AUTOMATIC BIOPROCESS CONTROL .3. IMPACTS ON PROCESS PERCEPTION

Impacts of a careful and extensive process control are shown by a fully automated repetitive batch culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae grown on defined medium. The equipment consists of a high performance bioreactor with three different computerized controllers and is designed for complex, demanding tasks. It is demonstrated that the advantages of this approach are manifold for scientists as well as engineers. The high degree of automation increases the availability of the equipment and improves bioprocess accomplishment substantially. Results on the excellent reproducibility of biotechnological experiments underline the new quality of this concept and make the benefits for fundamental scientific work and process development obvious. A powerful software is of decisive importance for processing the extent of raw data produced during high resolution process monitoring. Examples for online process identification are given.