|
Author
Babot Altisen, Enrique
|
Abstract
Research with microalgae is growing in importance because of the wide variety of applications.1 They are useful for energetic purposes, mainly for biodiesel obtention, and on different biofuels obtention such as bioethanol, biomethane, biohydrogen. Also, they can be beneficial to generate heat and electricity.
This project aims to control and describe microalgae growth in a close photobioreactor (CSTR). To achieve this goal, it has been used the Model Predictive Control (also named MPC) which is a control methodology that uses a process model to predict the future outputs of the plant and, based on this, optimizes future control actions. Different studies and combinations will be used in the variables that determine the evolution of the system (X, S, Q). The main output to measure for us is the biomass concentration (X).
The results have shown that this model is robust enough to respect constraints without adding them to the toolbox. Then, at closed-loop, the outputs with Gaussian signals oscillate more constantly around the steady-state value than in open-loop because of the feedback process. Finally, we can state that we need to make large variations in the Light intensity to produce values more physically meaningful in the biomass concentration. Because if we make little changes in the I, the X will almost no vary. Finally, closed-loop systems achieve a new stable condition faster than open-loop thanks to the feedback control.
|
|
