Fictitious Reference Iterative Tuning Control of the pH in a Photobioreactor

Data-driven control methods can exploit the data obtained from plants to derive efficient controllers even though certain dynamics remain unknown. This paper presents the fictitious reference iterative tuning method used to derive a PI controller. The data used for deriving the controller were obtain by operating a photobioreactor at various gaseous CO2 steps and measuring the pH. The obtained pH controller was implemented on a laboratory scale airlift photobioreactor and validated at the optimal pH for Scenedesmus sp.