Membrane Technology in Deep Seawater Exploration: A Mini Review

Deep seawater is a valuable renewable resource. Due to its outstanding characteristics (i.e., clean, nutrient-rich and cold), deep seawater has been utilized in various subjects, such as mariculture, agriculture, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, medical, and renewable energy. As a result, deep seawater utilization cannot be separated from membrane technologies. Reverse osmosis has become the most common desalination process to prepare deep-sea drinking water with microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes as the essential pretreatments to remove organisms, biomass and other pollutants. Besides, nanofiltration and electrodialysis have been very useful to reduce fouling, increase water recovery, and extract valuable minerals and metals, such as lithium, uranium, precious metals, and rare earth elements from deep seawater. This review paper discusses these aspects, comprehensively.