Jon P. Longtin, Ph.D., P.E.

Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Stony Brook University

Professor Longtin joined the Mechanical Engineering Faculty at Stony Brook University in 1996, after receiving his Ph.D. degree in 1995 from U.C. Berkeley, followed by a one-year postdoc at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan. His research interests include energy conservation, innovative energy transfer and storage, and energy monitoring and diagnostics, as well as laser materials processing, particularly with ultrafast lasers and the development of sensors for harsh environments. His research has been funded by NSF, DOE, DOD, NASA, NYSERDA, and a variety of industrial sources. He is the author of over 130 technical publications and holds 10 issued and pending patents. He has received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, Excellence in Teaching Award, and an R&D 100 award. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in New York State and serves as a technical advisor to a variety of companies and non-profit organizations.

Water use for cooling power plants is increasingly becoming a concern, both for arid regions as well as those where water is not normally a concern. The power plant itself, however, produces significant quantities of water vapor through the combustion process. This talk will focus on DEW-COOL, which is one of the technologies in the ARPA-E ARID program. The objective is to condense water vapor from the combustion byproducts (flue gas) by using a high-performance thermosyphon to move heat from the flue gas to the ambient with no additional refrigeration system required. A thermosyphon uses the latent heat of vaporization — rather than a temperature gradient — for heat transfer. The collected water can be used for evaporative cooling, or other uses in the power plant. I would be particularly interested in speaking with those in the power generation industry after the talk to get their thoughts and suggestions on the technology.

Presentation: Harvesting Water from Power Plant Flue Gas