A comprehensive review on desalination using membrane-based technologies in India: A bibliometric analysis and meta-analysis

Desalination using membrane-based technologies has proved to be an efficient technique to minimize the vast repercussions of water scarcity compared to other existing desalination methods. Research and development in membrane desalination technologies are rapidly growing in India, keeping pace with global trends. The research landscape in India is expanding to develop and implement modern desalination technology, while India has realized the importance of tackling water scarcity, particularly in water-stressed regions. In this context, the current study focuses on membrane distillation research in India with the help of bibliometric and meta-analysis. According to the bibliometric analysis, research on membrane desalination is in the growth phase and is expected to last at least another 20 years. The desalination process is found to be influenced by several factors, such as pore size, surface charge, and transmembrane pressure with a significant range of variation. The study conducted by several researchers with diversified process conditions, measurement and methodology is affected by inconsistent results across studies, different sample populations, variability in precision, publication bias, fragmented literature, etc. In this context, the application of meta-analysis has been explored to develop a comprehensive revisit of literature with meaningful outcome from the diversified studies. According to meta- analysis, salt rejection rates employing ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, and reverse osmosis were 32 %, 41 %, and 95 %, respectively. Results indicate that the current efforts in membrane-based technologies within the Indian context contain enormous promise for a significant breakthrough in research on desalination. Furthermore, the present systematic review through meta-analysis can be considered to be an efficient tool for comprehensive data driven decision in technology selection and process identification in similar area of desalination.