David Warsinger

Education

Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology; M.Eng. Cornell University; B.S., Cornell University

Research Interests

Desalination & Water Treatment; Water-Food-Energy Nexus; Thermofluids; Nanotechnology; Membrane Science

Research Impact

Prof. Warsinger’s research focuses on the use of thermofluids and nanoengineering for challenges for water treatment, especially at the intersection of water, energy, food, and health. This work includes improved process design for water treatment, new membrane materials and coatings, new membrane antifouling processes, nanomaterials for disinfection, and energy efficiency thermodynamics for water treatment.

Notable contributions from Warsinger’s work include:

• New configurations of reverse osmosis (Batch RO) with shown potential to be the most efficient desalination technology
• The first integration of robust superhydrophobic condensing surfaces (enabling jumping droplet condensation) in desalination
• New insights on the mechanisms and prediction on membrane fouling, and new prevention and reversal technologies
• New materials and coatings for improving membrane performance
• New thermodynamic understanding on the exergetic and entropic performance of the desalination technologies: membrane distillation, multieffect distilation, multistage flash, mechanical vapor compression, humidification-dehumidification, and reverse osmosis. Contributions especially relating to: use of variable temperature heat, operation at varied salinity, and new configurations for improved performance.
• The completion of about a dozen patent applications and over two dozen journal or conference papers in the past 3 years