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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Commodity Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #409890
Research Project: Development of Novel Cottonseed Products and Processes

Location: Commodity Utilization Research

Title: Research status, trends, and mechanisms of biochar adsorption for wastewater treatment: a scientometric review

Author
item WANG, YUYAO - Chinese Research Academy Of Environmental Sciences
item CHEN, LIANG - Chinese Research Academy Of Environmental Sciences
item ZHU, YUANRONG - Chinese Research Academy Of Environmental Sciences
item FANG, WEN - Chinese Research Academy Of Environmental Sciences
item TAN, YIDAN - Chinese Research Academy Of Environmental Sciences
item He, Zhongqi
item LIAO, HAIQING - Chinese Research Academy Of Environmental Sciences

Submitted to: Environmental Science Europe
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/6/2024
Publication Date: 2/12/2024
Citation: Wang, Y., Chen, L., Zhu, Y., Fang, W., Tan, Y., He, Z., Liao, H. 2024. Research status, trends, and mechanisms of biochar adsorption for wastewater treatment: a scientometric review. Environmental Science Europe. 36. Article 25. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-024-00859-z.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-024-00859-z

Interpretive Summary: Biochar is a dark (black) porous solid that consists mainly of amorphous carbon and is obtained as a residue when woody residues, agricultural byproducts, animal bones, or other biomass materials is partially burned or heated with limited access to air. In last couple of decades, biocar has been intensively explored for its potential applications as a durable soil healthy enhancer and an environmental remediator. Currently, wastewater treatment is one of the hot topics in biochar research as the rapid development of industry and urbanization worldwide produces a great deal of wastewater and water pollution, which, if not treated properly, will endanger the living environment and human health. This paper presents a bibliometric analysis of biochar adsorption for wastewater treatment research published from 2011 to 2022, using the scientometric visualization tools provided by the CiteSpace software. Findings from this study would provide novel insight into the hot topics on the biochar research, thus aiding in the development of future research directions.

Technical Abstract: In last decade, biochar research has emerged as a hot topic in water treatment studies and biochar application has become one of the primary wastewater treatment strategies. In this work, we conducted bibliometric and scientometric analysis using the Web of Science core collection database to examine research patterns and frontier areas in endeavors of biochar adsorption for wastewater treatment. We selected 2673 papers on biochar adsorption for wastewater treatment published from 2011 to 2022. For a comprehensive understanding of the research status and trends in biochar adsorption for wastewater treatment, we employed advanced quantitative and visual analysis tools (i. e., CiteSpace and ArcGIS). The results showed that China emerged as the leading country with the highest number of published articles, mainly attributed to the contributions made by its Academy of Sciences. For individual contributions, Yong Sik Ok (Korea) notably emerged as a prolific author in biochar adsorption-wastewater treatment research. While adsorption of biochar involves multi-disciplinary and multi-domain research, its current focus is on the magnetic adsorption of biochar in wastewater. Further research should focus on optimizating doable parameters involved in the production of biochar to improve the adsorption capacity of biochar, and apply it to practical applications. These findings provide valuable insights on the historical, current, and future trends in biochar research, beneficial to solve the practical problems of water pollution and improve the quality of the environment.