FlowCam^® - Flow Imaging Microscopy Blog

The American Water Works Association (AWWA) publication, Opflow, has featured another story this month on the benefits of proactive algae monitoring in eliminating taste and odor (T&O) complaints for water utilities. 

The cost of monitoring equipment can seem daunting and funding is not always attainable to small utilities. But solutions are available.

The FlowCam has been used in marine and freshwater applications since its invention in 1999. Since then, it has been found to be valuable across many industries to evaluate microparticles of importance in medicine, manufacturing, and environmental disciplines. Rarely do we see these applications cross paths - where man-made particles are being analyzed in marine and freshwater environments. One example of this intersection is the study of microplastics, and the problems they cause for our oceans and marine life. 

Have you ever wondered how our technical customer support team performs quality control checks during services and before shipping new instruments? Here's one example of the process our team uses to check for accuracy on the FlowCam Cyano.

Pictured here: Enterprise Pond at YFT headquarters in Scarborough, Maine. The source of the sample used in this demonstration.

An interview with Steve Bowen, Director of Sales, Yokogawa Fluid Imaging Technologies

What is particle analysis?

Particle analysis involves taking a sample of a substance and analyzing the individual particles of the sample. The basic goal is to determine the constituents of a mixture and to differentiate between particles in the sample. Typical measurements of particles that are of interest include: particle size distribution, particle count, various measurements of particle shape, and particle concentration.

Determining whether algal cells are alive or dead is useful for a variety of applications including, but not limited to: wastewater analysis, algaecide testing, mesocosm experiments, and ballast water monitoring. Viability staining is a common approach used in flow cytometry to evaluate the relative abundance of live and dead cells in a sample. The FlowCam 8400, equipped with a laser, digital camera, and 2 channels of fluorescence detection, can be paired with various fluorescent stains to assess the viability of algal cells. Here we will describe how to pair an example of one such stain, fluorescein diacetate (FDA), with the FlowCam 8400 equipped with a 488nm blue laser.

Yokogawa Fluid Imaging Technologies was recently named as one of the 2020 Best Places to Work in Maine. This list is made up of 84 companies in three size categories: small (15-49 U.S. employees), medium (50-249 U.S. employees) and large (250+ U.S. employees).

An article featured this month in the American Water Works Association (AWWA) publication Opflow describes the challenges currently facing water utilities across the country, and lays out a strategy to proactively monitor for cyanobacteria and taste & odor causing algae.

Tessa Rock, a junior at the University of New England (UNE), will be presenting her undergraduate FlowCam research at the New England Estuarine Research Society (NEERS) virtual fall meeting on Wednesday, October 21 as part of a session titled “Particles, Plants and Plastic”.

This year, in lieu of their annual conference and exhibition, Powder & Bulk Solids hosted a virtual conference: The Powder Show: Digital Flow.

Steve Bowen, Yokogawa Fluid Imaging Technologies Director of Sales, presented a short webinar at this event, titled "Measuring Sphericity & Aggregates of Powders Dispersed in Fluids". The talk is still available to view, alongside other presentations, on The Powder Show website.

On Tuesday, October 13th, at 3pm CDT, Yokogawa Fluid Imaging Sales Director, Steve Bowen, will be presenting a webinar on Flow Imaging Microscopy at the NAPIM (National Association of Printer Ink Manufacturers) Fall Technical Conference, part of InkWeek 2020.

Register for the conference here.