A Review of Application of Nanotechnology in Wastewater Treatment in Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Industries

The increase in population and the expansion of industries have led to the pollution and reduction of many natural resources, including water resources. Widespread use of these resources in domestic, agricultural and industrial uses has led to the entry of pollutants and limited water resources. One of these industries is the oil and gas industry and related sectors, such as petrochemicals, which introduce many pollutants such as heavy metals, aromatics, etc. into water sources. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the correct use of these resources and strategies for treatment and reuse of wastewater. Various methods are used for wastewater treatment such as flocculation, adsorption, filtration, etc., but each of them has some limitations such as low efficiency or high cost. The use of nanotechnology is one of the solutions that has recently been considered. This method improves performance by reducing the dimension of material to nanometers. There are different types of nanomaterials that due to their unique properties such as larger surface area, ability to work at low concentrations, etc., have great potential for treating contaminated water very effectively. Studies show they can be used in various forms such as nano-adsorbents, nano-membranes, nano-filters and nano-photocatalysts to remove or reduce contaminants specially from oil, gas and petrochemical wastewater. In this review, the importance and application of nanotechnology has been discussed in wastewater treatment in oil, gas and petrochemical.