Advancements in CO2 pipeline transportation technology: a bibliometric analysis and knowledge mapping study

• First systematic bibliometric analysis mapping CO 2 pipeline transport knowledge evolution. • Supercritical transport dominates; impurity impacts require urgent research focus. • Europe/US lead in foundational research; China shows rapid growth trajectory. • Critical gaps identified: multiphase flow dynamics, intelligent monitoring, material durability. Driven by global carbon neutrality goals, CO 2 pipeline transportation—a critical component of the CCUS chain—has attracted increasing research attention. While numerous studies have addressed technical issues such as corrosion, impurity effects, multiphase flow, and leakage monitoring, the existing literature remains fragmented and lacks systematic review. This study analyzes 1187 core publications from the Web of Science (2014–2025) using bibliometric analysis and knowledge mapping to outline the research structure, technological hotspots, and evolutionary trends in CO 2 pipeline transportation, constructing a comprehensive “technology roadmap”. The findings highlight three dominant technical themes: the synergistic mechanisms of corrosion and impurities, multiphase flow and phase transition behavior, and AI-enabled intelligent monitoring. Research on “supercritical CO 2 ″ surged by 340 % from 2018 to 2023, confirming its dominance in transportation. Meanwhile, ”machine learning“ emerged as a new keyword with a burst intensity of 3.21 during 2023–2025, signaling the rise of intelligent monitoring as a research frontier. However, despite growing AI applications, current studies often lack explainability analysis and cost-benefit assessments, with notable limitations in handling small-sample imbalanced data and optimizing sensor layouts. Critical research gaps persist: a unified predictive model for ”water-saturated supercritical CO 2 ″ corrosion is absent; coupled mechanisms involving impurities, hydrates, and corrosion lack multi-physics models; and insufficient full-scale rupture data undermines validation of depressurization simulations. Methodologically, fewer than 5 % of studies combine experiments with CFD validation, limiting engineering applicability. This study pioneers the integration of bibliometric indicators with techno-economic metrics such as LCO 2 T, proposing a three-dimensional “Technology-Economy-Policy” framework. It reveals that compression energy accounts for 35–55 % of total transport costs, yet related studies comprise only 2.3 % of the literature, highlighting a key optimization direction. Although China leads in publication volume (31.7 %), it lags in highly cited papers and foundational theory contributions, indicating a need to enhance research quality and influence. In summary, this review provides a systematic quantitative assessment of CO 2 pipeline transportation research, offering a decision-making basis for researchers, policymakers, and engineers. Future efforts should focus on multi-scale experimental validation, integrating explainability and economics into AI models, and advancing studies on social acceptance and policy coordination to support the high-quality development of CCUS systems and global carbon neutrality.