Metabolic fluxes-oriented control of bioreactors: a novel approach to tune micro-aeration and substrate feeding in fermentations.

Background: Fine-tuning the aeration for cultivations when oxygen-limited conditions are demanded (such as the production of vaccines, isobutanol, 2-3 butanediol, acetone, and bioethanol) is still a challenge in the area of bioreactor automation and advanced control. In this work, an innovative control strategy based on metabolic fluxes was implemented and evaluated in a case study: micro-aerated ethanol fermentation.

Results: The experiments were carried out in fed-batch mode, using commercial Saccharomyces cerevisiae, defined medium, and glucose as carbon source.