Petroleum Nano-Catalysts; a Path to Development

There is no doubt that the world is facing difficult challenges in accessing energy. Energy has declined due to factors such as global population growth, competitive demand from various users, increasing global industrialization and mechanization, and increasing technical development and living standards. Therefore, the search for alternative energy sources that can be produced from natural sources is essential. Like any other sector in the oil and gas industry, it needs to use new technologies to improve performance and optimize production. Today, one of the most important technologies used in the world in these industries is nanotechnology. Nanotechnology means improving the performance or production of materials, equipment and systems in the dimensions of 1 to 100 nanometers. Nanotechnology is the study and use of very small tools and can be used in all other fields of science, such as chemistry, biology, physics, materials science, and engineering. The role of nanotechnology in downstream industries is more prominent due to lower costs and the presence of private industries in that area, while nanotechnology has many applications in upstream industries. Nanotechnology, due to the changes it makes in the microstructures of materials, causes new properties or intensifies the previous properties of materials. The use of these new properties in the oil and gas industry solves many of the problems of this industry. Applications of nanotechnology in the oil and gas industry include reducing friction with the help of nano-lubricants, increasing the surface area and thus increasing the catalytic properties of catalysts, reducing the amount of fulling and increasing the filtration efficiency.