Current advances in membrane technologies for saline wastewater treatment: A comprehensive review

Nor Naimah Rosyadah Ahmad, Wei Lun Ang, Choe Peng Leo, Abdul Wahab Mohammad, Nidal Hilal

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

The saline wastewater from various sources including agriculture and industrial activities, appears to have high salt concentration, organic content and other pollutants which can harm the environment. Thus, saline wastewater treatment has become one of the major concerns in many countries. Membrane technology offers great potential in saline wastewater treatment due to its high permeate quality, flexibility, and desalination capability. This paper highlights the current development in various types of membrane processes such as pressure driven-based membranes, forward osmosis, membrane distillation, electrodialysis and membrane bioreactor, either as a stand-alone or integrated process for saline wastewater treatment. The membranes performance in terms of water reclamation as well as resource recovery is discussed. Besides, the membrane fouling issue is highlighted, and the efficiency of various fouling mitigation strategies when dealing with real/challenging saline wastewater are reviewed. Finally, the future challenges and outlook in the context of membrane application for saline wastewater treatment are discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number115170
JournalDesalination
Volume517
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2021

Keywords

  • Desalination
  • Fouling
  • Membrane
  • Resource recovery
  • Saline wastewater
  • Water reclamation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry
  • General Chemical Engineering
  • General Materials Science
  • Water Science and Technology
  • Mechanical Engineering

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