Oil spill management to prevent desalination plant shutdown from the perspectives of offshore cleanup, seawater intake and onshore pretreatment

Seawater desalination has become a vital technology to address water demand in many coastal countries, its safe and efficient operation has become a crucial concern. Desalination facilities are susceptible to the quality of feed water, which is affected by several variables, such as raw seawater quality, seawater intake methods, and onshore pretreatment technologies. Oil and gas continue to be major commodities that are produced and transported globally. There is high risk of oil spills. Historically, severe desalination plant shutdowns have happened because of oil spills. Current oil spill response measures were developed to mitigate the impact of oil spills on maritime environment rather than prevent desalination shutdown. The drinking water storage for many countries in Gulf region last only a few days, which underscores the vital importance to use all available technologies to remove oil contaminants rapidly and effectively from seawater during oil spills and avoid exhausting the limited water stock. This article comprehensively reviewed the applicability and limitation of various oil-removing technologies from three aspects: offshore oil spill cleanup, seawater intake, and onshore pretreatment. An integrated solution based on all the aspects is required to robustly safeguard seawater quality and prevent desalination plant shutdown in the event of oil spills.