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UVU professor outlines algae‑harvesting boat, says single craft reduced surface algae but a fleet is needed
Summary
Dr. Kevin Sherloft of Utah Valley University described a mobile algae‑harvesting boat funded by a state grant that removed an average ~60% of surface algae per pass at hotspot marinas; he said one boat is insufficient after a late‑summer bloom and the team seeks to scale to multiple vessels.
Dr. Kevin Sherloft, a chemistry professor at Utah Valley University, described a mobile algae‑harvesting boat his team built with roughly $400,000 in state grant funding to remove harmful surface algal blooms at Utah Lake marinas and beaches.
Sherloft said the boat uses a front intake boom to collect surface water, adds a filter aid (diatomaceous earth or powdered cellulose) and passes water through two large filter presses mounted on a boat. "We can filter 400 gallons per minute," he said, and reported that, across sites in 2022, one pass through the presses reduced apparent algae concentration by about 60 percent on average.
The approach grew from work after a severe 2016 harmful algal bloom, when state monitoring showed cell counts can spike rapidly in a…
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