The operating diagram of a flocculation model in the chemostat and its dependence on the biological parameters

Abstract: In this paper, we consider a flocculation model in a chemostat where one species is present in two forms: planktonic and aggregated bacteria with the presence of a single resource. The removal rates of isolated and attached bacteria are distinct and include the specific death rates. Considering distinct yield coefficients with a large class of growth rates, we present a mathematical analysis of the model by establishing the necessary and sufficient conditions of the existence and local asymptotic stability of all steady states according to the two operating parameters which are the dilution rate and the inflowing concentration of the substrate. Using these conditions, we determine first theoretically the operating diagram of the flocculation process describing the asymptotic behavior of the system with respect to two control parameters. The bifurcations analysis shows a rich set of possible types of bifurcations: transcritical bifurcation or branch points of steady states, saddle-node bifurcation or limit points of steady states, Hopf, and homoclinic bifurcations. Using the numerical method with MATCONT software based on a continuation and correction algorithm, we find the same operating diagram obtained theoretically. However, MATCONT detects other types of two-parameter bifurcations such as Bogdanov-Takens and Cusp bifurcations.