Bibliometric analysis of research progress in coal catalytic pyrolysis from 1973–2024: a review

To meet this increasing energy demand, many countries are implementing strategies to utilize various energy sources. Increasing the installed energy capacity is an important part of reducing CO₂ emissions. Many abundant energy sources, including wind, solar, biomass, and tar-rich coal, are used for electricity generation worldwide. As it is easily accessible, tar-rich coal is considered a reliable source for stable electricity production. Extensive studies have explored various methods to convert tar-rich coal into energy, with pyrolysis emerging as an innovative approach for this purpose. This study aimed to analyze the trends in the use of pyrolysis worldwide using bibliometric analysis focused on new keywords. Between 1973 and 2024, 1,016 scientific studies explored various aspects of pyrolysis for converting tar-rich coal into an energy source. To assess the adaptability of coal pyrolysis, the development of publications and citations over time has been examined. The main contributing countries, leading journals, and top researchers were identified to assist in future research in this field. The results showed an 8.06% increase in interest in coal pyrolysis. China was the most active provider and collaborator, followed by the United States, Japan, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Fuel, Energy & Fuels, Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, Fuel Processing Technology , and Journal of Fuel Chemistry and Technology are some of the leading journals that focus on coal pyrolysis. This research established a collaborative framework to expand the study of coal pyrolysis as an energy production method using bibliometric analysis of previous studies.