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Specific growth rate observer for the growing phase of a Polyhydroxybutyrate production process

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Abstract

This paper focuses on the specific growth rate estimation problem in a Polyhydroxybutyrate bioplastic production process by industrial fermentation. The kinetics of the process are unknown and there are uncertainties in the model parameters and inputs. During the first hours of the growth phase of the process, biomass concentration can be measured online by an optical density sensor, but as cell density increases this method becomes ineffective and biomass measurement is lost. An asymptotic observer is developed to estimate the growth rate for the case without biomass measurement based on corrections made by a pH control loop. Furthermore, an exponential observer based on the biomass measurement is developed to estimate the growth rate during the first hours, which gives the initial condition to the asymptotic observer. Error bounds and robustness to uncertainties in the models and in the inputs are found. The estimation is independent of the kinetic models of the microorganism. The characteristic features of the observer are illustrated by numerical simulations and validated by experimental results.

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Notes

  1. Some other works use two-compartment models and define PHB and active biomass as fractions of the total biomass. To keep coherence with previous works [21, 22] and simplify the development of the observer algorithms this kind of definition is not used here.

  2. Note that when applying control laws like (6) the kinetic model is not required, thus resulting in a more robust control.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by UNLP, CONICET, ANPCyT and FWO. We specially thank Eng. Christopher Young for his contributions to this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Group of Control Applications, LEICI, Faculty of Engineering, La Plata National University, CONICET, C.C.91 (1900), La Plata, Argentina

    Martín Jamilis, Fabricio Garelli & Hernán De Battista

  2. Department of Biosystems Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Md. Salatul Islam Mozumder & Eveline Volcke

  3. Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Business Unit Separation and Conversion Technology, Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium

    Md. Salatul Islam Mozumder

Authors
  1. Martín Jamilis
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  2. Fabricio Garelli
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  3. Md. Salatul Islam Mozumder
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  4. Eveline Volcke
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  5. Hernán De Battista
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Correspondence to Martín Jamilis.

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Jamilis, M., Garelli, F., Mozumder, M.S.I. et al. Specific growth rate observer for the growing phase of a Polyhydroxybutyrate production process. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 38, 557–567 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-014-1295-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-014-1295-1

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