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Updated: Dec 11, 2025

Design and Use of Multiplexed Chemostat Arrays
Published on: February 23, 2013
Analogies between SARS-CoV-2 infection dynamics and batch chemical reactor behavior
F Manenti1, A Galeazzi1, F Bisotti1
1Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Chimica, Materiali e Ingegneria Chimica "Giulio Natta", Center for Sustainable Process Engineering Research (SuPER), Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy.
Abstract:
The pandemic infection of SARS-CoV-2 presents analogies with the behavior of chemical reactors. Susceptible population (A), active infected population (B), recovered cases (C) and deaths (D) can be assumed to be molecules of chemical compounds and their dynamics seem well aligned with those of composition and conversions in chemical syntheses. Thanks to these analogies, it is possible to generate pandemic predictive models based on chemical and physical considerations and regress their kinetic parameters, either globally or locally, to predict the peak time, entity and end of the infection with certain reliability. These predictions can strongly support the emergency plans decision making process. The model predictions have been validated with data from Chinese provinces that already underwent complete infection dynamics. For all the other countries, the evolution is re-regressed and re-predicted every day, updating a pandemic prediction database on Politecnico di Milano's webpage based on the real-time available data.

