Production of ethanol from biomass - Recent research, scientometric review and future perspectives

Conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into ethanol presents combined advantages of waste to value conversion and alternative fuel generation. Synthesis of fermentable sugars from the biomass fractions, namely cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, is a challenging process. Bioethanol, identified as a sustainable solution to fossil fuels, has gained significant attention with an annual global production of 29 billion tonnes. The need for pretreatment of biomass is justified to enhance the bioethanol conversion efficiency. This study is aimed to present the current research in the field of bioethanol production and analyze the research conducted on bioethanol production during the period 2009 to 2019. The searching keyword is bioethanol and the related data were collected from the WoS database and VOSviewer. The literatures are analysed by various modes such as type of document, language, leading authors, journals, institutions, and keywords. The results show that, the highest number of publications in bioethanol production was done by China, USA, Brazil, and India. It was also observed that the increase in number of author's contributions lead to higher number of publications. A total of 37,935 authors contributed in the bioethanol production research and average author per publication (AAPP) is 4.72. The average productivity per author (PPA) is 0.21. This study provides statistical information to the researchers to facilitate an impactful sharing of their research results.

Automated summary

The conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into ethanol offers both waste to value conversion and alternative fuel generation. However, synthesizing fermentable sugars from the biomass fractions is a challenging task. This study analyzes the research conducted on bioethanol production between 2009 and 2019, providing statistical information on authors, institutions, and journals.