Thomas M Holsen

Dr. Holsen’s research interests include the transport, transformations and fate of legacy and emerging hydrophobic organic chemicals, mercury, metals, and ions in a wide array of environmental systems. He is a co-PI on several projects investigating the use of non-thermal plasma to remove per- and polyfluorinated compounds (PFASs) from water.            

Current Projects:

THE GREAT LAKES FISH MONITORING AND SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM: EXPANDING THE BOUNDARIES.

In the Great Lakes Fish Monitoring and Surveillance Program (GLFMSP), fish, biota and water are analyzed for contaminants to assess temporal trends in organic contaminants and mercury in the open waters of the Great Lakes, using fish as biomonitors. We are continuing to enhance the program with new analytical instruments and analytical techniques to enhance our state-of-the-art capability to identify and quantify both emerging and legacy pollutants at levels previously impossible to achieve. We are assessing contaminant transfer from the water column through the food chain, expanding the analyte list to include more emerging contaminants and using supplemental approaches (fatty acids, stable isotopes, fish stomach analysis and proteomics) to enhance the program. We are working to augment our collaborations with other state, federal and International programs performing similar work. In total these enhancements give us a much clearer picture of the health of the Great Lakes ecosystem and ensure the GLFMSP remains a world-wide scientific leader in documenting how human activity is impacting the world we live in.

NanoFiltration Followed by Electrical Discharge Plasma for Destruction of PFAS and Co-contaminants in Groundwater: A Treatment-Train Approach.

The overall objective is to demonstrate and validate a treatment-train approach using nanofiltration to concentrate PFAS and co-contaminant impacted water and a Clarkson-developed enhanced contact plasma reactor to treat the concentrate derived from nanofiltration. A separate laboratory evaluation will be conducted using the concentrated site water to test electrochemical oxidation as another destructive technology. Finally, life cycle costs of plasma and electrochemical oxidation will be performed to compare their treatment efficacy. 

PFAS Analysis, Reduction, and Treatment Evaluations.  

The objective of this work is to characterize perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoralkyl substances concentrations in various wastewater streams, and on aqueous extracts from photolithography and other chemical mixtures, and to evaluate the performance of alternative means for the removal of PFAS from wastewaters. The research will also evaluate alternative means of separating concentrated wastes for volume reduction and destruction. Additionally, the research will also characterize azoles and TMAH in wastewater effluent.

Innovative Technologies to Treat Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in Landfill Leachate.  

Leachate is a complex high-strength wastewater, characterized by the presence of large amounts of organic matter, ammonia, heavy metals and organic contaminants including per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS have been used in many commercial and industrial products including as coatings for paper or food packaging and textiles, industrial surfactants, insecticides, and aqueous film forming foams. When PFAS-containing materials are discarded in landfills they can breakdown over time to release PFAS.  Disposing of leachate-containing PFAS is one of the most pressing issues surrounding the operation of landfills due to the limited treatment technologies available. In this project the treatment of PFAS in leachate using two novel destructive approaches: electrical discharge plasma (EDP) and electrochemical oxidative filtration (EOF) will be examined.  Both processes are innovative, state-of-the-art advanced reductive/oxidative technologies that individually or in combination will aid in managing PFAS in landfill leachate and lead to improved decision making, management practices, and technical methods to minimize PFAS risks from leachate to both humans and ecosystems.