A Formal Modeling Framework for Anaerobic Digestion Systems

The complexity of modeling the anaerobic digestion process meets the difficulty to describe and analyze them mathematically. In this paper, a simplified mathematical model for anaerobic digestion process of organic matter, in a continuous stirred tank reactor is proposed. With the aim of upgrading the produced biogas and integrate biogas plants in a virtual power plant, new control inputs reflecting addition of stimulating substrates (acetate and bicarbonate) are added. Based on two step (acedogenesis-methanogenesis) mass balance non linear model, a step-by-step model parameter’s identification procedure is presented in the first step, then in the second step, the yield coefficients and the microbial growth rates are estimated when the later is assumed to be unknown a priori