Abstract

This work is related to the tracking of sulfate concentration trajectories in a continuous anaerobic bioreactor, where Desulfovibrio alaskensis is considered for different operation purposes. A new design of a class of nonlinear proportional control law with an adaptive gain was proposed. The proposed controller was applied to the mathematical bioreactor's model with the kinetics experimentally corroborated; this describes the dynamics of biomass, sulfate and sulfide concentrations. The open-loop stability conditions of the optimum set points and the corresponding closed-loop performances were analyzed. The proposed control law is able to track trajectories, despite sustained disturbances. An Internal Model Control (IMC) Proportional-Integral Controller was implemented for comparison purposes and the corresponding performances were illustrated via numerical experiments.

Recommended Citation

Neria-Gonzalez, M. Isabel and Aguilar-López, Ricardo (2007) "Tracking Trajectories in a Continuous Anaerobic Bioreactor Employing a Nonlinear Proportional Controller," International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering: Vol. 5: A73.
Available at: http://www.bepress.com/ijcre/vol5/A73