Mass and Energy Balances as State-space Models for Aerobic Batch Fermentations

The main aim of this work is the development of mathematical models of aerobic batch fermentations for its use in estimation and control algorithms. Most batch fermentation models are empirical and simple, and do not provide interrelationships between state variables and measurements. In this work such interrelationships are obtained from mass and energy balances of the fermentation components. Since aerobic fermentations with formation of a single metabolite exhibit three degrees of freedom, three independent kinetic equations are necessary to build the state space model. Test results on the batch fermentation of xanthan gum are presented.