Cellulose (2021) 28:9857–9871 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-021-04122-z (0123456789().,-volV) (0123456789().,-volV)
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Applications of cellulose-based agents for fl occulation processes: a bibliometric analysis
Alejandro Barrero-Fernández . Roberto Aguado . AnaMoral . Celeste Brindley . Menta Ballesteros
Received: 21 May 2021 / Accepted: 28 July 2021 © The Author(s) 2021, corrected publication 2021
Abstract Not surprisingly, cellulose-based agents for wastewater treatments, and more precisely for coagulation-flocculation processes, raise growing interest, boosted not only by the high availability, functionality, renewability, and biodegradability of cellulose, but also by the outstanding performance of their derivatives. The analysis of 460 publications including review papers, research articles and book chapters, among others, reveals a multidisciplinary approach, where the fields Materials Science, Chem- istry, Chemical Engineering and Environmental Science play a major role. In terms of institutions, some of the most relevant contributors are the Wuhan University, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Universi- dad Complutense de Madrid, to name a few. The Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-021-04122-z. A. Barrero-Ferna´ndez · A. Moral · M. Ballesteros ( & ) Molecular Biology and Biochemical Engineering Department, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Ctra. de Utrera km 1, 41013 Seville, Spain e-mail: mmbalmar@upo.es R. Aguado Department of Chemistry, CQC, Universidade de Coimbra, Rua Larga, 3004-535 Coimbra, Portugal C. Brindley Department of Chemical Engineering, Universidad de Almer´ıa, La Can˜ada de San Urbano s/n, 04120 Almer´ıa, Spain
most relevant journals were found to be Carbohy- drate Polymers , International Journal of Applied Polymer Science and Cellulose . An analysis of 332 keywords allowed us to classify works into three major clusters (besides two minor ones): one mostly defined by cellulose and coagulation ; a second one championed by fl occulation and cellulose derivatives ; and a third one including wastewater treatment and polysaccharides . While the evolution of the scientific production leaves little doubt about it, as depicted in this bibliometric study, this is the first work providing an in-depth assessment and classification of the literature on cellulose for particle aggregation purposes.
Keywords Bibliometric study · Cellulose · Coagulation-flocculation · Wastewater treatment
Introduction
Every day, manufacturing industries produce large volumes of wastewater that, due to the presence of barely biodegradable and persistent contaminants, alter the physical, chemical and biological properties of natural water bodies (Teles et al. 2020). Some of these contaminants are also harmful to human health (Kasonga et al. 2021). Remediation techniques, whose choice depends on the type of wastewater, include, among others, sedimentation, ionic exchange, biodegradation, adsorption on activated
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