Modeling Pb (II) adsorption from aqueous solution by ostrich bone ash using adaptive neural-based fuzzy inference...

To evaluate the performance of Adaptive Neural-Based Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) model in estimating the efficiency of Pb (II) ions removal from aqueous solution by ostrich bone ash, a batch experiment was conducted. Five operational parameters including adsorbent dosage (C(s)), initial concentration of Pb (II) ions (C(o)), initial pH, temperature (T) and contact time (t) were taken as the input data and the adsorption efficiency (AE) of bone ash as the output. Based on the 31 different structures, 5 ANFIS models were tested against the measured adsorption efficiency to assess the accuracy of each model. The results showed that ANFIS5, which used all input parameters, was the most accurate (RMSE = 2.65 and R(2) = 0.95) and ANFIS1, which used only the contact time input, was the worst (RMSE = 14.56 and R(2) = 0.46). In ranking the models, ANFIS4, ANFIS3 and ANFIS2 ranked second, third and fourth, respectively. The sensitivity analysis revealed that the estimated AE is more sensitive to the contact time, followed by pH, initial concentration of Pb (II) ions, adsorbent dosage, and temperature. The results showed that all ANFIS models overestimated the AE. In general, this study confirmed the capabilities of ANFIS model as an effective tool for estimation of AE.