Activated carbon production from Polystyrene Co-Pyrolysis: a bibliometric analysis

The recurring environmental impacts caused using plastics are driving research focused on the sustainable utilization of waste to reduce pollution. One widely used material is activated carbon, studied in various forms to adsorb contaminants in unwanted locations. Thus, polystyrene can be used as a material to be treated through co-pyrolysis to generate activated carbon capable of interacting with contaminant residues. In this context, this study presents a bibliometric analysis on the production of activated carbon from the co-pyrolysis of polystyrene, providing a comprehensive view of the current state of research in this field, identifying trends, key authors, leading institutions, and emerging research areas. The methodology included searching for relevant articles in scientific databases, followed by a bibliometric analysis covering aspects such as activated carbon production, co-pyrolysis processes, characteristics of the produced material, and its applications. The results reveal that the annual scientific production increased at a rate of 18.43% during the period from 2010 to 2023, with recent years being crucial to this significant growth rate. The institutions Federal University of Espírito Santo (Brazil), Indian Institute of Technology (India), and Zhejiang University (China) lead the ranking of scientific publications. An important aspect of article production is not only the quantitative analysis but also the relevance, impacting subsequent work. In this scenario, China stands out significantly, with 389 citations in this period, followed by the United Kingdom with 176 citations. India, which has the second-highest production, has 31 citations, behind South Korea, Pakistan, and Spain, with 75, 54, and 39 citations, respectively.