Development and Verification of the Control System for Fed-Batch Phenol Degradation Processes

V. Vojta, J. Náhlík, J. Páca and E. Komárková

Abstract
The structure of a control system for the control of the fed-batch phenol degradation is described. In the software environment of MFCS/win and MS Excel, a control strategy for phenol dosing on basis of measuring the saturation of the medium by dissolved oxygen, was designed. This strategy is able to prevent the substrate inhibition and to keep the biodegradation process in operation as long as possible. In addition, it enables the operator to change important parameters such as the amount of the dose of carbon and energy source and the control level of dissolved oxygen during the cell cultivation. The program was experimentally verified under conditions of oxygen excess and oxygen limitation in fed-batch cultivations of the yeast Candida tropicalis. A correlation between the phenol degradation rate and the amount of phenol dose was especially studied. The system is commonly used at Department of Fermentation Chemistry and Bioengineering (ICT, Prague).

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Keywords
Control strategy, Aerobic degradation, fed-batch, Candida tropicalis, phenol