POTSDAM -- A recent publication on Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) by a research team at Clarkson University made up of Professors Yang Yang, Stefan Grimberg, and Michael Twiss has been featured on the cover of the ES&T Engineering Journal, a flagship journal in Environmental Engineering. ISE graduate student Shasha Yang is the first author of the article. The paper has also been named the editor’s choice article. It has been viewed and downloaded more than 4000 times since February.

HABs have become an emerging threat to aquatic life and drinking water safety. The frequent occurrence of harmful algal blooms calls for fast-responsive treatment technologies. This study investigated the rapid removal of cyanobacteria and toxins via electrochemical oxidation and filtration. The team developed and deployed a boat-mount prototype, which proved that their system can effectively remove >50% of phytoplankton and >80% of the ambient cyanotoxins. They saw an instant improvement in effluent water clarity.

This work was facilitated by the Clarkson machine shop (Scott Hodge, Jacob Weller), Environmental Engineering faculty (Professor Siwen Wang), CAMP, CAARES (Dr. Sujan Fernando, Professor Thomas Holsen), and university engineer (Michael Tremper).

To read this paper, go to: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acsestengg.1c00344