Eco-friendly de-lignified and raw Celosia argentea waste solid biofuel: Comparative studies and machine learning modelling

•This study evaluates the effects of alkali pre-treatment on the fuel properties of bio-briquettes produced from Celosia argentea.•The physicochemical parameters and combustion characteristics of Celosia argentea briquettes samples were accessed before and after delignification.•Eco-friendly nature and the presence of Potential Toxic Elements were evaluated using EDXRF.•Morphological restructuring and bond orientation of the briquette samples were monitored using SEM and FTIR.•Machine leaning models were developed and adopted to evaluate the physical and combustion characteristics of the solid biofuel. This study produced and compared the combustion properties of alkaline treated Celosia argentea (TCAB) and untreated Celosia argentea (UCAB) waste bio-briquettes using starch as binder. Heat energy of TCAB and UCAB were determined. Potential toxic elements, surface modification and bond orientation of briquettes were monitored using EDXRF, SEM and FTIR, respectively. Levenberg-Marquardt Back-Propagation based Artificial Neural Network (LMBP-ANN) and Fuzzy C-means Clustered Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (FCM-ANFIS) models were adopted for the bio-briquettes. Calorific values of 11.38 ± 0.20 MJ/Kg (UCAB) and 12.79 ± 0.25 MJ/Kg (TCAB) at p