OPTIMIZATION OF AN INDUSTRIAL MICROALGAE FERMENTATION

Optimization of cellular productivity of an industrial microalgae fermentation was investigated. The fermentation was carried out at Coors Biotech Products Company, Fort Collins, Colorado. A mathematical model was developed based on the data collected from pilot plant test runs at different operating conditions. Pontryagin's maximum principle was used for determining the optimal feed policy. A feedback control algorithm was also studied for maximizing the cellular productivity. During continuous operation, the optimum dilution rate was determined by an adaptive optimization scheme based on the steepest descent technique and a recursive least squares estimation of model parameters. A direct search algorithm was also applied to determine the optimum feed rate. Comparison of the theoretical results of the different optimization schemes revealed that the direct search algorithm was preferable because of its simplicity. The experimental results of real time application of the feedback algorithm agreed fairly well with those of the theoretical analyses. (C) 1994 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.