An analysis of research hotspots and modeling techniques on carbon capture and storage

With the significant role that carbon capture and storage (CCS) could play in limiting the future temperature increase to below 2 °C higher than pre-industrialization levels, a growing research interest of CCS is attracted to the environmental, economic, and social field. However, a bibliometric analysis-based comprehensive review of CCS which covers mainly all industry sectors and all regions of the globe has not been made yet. To provide deeper insight into the research trends, this study employs a bibliometric analysis to examine the basic features of the literature from 1997 to 2017 and identifies the key research hotspots and modeling techniques by reviewing the current status and new efforts. Based on the analysis of the temporal and spatial trends, disciplines and journals distribution, institutions, authors, and citations, the publications relating to the environmental, economic and social aspects of CCS are assessed. The results indicate that the total number of publications has rapidly increased since 2006 and entered a stable stage. The most productive country, journal, institute, and author are the USA, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, United State Department of Energy, and Rubin E S, respectively. Based on the co-occurrence analysis of keywords, five hot research topics in CCS are recognized, including tackling climate change, CCS technology prospects, cost estimates, sectoral applications, and social attitudes. In addition, three main methodologies including life cycle analysis, optimization methods, and real options methods used in quantifying the social, economic, and environmental impacts of CCS are thoroughly refined based on selection, limitation, and improvement. Finally, the recommendations for CCS future work concerning environmental, economic, and social aspects are proposed.