ECOnti
Digital Twin for Continuous Bioproduction

A continuous E. coli process only pays off if every step stays stable for weeks. In ECOnti, a digital twin built from CFD, hybrid process models and plant automation kept the whole chain in balance.

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Challenge

Continuous bioproduction depends on long-term stability.

A continuous process makes more product with smaller equipment, and it costs less to run. That only works while growth, production, primary recovery and purification stay in balance for weeks. So operators need models that tell them how each step will react when conditions change.

In this FFG-funded project, enGenes Biotech covered E. coli expression and BOKU and Tosoh the purification. Qubicon brought the automation, Novasign the hybrid process models and SimVantage the mechanistic CFD.

Process chain from raw material through growth, production, primary recovery and purification to product, orchestrated via Qubicon
Continuous process chain, with every step connected to the automation system

Approach

CFD Knowledge Inside the Process Twin

  • One process twin per unit operation, plus one for the whole chain
  • CFD results for mixing time, gas holdup (gas volume fraction) and shear rate built into the twin, so it also helps with scale-up
  • Model predictive control, which uses the twin’s forecasts to plan the next control step
  • CFD model outputs streamed live into the Qubicon automation system while the plant runs

What CFD says about a reactor usually ends up in a report. Here it feeds the model while the process runs. When an operator moves a setpoint, the twin shows how mixing and shear will change before the plant gets there. That helps with real decisions, such as adapting the feed strategy or changing the stirrer-speed protocol.

Process parameters (left) and CFD model outputs (right) in the Qubicon system, recorded during operation and played at 32× speed. 45 seconds, no sound. © Qubicon

Results

30 Days of Stable Continuous Production

With the twin in the loop, the continuous E. coli process ran stably for 30 days. Operators saw mixing time, holdup and average shear rate from the CFD model right next to the process parameters in the control system.

ECOnti project film about the upstream process that ran stably for more than 30 days. 1:42 min, unmute for sound.
  • 30Days of stable continuous E. coli production
  • 6Partners along the process chain
  • 1Connected model for the whole process chain

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