Monitoring and control of fermentation processes: Industrial requirements

This paper summarises the findings of a U.K. Institution of Chemical Engineers Industrial Research Fellowship investigating the 'state of the art' in fermentation monitoring and control. The Fellowship was established to address concerns that considerable academic effort in the area has not been followed by industrial take-up of the methodologies. The study was very much biased towards practicalities, considering the industrial state of the art, evolving industrial approaches and shortcomings in the technology. Although academic developments have been considered, the practical emphasis of the work is predominant. In addition to outlining the state of the art, recommendations for future progress are presented. The main findings are that while research effort should be targeted at some specific fundamental areas, there is also a limit on exploitation as the technological expertise of those required to implement and maintain sophisticated control technology is restricted. Copyright (C) 1998 IFAC.