Adaptive control of the E. coli-specific growth rate in fed-batch cultivation based on oxygen uptake rate

Renaldas Urniezius; Deividas Masaitis; Donatas Levisauskas; Arnas Survyla; Povilas Babilius; Dziuljeta Godoladze

doi:10.1016/j.csbj.2023.11.033

Adaptive control of the E. coli-specific growth rate in fed-batch cultivation based on oxygen uptake rate

Comput Struct Biotechnol J. 2023 Nov 23:21:5785-5795. doi: 10.1016/j.csbj.2023.11.033. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Renaldas Urniezius¹, Deividas Masaitis¹, Donatas Levisauskas¹, Arnas Survyla¹, Povilas Babilius¹, Dziuljeta Godoladze¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Automation, Kaunas University of Technology, Studentu 48, LT-51367 Kaunas, Lithuania.

Abstract

In this study, an automatic control system is developed for the setpoint control of the cell biomass specific growth rate (SGR) in fed-batch cultivation processes. The feedback signal in the control system is obtained from the oxygen uptake rate (OUR) measurement-based SGR estimator. The OUR online measurements adapt the system controller to time-varying operating conditions. The developed approach of the PI controller adaptation is presented and discussed. The feasibility of the control system for tracking a desired biomass growth time profile is demonstrated with numerical simulations and fed-batch culture $E . c o l i$ control experiments in a laboratory-scale bioreactor. The procedure was cross-validated with the open-loop digital twin SGR estimator, as well as with the adaptive control of the SGR, by tracking a desired setpoint time profile. The digital twin behavior statistically showed less of a bias when compared to SGR estimator performance. However, the adaptation-when using first principles-was outperformed 30 times by the model predictive controller in a robustness check scenario.

Keywords: Adaptive control; Fed-batch culture; Setpoint control; Specific growth rate.