The treatment of produced water, associated with oil & gas production, is envisioned to gain more significant attention in the coming years due to increasing energy demand and growing interests to promote sustainable developments. This review presents innovative practical solutions for oil/water separation, desalination, and purification of polluted water sources using a combination of porous membranes and plasma treatment technologies. Both these technologies can be used to treat produced water separately, but their combination results in a significant synergistic impact. The membranes functionalized by plasma show a remarkable increase in their efficiency characterized by enhanced oil rejection capability and reusability, while plasma treatment of water combined with membranes and/or adsorbents could be used to soften water and achieve high purity.
Keywords: desalination; gliding arc; membranes; nanofibers; nanofiltration; plasma; produced water.