Recent trends in conversion of rice straw into bioethanol: A bibliometric analysis

Abstract

Second-generation bioethanol produced from lignocellulosic biomass, such as rice straw, is the optimal choice for development due to its abundant availability, sustainability, and lack of competition with food sources. A comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the literature on bioethanol production from rice straw was conducted to identify research trends, knowledge gaps, and provide suggestions for further investigation. A total of 483 relevant publications from 2004 to June 2024 were gathered from the Scopus database. The bibliometric analysis was performed using VOSviewer. India emerged as the most productive country, while the United States emerged as the most influential country with the highest Total Citation to Total Publication ratio. According to the keyword occurrence analysis, the terms “rice straw,” “production,” “fermentation,” and “bioethanol” are the most commonly cited terms in all publications. Keyword analysis also indicates the recent research focus, which has predominantly centered on the pretreatment of rice straw. The results of the bibliometric study offer a comprehensive overview and suggest future directions for bioethanol production from rice straw.