The lack of accurate process models and reliable online sensors for substrate measurements poses significant challenges for controlling substrate feeding accurately, automatically and optimally in fed-batch fermentation industries. It is still a common practice to regulate the feeding rate based upon manual operations. To address this issue, a hybrid intelligent control method is proposed to enable automatic substrate feeding. The resulting control system consists of three modules: a presetting module for providing initial set-points; a predictive module for estimating substrate concentration online based on a new time interval-varying soft sensing algorithm; and a feedback compensator using expert rules. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated through its successful applications to the industrial fed-batch chlortetracycline fermentation process.
Keywords: Fed-batch fermentation process; Hybrid intelligent control; Process control; Soft sensor; Substrate feeding.
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