Observer-based virtual sensors for microalgae cultures monitoring

In this paper, a nonlinear observer design is presented for simultaneous parameter estimation and state variables estimation. The case of study is microalgae cultures for biodiesel generation, where reaction rates, biomass concentration, intracellular quota and nitrogen concentration are critical variables that provide information about the state of the process. However, these variables might be difficult to measure due to the lack of specific instruments, high sensor costs or infeasibility of installation in the process. Therefore, two observer-based virtual sensors are presented in this paper as an analytical alternative to perform estimation of the main important variables or parameters of the process: a nonlinear adaptive observer and a nonlinear high-gain observer. The observers are based on the Droop´s mathematical model that describes the ability of microalgae to store nutrients and the decoupling between substrate uptake and biomass growth. Numerical simulations are made in order to evaluate the performance of the proposed observers.