Title : Modeling of anaerobic biodegradation of organic waste
Abstract:
Anaerobic digestion of organic waste (AD) is a complex biotechnological process in which bacteria and archaea break down organic matter into biogas and digestate in a complex multi-step scheme. Recently, new original technologies have been developed (for example, two-step AD, which simultaneously produces hydrogen and methane) and attention has also been paid to some intermediate products. AD has been the subject of long-term research from various points of view. One of them is the mathematical modeling of the complex biochemical and microbiological subprocesses taking place into AD through systems of nonlinear differential equations. Recently, a much simpler approach has also been used - the apparatus of artificial intelligence (AI).
The aim of this paper is to present the latest achievements of the “classical” mathematical models of AD in comparison with models based on AI, their capabilities and the prospects for their application. The paper presents the simplest MMs and their use. The evolution of mathematical modeling of the process in obtaining new knowledge about AD is shown. The generalized MM - the so-called ADM1 and its use are briefly considered. Some developments of the author in this area are presented. In a comparative aspect, some models of AD developed on the basis of AI are presented, including the author's developments using the so-called artificial neural networks. Their advantages and disadvantages are shown. For illustration, some results of computer simulations are shown.
In conclusion, the benefits of MMs of AD for studying intermediate sub-processes, for optimizing biogas (energy) yields, for developing software sensors for unmeasurable variables, and for automatic control of AD are summarized, which are illustrated with some author's developments.
