Event Date
Abstract
Desalination is rapidly becoming a core element of our future water systems. Not only does it allow us to tap into alternative water sources like brackish groundwater and seawater, but it is also central to water reuse. However, management of brine (or the concentrated wastewater stream produced by any desalination process) drastically constrains where desalination can be implemented—with ocean outfall or deep-well injection as the only cost-effective options at scale. One proposal for reducing these costs is valorization, or the recovery of valuable resources from desalination operations and selling these resources as commodities. Through stakeholder engagement and technoeconomic assessments, we have characterized the specific barriers and opportunities of valorization to expand brackish groundwater desalination in the southwestern United States and are working to develop a generalizable framework for brackish groundwater valorization. Focusing on improving a critical piece of brine management infrastructure, our previous work has shown that porous materials floating at the air-water interface can absorb sunlight and promote localized heating to increase rates of evaporation at extremely high efficiencies. Although this would have tremendous implications for increasing the capacity of evaporation ponds—both shrinking their spatial footprint and creating opportunities for resource recovery—this phenomenon has largely been studied through a material science lens, with “new” materials reported each week showing more-or-less the same effect. Looking beyond material composition, this work uses 3D printing to systematically characterize the role material structure plays in shaping the performance of solar evaporators and explores how these materials can be engineered into interfacial microreactors to unlock resource recovery applications.
Bio
Casey De Finnda is an Assistant Professor in the Civil & Environmental Engineering Department at UC Davis, where he runs the Water-Nexus Lab with the vision of closing the loop on wastewater management by facilitating water reuse, enabling resource recovery, and mitigating environmental pollution. To this end, Casey's research group is pursuing a variety of projects, including evaluating the valorization potential of brackish groundwater desalination, synthesizing selective membranes to recycle essential nutrients and minerals from agricultural runoff, and 3D-printing materials for sustainable brine management. Prior to UC Davis, Casey received his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 2022 and completed a postdoc at Yale University from 2022-2024. He was runner-up for the Environmental Science & Technology Best Paper Award for Critical Reviews in 2024 and received the 2026 Hellman Fellowship. Outside of research, Casey enjoys running, hiking, and exploring Davis' 50+ miles of bike paths.