International Journal of Engineering
Trends and Technology

Research Article | Open Access | Download PDF
Volume 74 | Issue 9 | Year 2026 | Article Id. IJETT-V74I9P121 | DOI : https://doi.org/10.14445/22315381/IJETT-V74I9P121

Environmental Pollution Management through Air Quality Prediction- A Deep Learning Based Approach


Vetri Selvi R, Sathish Babu R

Received Revised Accepted Published
10 Feb 2026 25 Jul 2026 07 Aug 2026 30 Sep 2026

Citation :

Vetri Selvi R, Sathish Babu R, "Environmental Pollution Management through Air Quality Prediction- A Deep Learning Based Approach," International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT), vol. 74, no. 9, pp. 285-303, 2026. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/22315381/IJETT-V74I9P121

Abstract

‘Good health and well-being’ is the third Sustainable Development Goal formulated by the United Nations. Air pollution is one of the major issues that affects the good health of people across the globe. The quality of air we as ‘humans’ breathe is vital for leading a quality and healthy life. This research attempts to demonstrate the application of deep learning models in the prediction of the air quality index of select Indian cities. This research makes use of the techniques Random Forest, XGBoost, and LightGBM. It has also developed an advanced Deep Learning model for the prediction of the Air Quality Index. The developed models have been tested against a dataset on the air quality of multiple Indian cities. The performance evaluation revealed that the advanced deep learning model with additional layers has rendered better performance than the traditional model Random Forest, XGBoost and LightGBM. The research also gives insights into how deep learning models could be implemented on a real-time basis across all cities in India in order to prevent environmental pollution and ensure sustainable living of human beings on earth.

Keywords

Air Quality Index, Deep learning, Environmental Pollution, Indian Cities, SDG.

References

[1] Raymond Shakespeare, and Sowmya Uttham, Environmental Pollution and its Types, African Journal of Water Conservation and Sustainability, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 1-2, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.internationalscholarsjournals.com/articles/environmental-pollution-and-its-types.pdf

[2] Shabiha Hossain, Amit Hasan Anik, and Mahbub Alam, “Radioactivity and its Possible Impact on Environment and Human Health: A Review,” International Research Journal of Environmental Sciences, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 24-34, 2021.
[
Publisher Link]

[3] Walihabib Hemmat, Atiq Mohammad Hesam, and Hamza Atifnigar, “Exploring Noise Pollution, Causes, Effects, and Mitigation Strategies: A Review Paper,” European Journal of Theoretical and Applied Sciences, vol. 1, no. 5, pp. 995-1005, 2023.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[4] Franklin Akwasi Adjei, and Augustine Afriyie, “Air Pollution as a Global Health Risk: Emerging Evidence, Interventions and Policy Insights,” World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 1925-1940, 2025.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[5] Satsita Khasanova, Elina Alieva, and Aishat Shemilkhanova, “Environmental Pollution: Types, Causes and Consequences,” BIO Web Conferences, vol. 63, pp. 1-7, 2023.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[6] Sumit Kumar Mavi, “Analyzing Air Pollution in India: Causes, Impacts, Government Policies and Challenges,” International Journal of Geography, Geology and Environment, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 254-259, 2022.
[
Publisher Link]

[7]Pratik D. Sengani, and Gaurav Agarwal, Air Pollution its Source and Effects on the Environment: Present Scenario in India-A Review, International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 550-562, 2024. [Online], Available: https://ijrar.org/papers/IJRAR24A3260.pdf

[8] Kiera Jefferson, Air Pollution's History in India: A Troubled Past, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://shunwaste.com/article/when-did-air-pollution-start-in-india

[9] Bridget M. Kuehn, “WHO: More than 7 Million Air Pollution Deaths Each Year,” JAMA, vol. 311, no. 15, 2014.
[
Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[10] Sarath K. Guttikunda, Rahul Goel, and Pallavi Pant, “Nature of Air Pollution, Emission Sources, and Management in the Indian Cities,” Atmospheric Environment, vol. 95, pp. 501-510, 2014.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[11] WAQR, Worldwide Air Quality Report 2024, Global Air Quality Trend in 2024 by Highlighting the Continents, Countries and Cities in the World with the Highest AQI Levels, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.aqi.in/assets/files/world-air-quality-report-2024-by-aqi.in.pdf

[12] Ruchita Nehete, and D.D. Patil, “Air Quality Prediction using Machine Learning Algorithms,” International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts, vol. 9, no. 6, pp. 365-368, 2021.
[
Publisher Link]

[13] Binzhe Zhang et al., “Air Quality Index Prediction in Six Major Chinese Urban Agglomerations: A Comparative Study of Single Machine Learning Model, Ensemble Model, and Hybrid Model,” Atmosphere, vol. 14, no. 10, pp. 1-22, 2023.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[14] Anuradha Yenkikar et al., “Explainable Forecasting of Air Quality Index using a Hybrid Random Forest and ARIMA Model,” MethodsX, vol 15, pp. 1-18, 2025.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[15] Suprateek Halsana, “Air Quality Prediction Model using Supervised Machine Learning Algorithms,” International Journal of Scientific Research in Computer Science, Engineering and Information Technology, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 190-201, 2020.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

[16] Zuhra Sadriddin, Remudin Reshid Mekuria, and Mekia Shigute Gaso, “Machine Learning Models for Advanced Air Quality Prediction,” Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer Systems and Technologies, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, United States, pp. 51-56, 2024.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[17] Zulfani Alfasanah et al., “Monitoring Air Quality Index with EWMA and Individual Charts using Xgboost and SVR Residuals,” MethodsX, vol. 14, pp. 1-21, 2025.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[18] Feng Chen, Lei Wang, and Hongyu Deng, “A Novel Combined Model for Air Quality Index Forecasting in Changchun,” Atmosphere, vol. 14, no. 10, pp. 1-20, 2023.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[19] Thomas M.T. Lei, Stanley C.W. Ng, and Shirley W.I. Siu, “Application of ANN, XGBoost, and other ML Methods to Forecast Air Quality in Macau,” Sustainability, vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 1-17, 2023.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[20] Qian Liu, Bingyan Cui, and Zhen Liu, “Air Quality Class Prediction using Machine Learning Methods based on Monitoring Data and Secondary Modeling,” Atmosphere, vol. 15, no. 5, pp. 1-23, 2024.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[21] Xuehu Liu et al., “PM2.5 Concentration Prediction based on LightGBM Optimized by Adaptive Multi-Strategy Enhanced Sparrow Search Algorithm,” Atmosphere, vol. 14, no. 11, pp. 1-24, 2023.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[22] Xiaowen Zhang, Xuchu Jiang, and Ying Li, “Prediction of Air Quality Index based on the SSA-Bilstm-Lightgbm Model,” Scientific Reports, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 1-14, 2023.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[23] Narayani Sunil Pillai et al., “Air Quality Prediction System using LightGBM,” International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology, vol. 7, no. 7, pp. 3861-3866, 2020.
[
Publisher Link]

[24] Lakindu Mampitiya et al., “Machine Learning Techniques to Predict the Air Quality using Meteorological Data in Two Urban Areas in Sri Lanka,” Environments, vol. 10, no. 8, pp. 1-18, 2023.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[25] Raey Faldo et al., “APD-BayNet: Jakarta Air Quality Index Prediction using Bayesian Optimized Tabnet,” IEEE Access, vol. 13, pp. 57734-57752, 2025.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[26] Anıl Utku, “Hybrid CNN-LSTM Model for Air Quality Prediction: A Case Study for Gurugram,” Journal of Soft Computing and Artificial Intelligence, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 33-40, 2024.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[27] Anurag Barthwal, and Amit Kumar Goel, “Advancing Air Quality Prediction Models in Urban India: A Deep Learning Approach Integrating DCNN and LSTM Architectures for AQI Time-Series Classification,” Modeling Earth Systems and Environment, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 2935-2955, 2024.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[28] T. Sreenivasulu, and G. Mokesh Rayalu, “Accurate Hourly AQI Prediction using Temporal CNN-LSTM-MHA+GRU: A Case Study of Seasonal Variations and Pollution Extremes in Visakhapatnam, India,” Results in Engineering, vol. 27, pp. 1-22, 2025.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[29] Ekata Mohapatra, Mira Das, and Smita Rath, “Deep Learning-based AQI Forecasting: A CNN-LSTM Model with Visual Insights from SHAP-LIME and PDP,” Discover Applied Sciences, vol. 7, no. 11, pp. 1-31, 2025.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[30] Vopani, Air Quality Data in India (2015-2020): Air Quality Index (AQI) and Hourly Data Across Stations and Cities in India, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/rohanrao/air-quality-data-in-india/data

[31] Seth A. Horn, and Purnendu K. Dasgupta, “The Air Quality Index (AQI) in Historical and Analytical Perspective a Tutorial Review,” Talanta, vol. 267, pp. 1-15, 2024.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[32] Nenny Anggraini et al., “A Comparative Analysis of Random Forest, XGboost, and LightGBM Algorithms for Emotion Classification in Reddit Comments,” Journal of Informatics Engineering, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 88-97, 2024.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[33] Jingyang Wang et al., “An Air Quality Index Prediction Model based on CNN-ILSTM,” Scientific Reports, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 1-16, 2022.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[34] Zicheng Guo et al., “Air Quality PM2.5 Index Prediction Model based on CNN-LSTM,” arXiv preprint arXiv, pp. 1-7, 2025.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link] 

[35] Zhuoran Sun, Qing Zhang, and Guici Chen, “Air Quality Index Prediction based on Transformer Encoder-CNN-BiLSTM Model,” Atmosphere, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 1-15, 2026.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[36] Jie Dong, Yaoli Zhang, and Jiang Hu, “Short-Term Air Quality Prediction based on EMD-Transformer-Bilstm,” Scientific Reports, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 1-17, 2024.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[37] Yue Hu, Yitong Ding, and Wenjing Jiang, “Geographically Aware Air Quality Prediction through CNN-LSTM-KAN Hybrid Modeling with Climatic and Topographic Differentiation,” Atmosphere, vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 1-22, 2025.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[38] Shorouq Al-Eidi et al., “Comparative Analysis Study for Air Quality Prediction in Smart Cities using Regression Techniques,” IEEE Access, vol. 11, pp. 115140-115149, 2023.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[39] Routhu Srinivasa Rao et al., “Multimodal Imputation-based Multimodal Autoencoder Framework for AQI Classification and Prediction of Indian Cities,” IEEE Access, vol. 12, pp. 108350-108363, 2024.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[40] Wenchao Huang et al., “Research on Air Quality Prediction based on Improved Long Short-Term Memory Network Algorithm,” PeerJ Computer Science, vol. 8, pp. 1-16, 2022.
[
CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]