Abstract
Freshwater scarcity, a problem that has arisen particularly as a result of the progressive environmental damage caused by human consumption patterns, is strongly associated with a loss of living quality and a drop in global socioeconomic development. Wastewater treatment is one of the measures being taken to mitigate the current situation. However, the majority of existing treatments employ chemicals that have harmful environmental consequences and low effectiveness and are prohibitively expensive in most countries. Therefore, to increase water supplies, more advanced and cost-effective water treatment technologies are required to be developed for desalination and water reuse purposes. Green technologies have been highlighted as a long-term strategy for conserving natural resources, reducing negative environmental repercussions, and boosting social and economic growth. Thus, a bibliometric technique was applied in this study to identifying prominent green technologies utilised in water and wastewater treatment by analysing scientific publications considering authors, keywords, and countries. To do this, the VOSviewer software and Bibliometrix R Package software were employed. The results of this study revealed that constructed wetlands and photocatalysis are two technologies that have been considered as green technologies applicable to the improvement of water and wastewater treatment processes in most scientific articles.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
All data are fully available without restriction.
References
Abdpour S, Santos RM (2021) Recent advances in heterogeneous catalysis for supercritical water oxidation/gasification processes: insight into catalyst development. Process Saf Environ Prot 149:169–184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2020.10.047
Adams WC, Lind Infeld D, Wikrent KL, Bintou Cisse O (2016) Network bibliometrics of public policy journals. Policy Stud J 44:S133–S151. https://doi.org/10.1111/psj.12149
Ahila KG, Ravindran B, Muthunarayanan V et al (2021) Phytoremediation potential of freshwater macrophytes for treating dye-containing wastewater. Sustain 13:1–13. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010329
Al-Baldawi IA, Mohammed AA, Mutar ZH et al (2021) Application of phytotechnology in alleviating pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in wastewater: source, impacts, treatment, mechanisms, fate, and SWOT analysis. J Clean Prod 319:128584. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128584
Al-Hamdi AM, Rinner U, Sillanpää M (2017) Tin dioxide as a photocatalyst for water treatment: a review. Process Saf Environ Prot 107:190–205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2017.01.022
Ali I, Al-Othman ZA, Alwarthan A (2016) Synthesis of composite iron nano adsorbent and removal of ibuprofen drug residue from water. J Mol Liq 219:858–864. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2016.04.031
Ali I, Alothman ZA, Alwarthan A (2017) Uptake of propranolol on ionic liquid iron nanocomposite adsorbent: kinetic, thermodynamics and mechanism of adsorption. Elsevier B.V
AlJaberi FY, Ahmed SA, Makki HF (2020) Electrocoagulation treatment of high saline oily wastewater: evaluation and optimization. Heliyon 6:e03988. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e03988
Alkhaledi K, Arnold A, Means K et al (2020) A novel multicriteria decision making model for sustainable stormwater management. Sustain 12:1–19. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12229508
Anawar HM, Strezov V (2019) Synthesis of biosorbents from natural/agricultural biomass wastes and sustainable green technology for treatment of nanoparticle metals in municipal and industrial wastewater. Elsevier Inc.
Anglada-Tort M, Sanfilippo KRM (2019) Visualizing music psychology: a bibliometric analysis of psychology of music, music perception, and musicae scientiae from 1973 to 2017. Music Sci 2:205920431881178. https://doi.org/10.1177/2059204318811786
Arana TJ, Gude VG (2018) A microbial desalination process with microalgae biocathode using sodium bicarbonate as an inorganic carbon source. Int Biodeterior Biodegrad 130:91–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibiod.2018.04.003
Aria M, Cuccurullo C (2017) bibliometrix : An R-tool for comprehensive science mapping analysis. J Informetr 11:959–975. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2017.08.007
Bartlett D, Trifilova A (2010) Green technology and eco-innovation. J Manuf Technol Manag 21:910–929
Bejjanki D, Muthukumar K, Radhakrishnan TK et al (2021) Simultaneous bioelectricity generation and water desalination using Oscillatoria sp. as biocatalyst in photosynthetic microbial desalination cell. Sci Total Environ 754:142215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142215
Bento RT, Correa OV, Pillis MF (2019) Photocatalytic activity of undoped and sulfur-doped TiO2 films grown by MOCVD for water treatment under visible light. J Eur Ceram Soc 39:3498–3504. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2019.02.046
Bi R, Zhou C, Jia Y et al (2019) Giving waterbodies the treatment they need: a critical review of the application of constructed floating wetlands. J Environ Manag 238:484–498. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.02.064
Braun E, Wield D (1994) Regulation as a means for the social control of technology. Technol Anal Strateg Manag 6:259–272. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537329408524171
Bubalo MC, Vidovi S, Radoj I, Joki S (2015) Green solvents for green technologies. https://doi.org/10.1002/jctb.4668
Chaturvedi A, Kundu PP (2021) Recent advances and perspectives in platinum-free cathode catalysts in microbial fuel cells. J Environ Chem Eng 9:105662. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2021.105662
Dixit S, Yadav A, Dwivedi PD, Das M (2015) Toxic hazards of leather industry and technologies to combat threat : a review. J Clean Prod 87:39–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.10.017
Eck NJ van, Waltman L (2019) Manual for VOSviewer version 1.6.13. Uninversiteit Leiden, CWTS Meaningful metrics 1–53
Ekambaram SP, Perumal SS, Rajendran D et al (2018) New approach of dye removal in textile effluent: a cost-effective management for cleanup of toxic dyes in textile effluent by water hyacinth. In: Bidoia ED, Montagnolli RN (eds) Toxicity and Biodegradation Testing, Methods in Pharmacology and Toxicology. pp 241–267
Elgarahy AM, Elwakeel KZ, Akhdhar A, Hamza MF (2021) Recent advances in greenly synthesized nanoengineered materials for water/wastewater remediation: an overview. Nanotechnol Environ Eng 6:9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41204-021-00104-5
Elwakeel KZ, Elgarahy AM, Khan ZA et al (2020) Perspectives regarding metal/mineral-incorporating materials for water purification: with special focus on Cr( vi ) removal. Mater Adv 1:1546–1574. https://doi.org/10.1039/d0ma00153h
Gao H, Xie Y, Hashim S et al (2018) Application of microbial technology used in bioremediation of urban polluted river: a case study of Chengnan River. China Water (Switzerland) 10. https://doi.org/10.3390/w10050643
Gonçalves NPF, del Puerto O, Medana C et al (2021) Degradation of the antifungal pharmaceutical clotrimazole by UVC and vacuum-UV irradiation: kinetics, transformation products and attenuation of toxicity. J Environ Chem Eng 9:106275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2021.106275
Gude VG (2015) Energy and water autarky of wastewater treatment and power generation systems. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 45:52–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.01.055
He C, Liu Z, Wu J et al (2021) Future global urban water scarcity and potential solutions. Nat Commun 12:1–11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25026-3
Kaur P, Park Y, Sillanpää M, Imteaz MA (2021) Synthesis of a novel SnO2/graphene-like carbon/TiO2 electrodes for the degradation of recalcitrant emergent pharmaceutical pollutants in a photo-electrocatalytic system. J Clean Prod 313. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127915
Kemp R, Pearson P (2007) Final report MEI project about measuring eco-innovation
Khatri A, Peerzada MH, Mohsin M, White M (2015) A review on developments in dyeing cotton fabrics with reactive dyes for reducing effluent pollution. J Clean Prod 87:50–57
Kurniawan SB, Ahmad A, Said NSM et al (2021) Macrophytes as wastewater treatment agents: nutrient uptake and potential of produced biomass utilization toward circular economy initiatives. Sci Total Environ 790:148219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148219
Lee C, Fletcher TD, Sun G (2009) Nitrogen removal in constructed wetland systems. Eng Life Sci 9:11–22. https://doi.org/10.1002/elsc.200800049
Lipczynska-Kochany E (2018) Humic substances, their microbial interactions and effects on biological transformations of organic pollutants in water and soil: a review. Chemosphere 202:420–437. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2018.03.104
Luo X, Lei X, Cai N et al (2016) Removal of heavy metal ions from water by magnetic cellulose-based beads with embedded chemically modified magnetite nanoparticles and activated carbon. . https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.6b00790
Luo J, Ji C, Qiu C, Jia F (2018) Agri-food supply chain management: bibliometric and content analyses. Sustain 10. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10051573
Ma CY, Hou CH (2019) Enhancing the water desalination and electricity generation of a microbial desalination cell with a three-dimensional macroporous carbon nanotube-chitosan sponge anode. Sci Total Environ 675:41–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.04.174
Maddalwar S, Kumar Nayak K, Kumar M, Singh L (2021) Plant microbial fuel cell: opportunities, challenges, and prospects. Bioresour Technol 341:125772. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2021.125772
Magalhães-Ghiotto GAV, de Oliveira AM, Natal JPS et al (2021) Green nanoparticles in water treatment: a review of research trends, applications, environmental aspects and large-scale production. Environ Nanotechnol Monit Manag 16:100526. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enmm.2021.100526
Marchiori D, Franco M (2019) Knowledge transfer in the context of inter-organizational networks: foundations and intellectual structures. J Innov Knowl 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jik.2019.02.001
Maryskova M, Linhartova L, Novotny V et al (2021) Laccase and horseradish peroxidase for green treatment of phenolic micropollutants in real drinking water and wastewater. Environ Sci Pollut Res. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-12910-0
Miao X, Ji Z, Wu J et al (2017) g-C 3 N 4 /AgBr nanocomposite decorated with carbon dots as a highly efficient visible-light-driven photocatalyst. J Colloid Interface Sci 502:24–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2017.04.087
Miranda ITP, Moletta J, Pedroso B et al (2021) A review on green technology practices at BRICS countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. SAGE Open 11:1–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211013780
Moghaddam VK, Changani F, Mohammadi A et al (2017) Sustainable development of water resources based on wastewater reuse and upgrading of treatment plants: a review in the Middle East. Desalin Water Treat 65:463–473. https://doi.org/10.5004/dwt.2017.20383
Mohamed MA, Salleh WN, Jaafar J et al (2016) Physicochemical characteristic of regenerated cellulose/N-doped TiO 2 nanocomposite membrane fabricated from recycled newspaper with photocatalytic activity under UV and visible light irradiation. Chem Eng J 284:202–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2015.08.128
Mohammed WT, AlJaberi FY (2018) Novel method for electrocoagulation removal of lead from simulated wastewater by using concentric tubes electrodes reactor. Desalin Water Treat 101:86–91. https://doi.org/10.5004/dwt.2018.21812
Mustafa A, Turner C (2011) Pressurized liquid extraction as a green approach in food and herbal plants extraction: a review. Anal Chim Acta 703:8–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aca.2011.07.018
Nagara VN, Sarkar D, Barrett K, Datta R (2021) Greening the gray infrastructure: green adsorbent media for catch basin inserts to remove stormwater pollutants. Environ Technol Innov 21:101334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2020.101334
Naghdi S, Bozorg-Haddad O, Khorsandi M, Chu X (2021) Multi-objective optimization for allocation of surface water and groundwater resources. Sci Total Environ 776:146026. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146026
Ndlwana L, Raleie N, Dimpe KM et al (2021) Sustainable hydrothermal and solvothermal synthesis of advanced carbon materials in multidimensional applications: a review. Materials (Basel) 14. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14175094
Neoh CH, Noor ZZ, Sabrina N et al (2016) Green technology in wastewater treatment technologies: integration of membrane bioreactor with various wastewater treatment systems. Chem Eng J 283:582–594. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2015.07.060
Niknejad N, Ismail W, Bahari M et al (2021) Mapping the research trends on blockchain technology in food and agriculture industry: a bibliometric analysis. Environ Technol Innov 21:101272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2020.101272
Oladoja NA (2015) Headway on natural polymeric coagulants in water and wastewater treatment operations. J Water Process Eng 6:174–192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2015.04.004
Omidinia-Anarkoli T, Shayannejad M (2021) Improving the quality of stabilization pond effluents using hybrid constructed wetlands. Sci Total Environ 801:149615. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149615
Ong YT, Ahmad AL, Zein SHS, Tan SH (2010) A review on carbon nanotubes in an environmental protection and green engineering perspective. Braz J Chem Eng 27:227–242. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-66322010000200002
Othmani B, Rasteiro MG, Khadhraoui M (2020) Toward green technology: a review on some efficient model plant-based coagulants/flocculants for freshwater and wastewater remediation. Clean Technol Environ Policy 22:1025–1040. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-020-01858-3
Panja S, Sarkar D, Zhang Z, Datta R (2021) Removal of antibiotics and nutrients by vetiver grass (Chrysopogon zizanioides) from a plug flow reactor based constructed wetland model. Toxics 9:84. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics9040084
Patel S (2012) Threats, management and envisaged utilizations of aquatic weed Eichhornia crassipes: an overview. Rev Environ Sci Biotechnol 11:249–259. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11157-012-9289-4
Rao JR, Chandrababu NK, Muralidharan C et al (2003) Recouping the wastewater : a way forward for cleaner leather processing. 11:591–599. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0959-6526(02)00095-1
Reza KM, Kurny A, Gulshan F (2017) Parameters affecting the photocatalytic degradation of dyes using TiO2: a review. Appl Water Sci 7:1569–1578. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13201-015-0367-y
Ricart S, Rico-Amorós AM (2021) Constructed wetlands to face water scarcity and water pollution risks: learning from farmers’ perception in Alicante. Spain Water (Switzerland) 13. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13172431
Sacco O, Vaiano V, Rizzo L, Sannino D (2018) Photocatalytic activity of a visible light active structured photocatalyst developed for municipal wastewater treatment. J Clean Prod 175:38–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.11.088
Sharma VK (2002) Potassium ferrate(VI): an environmentally friendly oxidant. Adv Environ Res 6:143–156. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1093-0191(01)00119-8
Simon M, Joshi H (2021) A review on green technologies for the rejuvenation of polluted surface water bodies: field-scale feasibility, challenges, and future perspectives. Elsevier Ltd
Small H (1973) Co-citation in the scientific literature: a new measure of the relationship between two documents. J Am Soc Inf Sci 24:265–269
Stefanakis A (2020) Constructed wetlands for sustainable wastewater treatment in hot and arid climates: opportunities, challenges and case studies in the Middle East. Water 12:1665. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12061665
Tajdid Khajeh R, Aber S, Nofouzi K, Ebrahimi S (2020) Treatment of mixed dairy and dye wastewater in anode of microbial fuel cell with simultaneous electricity generation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27:43711–43723. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10232-1
Thung W-E, Ong S-A, Ho L-N et al (2018) Sustainable green technology on wastewater treatment: the evaluation of enhanced single chambered up-flow membrane-less microbial fuel cell. J Environ Sci 66:295–300
Ungureanu N, Vlădut V, Voicu G (2020) Water scarcity and wastewater reuse in crop irrigation. Sustain 12:1–19. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12219055
van Eck NJ, Waltman L (2010) Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping. Scientometrics 84:523–538. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-009-0146-3
Wu H, Zhang J, Ngo HH et al (2015) A review on the sustainability of constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment: design and operation. Bioresour Technol 175:594–601. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2014.10.068
Wyman V (1995) Mills look to clean up and to boost profits. PPI Pulp Pap Int 37:42–43
Xia Y, Hou Q, Jubaer H et al (2019) Spatially isolating salt crystallisation from water evaporation for continuous solar steam generation and salt harvesting. Energy Environ Sci 12:1840–1847. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9ee00692c
Yang L, Feng Y, Gao Z (2021) Degradation of organic micropollutant by vacuum ultraviolet process: a kinetics study. Korean J Chem Eng 38:1642–1647. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-021-0814-4
Zhang D, Li G, Yu JC (2010) Inorganic materials for photocatalytic water disinfection. J Mater Chem 20:4529. https://doi.org/10.1039/b925342d
Zhang X, Zhao H, Du J et al (2017) Occurrence, removal, and risk assessment of antibiotics in 12 wastewater treatment plants from Dalian, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24:16478–16487. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9296-7
Zhang K, Wu X, Chen J et al (2021) The role and related microbial processes of Mn-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation in reducing methane emissions from constructed wetland-microbial fuel cell. J Environ Manag 294:112935. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112935
Zhao D, Strotmann A (2015) Analysis and visualization of citation networks. Synth Lect Inf Concepts Retriev Serv 7:1–207. https://doi.org/10.2200/S00624ED1V01Y201501ICR039
Funding
The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Naghmeh Niknejad: writing – original draft. Behzad Nazari: methodology, writing – reviewing and editing. Saman Foroutani: conceptualization. Ab Razak bin Che Hussin: supervision.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.
Consent for publication
Not applicable.
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Philippe Garrigues
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Niknejad, N., Nazari, B., Foroutani, S. et al. A bibliometric analysis of green technologies applied to water and wastewater treatment. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 71849–71863 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-18705-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-18705-1