal loss function framework feasible. The architectural configuration comprises the following; an input layer, four hidden layers (128-neuron dense layer, batch normalization, and 64-neuron dense layer, batch normalization), a dropout layer, and an output layer. With an R² of 0.8238 for biochar yield and 0.7324 for iodine number, the trained DNN model showed a relatively high degree of accuracy in making predictions.