A bibliometric analysis of CO₂ methanation: research trends and comprehension of effective catalysts

Research has focused on the threat of global warming-induced climate change to modern human civilization. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is a primary greenhouse gas that causes global warming. Current efforts have focused on using CO₂ as a raw source for producing value-added chemicals. Among the different CO₂ conversion processes, the Sabatier process, also known as “CO₂ methanation,” is an effective approach, particularly if H₂ is generated by renewable energy sources. In this process, methane (CH₄) and water (H₂O) are produced from CO₂ and H₂ using different transition-metal-based catalysts. Although numerous studies have been conducted to assess the significance of CO₂ methanation, quantitative analysis of the publication trends in this research field is still lacking. This review presents the global research landscape of CO₂ methanation over the last 20 years (2000–2022). The Web of Science (WoS) database was used to extract 1657 publications, and the VOSviewer software was used for bibliometric investigations. Bibliometric analysis revealed that 77.53% of the papers were published within the past 5 years (2018–2022). The International journal of hydrogen energy is leading journal publishing research articles about CO₂ methanation followed by Applied Catalysis B. This study conducted a statistical analysis on the influence of leading countries, institutions, journals, authors, and top keywords in the field of CO₂ methanation. Additionally, future research directions and findings of the most cited publications are discussed. Because the CO₂ methanation reaction requires a highly stable and active catalyst, a brief introduction and major challenges of these catalysts are also reviewed. We hope that bibliometric findings will help scholars to understand this field of research more effectively and comprehensively.