Modelling and Dynamic Compensator Control of the Anaerobic Digestion of Organic Wastes

I. Simeonov and S. Stoyanov

Abstract
The paper deals with the modelling and control of anaerobic fermentation processes (anaerobic digestion). Laboratory experiments have been carried out on an automated laboratory-scale biogas unit. For this process 2nd and 5th order non-linear models have been considered. A simple methodology for parameters estimation, based on non-linear optimisation method, has been developed. The control is reduced to the regulation of biogas production rate or the concentration of the outlet polluted organic matter. For design purposes the non-linear model has been transformed into a linear one with interval parameters. In both cases (the regulation of biogas production rate or the concentration of the polluting organics) compensators have been designed according to the internal model principle. The effectiveness of the algorithms designed has been illustrated by simulation experiments. An important feature of the proposed algorithms is their robustness over the parameter uncertainties in the process models.

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Keywords
anaerobic digestion, organic wastes, laboratory experiments, modelling, identification, compensator control, simulation