Stabilization of two-stage anaerobic bioreactors via Port-Hamiltonian passive control

Authors

Walter E. Ortega-Muñan, René Alejandro Flores-Estrella, Ixbalank Torres-Zúñiga, Victor Alcaraz-Gonzalez

Abstract

In this work we propose a nonlinear passive control approach based on the Port-Hamiltonian framework for a multistage anaerobic digestion (AD) system. The process that we analyze has two coupled bioreactors that treat a high-strength organic wastewater. The model is introduced as a simple mass-balance equations with Monod and Haldane type kinetics. A Gibbs-free-energy-based storage function is first used to characterize the passive behavior of the open-loop process and its internal dissipation mechanisms. For controller synthesis, a separate quadratic Hamiltonian is introduced within the control-oriented IDA-PBC formulation. The controller is designed with the Interconnection and Damping Assignment Passivity-Based Control (IDA-PBC) method that reshapes the dynamics to follow a desired closed-loop energy profile. In the proposed design, the physical interconnections and biochemical constraints are kept explicit, while the desired operating point is locally stabilized without requiring model inversion. The control input acts on the dilution rate of each reactor. In this way, the main process variables, such as Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Volatile Fatty Acids (VFA), stay close to their reference values, even in the presence of the influent composition perturbations. The performance of the proposed strategy is tested by numerical simulations. The numerical results show satisfactory disturbance rejection and recovery of the steady-state regime under the evaluated operating scenarios. Practical implementation will require online estimation of unmeasured biomass states and suitable computational hardware.

Keywords

anaerobic digestion, passive control, port-hamiltonian systems, two-stages, wastewater treatment

Citation

• Journal: Journal of Process Control
• Year: 2026
• Volume: 166
• Issue:
• Pages: 103812
• Publisher: Elsevier BV
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jprocont.2026.103812

BibTeX

@article{Ortega_Mu_an_2026,
  title={{Stabilization of two-stage anaerobic bioreactors via Port-Hamiltonian passive control}},
  volume={166},
  ISSN={0959-1524},
  DOI={10.1016/j.jprocont.2026.103812},
  journal={Journal of Process Control},
  publisher={Elsevier BV},
  author={Ortega-Muñan, Walter E. and Flores-Estrella, René Alejandro and Torres-Zúñiga, Ixbalank and Alcaraz-Gonzalez, Victor},
  year={2026},
  pages={103812}
}

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