Bibliometric Analysis of Phosphogypsum Research from 1990 to 2020 Based on Literatures and Patents

Abstract

The demand together with the urgency of phosphogypsum (PG) treatment, will pose big challenges for many countries. This research aims to explore the research progress of PG, including basic status, cooperation situation, research fields and development trends, based on Web of Science database through bibliometric analysis of publications (articles and patents) from 1990 to 2020. The results show that the academic research of PG originated earlier, but the number of patents grew faster. China has an absolute advantage in the numbers and plays a significant role in international cooperation. The knowledge structure of PG is mainly concentrated in the fields of natural radioactivity, cement paste backfilling, soil, crystal morphology, and synthetic gas. Academic hotspots focus on the microstructure of chemical processes and various environmental impacts, and the patents hot technologies is the production of refractory materials, ceramics, surface materials, cement mortar and composite materials. The academic frontiers of PG will be the methods of recovering rare earth elements from PG, the conditions of ion solidification/stabilization in PG, the impact of reaction conditions on product quality, and the reaction mechanism at the micro-level. The frontiers of patents will focus on the improvement of manufacturing equipment, new wall materials and chemical modified polymer materials. In terms of the number of articles and patents in the future, architectural research has the maximum space for improvement. This paper conducts an in-depth analysis of PG and provides information on the technological development prospects and opportunities, which is helpful for researchers engaged in PG management.