Abstract

In this work, the incorporation of I4.0 technologies in fermentation was studied. The work aimed to explore if I4.0 technologies could be used to solve problems related to the modernization of fermentation processes, particularly, 1) the interconnection of incompatible components (sensor, compressor, and feeding pump), 2) the implementation of fermentation conditions, relevant to the process efficiency, and 3) making the fermentation an I4.0 compatible component. The technologies were tested on a lab scale thraustochytrid fermentation, an example of a complex and economically valuable bioprocess. The results showed that the incorporated I4.0 technologies allowed acquiring the dissolved oxygen values from an incompatible equipment screen and implementing a control algorithm for obtaining; high carbon and nitrogen, and low dissolved oxygen concentration automatically after the growth phase. An automatic supervision tool allowed communicating relevant information about the fermentation state to humans and other computers. We conclude that incorporating I4.0 technologies in complex fermentation processes can improve process and equipment integration and allow the implementation of culture conditions that cannot be obtained using I2.0 and I3.0 technologies. (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).