Design and simulation of a fuzzy controller for fed-batch yeast fermentation

Abstract

In baker's yeast fermentation, the process is non-linear and the response of the system to changes in glucose feeding has a very long delay time. Therefore, a conventional system can not give satisfactory results. In this paper, a fuzzy controller designed to control a fed-batch fermenter is presented. The fuzzy controller uses Respiratory Quotient (RQ) as a controller input and produces glucose feeding rate as control variable. The controller has been tested on a simulated fed-batch fermenter. The results show that the maximum yeast production is possible by keeping the specific growth rate (mu) and the glucose concentration (C-s) at preset values (mu(c) and C-s,C-c) and minimizing the ethanol production.