Study of the Operability of a Continuous Bioreactor for the Pre‐fermentation of Cheese Culture

Abstract

The dynamics of a continuous stirred‐tank bioreactor for cheese pre‐fermentation is analyzed using elementary concepts of bifurcation theory and continuation techniques. The bioreactor model, which was previously developed and validated, explicitly incorporates the effect of uncontrolled pH levels. The stability analysis of the model is carried out for two cases: In the first case, the bioreactor is equipped with a seed tank, while the second case involves no additional seed tank. The static analysis allows useful analytical results for the study of steady state multiplicity of the model to be derived. The results of this paper provide practical guidelines on the selection of operating parameters that can eliminate difficult operating regions and that can consequently improve the operability of the bioreactor.