Theoretical and computational studies of some bioreactor models

Westudy certain classical basicmodels for bioreactor simulation in case of batchmodewith decay. It is shown that in many cases the two-dimensional differential system describing the dynamics of the substrate and biomass concentrations can be reduced to an algebraic equation for the biomass together with a single differential equation for the substrate. Then from an analogy with the Henri–Michaelis–Menten enzyme kinetic mechanism a simple model is proposed for a bioreactor in batch mode with decay. Two more models are also proposed taking into account the phases of microbial growth. Some properties of these two models are studied and compared to classical Monod type models using computer simulations. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.