PARAMETER ESTIMATION OF MONOD KINETICS WITHOUT BIOMASS DATA AND INITIAL SUBSTRATE CONCENTRATION

Abstract

The uniqueness of the parameters in a Monod kinetics model estimated from substrate depletion and product growth data were analyzed using nonlinear regression. The initial substrate and biomass concentrations were considered as unknown (unmeasured) parameters. Simulated data containing known measurement errors were generated first using specified parameters and then these data were used for the analysis. Sensitivity coefficients were determined by differentiating the original differential equations of the Monod kinetics. A procedure for determining the scale factors for the parameters (used in the nonlinear regression method) has also been developed. The number of parameters that can be determined uniquely depends on the region of substrate depletion (first order, mixed order or zero order). The availability of product data leads to additional estimation of parameters in the mixed order region. The number of parameters that could be estimated are identified qualitatively by the sensitivity coefficient analysis and quantitatively by analyzing the orthonormal eigenvectors of the Gauss-Newton matrix in the nonlinear regression algorithm. Experimental data on aerobic and anareobic substrate depletion were used to estimate the parameters and validate the analysis.