The management and treatment of brine (saline wastewater) are of great importance, as its discharge to the environment poses a significant threat. A new strategy called minimal liquid discharge (MLD) appears to be a promising and more cost-effective option than zero liquid discharge (ZLD) as it uses only membrane-based technologies, leading to up to 95 % freshwater recovery. This research study introduces and presents for the first time a techno-economic assessment of five MLD treatment schemes that can be implemented in the brine treatment. The technologies included are reverse osmosis (RO), high-pressure RO, forward osmosis (FO), osmotically assisted RO (OARO), and membrane distillation (MD). Results showed that the MLD schemes costs ranged from US$0.79/m(3) to US$1.36/m(3), while the freshwater recovery ranged from 78 % to 89 %. In schemes 2 and 5, the implementation of MD substantially increased the energy consumption (>20 kW h/m(3)), however, these schemes were more economical (

Keywords:Minimal liquid discharge (MLD);Zero liquid discharge (ZLD);Brine management;High-Salinity wastewater treatment;Industrial wastewater treatment;Techno-economic analysis