ANN-MFO: Optimization of Neural Networks for Lipase Activity Modeling in Biotech Applications

Modeling lipase activity aids researchers in optimizing features such as temperature, pH, and substrate concentration to boost enzyme performance. This is essential in biotechnology for progressing the productivity and yield of processes such as fermentation, biodiesel production, and bioremediation. Fermentation is a highly complex, multivariable, and non-linear biotechnological process that produces bioactive materials. This study leverages artificial neural networks (ANN) to predict lipase activity in batch fermentation processes, addressing the inherent challenges in weight learning optimization often encountered with traditional algorithms like Backpropagation (BP). Several metaheuristic algorithms were employed to optimize the Multilayered Perceptron (MLP) structure and weights, including moth-frequency optimization (MFO), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Dandelion Optimizer Algorithm (DO), Crow Search Algorithm (CSA), and Salp Swarm Algorithm (SSA) to overcome these limitations. Among the tested algorithms, MFO emerged as the most effective approach, achieving superior performance in weight learning with the best fitness value (i.e., mean square error (MSE)) of 0.6006. MFO-optimized ANN models deliver the most accurate predictions for lipase activity, highlighting their potential as a powerful tool for advancing industrial fermentation process optimization.