Multiscale dynamic modeling and simulation of a biorefinery

A biorefinery comprises a variety of process steps to synthesize products from sustainable natural resources. Dynamic plant-wide simulation enhances the process understanding, leads to improved cost efficiency and enables model-based operation and control. It is thereby important for an increased competitiveness to conventional processes. To this end, we developed a Modelica library with replaceable building blocks that allow dynamic modeling of an entire biorefinery. For the microbial conversion step, we built on the dynamic flux balance analysis (DFBA) approach to formulate process models for the simulation of cellular metabolism under changing environmental conditions. The resulting system of differential-algebraic equations with embedded optimization criteria (DAEO) is solved by a tailor-made toolbox. In summary, our modeling framework comprises three major pillars: A Modelica library of dynamic unit operations, an easy-to-use interface to formulate DFBA process models and a DAEO toolbox that allows simulation with standard environments based on the Modelica modeling language. A biorefinery model for dynamic simulation of the OrganoCat pretreatment process and microbial conversion of the resulting feedstock by Corynebacterium glutamicum serves as case study to demonstrate its practical relevance.