title: Automatic process control in anaerobic digestion technology: A critical review.
abstract: Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a mature technology that relies upon a synergistic effort of a diverse group of microbial communities for metabolizing diverse organic substrates. However, AD is highly sensitive to process disturbances, and thus it is advantageous to use online monitoring and process control techniques to efficiently operate AD process. A range of electrochemical, chromatographic and spectroscopic devices can be deployed for on-line monitoring and control of the AD process. While complexity of the control strategy ranges from a feedback control to advanced control systems, there are some debates on implementation of advanced instrumentations or advanced control strategies. Centralized AD plants could be the answer for the applications of progressive automatic control field. This article provides a critical overview of the available automatic control technologies that can be implemented in AD processes at different scales.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, 1955 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.
authors.forename: Duc
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.affiliation: Civil and Environmental Engineering, South Dakota State University, 501 E. St Joseph Street, Rapid City, SD 57701, USA.
authors.forename: Venkataramana
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gadhamshetty
authors.affiliation: Deparment of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand.
authors.forename: Saoharit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nitayavardhana
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, 1955 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA. Electronic address: khanal@hawaii.edu.
authors.forename: Samir Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Khanal
mesh_terms: D000693:Anaerobiosis; D001331:Automation; D017143:Fuzzy Logic; D007221:Industry; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D012037:Refuse Disposal / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Anaerobic digestion; Automatic control; Bioenergy; Monitoring; Process control