CENG3001 Process Dynamics & Control 2014

Coursework 1 Modeling and Simulation of Biochemical Reactors

Hand-in: Departmental Ofce by November 15 at 12:00 p.m.

L. Mazzei

CENG3001 Coursework 1

Introduction
Biochemical reactors are employed to produce a large number of intermediate and nal products, including pharmaceuticals, food and beverages. Biochemical reactor models are similar to chemical reactor models, since the same type of material balances is performed. In the simplest reactor, we consider two components: biomass and substrate. The biomass consists of cells that consume the substrate; in other words, the biomass grows by feeding on the substrate. One example would be a wastewater treatment system, where the biomass is used to eat waste material (substrate). Another example is fermentation, where cells consume sugar and produce alcohol. Consider the biochemical reactor shown in Figure 1. The net reaction rate r1 (i.e., mass of cells generated per unit volume and time) is normally written in the following form: r1 = (x2 ) x1 where x1 is the biomass concentration (i.e., mass of cells per unit volume) while is the specic growth rate coefcient (1/time). One can think of as being similar to a rst-order reaction rate constant; however, is not constant, for it is a function of the substrate concentration x2 . Many functional relationships between the growth rate coefcient and the substrate concentration x2 have been developed. The most common are 1) Monod and 2) Substrate Inhibition. Monod model The growth rate often varies in hyperbolic fashion. The form of the constitutive equation reported below was proposed by Monod. (x2 ) = m x 2 k1 + x2

Note that is rst-order at low values of x2 , because (x2 ) (m /k1 ) x2 as x2 0, whereas zero order at high values of x2 , because (x2 ) m as x2 . Substrate Inhibition model Sometimes increases at low substrate concentrations, but decreases at high substrate concentrations. The physical reason may be that the substrate has a toxic effect on the biomass cells at high concentrations. This effect is called substrate inhibition and is modeled by this constitutive equation: ( x 2 ) = m x 2 k1 + x2 + k2 x2 2

Biomass generation rate r1 and substrate consumption rate r2 are related by the yield Y r1 /r2 , which is the mass of cells produced per mass of substrate consumed.
F0 x10 x20

CSTR

F = F0

x1

x2

Figure 1: Perfectly mixed biochemical reactor.

L. Mazzei

CENG3001 Coursework 1

Dynamic model

Assuming that F0 and F are equal and constant, derive from rst principles the mass balances on the biomass (cells) and the substrate (feed source for the cells). State clearly all your additional assumptions. Dening F/V as D, the dilution rate, write your model on the state variables in the form: dx1 = f1 (x1 , x2 , D, x20 ) dt dx2 = f2 (x1 , x2 , D, x20 ) dt (1.1)

(1.2)

Generally, we assume that there is no biomass in the feed stream, so x10 = 0. Note that the dilution rate D is the inverse of the reactor residence time.

Linearized model

For both the Monod and the Substrate Inhibition models, linearize the equations found above and write them in terms of deviation variables in the following form: dx + bx = Ax 20 dt (2.1)

where A and b are a matrix and a vector, respectively, of scalar coefcients that you have to obtain (symbols [ only, not numbers), whereas x x1 , x 2 ]T is a deviation variable vector.

Stationary solutions (MATLAB)

Derive an expression for the steady-state concentration of the biomass x1s from equation 1.2. Introduce this expression into equation 1.1 and use fzero in MATLAB to nd all the possible stationary solutions for the biomass and the substrate concentrations x1s and x2s for both the Monod and the Substrate Inhibition models using the data given in Table 3. Tabulate your results. Hand in your MATLAB program.

Dynamic simulations (MATLAB)

Using the nonlinear model (that represented by equations 1.1 and 1.2) and ode23 in MATLAB, simulate the process with these initial conditions: Monod Case 1 2 Biomass concentration 0.10 g/liter 1.50 g/liter Substrate Inhibition Case 3 4 5 Biomass concentration 0.10 g/liter 0.95 g/liter 1.50 g/liter Table 1: Initial conditions. Substrate concentration 3.90 g/liter 1.50 g/liter 0.20 g/liter Substrate concentration 3.90 g/liter 0.20 g/liter

L. Mazzei

CENG3001 Coursework 1

Plot the concentrations for each case for both the Monod and the Substrate Inhibition models. Comment on the stability of the steady-state solutions found earlier. Remember to hand in all your MATLAB programs and the plots. Use the following notation: Symbol x10 x20 x1 x2 r1 r2 F0 F Meaning inlet biomass concentration inlet substrate concentration outlet biomass concentration outlet substrate concentration rate of cell generation rate of substrate consumption inlet volumetric ow rate outlet volumetric ow rate Units mass of cells/volume mass of substrate/volume mass of cells/volume mass of substrate/volume mass of cell generated/volume time mass of substrate consumed/volume time volume/time volume/time

Table 2: Notation. Use these parameters for the Monod and substrate Inhibition models: Monod m k1 x20 Y D 0.53 0.12 4.00 0.40 0.30 1/hr g/liter g/liter 1/hr Substrate Inhibition m k1 k2 x20 Y D 0.53 0.12 0.4545 4.00 0.40 0.30 1/hr g/liter liter/g g/liter 1/hr

Table 3: Parameters to be used in the models.