ON THE MODELLING APPROACHES OF BIOMASS BEHAVIOUR IN BIOREACTOR

Abstract

This paper offers a critical review of various modelling techniques to describe the behaviour of microorganisms in a bioreactor. Several approaches from the simplest unstructured to the structured stochastic type are examined to highlight the basic methodologies, the capacity to describe the phenomena occurring and the diOiculties on the experimental validation. The effects of macromixing are updated using the chemical reactor methodologies. The inside mechanisms of microorganisms and their interaction with reactor fluid dynamics are outlined in term of comparison of their relaxation time; this suggestion provides a useful tool to analyze continuous bioreactors. Lastly the potentialities of qualitative and semi-quantitative modelling approaches are outlined to study biochemical phenomena and bioreactor features, focusing the attention on “fuzzy” and o[M] (order of magnitude) techniques.