Crude oils contain chloride impurities, including some organic components termed as ‘organic chloride'. Owing to the high dissociation energy of the C‐Cl bond, organic chlorides are very difficult to remove during the desalting process unlike inorganic chloride salts. Failure to properly remove organic chlorides could have a significant adverse effect on petroleum refinery equipment in terms of corrosion during crude oil processing. Therefore, stringent specification of organic chlorides is being maintained throughout the refining process to avoid corrosion‐related incidents. Generally, a guard bed column is used for the removal of organic chlorides in the downstream of the refining process. Guard bed columns are comprised of metal oxide‐based components that operate at a very high temperature. In contrast, a phase transfer catalyst (PTC)‐based process for organic chloride removal at the upstream of the refining process is established up to lab‐scale and with model compounds only. This review is aimed to highlight the technical challenges associated with organic chloride contamination in refining processes and plausible methods and techniques available for smooth refining operations.

Sustainable supply and utilization of water is required for the global economy and growth. In order to cater the needs, seawater desalination by membrane technique, reverse osmosis (RO), have become more attractive to produce potable water. Despite the potential advantages of RO process, it has limitations like low water recovery, low selectivity, membrane fouling, high energy requirement and brine disposal. Recent progress and developments in membrane materials, membrane modules and processes had laid foundation to novel technologies. Membrane distillation (MD), forward osmosis (FO) and pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) are emerging as niche area of research for seawater desalination. It is noteworthy to mention that advances in FO and MD for desalination allows the entire operation at low hydraulic pressure, which reduces the fouling and improves the membrane life. Whereas PRO is an osmotically driven process that produces the green energy from the brine stream. On the other hand, hybrid desalination processes in combination with RO, emerging technologies and renewable energy sources are found to be efficient compared to stand alone technology with a reduced desalination cost. Although a wide number of literatures are available, but practical integration of current state-of-the-art and its gradual progress is rarely addressed. In this context we represent emerging FO, MD and PRO processes, its principles, development of membranes for energy minimization and improved performance. Various configurations of hybrid processes in combination with renewable energy resources have been evaluated. Significant technological development and emergence of new materials is anticipated to play the pivotal role to make membrane-based desalination technologies more efficient, green, and economical in near future.