Quantum machine learning regression optimisation for full-scale sewage sludge anaerobic digestion
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Published version
Author(s)
Mohamed, Yomna
Elghadban, Ahmed
Lei, Hei I
Shih, Amelie Andrea
Lee, Po-Heng
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a crucial bioenergy source widely applied in wastewater treatment. However, its efficiency improvement is hindered by complex microbial communities and sensitivity to feedstock properties. We, thus, propose a hybrid quantum-classical machine learning (Q-CML) regression algorithm using a quantum circuit learning (QCL) strategy. Combining a variational quantum circuit with a classical optimiser, this approach predicts biogas production from operational data of 18 full-scale mesophilic AD sites in the UK. Tailored for noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices, the low-depth QCL model outperforms conventional regression methods (R²: 0.53) and matches the performance of a classical multi-layer perceptron (MLP) regressor (R²: 0.959) with significantly fewer parameters and better scalability. Comparative analysis highlights the advantages of quantum superposition and entanglement in capturing intricate correlations in AD data. This study positions Q-CML as a cutting-edge solution for optimising AD processes, boosting energy recovery, and driving the circular economy.
Date Issued
2025-03-05
Date Acceptance
2025-01-25
Citation
npj Clean Water, 2025, 8
ISSN
2059-7037
Publisher
Nature Portfolio
Journal / Book Title
npj Clean Water
Volume
8
Copyright Statement
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
10.1038/s41545-025-00440-y
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 17