Bressan B.E.A., Pereira Filho R.G., Alvarez L.A., 2026, Influence of MPC Tuning Parameters on the Closed-Loop Performance of Continuous Fermentation Systems, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 125, 415-420.
The fermentation process is a key step in ethanol production from sugarcane and is characterized by highly nonlinear dynamics, making its control particularly challenging. The process engineer evaluates process, climatic, and economic variables to decide whether to maximize yield and productivity. In this work, a continuous fermentation plant with cell recycle is considered. This study aimed to evaluate different tuning parameters in the simulation of a multivariable MPC that controls the substrate concentration at the end of fermentation and the operating temperatures. In this context, three different scenarios were simulated in order to understand how disturbances affect fermentation productivity and yield in closed-loop. The results showed that increasing the output error weight of one variable can improve its control performance, while deteriorating the control of the others. The simulations demonstrated significant potential for future integration between an optimization layer and multivariable control aimed at maximizing reactor yield and productivity.
