Our Mission

Cleaner Water for Healthier LivesTM

Our History

In 2012, Clarkson University received funding from the EPA for research that Selma, Tom and colleague Chris Bellona (now at the Colorado School of Mines), conducted to develop a small-scale water treatment system that combines plasma and membrane technologies.

As a part of the plasma reactor development, the team investigated its treatment performance on a range of different contaminants although PFAS was not part of that project. At the same time Tom also had an EPA funded project that was measuring the concentrations of PFAS in the Great Lakes, and suggested to add some PFOA and PFOS to the chemical mix the plasma team was testing. There were really no expectations of success given that there was no technology at the time able to destroy PFAS.

Of 23 contaminants tested (pharmaceuticals, personal care products, etc.) the system performed the best in degrading PFOA and PFOS.  The results were surprisingly favorable, to the degree that Selma had never seen such performance in any of the plasma reactors she had previously tested in her 14 years of plasma research. The team was highly skeptical about the measurements as Tom and Chris both thought PFAS were virtually indestructible. They repeated the experiment multiple times, always with the same result…rapid removal which proved to themselves the results were real.

What followed was additional funded research, and ultimately the formation of DMAX Plasma as a limited liability company in 2014 for the purposes of commercializing the technology.  Development has continued ever since, successfully treating PFAS contaminated waters, adding to our team and increasing throughput capacity.

OUR TEAM

Selma Mededovic Thagard, Ph.D

CEO & Founder

Dr. Mededovic is a professor of chemical engineering at Clarkson University. Her area of expertise is in the design of electrical discharge plasma reactors for water treatment. Dr. Mededovic has close to 20 years of research experience in the design and construction of plasma chemical reactors for environmental applications, plasma chemistry and advanced oxidation. She specializes in multiphase mass transfer, chemical kinetics and environmental remediation.

Thomas Holsen, Ph.D

CTO & Founder

Dr. Holsen is the Jean S. Newell Distinguished Professor in Engineering and a professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Clarkson University, a Board Certified Environmental Engineer, American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists. His primary research interests include the transport, transformations and fate of hydrophobic organic chemicals in a wide array of engineered and natural environmental systems.

Ken Camarco

President / COO

Mr. Camarco has over 35 years of engineering, manufacturing, and general management experience across multiple industries, including SVP of Global Operations and Business Systems at Pall Corporation (now a Danaher Company), a leader in filtration, separation, and purification solutions. Ken attained his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University, holds several patents, and has successfully brought many new products to market.

Chase Nau-Hix, Ph.D

Engineering Manager, RD&E

Dr. Nau-Hix has a Ph.D in Chemical Engineering and MS in Electrical Engineering from Clarkson University with a focus in development and implementation of plasma reactors for water remediation.

Will Knutson

Business Development Manager

Mr. Knutson has a B.S in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University and five years of technical sales and business development experience in the chemical industry.