ABSTRACT
The crude oil-based gasoline fuels have been widely used in the transportation sector since the 1920s. However, there have been great public concerns over the adverse environmental and human impact of these fuels. Hence, biomass-based bioethanol fuels have increasingly been used in blending gasoline fuels, in the fuel cells, and in the biochemical and biohydrogen fuel production in a biorefinery context. Bioethanol fuels also play a critical role in maintaining the energy security in the supply shocks related to oil price shocks, COVID-19 pandemics, or wars in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, it is necessary to pretreat the biomass to enhance the yield of the bioethanol prior to the bioethanol production through the hydrolysis of the biomass and fermentation of the resulting hydrolysates. China has been one of the most-prolific countries engaged in the bioethanol fuel research. The Chinese research in the field of the bioethanol fuels has intensified in this context in the key research fronts of the production of bioethanol fuels, utilization of bioethanol fuels, and to a lesser extent the evaluation of bioethanol fuels. For the first research front, pretreatment and hydrolysis of the feedstocks and to a lesser extent fermentation of the feedstock-based hydrolysates, production of bioethanol fuels, and distillation of bioethanol fuels are the key research areas, while for the second research front, utilization of bioethanol fuels in fuel cells and transport engines, bioethanol-based biohydrogen fuels, bioethanol sensors, and to a lesser extent bioethanol-based biochemicals are the key research areas. The research in this field has also intensified for the feedstocks of bioethanol fuels for their utilization, starch feedstock residues, cellulose, wood biomass, lignocellulosic biomass at large, and to a lesser extent industrial waste, lignin, grass, hydrolysates, biomass at large, sugar feedstocks, sugar feedstock residues, algal biomass, lignocellulosic wastes, starch feedstocks, urban wastes, forestry wastes, food wastes, and plants. However, it is essential to develop efficient incentive structures for the primary stakeholders to enhance the research in this field. The scientometric analysis has been used in this context to inform the primary stakeholders about the current state of the research in a selected research field. As there have been no published scientometric studies in this field, this book chapter presents a scientometric study of the Chinese research in the bioethanol fuels. It examines the scientometric characteristics of both the sample and population data presenting scientometric characteristics of these both datasets in the order of documents, authors, publication years, institutions, funding bodies, source titles, countries, Scopus subject categories, Scopus keywords, and research fronts.
