Content

Mathematical modeling of bio-based processes – Towards digital twins

Part of the BTEC Fall 2020 Seminar Series

Friday, Oct. 30, 2020
10:40–11:30 a.m.
Zoom link: go.ncsu.edu/btec_seminar

Important: Please enter your NC State (or corporate) email address if prompted for your name when joining the meeting.

Speaker: Krist V. Gernaey, Ph.D.
Professor and Head, Process and Systems Engineering Center (PROSYS)
Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
Technical University of Denmark

Join us Friday, Oct. 30, 2020, for a presentation on "Mathematical modeling of bio-based processes – Towards digital twins" by Krist Gernaey, Ph.D.

The biomanufacturing industry has an opportunity to upgrade its production processes to be in harmony with the latest industrial revolution by increasingly adopting automation and industry 4.0. Technology creates capabilities that enable smart manufacturing while still complying with regulations. In this respect, mathematical models increasingly support scale-up and scale-down of bio-based processes. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is presented as a tool for description of bioreactor hydrodynamics and gradients at large scale, and it is demonstrated how CFD can support development of scale-down model systems and experiments. Challenges with CFD model validation are briefly highlighted, and efforts to produce detailed digital twins of bio-based production processes are presented as a future perspective.

About the presenter

Dr. Gernaey earned a Master of Science in 1993 and a doctorate in 1997 from Ghent University in Belgium. His career has included positions as an associate professor at DTU Chemical Engineering (2005–2012), then as professor in Industrial Fermentation Technology ("The Novozymes professor") since 2013. He has served as head of the Process and Systems Engineering Center (PROSYS) since 2014. Since 2017, he has also been the CEO of Bioscavenge ApS, a start-up with focus on resource recovery. He also is the scientific lead of BIOPRO, a research cluster within bio-based production processes (www.biopro.nu).

His current research focuses on large-scale fermentation, mathematical modeling, investigation of mass transfer issues across scales, application and development of computer-aided tools for elucidation of (bio)process kinetics, Process Analytical Technology (PAT), continuous production, resource recovery, and process simulation.