Seawater desalination: A review of technologies, environmental impacts, and future perspectives

Given the increase in population, climatic change, and scarcity of fresh water, seawater desalination has become one of the most important alternative sources of water for the world. This paper provides an integrated technology assessment of reverse osmosis (RO), multi-stage flash (MSF), multi-effect distillation (MED), and electrodialysis (ED) desalination methods and a bibliometric review for the period 2010–2025. For the first time, the three perspectives of technology, sustainability, and socio-environmental research trends are integrated. This provides a holistic view of the most important advances and most pressing challenges facing the desalination industry. Despite advances in energy efficiency, RO technology continues to dominate. Thermal desalination, especially MSF, continues to be widely used in the middle east under the influence of specific geopolitical and regional factors, the availability of waste heat, and the salinity of the intake water. Falling MSF technology costs and greater focus on waste heat recovery will increase the export of ZLD systems. MSF costs are balanced by low-value dump brine, and the MSF systems improve ZLD. Global bibliometric trends reveal a strong focus on energy and water supply systems and hybrid desalination systems. Finally, research gaps and future directions has to focus on the integration of renewable energy, advanced membranes, and data-driven optimization to achieve environmentally and economically viable desalination.