{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,3]],"date-time":"2026-10-03T18:39:48Z","timestamp":1791052788112,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,2]],"date-time":"2026-08-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785628800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100016929","name":"YUTP FRG","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["015LC0-557"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["015LC0-557"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100016929","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"YUTP Postgraduate Research Grant","award":["015PBC-042"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["015PBC-042"]}]},{"name":"CGS","award":["015BD1-001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["015BD1-001"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100009614","name":"Petroleum Technology Development Fund","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100009614","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03zj57g67","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Polymers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Paraffin wax precipitation and deposition significantly hinder crude oil production and transportation by reducing flow efficiency, increasing operational downtime, and requiring costly remediation procedures. Conventional wax mitigation methods commonly rely on environmentally unfriendly chemicals and energy-intensive thermal or mechanical treatments. This study investigates the use of a natural polymer from Swietenia macrophylla (Mahogany), modified with metal nanoparticles (MNPs), namely silver oxide (Ag2O), zinc oxide (ZnO), and silver-doped zinc oxide (Ag-ZnO), for petroleum wax inhibition. Material characterization was conducted using FTIR, TGA and GC-MS analyses, while performance evaluation employed rheological measurements, Cross-Polarized Microscopy (CPM), and pour point testing. GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of oxygenated fatty acid esters such as glycidyl oleate (59.61%) and glycidyl palmitate (16.86%). These compounds indicate the presence of hydrocarbon-compatible and surface-active constituents beneficial for wax crystal modification. FTIR spectra further confirmed carbonyl, aliphatic hydrocarbon, and ether functionalities associated with natural wax-mitigation compounds and effective MNP binding sites. The application of 2 wt% polymeric materials demonstrated significant wax inhibition performance. The unmodified polymer reduced the activation energy (Ea) for crude oil flow by 49.4 kJ\u00b7mol\u22121 from the virgin crude oil value of 213.6 kJ\u00b7mol\u22121. The polymer + ZnO formulation achieved the highest pour point reduction of 1.72 \u00b0C, while polymer + Ag-ZnO recorded the greatest viscosity reduction of 77.1% at 1 s\u22121 and 91.6% at 200 s\u22121. This study demonstrates, for the first time, the potential of Swietenia macrophylla-derived nanocomposite polymers as sustainable and effective wax mitigation agents for waxy crude oil systems.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/polym18151898","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T01:43:27Z","timestamp":1785721407000},"page":"1898","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Application of Swietenia macrophylla Polymer\/Nanocomposites for Mitigating Paraffin Wax Deposition"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-6459-0336","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Abubakar","family":"Aji","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Petroleum Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP), Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5200-8491","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mysara Eissa","family":"Mohyaldinn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Petroleum Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP), Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia"},{"name":"Center of Flow Assurance, Institute of Sustainable Energy & Resources, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP), Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hisham Khaled","family":"Ben Mahmud","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Engineering, Sohar University, Sohar 311, Oman"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Abdullah","family":"Abduljabbar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Petroleum Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP), Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia"},{"name":"Center of Flow Assurance, Institute of Sustainable Energy & Resources, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP), Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6672-8649","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ibnelwaleed A.","family":"Hussein","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Gas Processing Center, College of Engineering, Qatar University, Doha P.O. Box 2713, Qatar"},{"name":"Chemical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Qatar University, Doha P.O. Box 2713, Qatar"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Elkatory, M.R., Soliman, E.A., El Nemr, A., Hassaan, M.A., Ragab, S., El-Nemr, M.A., and Pantaleo, A. (2022). Mitigation and Remediation Technologies of Waxy Crude Oils\u2019 Deposition within Transportation Pipelines: A Review. Polymers, 14.","DOI":"10.3390\/polym14163231"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6","DOI":"10.54279\/mijeec.v3i3.246281","article-title":"Paraffin Wax Deposition and Its Remediation Methods on Crude Oil Pipelines: A Systematic Review","volume":"3","author":"Elarbe","year":"2022","journal-title":"Maejo Int. J. Energy Environ. 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