Modelling and observer design for a methane bioconversion process

Author(s)
Koen Michiels, Steffen Waldherr
Abstract

Methane is currently an emerging alternative feedstock for biological processes. In this paper, we study a particular methane bioconversion process based on the bacterium Methylomicrobium buryatense 5GB1, with the aim of improving accessibility of the process to state estimation and control. First, a non-linear unsegregated, unstructured model, consisting of 8 dynamic mass flow balance equations and 8 state variables, is constructed and implemented as a dynamic simulator in MATLAB and Simulink. Second, an observability analysis is performed with the aim of finding suitable sensor configurations for state estimation, and the resulting observable configurations are further evaluated by checking the performance of linear Kalman filters for each configuration. This evalution shows that including a biomass sensor in the measurements for the Kalman filter may have conflicting effects on estimation accuracy.

Organisation(s)
Functional and Evolutionary Ecology
External organisation(s)
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Journal
IFAC-PapersOnLine
Volume
52
Pages
628-634
No. of pages
7
ISSN
2405-8971
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ifacol.2019.06.133
Publication date
2019
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
209002 Bioprocess technology
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Control and Systems Engineering
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/01299d3d-5ee8-4355-b497-deb737eaafb4