Integrative and systematic review on biomass and waste co-gasification: challenges, trends, and future perspectives

Abstract

This work analyzed the evolution of research in gasification and co-gasification through a comprehensive bibliometric review from 2015 to 2025. To this end, it was necessary to develop a Python pipeline to consolidate records from Web of Science, Scopus, and ScienceDirect, given the failure of standard bibliometric software to reliably handle export format incompatibilities. Of the initial 128,056 records, 1,123 publications were defined under the PRISMA guidelines, focusing on thermodynamic modeling and Aspen Plus applications. The results indicate an exponential increase of 633% in publications, with China (34.5%) and Europe (28.7%) leading scientific production in 67 countries. Despite this remarkable growth, collaboration networks remained structurally fragmented. The analysis of the recent literature demonstrates that the focus has shifted slowly toward the issues of green hydrogen (8.7%), the circular economy (7.9%), and computational modeling (29.7%). Moreover, the patent information shows that there is an innovation gap of 3.2 years and a 3.6:1 publication-to-patent ratio. Although the field shows scientific maturity (h-index 89; average IF 8.4), commercial deployment is still limited, reinforcing the need for stronger international and industry-academic collaboration to advance gasification's role in global decarbonization.