Doctoral dissertation of Dorien Gaublomme – Optimisation of reverse osmosis processes through hybrid modelling and model predictive control

Dorien Gaublomme and the members of the jury

BIOMATH proudly announces: Dorien Gaublomme successfully defended her Doctoral Thesis on 20 December 2022!

About Dorien:

Dorien obtained her master degree in Bioscience Engineering with speciality in Environmental Technology in 2012 at Ghent University. After graduation and a year of specific teacher training assistant, she started as teaching assistant at the Department of Data Analysis and Mathematical Modelling of the Faculty of Bioscience, where she also performed doctoral research in collaboration with the research group PainT from the Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, both part of Ghent University. She has participated and presented her work at numerous international conferences, as well as authored and co-authored several peer-reviewed articles published in renowned scientific journals.

Summary of the Doctoral Thesis:

This thesis explores the development of a modelling framework for smarter and more resilient operation of reverse osmosis (RO) plants, which can serve as a basis for the development of a digital twin. A mechanistic steady state model and a data-driven fouling model were combined in a hybrid modelling approach, and a non-linear model predictive control algorithm was developed to optimise the recovery setpoint and maximise water production while minimising the negative effects of fouling.

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