Bioreactor Scaling Enhances Feedback Control of Concentration, Rates, and Yields

Abstract

Fermentation processes are biologically complex, multiple input, multiple-output systems, and as such, selection of an adequate control strategy is often an elaborate task. The process and disturbance dynamics are easily oversimplified, and the controller design in such cases seldom yield adequate performance. In the present study, we developed a non-structured, dimensionless model of microbial fermentation production. Analysis and simulations show that scaling of a bioreactor model facilitates parameter estimation, yield a straightforward objective function definition, and promote control decisions with better performance. The results suggest that scaling of a bioreactor model enhances the performance of feedback control, producing higher concentrations, rates, and yields, three of the most important parameters in industrial microbial biocatalysis.