ABSTRACT:
Produced water is the largest waste stream generated in the oil and gas industries. It is a mixture of different organic and inorganic compounds. Due to the increasing volume of waste all over the world in the current decade, the outcome and effect of discharging produced water on the environment has lately become a significant issue of environmental concern. Produced water is conventionally treated through different physical, chemical, and biological methods. In offshore platforms because of space constraints, compact physical and chemical systems are used. There are various physical and chemical methods applied to treat the produced water. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages when used for offshore or onshore units. As high salt concentration and variations of influent characteristics have a direct influence on the turbidity of the effluent, it is appropriate to incorporate a physical treatment, e.g., membrane to refine the final effluent. For these reasons, major research efforts in the future could focus on the optimization of current technologies and the use of combined physicochemical and/or biological treatment of produced water in order to comply with reuse and discharge limits. In this work, various physical and chemical treatment methods as well as membrane separation technology are reviewed. Challenges and opportunities of technologies applied to produced water treatment will also presented.

Professor Dr. Luqman Chuah Abdullah has obtained his B.E. degree in Chemical Engineering, from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and PhD degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. His research areas include chemical processing, material engineering (polymers and nanomaterials), oleochemical and environmental engineering. He is currently a Professor at the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). As an active researcher, he has published more than 600 publications of journals, proceedings, books, and technical articles in the various fields of chemical, material, and environmental engineering. He was awarded with Top Research Scientists Malaysia (TRSM) by the Academic of Science Malaysia (ASM), 2013; Malaysia Rising Star Award by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, and was selected as the World's Top 2% Scientists in categories of Career-Long Citation Indexed and Citation Impact in Single calendar Year, 2019, Stanford University, USA. He is currently Editor in Chief of Pertanika Journal of Science and Technology and Editorial Member of Journal of Chemistry, Hindawi Publishing Corporation.