I worked on a project using a similar concept for concentrating micro-algae in the water solution it is grown in. The previous method of extracting micro-algae

I worked on a project using a similar concept for concentrating micro-algae in the water solution it is grown in. The previous method of extracting micro-algae was filtration or centrifuges. Filters get full too quickly and need regular attention, and centrifuges take too much energy since the density of the particles were very close to the density of water and didn't spin out easily. We tried using standing acoustic waves to organize and "conclomerate" the micro-algae in the flow and siphon off water quite similarly to the image in the article. It "sort of" worked but only when the flow rate was really, really low because these forces are totally dominated by drag forces and even the smallest levels of turbulence remixes the solution. What else could this be used for? Think of something that doesn't play nicely with filters or centrifuges and doesn't need to be processed at really high flow rates. Applications in the medical industry come to mind.