Bibliometric Evaluation of Research in Hydrochar and Bio-oil

Using biomass to produce an alternative and sustainable source of energy is an attractive possibility. Hydrothermal carbonization is a relatively new technique that is growing in popularity due to the fact that its products have use not only as a source of energy but also in the fields of nanotechnology and material science. The purpose of this study is to examine current research trends and characteristics of hydrochar and bio-oil, the solid and liquid products of hydrothermal carbonization, during the periods of 2009-2018 and 2010-2018, respectively. A bibliometric analysis was performed in order to have a better understanding of the current research being done in the fields of hydrochar and bio oil and their different applications. The implication of this study is to shed light on the potential uses of the by-products (hydrochar and bio-oil) produced by the thermochemical technique, hydrothermal carbonization. Using the Web of Science Core Database, 659 articles discussing hydrochar and 71 articles analyzing bio-oil were examined. Furthermore, scientific research produced by various institutions, journals, authors and countries have been recorded and scrutinized. Gephi was used for network analysis of relative co-authors, co-citations and co-keywords used within the two fields.