Robust Control of Continuous Bioprocesses

This paper deals with robust control of continuous bioprocesses. According to the material balance equations of continuous bioprocesses, a uniform framework for mathematical modeling of this class of processes is first presented. Then a robust controller is designed by using the ∞ mixed sensitivity method for the biotechnology processes. The corresponding control objective is described as the development of a robust reference-tracking control structure with the best possible disturbance compensation, able to cope with variations in key process parameters. Finally, the proposed robust control strategy is applied to bio-dissimilation process of glycerol to 1, 3-propanediol. Simulation results are given which show that the designed robust controller makes the system have a favourable robust tracking performance.