Produced water is the largest waste stream generated in 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. However, current technologies cannot remove small-suspended oil particles and dissolved elements. Besides, many chemical treatments, whose initial and/or running cost are high and produce hazardous sludge. In onshore facilities, biological pretreatment of oily wastewater can be a cost-effective and environmental friendly method. As high salt concentration and variations of influent characteristics have 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 use of combined physico-chemical and/or biological treatment of produced water in order to comply with reuse and discharge limits.

The difficulties associated with transportation and refining of crude oil emulsions as well as produced water discharge limitations are among the conspicuous clues that have led the oilfield researchers to probe into practical demulsification methods for many decades.Inconsistent research outcomes observed in the literature for a particular demulsification method of a typical emulsion (i.e., water-in-oil or oil-in-water) arise not only from the varied influential parameters associated (such as salinity, temperature, pH, dispersed phase content, emulsifier/demulsifier concentration, droplet size, etc.), but also from the diverse types of emulsion constituents (namely oil, surfactant, salt, alkali, polymer, fine solids, and/or other chemicals/impurities). Being the main component in formation of stabilizing interfacial film surrounding the dispersed phase droplets, surfactant is the most predominant contributor to emulsion stability, extent of which depends on its nature (being ionic or nonionic, and its degree of hydrophilicity/lipophilicity), concentration and interaction with other surface-active agents in the emulsion, as well as on the salinity, temperature, and pH of the system. In this paper, it is endeavored to overview some of the most commonly exploited demulsification techniques (i.e., chemical, biological, membrane, electrical, and microwave irradiation) on both the oilfield and synthetic emulsions, taking into account the emulsion-stabilizing anddestabilizing effects with regard to the dominant parameters plus the emulsion composition.Further, the variations occurring in interfacial properties of emulsions by demulsification process are discussed. Finally, the mechanism(s) involved in emulsions resolution achieved by each method is elucidated. Clearly, the most efficient demulsification approach is the one able to attain desirable separation efficiency while complying with the environmental regulations and imposing the least economic burden on the petroleum industry.

A study on gasification of empty fruit bunch (EFB), a waste of the palm oil industry, was investigated. The composition and particle size distribution of feedstock were determined and the thermal degradation behaviour was analysed by a thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Then fluidized bed bench scale gasification unit was used to investigate the effect of the operating parameters on EFB air gasification namely reactor temperature in the range of 700-1000 °C, feedstock particle size in the range of 0.3-1.0 mm and equivalence ratio (ER) in the range of 0.15-0.35. The main gas species generated, as identified by a gas chromatography (GC), were H2, CO, CO2 and CH4. With temperature increasing from 700 °C to 1000 °C, the total gas yield was enhanced greatly and reached the maximum value (∼92 wt.%, on the raw biomass sample basis) at 1000 °C with big portions of H2 (38.02 vol.%) and CO (36.36 vol.%). Feedstock particle size showed an influence on the upgrading of H2, CO and CH4 yields. The feedstock particle size of 0.3-0.5 mm, was found to obtain a higher H2 yield (33.93 vol.%), and higher LHV of gas product (15.26 MJ/m3). Equivalence ratio (ER) showed a significant influence on the upgrading of hydrogen production and product distribution. The optimum ER (0.25) was found to attain a higher H2 yield (27.31 vol.%) at 850 °C. Due to the low efficiency of bench scale gasification unit the system needs to be scaling-up. The cost analysis for scale-up EFB gasification unit showed that the hydrogen supply cost is RM 6.70/kg EFB ($2.11/kg = $0.18/Nm3).

A disaster and a crisis are two different, and related events. The two terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Man-made disaster that occurs at an industrial organization, may develop into an industrial crisis. Crisis can happen to any organization. It has been noted that there were no universally accepted definitions yet developed for disaster and crisis. There is also no universally available criteria, to define the disaster in terms of the consequences, such as the casualties and the cost of damage. This paper reviews the definitions, types, characteristics, criteria and models of disaster and crisis. Also the types of crisis were rearranged and the differences between the disasters and crises have been summarized.

Oil palm is one of the major economic crops in many countries. Malaysia alone produces about 47% of the world's palm oil supply and can be considered as the world's largest producer and exporter of palm oil. Malaysia also generates huge quantity of oil palm biomass including oil palm trunks, oil palm fronds, empty fruit bunches (EFB), shells and fibers as waste from palm oil fruit harvest and oil extraction processing. At present there is a continuously increasing interest in the utilization of oil palm biomass as a source of clean energy. One of the major interests is hydrogen from oil palm biomass. Hydrogen from biomass is a clean and efficient energy source and is expected to take a significant role in future energy demand due to the raw material availability. This paper presents a review which focuses on different types of thermo-chemical processes for conversion of oil palm biomass to hydrogen rich gas. This paper offers a concise and upto-date scenario of the present status of oil palm industry in contributing towards sustainable and renewable energy.