Journal of Energy Chemistry ›› 2023, Vol. 81 ›› Issue (6): 42-63.DOI: 10.1016/j.jechem.2023.02.020

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State-of-the-art and future directions of machine learning for biomass characterization and for sustainable biorefinery

Aditya Velidandia, Pradeep Kumar Gandama, Madhavi Latha Chintab, Srilekha Konakanchic, Anji reddy Bhavanamd, Rama Raju Baadhea, Minaxi Sharmae,f,*, James Gaffeyg, Quang D. Nguyenh, Vijai Kumar Guptai,j,*   

  1. aIntegrated Biorefinery Research Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, National Institute of Technology, Warangal, Telangana 506004, India;
    bStem cell research laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, National Institute of Technology, Warangal, Telangana 506004, India;
    cDepartment of Biotechnology, Chaitanya University (Deemed to be University), Warangal, Telangana 506001, India;
    dDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology Jalandhar, Punjab 144027, India;
    eHaute Ecole Provinciale de Hainaut- Condorcet, 7800 ATH, Belgium;
    fDepartment of Applied Biology, University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya 793101, India;
    gCircular Bioeconomy Research Group, Shannon Applied Biotechnology Centre, Munster Technological University, Kerry, Ireland;
    hDepartment of Bioengineering and Alcoholic Drink Technology, Institute of Food Science and Technology, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, H-1118 Budapest, $\acute{M} $enesi út 45, Hungary;
    iBiorefining and Advanced Materials Research Center, SRUC, Kings Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG, UK;
    jDepartment of Biotechnology, Graphic Era Deemed to be University, Dehradun 248002, Uttarakhand, India
  • Received:2022-12-24 Revised:2023-02-07 Accepted:2023-02-08 Online:2023-06-15 Published:2023-06-13
  • Contact: * E-mail addresses: rrb@nitw.ac.in (R. Raju Baadhe), m.sharma@carah.be, minaxi86sharma@gmail.com (M. Sharma), vijai.gupta@sruc.ac.uk, vijaifzd@gmail.com(V.K. Gupta).
  • About author:Aditya Velidandi received his Ph.D degree Integrated biorefinery research laboratory in the Department of Biotechnology of National Institute of Technology, Warangal, India (NIT-W). He received his B.E degree in Biotechnology in 2009 from Viayaka Missions University, Salem, India, and M.Tech. degree in Biotechnolgy in 2011 from GITAM Institute of Technology, Visakhapatnam, India. His doctoral research focused on “In vitro biological and catalytic applications of nanoparticles synthesized from aqueous Annona muricata leaf extract”. His current research interests include biofuels, biomaterials and nanoscience.
    Pradeep Kumar Gandam received his M.Sc. degree in Biochemistry in 2002 from the Osmania University, Hyderabad, India and M.Tech. degree in Biotechnolgy in 2008 from the Jawaharlala Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad, India. Currently he is a PhD candidate in the Integrated biorefinery research laboratory in the Department of Biotechnology of National Institute of Technology, Warangal, India (NIT-W). His doctoral research is focused on biomass valorization for second-generation biofuels and other platform chemicals and value-added products. His current research is concerned with the optimization of biochemical approaches to achieve a sustainable corncob (Zea mays) biorefinery.
    Madhavi Latha Chinta received M.Sc degree in Biochemistry in 2002, from Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. Currently she is a PhD candidate in the Stem Cell Research Laboratory at the Department of Biotechnology at National Institute of Technology, Warangal (NIT-W). Her doctoral research is focused on studying biomaterials suitable for the tissue engineering of cartilage. Her work involves preparation and study of scaffolds from various biomaterials. She also received M.Tech degree in Biotechnology from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad, India.
    Srilekha Konakanchi received her M.Sc Degree in Biotechnology in 2019, from Chaitanya University (Deemed to be University), Warangal, Currently she is a Ph.D candidate in Department of Biotechnology at from Chaitanya University (Deemed to be University), Warangal. Her doctorial research focused on Diarylheptanoids isolated from stem bark Garuga pinnata Rox B. During her M.Sc. Internship at Integrated biorefinery research laboratory, National Institute of Technology, Warangal, India (NIT-W) she worked on biomass characterization biomass pretreatment for value added biochemicals and biofuels production.
    Anjireddy Bhavanam received his Ph.D in Chemical Engineering from NIT Warangal in 2015 and is currently working as Assistant Professor in Chemical Engineering department at Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology Jalandhar, Punjab. Prior to joining NIT Jalandhar in 2018, he was a National Postdoctoral Fellow in the department of Chemical Engineering at IIT Guwahati, where he was involved in a DST-SERB NPDF project on Potential reaction pathways and kinetics of catalytic co-pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass and waste plastics in producing value added products. At NIT Jalandhar, his research focuses on thermochemical conversion of a variety of feedstocks such as biomass, waste plastics, refuse derived fuels (RDF), municipal solid wastes (MSW) and Lignin to liquid fuels, chemicals and materials. His other area of research includes Complex Reaction Kinetics of Biomass Conversion processes, Composite Materials and Corrosion. He has published 10 research articles in various reputed journals like Bioresource Technology, Renewable Energy, and Fuel etc. He has edited one book and authored six book chapters. He also has more than 20 conference papers. He is a Reviewer of various journals like Waste Management & Research, Bioresource Technology, Energy Conversion and Management, ACS Omega and Journal of Industrial Textiles etc. He is a life member of The Biotech Research Society, India.
    Rama Raju Baadhe received his Ph.D. degrees in Biotechnology (NIT-W) in 2014. Currently he is working as an Associate Professor and leading the Integrated Biorefinery Research group at Department of Biotechnology, National Institute of Technology, Warangal (NIT-W). He is an associate fellow of Telangana Academy of Science, Telangana, India and has been honoured with various awards, including the Young Scientist award from Telangana Academy of Sciences (2016), Scientific Planet Society (2015), K V Rao Scientific Society Hyderabad (2013). He also received Early Career Research Grant and international travel grant from DST-SERB, India. His research is focused on the development of biorefinery for the production biochemical, biofuels and biomaterials. His expertise includes Biomass conversions (improved productions of sugars); Metagenomics for the mining of novel enzymes; Microbial engineering for the synthesis of fuels, chemicals and metabolites; Biomaterials synthesis, characterization and evaluation for biomedical applications. He has published more than 32 research articles in peer-reviewed international journals and has authored 10 book chapters and edited one book. He is serving as an editorial member of Biomaterials within the journal Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. He is a Reviewer of various journals like Biomass conversion and bioenergy, Fuel, 3 biotech, Bioresource Technology, Journal of cleaner production, International Journal of Biological macro molecules etc.
    Minaxi Sharma received her doctorate degree in Dairy Chemistry in 2015 from National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal (India) and is currently working as Senior Researcher, at HEPH-Condorcet (Belgium). Her research is focused on the processing technologies to produce functional proteins from plant sources; development of vegan-based functional and smart foods, development of advanced technologies of encapsulation, and ensuring stability of these ingredients during manufacturing etc. Before joining Condorcet-Belgium, she worked as ERA Chair VALORTECH-Senior Research Fellow at Estonian University of Life Sciences (EMU), Tartu, Estonia. She also worked as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Food Technology, Akal College of Agriculture, Eternal University, Baru Sahib (Himachal Pradesh), India. She has 11+ years of extensive teaching and research experience in the area of: applications of antimicrobial nanoencapsulation of plant essential oils in dairy foods for the enhancement of shelf life, probiotic-Indian dairy products, development of functional foods using micro/nano-colloidal delivery systems of plant bioactive components, utilization of food waste for bioactive natural pigments and other ingredients, and the development of plant-based (vegan) functional foods. Dr. Sharma has been awarded ‘Young Scientist Award' of Society for Bioinformatics and Biological Sciences (SBBS), India (2020). She is also a member of the Society for Bioinformatics and Biological Sciences (SBBS), and International Bioprocessing Association (IBA). In her credit 82 publications in different reputed international, national journals and publishers. She is a well-recognized researcher and has Web of Science Researcher ID: L-9405-2019; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6493-5217 , with h-index: 18, citations: 1396.
    James Gaffey is Co-Director of the Circular Bioeconomy Research Group (CircBio) at Munster Technology University. James is Principal Investigator on over 10 EU and nationally-funded circular bioeconomy research projects. He has secured over €25 million in total project funding focused on biorefineries and bio-based economy in recent years and co-supervises a team of approx 20 researchers in the domain. He is a member of the Government-appointed Expert Advisory Group to Ireland's National Bioeconomy Forum, and was part of the Expert Panel for the Impact Assessment of Circular Biobased Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU). He is part of the core programme development team on the MSc programme in Bioeconomy, and academic researcher in BiOrbic Bioeconomy Research Centre. He has almost 15 years' experience in biorefinery developments, working first in industry and academia.
    Quang D. Nguyen received his PhD in 2003 from Szent István University (Hungary) in the field of Food Biotechnology and is currently a full professor of food science and engineering at the Institute of Food Science and Technology, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences. His research mainly focuses on applied biotechnology such as biocatalysts and their application in food and feed, renewable energy, biorefinery, development of fermentation technology, utilisation of biomass, development of sustainable production systems especially for foods, feeds and bioproducts. He is a key person in many national and international thematic projects related to fields of biotechnology (agricultural, food and environmental biotechnology), development of food products and nutrition, development of bioenergy, value-added bioproducts from wastes, waste management. Recently, he is a member of Hungarian Platform for Circular Economy as well as member of Hungarian Society of Applied Biotechnology. Also, he is the director of Bioengineering BSc education program at the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Quang D. Nguyen has 97 peer-reviewed publications, 7 book chapters and 2 books in his hands with total citations of more than 2000. Also, he is the editor of Acta Alimentaria, Fungal Biology and Biotechnology, Research and Innovation in Food Science and Technology, as well as Guest Editor of some special issues in Bioresource Technology, Foods, etc.
    Vijai Kumar Gupta received his PhD in Microbiology in the year 2009 from Dr RML Avadh University, India. Currently, he is working as Senior Fellow and Group Leader at Centre for Safe and Improved Foods & Biorefining and Advanced Materials Research Centre, SRUC, Edinburgh, UK. Dr Gupta is an expert in Biomass Valorisation, Microbial Engineering Biotechnologies, Enzyme and Bioprocessing Technologies, Bioactive Natural Products, and Functional Microbiome. He is the Membership Secretary of the European Mycological Association and Visiting Professor at SCBG-China; MATE -Hungary; USTM-India; GEDU-India. Dr Gupta is the Fellow of- Linnaean Society-UK; Mycological Society of India; Indian Mycological Association; Academy of Microbiological Sciences India; National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, India; and Associate Fellow of National Academy of Biological Sciences India. He has received many awards including Global Education Award-2013 from CCLP Worldwide; Distinguished Professorship-2017 of IFST-CAAS China; and Dr Christopher Augur Award-2018, Mexico. He has 261 peer-reviewed publications, 48 book chapters and 42 books in his hands. The overall focus of his research is on developing bioprocess technologies to valorise available bioresources for the production of value-added biochemicals, bioproducts, and fuels and their potential to address the key challenges in agri-food-pharma-environment importance.

Abstract: Machine learning (ML) has emerged as a significant tool in the field of biorefinery, offering the capability to analyze and predict complex processes with efficiency. This article reviews the current state of biorefinery and its classification, highlighting various commercially successful biorefineries. Further, we delve into different categories of ML models, including their algorithms and applications in various stages of biorefinery lifecycle, such as biomass characterization, pretreatment, lignin valorization, chemical, thermochemical and biochemical conversion processes, supply chain analysis, and life cycle assessment. The benefits and limitations of each of these algorithms are discussed in detail. Finally, the article concludes with a discussion of the limitations and future prospects of ML in the field of biorefineries.

Key words: Biofuel, Biomass characterization, Biorefinery, Life cycle assessment, Machine learning, Pretreatment