The emergence of adsorptive membrane treatment for pollutants removal – A mini bibliometric analysis study

Owing to its toxic and cancer-causing consequences on living organisms, water pollution has garnered worldwide attention. As a result of the severe global drinking water shortages caused by the presence of several contaminants in water sources, a variety of treatment methods have been developed. Among accessible removal methods, adsorptive removal by adsorbents including metal–organic frameworks (MOF), metal oxide, carbon-based substances, and zeolite has garnered a great deal of interest because of their abundance of functional groups, relatively large surface area, great chemical and thermal resistance, and excellent adsorption efficiency. Due to their outstanding efficacy and proficiency in the water treatment process, adsorptive membranes are regarded as one of the most advantageous and promising solutions for wastewater reuse technologies. The combination of adsorption and membrane filtration processes, which are characterized by rapid adsorption–desorption volumes, relatively low diffusion impedance, and high flow rates, has garnered considerable interest in recent years. In this study, a bibliometric analysis was undertaken to utilize the Scopus database to find and appreciate the global current status of research on the adsorptive membranes process based on four principal analyses: growth patterns, keyword co-occurrence, topic area, and most cited references. Using the VOSviewer program, a total of 276 Scopus article records published between 1973 and 2021 were extracted and used as input for bibliometric analysis. Since 2016, there have been a large number of articles on adsorptive membranes, and by 2020 there will have been around 40 publications. On the basis of keywords, the principal topics of study in adsorptive membranes may be divided into three clusters: adsorption, membrane studies, and adsorption performance. These bibliometric data provide researchers and business professionals interested in the technology of adsorptive membranes with helpful resources and information on the current research directions of adsorptive membranes.