Model-based control of bioprocesses is a difficult task due to the challenges associated with biological system modeling and the lack of on-line measurements. In this study, two robust controllers using minimal a priori process knowledge and minimal measurement information are designed to maximize biomass productivity in aerobic cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This latter objective can be achieved through the regulation of the ethanol concentration at a low constant value. The linearization of Sonnleitner's model allows simple transfer function models to be derived, which describe the relation between the ethanol concentration, the substrate feed and an exponential disturbance - image of the substrate demand for cell growth - in the different operating (respirative and respiro-fermentative) regimes. The two controllers are based on these linear models and use a RST structure, but differ in the way the exponential growth disturbance is handled. In the first controller, the disturbance is represented by a linear model, whereas in the second controller, the disturbance is measured on-line via the oxygen transfer rate signal and a feedforward control action is used to cancel the disturbance effect on the ethanol concentration. Particular attention is paid to the robustification of the controllers to measurement noise, neglected high frequency dynamics and uncertain stoichiometry coefficients using the observer polynomial. Tests in simulation show the controller performance. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

When a reactive fluid circulates inside a porous medium it can dissolve some minerals if equilibrium is not reached and modiy the porosity and permeability. The positive feedback between fluid transport and mineral dissolution read to complex reaction front morphologies such as fingers. Our study is carried out with two objectives: 1) to evaluate experimentally these processes at a decimeter scale, 2) to compare the experiment to a numerical model of water-rock interaction. The experiment consists of a two-dimensional porous medium that allows for the dissolution of halite under an imposed fluid flow. The numerical code used solves the equations of reaction and transport in a porous medium. Both experiment and numerical simulation indicate the development of an instability whose propagation rate depends on the rate of water injection raised to a 2/3 power.

The increasing CO(2) concentration in the Earth's atmosphere, mainly caused by fossil fuel combustion, has led to concerns about global warming. A technology that could possibly contribute to reducing carbon dioxide emissions is the in-situ mineral sequestration (long term geological storage) or the ex-situ mineral sequestration (controlled industrial reactors) of CO(2). In the present study, we propose to use coal combustion fly-ash, an industrial waste that contains about 4.1 wt.% of lime (CaO), to sequester carbon dioxide by aqueous carbonation. The carbonation reaction was carried out in two successive chemical reactions, first, the irreversible hydration of lime. CaO + H(2)O -> Ca(OH)(2) second, the spontaneous carbonation of calcium hydroxide suspension. Ca(OH)(2) + CO(2) -> CaCO(3) + H(2)O A significant CaO-CaCO(3) chemical transformation (approximately 82% of carbonation efficiency) was estimated by pressure-mass balance after 2 h of reaction at 30 degrees C. In addition, the qualitative comparison of X-ray diffraction spectra for reactants and products revealed a complete CaO-CaCO(3) conversion. The carbonation efficiency of CaO was independent on the initial pressure of CO(2) (10, 20, 30 and 40 bar) and it was not significantly affected by reaction temperature (room temperature "20-25", 30 and 60 degrees C) and by fly-ash dose (50, 100, 150 g). The kinetic data demonstrated that the initial rate of CO(2) transfer was enhanced by carbonation process for our experiments. The precipitate calcium carbonate was characterized by isolated micrometric particles and micrometric agglomerates of calcite (SEM observations). Finally, the geochemical modelling using PHREEQC software indicated that the final solutions (i.e. after reaction) are supersaturated with respect to calcium carbonate (0.7 <= saturation index <= 1.1). This experimental study demonstrates that I ton of fly-ash could sequester up to 26 kg of CO(2), i.e. 38.18 ton of fly-ash per ton of CO(2) sequestered. This confirms the possibility to use this alkaline residue for CO(2) mitigation. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Greater Lyon is a dense area located in the Rhone Valley in the south east of France. The conurbation counts 1.3 million inhabitants and the rainfall hazard is a great concern. However, until now, studies on rainfall over the Greater Lyon have only been based on the network of rain gauges, despite the presence of a C-band radar located in the close vicinity. Consequently, the first aim of this study was to investigate the hydrological quality of this radar. This assessment, based on comparison of radar estimations and rain-gauges values concludes that the radar data has overall a good quality since 2006. Given this good accuracy, this study made a next step and investigated the characteristics of intense rain cells that are responsible of the majority of floods in the Greater Lyon area. Improved knowledge on these rainfall cells is important to anticipate dangerous events and to improve the monitoring of the sewage system. This paper discusses the analysis of the ten most intense rainfall events in the 2001-2010 period. Spatial statistics pointed towards straight and linear movements of intense rainfall cells, independently on the ground surface conditions and the topography underneath. The speed of these cells was found nearly constant during a rainfall event, but depend from event to ranges on average from 25 to 66 km/h.