Linear algebra based controller design applied to a bench-scale oenological alcoholic fermentation

• A control law that allows the trajectory tracking of optimal profiles is proposed.
• The biomass and CO2 profiles were previously established in our laboratory.
• The system is based on an improved non-isothermal phenomenological model.
• A controller based on numerical methods is proposed.
• The controller is applied to a high quality wines bioprocess.

This work presents a controller design for a non-isothermal alcoholic fermentation to produce wines in a bench-scale bioreactor. The main controller objective is that the system tracks an optimal operation trajectory to produce wines with constant quality. This trajectory is previously determined for the biomass and for the CO2 produced by the fermentation. To meet the goal, the process is approximated using numerical methods, and then, the problem is posed like solving a system of linear equations. The necessary conditions for the system of linear equations has exact solution are analyzed. Afterwards the control action is obtained by solving the system of linear equations. The methodology success is shown using experimental results.