Machine learning assisted predicting and engineering specific surface area and total pore volume of biochar

Biochar produced from pyrolysis of biomass is a platform porous carbon material that have been widely used in many areas. Specific surface area (SSA) and total pore volume (TPV) are decisive to biochar application in hydrogen uptake, CO2 adsorption, and organic pollutant removal, etc. Engineering biochar by traditional experimental methods is time-consuming and laborious. Machine learning (ML) was used to effectively aid the prediction and engineering of biochar properties. The prediction of biochar yield, SSA, and TPV was achieved via random forest (RF) and gradient boosting regression (GBR) with test R2 of 0.89-0.94. ML model interpretation indicates pyrolysis temperature, biomass ash, and volatile matter were the most important features to the three targets. Pyrolysis parameters and biomass mixing ratios for biochar production were optimized via three-target GBR model, and the optimum schemes to obtain high SSA and TPV were experimentally verified, indicating the great potential of ML for biochar engineering.