Membrane technology: A versatile tool for saline wastewater treatment and resource recovery

Abstract The harmful effects arisen from the discharge of saline wastewater have become more evident in recent years and therefore drawn much public concerns. Saline wastewater, including produced water, tannery wastewater, textile wastewater and aquaculture wastewater, contains various organic pollutants and inorganic dissolved ions. These saline wastewaters can be treated, not only to meet the discharge standard but also to offer the opportunities for water reuse and nutrient recovery. Membrane technology is a promising technology that offers attractive solutions for effective saline wastewater treatment and resource recovery. With the tremendous development made in this realm, this review is set to provide a frame of state-of-the-art approaches for saline wastewater treatment based on membrane technology and stimulate ideas to enhance the treatment efficiency and sustainability in these related works. The unique features, strengths and limitations of pressure-driven, osmotically-driven, thermally-driven and electrically-driven membrane processes in treating saline wastewater and resource recovery are discussed. This review aims to consolidate the literature related to membrane technology as a versatile tool for saline wastewater treatment, as well as to identify the current research gaps and areas of improvement related to this field.