Bibliometric Analysis of Hydrothermal Wastewater Treatment in the Last Two Decades

The reuse of wastewater expands its area of influence due in part to the water crisis and the increase in population in urban areas. Technologically, the methods of the treatment and separation of toxic agents have been diversified to provide water with a second use. The objective of this work was to evaluate the growth and development of science in the hydrothermal wastewater treatment (HTAR) through a bibliometric analysis. The keywords directly obtained from the treatment method were used in order to carry out the integration of related published research, and the terms used in the search both separately and crossly were “treatment, hydrothermal, wastewater” in the database from SCOPUS; 97 response records were filtered to 87 documents that were analyzed using BIBLIMETRIX as the R Statistical interface. According to the results obtained, the trend of documents published is shown, with 17 articles in 2023 and 21 in 2024. The author with the highest number of contributions on the topic is Yuanhui Zhang. The countries most involved in this issue are China, the U.S.A., and Japan; China was the one with the highest number of publications. The scientific and technological development regarding the HTAR is shown; and that, technology is aimed at the use and generation of energy. In addition, hydrothermal liquefaction treatment is being investigated to generate biocrude and bio-oils; the hydrothermal carbonization treatment for the generation of hydrochar; and the hydrothermal gasification treatment to produce methane and hydrogen; all from biomass with a high moisture content.