Modeling of Removal of Chromium (VI) from Aqueous Solutions Using Artificial Neural Network

There is a need for knowledge, experience, laboratory, materials and time to conduct chemical experiments. The results depend on a process and are also quite costly. For economic and rapid results, chemical processes can be modeled by utilizing data obtained in the past. In this paper, an artificial neural network model is proposed for predicting the removal efficiency of Cr (VI) from aqueous solutions with Amberlite IRA-96 resin, as being independent of chemical processes. Multiple linear regression, linear and quadratic particle swarm optimization are also used to compare prediction success. A total of 34 experimental data were used for training and validation of the model. pH, amount of resin, contact time and concentration were used as input data. The removal efficiency is considered as output data for each model. The statistical methods of root-mean-square error, mean absolute percentage error, variance absolute relative error and the coefficient of determination were used to evaluate the performance of the developed models. The system has been analyzed using feature selection method to assess the influence of input parameters on the sorption efficiency. The most significant factor was found as pH. The obtained results show that the proposed ANN model is more reliable than the other models for estimating the removal efficiency.