A Step Closer to the Market for Poly-hydroxy-alkanoates (PHAs) through their Bacterial Production in Continuous Bioreactors in Series: a Model Investigation of Novel Operating Strategies

Abstract The current work explores the dynamic optimization of a sequence of two continuous stirred-tank bioreactors for the production of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) in Azohydromonaslata cultures using a credible and sophisticated mathematical model. The cumbersome problem of operating a microbial fermentation process continuously in a consistent, systematic and controllable manner is uncovered at its full dimension and addressed, pursuing in parallel the efficient substrate utilization and the optimization of the fermentation stage. Advanced optimization algorithms and well-posed optimization strategies with different subsets of control variables are implemented A notable improvement on the performance of the continuous optimal operating bioreactors is demonstrated via the maximization of key process factors, such as productivity, biopolymer content, final product concentration etc., under three different strategies