MATHEMATICAL MODELING FOR THE DYNAMIC BEHAVIOR OF A

BIOREACTOR FOR THE ALCOLIC FERMENTATION PROCESS IN THE

WHITE WINE ELABORATION

Evelyn Soledispa S1, Jenny Castillo Coloma2 & Oliver Gonzabay Guale3

Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral

Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Matemáticas
Campus Gustavo Galindo Km 30.5 Vía Perimetral
Apartado 09-0158-56, Guayaquil, Ecuador
*e-mail: (evevsole@espol.edu.ec, jeelcast@espol.edu.ec, ojgonzab@espol.edu.ec)

Abstract
The Unión Vinícola Internacional is a company dedicated to the production of wines,
sparkling wines, preserves, juices, jams, liquors. In this article we will approach the study of
winemaking, more specifically to the elaboration of white wine for the methodology of a
mathematical model and simulation to describe the dynamic behavior of a bioreactor in the
process of alcoholic fermentation for the production of white wine within the Unión Vinícola
Internacional S.A. A kinetic model was used to simulate fermentation from basic principles
such as the balance of matter and energy. The concentrations were represented with respect
to the time of: the biomass, the substrate, the product and the temperature. Finally, the
simulations were carried out in a programmer called MATLAB, in which it was possible to
see how the concentrations mentioned above varied with respect to time.
Keywords: alcoholic fermentation, simulation, biomass, mathematical modeling.

I. Introduction Sugars + Yeasts Ethyl alcohol CO2 +

Alcoholic fermentation is a set of
biochemical transformations whereby the
sugars present in the must are transformed
into ethyl alcohol. For this it is necessary
the presence of yeasts, which are
microscopic fungi that are naturally found
in the skin of the grapes. Generally,
selected yeasts are added to the must. A
drop of must can contain more than
5,000,000 million yeasts.
A simple formula of the fermentation
process is as follows:
heat + other substances.
During the alcoholic fermentation it is
essential to control the temperature
increase, since above 28-29 °C,
volatilization of aromatic substances
begins to occur and, at a higher
temperature, the yeasts begin to die,
stopping the fermentation process.
(Gallego)
From an energy point of view, alcoholic
fermentation is an exothermic reaction,
and produces a large amount of CO2. A
chemical reaction calculation, shows that
the resulting ethanol is almost 51% of the
weight, the yields that industries reach is
7%. (iQuimicas, s.f.)
II. Description of the process of
making white wine.
Stages of the process of making white
wineFigure 1. Scheme of the process of
making white wine.
Before carrying out the fermentation
process there are four stages prior to this,
reception of the raw material, pressing,
sulphited, cleaning and deburring. Each of
these stages prepare the raw material for
the fermentation process. The racking
process eliminates solid materials that are
suspended and are possible causes of
unpleasant aromas of wine, due to this the
must is clarified. This process also
prepares the matter in a very important
parameter such as temperature through an
energy balance. Prior to the entry of the
raw material into the fermenter, in addition
to controlling the temperature, other
characteristics of the bacteriological,
physicochemical type, pH, possible degree
of alcohol, odor and color to be generated
in the process must be controlled, each of
these analyzes are performed in a plant
control laboratory.
Alcoholic fermentation is mainly carried
out by yeasts of the genus Saccharomyces
cerevisiae, which in the absence of air
transform sugar into ethyl alcohol and
CO2, in large quantities. The alcoholic
fermentation of grape must leads to an
interaction of many variables: the initial
composition of the must, the temperature
and the concentration of biomass present
during the process.
The wine yeasts present in the must are
responsible for the conversion of sugar
from grape juice into ethanol. A
fundamental parameter that affects the
fermentation process is temperature,
which should be optimal to obtain the best
expression of aromatic volatile substances,
to ensure the correct development of the
fermentation process.
The fermentation temperature affects in
different aspects:
- The appropriate population of yeasts
(decreases with decreasing temperature)
- The synthesis of short chain fatty acids
(increases when the temperature
decreases)
- The consumption of nitrogen material
(increases when the temperature increases)
(Palacios, Udaquiola, & Rodríguez, 2009)
Mostly white wines are fermented in
thermoregulated stainless steel vats. White
wines ferment at relatively low
temperatures (10 ° - 15 ° C) in order to
slow down the process of splitting sugars
in alcohol. In addition, the evolution of
carbonic gas, in order to preserve the
aromas of the wine and consequently
obtain the highest possible quality.
Alcoholic fermentation takes place around
10 to 15 days. The fermentation ends when
the concentration of sugar in the wine is 1
to 2 g / L, which indicates a low presence
of sugars. (iQuimicas, s.f.)
III. Main characteristics of the
bioreactor
of stainless steel. The instrumentation and
control part has sensors that measure
fermentative process variables, as well as
systems that adjust the equipment to an
optimal operating point. The sensors they
measure are aligned to measure the
physical, chemical and biological
properties of the crop. This control system
is also designed to measure temperature,
pH, brix degrees, partial pressure of
oxygen and carbon dioxide.
IV. Simulation of the
fermentation process.

𝑑𝑋𝐴
= 𝜇𝑋𝐴 − 𝐾𝑑 𝑋𝐴 (1)
𝑑𝑡
Figure 2. Schematic of Continuous
Biochemical Reactor 𝑑𝑁 𝜇𝑋𝐴
= (2)
𝑑𝑡 𝑌𝑋/𝑁
A bioreactor is a reactor that sustains the
life of cells and tissues. Virtually all
𝑑𝐸
cellular reactions necessary to sustain life = 𝛽 𝑋𝐴 (3)
are mediated by enzymes that catalyze 𝑑𝑡
various aspects of cellular metabolism, 𝑑𝑆 𝛽𝑋𝐴
such as the transformation of chemical = − (4)
𝑑𝑡 𝑌𝐸/𝑆
energy and the construction,
decomposition and digestion of cellular
components. (Elementos de ingeniería de Where:
las reaacciones químicas, 2008)
𝑌𝑋/𝑁 : Coefficient of cell mass yield
The reactor used for this winemaking
process in the Unión Vinícola 𝑌𝐸/𝑆 ∶ Ethanol production yield coefficient
Internacional company is the Batch per sugar consumed
Reactor with automated control.
𝑋𝐴 ∶ Active biomass concentration (g / L)
The main reason why this type of reactor
𝑁 ∶ Nitrogen concentration (mg / L)
is used is that it complies with the
homogenization process, which helps 𝐸∶ Ethanol concentration (g / L)
maintain the temperature and distribution
𝑆∶ Sugar concentration (g / L)
of the concentrations of the different
uniform substances. This reactor consists It is assumed that during fermentation the
of an internal coil that allows to control the biomass is active.
temperature of the substrate within the
desired limits. The reactor is constructed
 𝜇𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝑁
𝜇=
𝐾𝑁 + 𝑁
𝜇: Specific growth rate for cell mass, which is
a function of the concentration of nitrogen
present.
𝜇𝑚𝑎𝑥 ∶ Maximum specific growth rate
𝐾𝑁 ∶ Monod constant for growth limited by
nitrogen concentration
The death rate or cell inactivation denoted as
Kd, is a function of the total ethanol Figure 3. Glucose concentration vs.
time
concentration. So:
𝐾𝑑 = 𝐾𝑑′ 𝐸𝑑

𝐾𝑑′ : Yeast sensitivity to ethanol (E)

The rate of sugar transfer per cell is a function
of sugar concentration
𝛽𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝑆
𝛽=
𝐾𝑆 + 𝑆
𝛽𝑚𝑎𝑥 : Maximum specific sugar utilization
rate
Figure 4. C2H5OH concentration vs.
𝐾𝑆 ∶ Michael Michaelis-Menten constant for time
sugar use.

Model Parameters Value

𝜇𝑚𝑎𝑥 0.0158
𝛽𝑚𝑎𝑥 0.0000245
𝐾𝑁 199
𝐾𝑆 1621
𝐾𝑑′ 0.026
𝑌𝐾/𝑁 1.7
𝑌𝐸/𝑆 5.6
Table 1. Fermentation parameters used
Figure 5. Yeast concentration vs. time
in the model
V. Results
 VI. Conclusion
According to the data obtained from
the International Vinyl Union, it was
possible to carry out a simulation
where a glucose with 29.1 Brix degrees
was used, with a concentration of 0.15
g / l of yeast, the respective growth and
death velocity values of the cells as
well as the process performance are
previously tabulated, and finally it was
obtained according to the graph of the
Matlab program that glucose is
consumed as time passes inside the
batch reactor, the cells grow at the
beginning of the process because they are
fed of sugar, but at a certain moment these
cells also decrease, that is, they die due to
glucose dissolution.
Nitrogen is consumed in the process, and
ethanol is the product that is formed as
time passes inside the reactor, there comes
a time as can be seen in the graphs where
alcohol production becomes stable, and it
is there where the company must stop the
process is to say the wine is ready for the
next process.
With respect to energy consumption
before fermentation, the company
performs the depalletizing process, which
is where it spends a large amount of energy
to prepare the must and bring it to 25
degrees Celsius, which is the right
temperature for fermentation, in the
fermenter it is not used heat, nor water or
cooling steam, since we know that the
reaction is exothermic but does not
generate much heat, that is, the
temperature after the fermenter only varies
by maximum 2 degrees, so the company
does not invest capital in reducing these 2
degrees of temperature in this process
because in the next process after
fermentation it should go down to 4
degrees Celsius or less.
VII. Recommendations
To carry out a mathematical program that
includes simulation of the wine production
process in a batch reactor, it is necessary to
know the constants involved in the
process, among them the most important
the Brix degrees of glucose and the amount
of yeast used in the process. The reagent
consumption rates and therefore the
generation of the products should also be
thoroughly studied, since at the industrial
level the process performance is what
really matters due to the cost issue.
VIII. References
(2008). En H. S. Fogler, Elementos de
ingeniería de las reaacciones
químicas (pág. 418). México:
PEARSON EDUCACIÓN.
Gallego, J. G. (s.f.). Maridaje, Enología y Cata
de Vinos. Antequera (Málaga).
iQuimicas. (s.f.). Obtenido de
https://iquimicas.com/la-
fermentacion-del-vino-y-la-
produccion-de-diferentes-tipos-de-
vinos/#Las_levaduras
iQuimicas. (s.f.). Obtenido de
https://iquimicas.com/la-
fermentacion-del-vino-y-la-
produccion-de-diferentes-tipos-de-
vinos/#Las_levaduras
Palacios, C. A., Udaquiola, S. M., & Rodríguez,
R. A. (Mayo de 2009). Obtenido de
https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/145/14
511603008.pdf