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In this chapter, the main problems associated with brine discharge, specifically its impact on the marine environment, are discussed. The use of different brine disposal methods alongside the environmental concerns associated with each respective method is presented. Modeling brine discharge using existing software tools are briefly discussed. Brine management options noted in the literature are placed in two main categories, thermal and membrane processes. In addition, this chapter presents the potential applications reported in the literature for brine salts that can be extracted displaying industrial uses.

The rheological properties of heavy crude oil and its mixture with light crude oil were investigated experimentally. These rheological properties include steady flow behavior, yield stress, transient flow behavior, thixotropy behavior, and viscoelastic behavior. A RheoStress RS100 rheometer was employed in all of the rheological examination tests. The heavy crude oil exhibits a non-Newtonian shear thinning behavior over the examined shear rate range of 0.1–750 s − 1 . The viscosity of the heavy crude oil decreases considerably with temperature over the range of 25–65 °C. The addition of 10% light crude oil to the heavy crude oil, to form 10% HLCO mixture, causes a strong reduction in the heavy crude oil viscosity from 10 Pa.s to 1.2 Pa.s at 25 °C. An even higher viscosity reduction from 10 Pa.s to 0.375 Pa.s at 25 °C can be achieved in the presence of 20% light crude oil. The yield stress of the heavy crude oil reaches 0.7 Pa at a room temperature of 25 °C and it decreases to 0.4 Pa at 65 °C. The tested samples of heavy crude oil, 10% HLCO mixture, and 20% HLCO mixture exhibit time independent flow behavior. The heavy crude oil shows a thixotropic area of 321.65 kPa/s at 25 °C and decreases to 118.62 kPa/s at 65 °C. The presence of the light crude oil eliminates the thixotropic behavior of the heavy crude oil. The complex modulus of the heavy crude oil decreases significantly with temperature. The addition of 10% of the light crude oil strongly reduces the values of the complex modulus of the heavy crude oil. From the comparison of the storage and loss moduli values for the heavy crude oil, it is found that the heavy crude and its blends flow in a viscous liquid behavior. The 10% and 20% of the HLCO mixtures display viscous behavior as well. The storage and loss moduli of the heavy crude oil decrease significantly by the addition of 10% light crude oil.

Different methods of reducing the viscosity of heavy crude oil to enhance the flow properties were investigated. Experimental measurements were conducted using RheoStress RS100 from Haake. Several factors such as shear rate, temperature and light oil concentration on the viscosity behavior have been studied. This study shows that the blending of the heavy crude oil with a limited amount of lighter crude oil provided better performance than the other alternatives. Experimental measurements in terms of shear stress τ–shear rate γ ˙ , and yield stress τ0 were conducted on the mixture of heavy crude oil–light crude oil (O-light). The results showed a significant viscosity reduction of 375 mPa s at a room temperature of 25 °C. This study shows that the heavy crude oil required a yield stress of 0.7 Pa, whereas no yield stress was reported for the heavy crude oil–light crude oil mixture.

The impact of hydraulic retention time (HRT) on the performance and microbial community structure of control and electro‐bioreactors was investigated. Control bioreactors and electro‐bioreactors were operated at HRT ranging between 6 and 75 hr. The total bacterial counts in addition to the removal efficiency of NH 4 +–N, sCOD, and PO 4 3−–P was assessed in all the reactors tested. In addition, Illumina sequencing was performed to determine the microbial communities that developed in these reactors under each HRT condition. Phylogenetic analysis showed that Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes were the dominant phyla in those reactors. In addition, Nitrospira sp. and Pseudomonas sp. were found to be present in electro‐bioreactors with higher relative abundance than in control bioreactors. The results presented here are the first to determine what different microbial communities in wastewater electro‐bioreactors due to the application of an electric current under different HRTs.

Oily wastewater poses significant threats to the soil, water, air and human beings because of the hazardous nature of its oil contents. The objective of this review paper is to highlight the current and recently developed methods for oily wastewater treatment through which contaminants such as oil, fats, grease, and inorganics can be removed for safe applications. These include electrochemical treatment, membrane filtration, biological treatment, hybrid technologies, use of biosurfactants, treatment via vacuum ultraviolet radiation, and destabilization of emulsions through the use of zeolites and other natural minerals. This review encompasses innovative and novel approaches to oily wastewater treatment and provides scientific background for future work that will be aimed at reducing the adverse impact of the discharge of oily wastewater into the environment. The current challenges affecting the optimal performance of oily wastewater treatment methods and opportunities for future research development in this field are also discussed.

The influence of sludge properties in SMEBR and conventional MBR pilot systems on membrane fouling was investigated. Generated data were analyzed using statistical analysis Pearson’s product momentum correlation coefficient ( r p ). Analysis showed that TMP had strong direct ( r p = 0.9182) and inverse ( r p = −0.9205) correlations to mean particle size diameter in MBR and SMEBR, respectively. TMP in SMEBR had a strong direct correlation to the sludge mixed liquor suspended solids concentration (MLSS) ( r p = 0.7757) while a weak direct correlation ( r p = 0.1940) was observed in MBR. SMEBR showed a moderate inverse correlation ( r p = −0.6118) between TMP and soluble carbohydrates (EPS c ) and a very weak direct correlation ( r p = 0.3448) to soluble proteins (EPS p ). Conversely, EPS p in MBR had more significant impact ( r p = 0.4856) on membrane fouling than EPS c ( r p = 0.3051). The results provide insight into optimization of operational conditions in SMEBR system to overcome membrane fouling.