Recovery and utilisation of waste heat from flue/exhaust gases: a bibliometric analysis (2010-2022)

Bemgba Bevan Nyakuma; Nur Izwanne Mahyon; Meng Soon Chiong; Srithar Rajoo; Apostolos Pesiridis; Syie Luing Wong; Ricardo Martinez-Botas

doi:10.1007/s11356-023-28791-4

Recovery and utilisation of waste heat from flue/exhaust gases: a bibliometric analysis (2010-2022)

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 Aug;30(39):90522-90546. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-28791-4. Epub 2023 Jul 21.

Authors

Bemgba Bevan Nyakuma¹, Nur Izwanne Mahyon², Meng Soon Chiong^{2

3}, Srithar Rajoo^{2

3}, Apostolos Pesiridis⁴, Syie Luing Wong⁵, Ricardo Martinez-Botas⁶

Affiliations

¹ UTM Centre for Low Carbon Transport (LoCARtic), Institute for Vehicle Systems & Engineering (IVeSE), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia. bbnyax1@gmail.com.
² UTM Centre for Low Carbon Transport (LoCARtic), Institute for Vehicle Systems & Engineering (IVeSE), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia.
³ Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia.
⁴ Centre for Advanced Powertrain & Fuels Research, Department of Mechanical, Aerospace & Civil Engineering, Brunel University London, London, UB8 3PH, UK.
⁵ Dpto. Matemática Aplicada, Ciencia E Niemiera de Materiales Y Tecnología Electrónica, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, C/Tulipán S/N, Móstoles, 28933, Madrid, Spain.
⁶ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2BX, UK.

PMID: 37479929
DOI: 10.1007/s11356-023-28791-4

Abstract

The recovery and utilisation of waste heat from flue/exhaust gases (RU/WHFG) could potentially provide sustainable energy while curbing pollutant emissions. Over time, the RU/WHFG research landscape has gained significant traction and yielded innovative technologies, sustainable strategies, and publications. However, critical studies highlighting current advancements, publication trends, research hotspots, major stakeholders, and future research directions on RU/WHFG research remain lacking. Therefore, this paper presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis and literature review of the RU/WHFG research landscape based on publications indexed in Scopus. Results showed that 123 publications and 2191 citations were recovered between 2010 and 2022. Publication trends revealed that the growing interest in RU/WHFG is mainly due to environmental concerns (e.g. pollution, global warming, and climate change), research collaborations, and funding availability. Stakeholder analysis revealed that numerous researchers, affiliations, and countries have actively contributed to the growth and development of RU/WHFG. Lin Fu and Tsinghua University (China) are the most prolific researchers and affiliations, whereas the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and China are the most prolific funder and country, respectively. Funding availability from influential schemes such as NSFC has accounted for China's dominance. Keyword co-occurrence identified three major research hotspots, namely, thermal energy utilisation and management (cluster 1), integrated energy and resource recovery (cluster 2), and system analysis and optimisation (cluster 3). Literature review revealed that researchers are currently focused on maximising thermodynamic/energy efficiency, fuel minimisation, and emission reduction. Despite progress, research gaps remain in low-temperature/low-grade waste heat recovery, utilisation, storage, life cycle, and environmental impact analysis.

Keywords: Bibliometrics; Energy efficiency; Flue/exhaust gases; Thermal energy; Waste heat recovery; Waste heat utilisation; Waste to energy.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Altruism*
Bibliometrics
Gases
Hot Temperature*
Humans
Temperature

Substances

Gases