Modelling Consolidated Bioprocessing of Cellulose via Population Balances Coupled with Cybernetic Models

The complexity of consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) for conversion of cellulosic biomass to biochemicals eludes a full mechanistic understanding of the underlying process fundamentals, thus, process and microbial strain optimizations are challenging. This research presents a new mechanistic modelling framework – Unified Cybernetic-Population Balance Model (UC-PBM) to address the limitations of CBP. Through the coupling of population balances and cybernetic models, this study reveals the necessity for a closed-loop control mechanism across multiple scales of process features to represent CBP at an adequate resolution to benefit rational reaction engineering. Insights from this work are crucial to overcome the limitations of cellulose bioprocessing.