Research hotspots and development trends in the rubber industry wastewater treatment: a quantitative analysis of literature

Waste management and water scarcity are two unprecedented challenges to humanity. In recent years, steady growth has been observed in the development of different technologies for the treatment of industrial wastewater. However, conducting a quantitative analysis of literature published on rubber wastewater treatment is still a novelty. In this study, bibliometric and content analysis techniques are used to analyse literature related to rubber wastewater, published during the last 5 decades to unearth research trends in this field. For this, the Web of Science database was used to extract 462 relevant records. The parameters analysed in this analysis are annual publication output, publication patterns, leading countries and leading organisations. Furthermore, to map the research trends of the field, content analysis was also performed and the most frequent keywords, as well as research fronts of the field, were highlighted. Results show that about 48% of the literature was published during the last 5 years. Water Science & Technology and Bioresource Technology were spotted as the most famous journals. Furthermore, conducting kinetic studies and using silver nanoparticles, due to their exceptional antimicrobial properties, to enhance overall wastewater treatment performance are found research fronts in this field. The use of membranes to treat rubber wastewater has emerged as a promising option. However, some key challenges such as high installation and maintenance cost, membrane fouling and low membrane efficacy still need to be resolved. Furthermore, mathematical modeling and simulation of membrane technologies require further attention from the research community.