The Bibliometric Analysis and Review of the Fly Ash Resource Utilization

The high hazardous waste disposal cost of fly ash had become a problem that restricts the continuous promotion of waste incineration. Resourceful disposal of fly ash through appropriate ways could not only reduce the hazardous waste disposal cost of waste incineration plants but also replace the use of original materials, which plays a win–win role. This study analyzed the research status and trend of fly ash resourceful disposal quantitatively by using bibliometrics. The data were obtained from 1900 to December 3, 2023, from the Web of Science core database. The results showed that the research on fly ash resourceful disposal first started in 1972, and 2008 and 2019 were two inflection points with a surge in the number of publications. China had the most publications, accounting for 34.28%, and Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Central South University were the three research institutions with the most publications. The top three funded were the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Basic Research Operating Expenses of the Central Universities of China, and the European Union Fund, and environmental science, engineering applications, and chemistry were the top three research areas. In addition, this study also explored the current status and future development trend of fly ash resource utilization.