Process models, consisting of transferable and applicable knowledge, can be used for various tasks such as process development and optimization, and for predicting and controlling critical process variables. In this regard, mechanistic process models, describing the mechanism of a system with a distinct model structure and characteristic parameters, are very promising.The development of a reliable and applicable model is usually the critical step, before model simulation and application show beneficial effects. In this chapter, a workflow for the generation of mechanistic process models is presented and applied on a typical cell culture process. The workflow includes the definition of critical reactions and the identification of their kinetics. By an iterative approach different reactions and kinetics are tested and model quality is assessed, leading to a final, target-oriented model.
Keywords: Cell culture model; Covariance and correlation; Identifiability analysis; Kinetic model; Mechanistic model; Parameter error; Sensitivity.