A new project led by researchers at Lehigh University is developing a technology combining AI and spectroscopy, to analyze municipal solid waste in-situ and in real-time – a cost- and time-effective approach that they say could pave the way to increased waste-to-bioenergy production, writes Envirotec Magazine.
The research is featured in the article, "Award for using AI and spectroscopy to increase waste-to-energy production."
The team will work on streamlining one of the most complex aspects of the waste-to-bioenergy process: analysis of the material. The project will bring together two types of leading-edge spectroscopy, Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) and Raman Spectroscopy, in combination with artificial intelligence (AI).
"There are standardized procedures for how a representative sample is arrived at and analyzed," says Carlos Romero, director of the Energy Research Center. "The team's innovative LIBS-Raman Spectroscopy, combined with AI, has the potential to significantly improve the accuracy of the analysis as well as the speed at which it occurs, while facilitating the incorporation of this information into the bioenergy reactor process control."
The full article can be read on the Envirotec Magazine website.