How It Works — Active Aluminum™ at the boundary and in the lake
The chemistry
Aluminum precipitates dissolved phosphate into variscite (AlPO₄·2H₂O), a thermodynamically stable mineral that holds under both oxic and anoxic conditions. Variscite has been the workhorse of alum lake restoration since the 1960s. The aluminum-to-phosphorus stoichiometry is well established; the resulting sediments resemble those found in healthy lakes.
What Ion Works has done is replace the bulk-alum delivery method with a precision electronic source — a sacrificial aluminum element dosed by regulated current. The dose is set in milligrams of aluminum per litre treated, independent of upstream water chemistry. The cell holds its design output across the freshwater conductivity envelope (100–800 µS/cm) — a freshwater operating range that has historically defeated electrochemical aluminum delivery.
The internal architecture that achieves this is the subject of issued and pending IP and is not described in public materials.
Two delivery points, same chemistry
InletGuard™ — upstream of the lake. Installed as a sidestream branch off the inflow: a controlled fraction of the stream is diverted, treated, and returned downstream. The main channel is never modified. Because no stream alteration takes place, the installation sidesteps Clean Water Act §404 jurisdiction and state stream-alteration permitting. Standard 12-inch unit treats 9 GPM. The same cell scales to 250 GPM for larger inflows.
Oxybot™ — in the lake itself. A solar-powered autonomous platform carrying the Active Aluminum™ cell as its in-water payload. Oxybot patrols zones identified by its onboard sensor suite including dissolved reactive phosphorus, chlorophyll-a, phycocyanin, temperature, dissolved oxygen, conductivity. Treatment is delivered where and when the lake actually needs it, not on a calendar schedule.
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT
Active Aluminum™ reduces the bioavailable phosphorus pool that fuels recurring blooms. Effects compound across seasons: each year’s deployment lowers the internal load that would otherwise re-seed next year’s bloom. Lake Ketchum is the benchmark — over 90% internal phosphorus reduction, clarity gains that have held for years. Ion Works delivers the same restoration outcome through a continuous, in-place, automated method rather than periodic bulk campaigns.
Monitoring and reporting
Every Oxybot deployment produces a continuous, time-series record of the parameters that matter for regulatory reporting and scientific use. Data structure follows FAIR principles (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) and aligns with the LakeBeD-US benchmark dataset used by the U.S. lake observatory network. The result is documentation an EPA TMDL coordinator, a state regulator, or a peer-reviewed journal can use without translation.
Strategic Early-Season Deployment-OPTIONAL -ALTERNATE CONFIGURATONS
Algal blooms are set up in spring, long before the water turns visibly green. Oxybot is launched early in the season and runs autonomous patrols 24/7, precisely when buoyant filaments and gas‑filled vesicles first begin to rise toward the surface. Through an electrophoresis‑driven innovation, Oxybot gently guides and gathers these microscopic algae at depth, intercepting them before they can organize into surface scums. At the same time, its aluminum treatment cell begins binding the dissolved phosphorus that would otherwise feed those blooms, leaving behind clearer, more oxygen‑rich water and helping restore natural balance without bulk Alum dumping or shoreline disturbance.
Soon to be releaSed EXCITING NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR LAKE HEALTH
TARGETING ALGAE VESICLES
OXYBOT: A FULLY AI DRIVEN LAKE HEALTH REPORTING PLATFORM
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Oxybot does not add algaecides or broad residual chemicals to the lake.The system also uses aluminum‑based electrocoagulation to bind dissolved phosphorus into stable mineral forms—functioning as a more precise, on‑board version of alum, the same restoration chemistry that has been used extensively and successfully in lakes such as Lake Ketchum in Washington State.
Because treatment happens within the device and relies on short‑lived physical and electrochemical processes, there are no long‑lasting residues in the water column, and the aluminum–phosphate minerals that form are similar to those found in healthy sediments. The approach is engineered to preserve overall ecosystem balance while targeting harmful algae and bacteria, gradually reducing the nutrient pool that drives blooms rather than introducing new contaminants
Oxybot is designed to reduce the frequency and severity of harmful blooms over time, not to guarantee that all algae disappear in the first season. Harmful species often persist as durable resting stages (such as akinetes) in lake sediments and can survive for years, re‑seeding the water column each spring when light and temperature conditions improve. Even with aggressive early‑season control, some of these resting cells can still rise and trigger patches of growth in year one.
Repeated spring and summer deployments are therefore essential. Over multiple cycles, this systematic pressure on early‑stage cells drives down bloom intensity and duration rather than allowing the same pattern to repeat every summer.
Oxybot’s Aluminium‑based electrocoagulation module removes dissolved phosphorus from the water column by binding it into stable mineral forms on the lakebed, cutting off the nutrient supply that would otherwise fuel rapid regrowth after initial control. Combining ongoing biological disruption with proactive nutrient removal makes each year’s deployment more effective than the last and supports a long‑term shift toward clearer, more stable lake conditions, instead of promising a one‑season “silver bullet.
While Oxybot is a multi‑year solution rather than a one‑season fix, each deployment replaces a significant amount of manual sampling, boat time, and reactive call‑outs. In most programs, labor and logistics consume 40–60% of remediation budgets, so shifting this work to autonomous robots allows communities to pursue sustained, multi‑year bloom control without increasing overall costs.
In addition to destroying harmful algae and pathogens, Oxybot includes an aluminum‑based electrocoagulation cell that actively removes dissolved phosphorus from the water, using the same core chemistry that underpins successful alum lake restorations. A low electric current releases aluminum ions (Al³⁺) from shaped electrodes, which rapidly bind with dissolved phosphate (PO₄³⁻) to form insoluble aluminum phosphate minerals such as variscite (AlPO₄·2H₂O).
As this aluminum–phosphate settles into the sediments and hydrates, it creates a stable mineral layer that locks phosphorus away long term and prevents it from being recycled back into the water column, helping the lake move out of its bloom‑driven state. Because the process uses aluminum in carefully controlled doses—building on decades of alum use in lakes like Lake Ketchum, Washington— and produces minerals that mimic natural sediment chemistry, the method is considered environmentally sound when properly engineered and monitored, improving clarity while supporting a more balanced, self‑sustaining lake ecosystem.
Lakes naturally contain methanotrophic bacteria—microbes that consume methane before it reaches the atmosphere and convert it into biomass and carbon dioxide, especially where oxygen‑rich and oxygen‑poor waters meet. These communities are highly sensitive to oxygen levels: when deep water becomes severely depleted, methanotrophs lose effectiveness and more methane escapes upward as bubbles.
Oxybot’s aluminum‑based phosphorus‑removal process reduces algal overgrowth, which lowers the amount of organic material raining down to the bottom and driving oxygen loss. Together, these effects help shape a microbial community that favors methanotrophy and long‑term lake recovery, without relying on heavy infrastructure or broad, one‑time chemical applications. In simple terms, Oxybot is designed to stabilize the crucial transition zone between oxygenated and low‑oxygen water—where aerobic and microaerophilic methanotrophs are most active—rather than erasing this zone altogether.