Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2023) 30:76437–76454

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-27749-w

REVIEW ARTICLE

Research progress and perspectives on carbon capture, utilization,

and storage (CCUS) technologies in China and the USA: a bibliometric
analysis
Qiang Ren1 · Shansen Wei1 · Jianhui Du1 · Peng Wu1

Received: 3 March 2023 / Accepted: 15 May 2023 / Published online: 3 June 2023
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2023

Abstract
Carbon dioxide capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology is an emerging technology with large-scale emission
reduction potential and an essential component of the global response to climate change to achieve net-zero goals. As the
two most important countries in global climate governance, it is necessary to review and examine the current status and
trends of research in the field of CCUS in China and the USA. This paper uses bibliometric tools to review and analyze
peer-reviewed articles in the Web of Science from both countries during 2000–2022. The results show a significant increase
in research interest among scholars from both countries. The number of publications in the CCUS field in China and the
USA was 1196 and 1302, respectively, showing an increasing trend. China and the USA have become the most influential
countries in CCUS. And the USA has a more significant academic influence on a global scale. Furthermore, the research
hotspots in the field of CCUS are diverse and differentiated. That is, China and the USA pay attention to different research
hotspots or have different focuses in different periods. This paper also finds that new capture materials and technology
development, geological storage monitoring and early warning, C ­ O2 utilization and new energy development, sustainable
business models, incentive policies and measures, and public awareness are critical directions for future research in the field
of CCUS, to provide a comprehensive review and comparison of CCUS technology development in China and the USA. It
helps to gain insight into the research differences and linkages between the two countries in the field of CCUS and identify
the research gaps between them. And place some consensus that policymakers can use.

Keywords CCUS · Technology mapping · Temporal evolution · Technology foresight · Prospective breakthroughs ·
Bibliometric analysis

Introduction significant increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide concen-

Global warming is the most critical environmental issue
in the world and the most significant climate issue facing
humanity (Trenberth et al. 2014). Global warming can
lead to frequent extreme weather events like heat waves,
droughts, and forest fires. The impact on human activi-
ties will be severe (Allen et al. 2009; Chen and Sun 2017;
Masson-Delmotte et al. 2018). Carbon dioxide is one of the
most critical factors contributing to global warming. The
Responsible Editor: Philippe Garrigues
* Peng Wu
bs.wu@scu.edu.cn
1
Business School, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065,
China
tration is mainly due to the excessive use of fossil fuels in
human production and social activities. Related research
reports indicate that global ­CO2 emissions in 2022 totaled
36.8 billion tons, of which China and the USA accounted
for 31.2% and 12.8%, respectively (IEA 2023). And they are
the two largest global countries regarding carbon emissions
(Beusch et al. 2022; Chapman and Ahmed 2021). Therefore,
conducting a study on the governance of carbon dioxide
emissions in China and the USA is essential. Once China
and the USA agree on climate issues, it will significantly
enhance global confidence in addressing climate change and
advance global climate governance to a new level.
CCUS technology is an effective means to address global
climate change and has enormous potential for carbon reduc-
tion. It is considered one of the critical technologies indis-
pensable for achieving the global net-zero emission target

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Vol.:(0123456789)
76438
(de Kleijne et al. 2022; Page et al. 2020). According to IEA
projections, the contribution of CCUS technology to emis-
sions reductions will rise from 3% of total emissions reduc-
tions in 2020 to 10% in 2030, reaching about 20% in 2050. It
will be the single technology with the largest share of global
­CO2 deductions (International Energy 2020). As a result,
more and more countries are choosing CCUS technology
as a carbon reduction tool in their long-term climate poli-
cies. After decades of development, CCUS technology has
evolved from a single technology to a diverse, multidiscipli-
nary, cross-cutting technology portfolio (Hasan et al. 2015;
Tapia et al. 2018). Therefore, it is necessary to comprehen-
sively sort out the development history and evolution pattern
of CCUS technology. It helps researchers to have a clear
understanding of the current status of research in the field of
CCUS. In turn, it will promote the sustainable development
of CCUS technology.
In recent years, with the rapid development of metric
science, knowledge graph, and information visualization
technology, bibliometric analysis has become an emerging
method for data mining and massive literature processing
(Donthu et al. 2021; Ellegaard and Wallin 2015). Biblio-
metric analysis is a method of quantitative analysis of a
field using mathematics and statistics, which can quickly
visualize the literature and quantify the characteristics and
patterns of development of an area, helping researchers to
quickly sort out and comprehensively grasp the dynamics
and evolution of the field. It can also unravel the nuances
of the evolution of a particular field and reveal emerging
areas in the field (Camana et al. 2021; Concari et al. 2022).
Therefore, it is applied to various disciplines or fields for
literature review, such as the global critical metals (Liu et al.
2022), green energy and environmental technologies (Tan
et al. 2021), international trade (Tian et al. 2018), life cycle
assessment (He and Yu 2020), and Accounting for Carbon
Emission Reduction (Yao et al. 2022). It can be seen that
this method is a relatively mature and standard method for
review research.
Many review papers provide a summary of specific
aspects of the CCUS literature. Li et al. (2019) examined
global research trends in CCS from 1997 to 2017 from a
social science perspective and made recommendations for
future work on CCS by discussing the primary modeling
techniques. Jiang and Ashworth (2021) conducted a biblio-
metric analysis by reviewing 1202 scientific articles related
to CCUS in China. The hotspot studies of CCUS technology
in China are given, and the impact of policies on the technol-
ogy is analyzed. Kumar et al. (2019) critically review the
current carbon capture and storage status in coal-fired power
plants in India and present the challenges and responses to
the future deployment of CCS in India. Yan et al. (2021)
reviewed CCUS using a machine science approach to dem-
onstrate the role and promise of this approach for research
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Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2023) 30:76437–76454
in the field of CCUS. Kang et al. (2021) outline the patent
placement strategy of CCUS in significant economies world-
wide through an overview of the global CCUS technology
patent database. A review of the development of integration
methods for the CCUS system planning process has also
been conducted to address the need to integrate the various
methods into a unified framework, which will help plan-
ners to carry out large CCUS projects (Tapia et al. 2018).
In conclusion, the existing studies focus on research trends
in the CCS or CCUS globally, in China, or other countries.
However, few comparative studies have been conducted
between major countries, especially China and the USA, as
the leaders of CCUS projects and the top two countries in
the number of scientific publications. China and the USA
occupy a critical position in the global CCUS field. There-
fore, it is significant and valuable to review and compare the
development and evolution of the CCUS field in China and
the USA over the past 20 years.
To fill this literature gap and promote the field’s devel-
opment in China and the USA, this study focuses on lit-
erature big data and uses bibliometric tools to explore the
current situation and future growth trend of CCUS technol-
ogy reserves in China and the USA from the perspective
of text mining. By systematically analyzing and comparing
the development characteristics and cutting-edge trends of
CCUS technology in China and the USA over the past 20
years, this paper further reveals the differences and connec-
tions between China and the USA in the field of CCUS.
Through such a study, this paper aims to answer the follow-
ing questions:
(1) What are the trends and characteristics of scientific
publications in the field of CCUS in China and the
USA? And what advances have been made in CCUS
technology in both countries?
(2) Which institutions and research teams in China and the
USA have contributed the most to the field of CCUS?
What are the two country’s links and differences in
research progress?
(3) What are the research hotspots in this field in China and
the USA? What are the future research directions?
The answers to these questions are essential to improve
the understanding of CCUS in China and the USA, which
will help scholars accurately grasp research priorities and
trends. The main contribution of this study is a quantita-
tive analysis of the current status and recent trends in the
development of CCUS technology in China and the USA
over the past 20 years based on a literature-mining perspec-
tive. It also provides new insights into the development
history, research institutions, major groups, core authors,
highly cited papers, influential journals, research hotspots,
and future directions of CCUS technology in China and the
Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2023) 30:76437–76454
USA. This study identifies research strengths in the field,
extracts emerging research areas, and acknowledges the
knowledge base by comparing and analyzing the trends
and characteristics of the CCUS field in China and the USA
during 2000–2022. It provides policymakers in both coun-
tries with a comprehensive understanding of CCUS tech-
nology to know the gaps and connections between them in
the CCUS field. It also provides future directions for global
scholars in the field of CCUS.
The other sections of this paper are as follows: The
“Methods and data” section focuses on the research meth-
odology and data processing. The “Result and discussion”
section presents the main findings of this study. The “Con-
clusion” section and “Recommendations” section summa-
rize the paper and indicate future research work.
Methods and data
Method description
This study visualizes the elements of literature such as
time of publication, number of citations, author institu-
tions, and keywords with the help of bibliometric methods
such as VOSviewer and CiteSpace. VOSviewer is suitable
for acquiring the overall information structure and has
Fig. 1  The research framework
of this paper. Note: N represents
the number of publications
76439
advantages in node clustering relationship and density view,
which can be used for author and keyword co-occurrence
mapping analysis and hotspot tracking to explore the evolu-
tion pattern and frontier dynamics of CCUS domain topics
(Niknejad et al. 2021; Van Eck and Waltman 2010). While
CiteSpace focuses on data visualization and panoramic dis-
play of scientific research evolution patterns and develop-
ment processes, discovering research frontier dynamics and
thematic clustering, the software can draw time zone maps
and keyword mutation detection (Chen 2017). This paper
fully uses the features and advantages of both visualiza-
tion software to accurately explore the nature of research
topics in the CCUS domain. It explores the disciplinary
development trends, author-institution cooperation, subject
development lines, and research frontier dynamics of the
CCUS technical knowledge domain in China and the USA.
In turn, it presents critical nodes and evolutionary trends in
the CCUS field in both countries. The research framework
of this paper is shown in Fig. 1.
Data collection and pre‑processing
As the world’s largest and most comprehensive academic
information platform covering various disciplines, the Web
of Science covers natural sciences, engineering technology,
biomedicine, social sciences, arts and humanities, and other
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76440
fields. It is regarded as the most suitable database for litera-
ture analysis (Mongeon and Paul-Hus 2016). Therefore, this
paper uses bibliometric tools for data mining and statistical
analysis of the Web of Science database.
This paper selected the Science Citation Index Expanded
(SCI-E) and Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) in the Web
of Science core collection as data sources. TS= (“CCS” and
“CO2” or “carbon capture and storage” or “carbon capture and
sequestra*” or “carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration” or
“carbon capture, utilization and storage” or “CCS” and “carbon”
or “CCS” and “carbon dioxide” or “CO2 capture, utilization and
storage” or “CO2 capture, utilization and sequestration” or “CO2
capture and storage” or “CO2 capture and utilization” or “CO2
capture and sequestra*” or “carbon capture and utilization”).
The search time range 2000–2022 was on May 20, 2022. The lit-
erature type and language were divided into settings such as arti-
cles and English. Countries were selected as People’s Republic
of China (Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan were not considered
due to data access) and the USA. A total of 2868 journal articles
were obtained from the initial search results. After screening
and eliminating duplicate and non-compliant documents by
researchers in related fields, 2498 valid documents were finally
accepted as the research sample data for this paper. China has
1196 articles, and the USA has 1302 articles.
Result and discussion
Temporal analysis
Figure 2 shows the trend of the number of CCUS or
CCS literature published in China and the USA during
2000–2022, and it can be seen that the technology shows
Fig. 2  Number of CCUS pub-
lications in China and the USA
during 2000–2022
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Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2023) 30:76437–76454
an overall upward trend. Combined with the characteris-
tics and laws of this technology development, this paper
divides the development trend into three stages: the first
stage is the slow growth stage (2000–2008), the second
stage is the rapid rise stage (2009–2018), and the third
stage is the booming stage (2019 to present). It shows
that the literature on CCUS is less in the first phase
(2000–2008). The USA published 63 articles, accounting
for 2.52% of the total publications, while China published
4 papers, accounting for only 0.16%. The first Chinese
literature on CCUS was published in 2004. It shows that
the USA is earlier than China regarding CCUS research.
In the second phase (2009–2018), the USA published 813
articles, accounting for 32.55% of the total publications.
China published 609 papers, accounting for 24.38% of the
total publications. China and the US CCUS technologies
have developed rapidly during this period. Among them,
the trend of CCUS technology in the USA is increasing
first and then stable, while China is in a state of rapid
increase all the time. And in 2016, China surpassed the
USA for the first time.
The third phase is (2019 to present). The USA published
426 articles, accounting for 17.05% of the total publications,
while China published 583 papers, accounting for 23.34%. It
can be seen that Chinese CCUS technology has been grow-
ing rapidly in this phase. In 2019, the Chinese government
proposed to achieve carbon peaking by 2030 and a carbon
neutrality target by 2060. CCUS technology, as one of the
critical emission reduction technologies for carbon neutral-
ity, has more Chinese scholars started to research CCUS
technology. In 2021, the USA returned to the Paris climate
agreement and pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by
2050. The 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference
Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2023) 30:76437–76454 76441

(COP 26) was held the same year. As the international com-
munity pays more and more attention to the net-zero emis-
sion target, CCUS technology is rapidly developing, the
number of literary publications about this technology will
increase in the future, and the research about CCUS technol-
ogy will usher in an essential window.
Analysis of the distribution of journals
and academic fields
Analysis of journal distribution
Based on the subject classification of the Web of Science
database. This study examines the field of CCUS technol-
ogy in China and the USA from 2000 to 2022 through the
distribution of literature by subject categories and jour-
nals. From the perspective of journal distribution, the top
15 journals with 1138 articles (45.6% of the total publica-
tions) were selected for analysis (Table 1). The remaining
1360 articles were distributed in 448 journals, which are
not discussed in this paper due to the small number of
papers issued. Table 1 shows the top 15 journals regard-
ing the number of publications and citation attributes for
2000–2022. These are well-known energy, environmen-
tal science, atmospheric science, and chemical chemistry
journals. Table 1 shows that the International Journal of
Greenhouse Gas Control has the highest number of pub-
lications, with 322 articles, accounting for 12.89% of the
total published articles, followed by Applied Energy (120,
4.8%), Energy (90, 3.6%), and Environmental Science &
Technology (88, 3.52%). Among the 15 most published
journals, Energy & Environmental Science has the high-
est impact factor of 39.71. In addition, it has an average
number of citations per publication of 145.57, ranking
first among all journals. It shows that these journals have
a tremendous academic influence. It can also be seen
that these journals show a greater interest in the study
of CCUS technology and are more essential journals in
this field.
Analysis of discipline distribution
From the perspective of disciplinary distribution, during
2000–2022, the CCUS in China and the USA are mainly
clustered in 10 disciplinary areas, namely Engineering,
Energy and Fuels, Environmental Science and Ecology,
Science and Technology, Chemistry, Materials Science,
Thermodynamics, Business and Economics, Geology,
Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences, and other top-
ics. The distribution of literature disciplines shows that
CCUS technology involves multidisciplinary fields. The
engineering category accounted for 23.9% of the articles
issued and was first. Energy and Fuels, Environmental
Science, and Ecology accounted for 21.49%, 12.07%, and
2.55%, respectively (Fig. 3). The research related to CCUS
technology can be seen in engineering, environmental sci-
ence, atmospheric science, business and economics, ecol-
ogy, and energy. It can be seen that CCUS technology as a
technology portfolio involves a wide range of disciplinary
fields and has multidisciplinary cross-fertilization charac-
teristics. It has received increasing attention from scholars
with different disciplinary backgrounds.

Table 1  Top 15 most productive Rank Journal TP R (%) IF TC TC/TP

journals during 2000–2022
1 International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 322 12.89 4.4 7636 23.71
2 Applied Energy 120 4.80 11.47 4495 37.46
3 Energy 90 3.60 8.86 2467 27.41
4 Environmental Science & Technology 88 3.52 2.52 5730 65.11
5 Energy Policy 80 3.20 7.76 3921 49.01
6 Journal of Cleaner Production 72 2.88 11.08 2093 29.07
7 Greenhouse Gases-Science and Technology 67 2.68 2.52 808 12.06
8 Energy & Fuels 49 1.96 4.65 925 18.88
9 Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 48 1.92 4.33 1554 32.38
10 Energies 43 1.72 3.25 371 8.63
11 Climatic Change 36 1.44 5.17 1915 53.19
12 Energy Conversion and Management 32 1.28 11.53 620 19.38
13 Energy Economics 31 1.24 9.25 1026 33.10
14 Energy & Environmental Science 30 1.20 39.71 4367 145.57
15 Chemical Engineering Journal 30 1.20 16.74 677 22.57

Note: TP indicates the total number of articles published in the journal. IF indicates the journal impact
factor. R (%) means the proportion of literature published in the journal to the total number of papers. TC
indicates the total number of citations. TC/TP indicates the average number of citations per publication

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76442 Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2023) 30:76437–76454

Fig. 3  Main types of journals

published by CCUS technology
in China and the USA

Co‑institution network analysis
Table 2 shows the top 20 institutions in the USA and China
regarding the number of articles published on CCUS top-
ics from 2000 to 2022. In issuing institutions, there are 20
institutions with more than 37 articles, including 11 from
China and 9 from the USA. These institutions have pub-
lished 1197 articles, accounting for 47.92% of the total
number of publications, indicating that they have solid sci-
entific capabilities in the field of CCUS and have gathered
many outstanding scientific scholars and teams. Comparing
the number of articles published in China and the USA, it
can be found that the Chinese Acad Sci has published the
most papers, with 180 pieces (7.21%) ranking first in both
countries, followed by Tsinghua University with 112 articles
(4.48%); Carnegie Mellon Univ of the USA organized the
third. A total of 84 pieces (3.36%) were published. Although
more articles were published in the USA than in China dur-
ing 2000–2022, among the top 20 CCUS publishers, the
USA has fewer research institutions than China. This result

Table 2  Top 20 institutions in Rank Institution Country TP TC AC (%) TLS

China and the USA by number
of publications 1 Chinese Acad Sci China 180 3695 7.21 223
2 Tsinghua Univ China 112 3750 4.48 117
3 Carnegie Mellon Univ USA 84 6580 3.36 48
4 MIT USA 79 3617 3.16 59
5 Univ Texas Austin USA 66 1601 2.64 71
6 China Univ Petr China 61 805 2.44 51
7 Univ Calif Berkeley USA 60 3854 2.40 76
8 Stanford Univ USA 49 3137 1.96 78
9 Princeton Univ USA 49 2772 1.96 51
10 Univ Chinese Acad Sci China 48 789 1.92 84
11 China Univ Min&Technol China 48 725 1.92 43
12 North China Elect Power Univ China 47 601 1.88 65
13 Tianjin Univ China 47 995 1.88 43
14 Dalian Univ Technol China 42 545 1.68 22
15 China Univ Geosci China 39 563 1.56 66
16 Los Alamos Natl Lab USA 38 1210 1.52 15
17 Beijing Inst Technol China 37 833 1.48 19
18 Zhejiang Univ China 37 1199 1.48 11
19 US DOE USA 37 765 1.48 9
20 Columbia Univ USA 37 1904 1.44 47

Note: TP indicates the total number of papers published. TC indicates the total number of citations. AC (%)
represents the institution's contribution rate. TLS represents the full strength of ties between institutions

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Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2023) 30:76437–76454
indicates China’s importance and outstanding contribution
to research in CCUS-related fields.
Carnegie Mellon Univ ranked first in total article citations
with 6580 citations. It was followed by Univ Calif Berke-
ley (3854) and Tsinghua Univ (3750), and Chinese Acad
Sci (3695) in China. Other institutions with more than 2000
citations include MIT, Stanford Univ, and Princeton Univ.
These institutions have a high level of scientific research.
Undeniably, as one of the first countries to study CCUS
technology, the USA profoundly influences the CCUS field.
In addition, regarding cooperation intensity, Chinese Acad
Sci inter-institutional linkage intensity reached 223, ranking
first. Tsinghua University (117) and Univ Chinese Acad Sci
(84) indicate that these institutions have some teamwork, but
on the whole, the cooperation intensity of 14 institutions is
less than 70. Others that have yet to be counted are lower.
This is sufficient to show that the power of inter-institutional
collaboration still needs to be further strengthened.
Meanwhile, as shown in Fig. 4. The number of articles
published by the top six institutions in China and the USA
offers a fluctuating growth trend, especially after 2005 when
it started to grow faster. Chinese institutions overtook US
institutions around 2010. Three top 6 institutions are from
China: Chinese Acad Sci, Tsinghua University, and China
Univ Petr, and three from the US: Carnegie Mellon Univ,
MIT, and Univ Texas Austin. Among them, Chinese Acad
Sci had the fastest growth from 2011 to 2021, with 160 pub-
lications, accounting for 88.9% of the total publications of
this institution. Chinese Acad Sci was also one of the first
institutions to enter the field of CCUS-related research and
published the first academic paper on CCUS technology
research in China in 2004. It shows that the institution is
Fig. 4  Trends of the top 6 insti-
tutions in China and the USA in
terms of the number of publica-
tions during 2000–2022. Note:
TP indicates the total number of
papers published
76443
at the forefront of CCUS research. As a world-renowned
university, Tsinghua University has strong basic strength in
scientific research. China Univ Petr, a famous university in
the petroleum field, has a particular influence on the engi-
neering application of CCUS technology. And the research
results related to CCUS technology were published by Car-
negie Mellon Univ and MIT in 2001, respectively. And they
have been in the leading position during 2000–2010 and
keep rising at a specific rate. As the world’s top academic
institutions, they have some influence in the field of CCUS.
However, compared with Chinese research institutions, the
number of publications published by US research institu-
tions in CCUS has developed slowly in recent years.
As the most important research institutions and universi-
ties in China and the USA, these institutions have published
influential articles in CCUS-related fields, extensively pro-
moting research in CCUS-related areas in both countries.
In the future, both countries will have great potential for
cooperation and development in CCUS technology develop-
ment and innovation, large-scale promotion and application,
and talent training.
Co‑author network analysis
Authors are the main body of scientific research, and the
number of publications and citation attributes is commonly
used to measure authors’ research ability and academic
influence. Author collaboration networks can clarify the
core figures in scientific research and the collaboration and
cross-citation relationships among scholars. In this paper, we
used VOSviewer software to map the knowledge of authors
and teams in the field of CCUS in China and the USA during
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76444 Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2023) 30:76437–76454

2000–2022 (Fig. 5). This paper counted the information of
the top 20 authors in terms of several publications as shown
in Table 3. The ranking is based on the authors’ total number
of publications, as seen in Table 3, among the top 20 authors
in terms of the number of publications. There are 10 Chi-
nese and 10 American scholars, and the top 5 authors in the
CCUS research field in the USA are Rubin ES, Middleton
RS, Zhai HB, Herzog HJ, and Bielicki JM. The top 5 authors
in the field of CCUS research in China are Zhang X, Li Q, Li
XC, Song YC, and Deng S. Rubin ES from Carnegie Mellon
University published the most articles. There are 29 publica-
tions. This was followed by Middleton RS from Los Alamos
Natl Lab and Carbon Solut LLC, with 28 publications. In
fourth place is Zhang X from Minist Sci & Technol Most
and Li Q from the Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics in
China, with 24 publications. In fifth place is Li XC, also
from the Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics in China,
with 22 publications. Regarding the number of citations,
Professor Rubin ES, also from the USA, ranked first with
2766 citations. They were followed by Herzog HJ (Mas-
sachusetts Institute of Technology, 1324), van Vuuren DP
(Utrecht University, 1171), Middleton RS (Los Alamos Natl
Lab and Carbon Solut LLC, 1138), and Benson SM (Stan-
ford University, 936), all from the USA. Li Q is China’s most
frequently cited scholar (Institute of Rock and Soil Mechan-
ics, CAS, 724). It can be seen that American scholars have a
more significant influence in the field of CCUS.
Regarding the H-index, Professor Van Vuuren, DP from
Utrecht University in the USA, had the highest H-index of
93. The scholar’s research interests focus on climate change,
environmental science, and global sustainable development,
and he has published a series of academic results (Biermann
et al. 2022; Schweizer et al. 2020). Professor Wei YM (73)
from the Beijing Institute of Technology in China is second.
His research interests are energy and environmental policy
(Kang et al. 2021; Li et al. 2022). Third, Professor Song YC

Fig. 5  Mapping of essential

scholars and major collaborative
networks in the field of CCUS
technology in China (a) and the
USA (b) during 2000–2022.
Note: Nodes denote authors,
author postings are proportional
to node size, colors indicate
author clustering, the same
color represents a collaborative
group, and inter-node con-
nectivity is proportional to
collaboration intensity

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Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2023) 30:76437–76454 76445

Table 3  The top 20 authors in terms of the number of articles published in China and the USA
Rank Author Institution country TP TC TLS H-index

1 Rubin ES Carnegie Mellon University USA 29 2766 21 31

2 Middleton RS Los Alamos Natl Lab and Carbon Solut LLC USA 28 1138 51 19
3 Zhang X Minist Sci & Technol Most China 24 593 61 15
4 Li Q Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, CAS China 24 724 26 25
5 Li XC Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, CAS China 22 318 38 24
6 Zhai HB Carnegie Mellon University USA 18 689 15 19
7 Herzog HJ Massachusetts Institute of Technology USA 17 1324 16 23
8 Song YC Dalian University of Technology China 17 251 49 53
9 Deng S Tianjin University China 16 340 39 29
10 Wei YM Beijing Institute of Technology China 15 309 24 73
11 Li Z Tsinghua University China 15 509 24 43
12 Bielicki JM. The Ohio State University USA 15 635 23 23
13 Chen WY Tsinghua University China 14 682 8 27
14 van Vuuren DP Utrecht University USA 13 1171 43 93
15 Michael A. C Princeton University USA 13 614 11 50
16 Zhu L Beihang University China 13 53 29 27
17 Fan JL China University of Mining & Technology, Beijing China 13 283 39 28
18 Leon C University of Maryland USA 12 831 34 47
19 Benson SM Stanford University USA 12 936 2 36
20 Wilson EJ Dartmouth College USA 11 325 15 23

Note: TP indicates the total number of papers published. TC indicates the total number of citations. TLS represents the total link strength among
authors. The H-index indicates that a researcher has at most H papers cited at least H times each. The higher the H-index, the more influential his
papers are

from the Dalian University of Technology in China, whose
H-index is 53, mainly focuses on carbon dioxide seques-
tration and resource utilization (Cheng et al. 2022). And
Professor Michael A. C from Princeton University in the
USA, whose H-index reached 50, has significantly contrib-
uted to flow in porous media, carbon storage, and numerical
methods. Leon C (47) from the University of Maryland in
the USA is in fifth place. His research interests are climate
change, energy technology selection, and integrated assess-
ment modeling. He is also the lead author of the IPCC Sixth
Assessment Report Coordination (Ou et al. 2021; Yu et al.
2019). It can be found that both Chinese and American
scholars have made significant contributions to the field of
CCUS research. Still, American scholars have more signifi-
cant academic influence in CCUS.
Figure 5a shows the critical scholars and major collabo-
rative networks in the field of CCUS technology in China
during 2000–2022. For example, Li XC and Li Q from the
Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, CAS, and Wang YS
from China Shenhua Group Corporation have formed a col-
laborative team to study geological storage and utilization
of ­CO2, carbon neutral theory, technology, and engineering
applications (Wang et al. 2021; Xu et al. 2019). A collabora-
tive group, mainly consisting of Song YC from the Dalian
University of Technology, focuses on new technologies
for ­CO2 resource utilization and oil and gas extraction (Lu
et al. 2022). Another group of collaborators mainly consists
of Deng S from Tianjin University, focusing on C ­ O2 cap-
ture technology (Li et al. 2021). In addition, Fan, JL, and
Zhang X have contributed to the CCUS source-sink match-
ing model (Fan et al. 2021) and LI Z to C ­ O2 capture (Yang
et al. 2022).
As seen in Fig. 5b, the US CCUS research area col-
laboration teams are clustered in the following groups. The
research team of Professor Rubin ES from Carnegie Mel-
lon University focuses on CCS economic evaluation and
policy (Roussanaly et al. 2021; Rubin et al. 2015). Mid-
dleton RS from Los Alamos Natl Lab and Carbon Solut
LLC’s research group has contributed to CCS energy sys-
tem optimization, numerical simulation, and fundamen-
tal architecture research (Middleton and Bielicki 2009;
Middleton and Yaw 2018). Another collaborative group
is composed of Prof. van Vuuren DP from Utrecht Uni-
versity. As described earlier, this scholar contributes sig-
nificantly to studying climate change and global sustain-
ability. This shows the efforts and contributions of many
scholars and teams in the field of CCUS in China and
the USA during the period 2000–2022. They are the most
productive and influential authors and groups in the field
of CCUS research.

13
76446 Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2023) 30:76437–76454

Similarly, the number of highly cited papers is a crucial
indicator of impact. Usually, the more awarded a piece is, the
more recognized it is by the academic community. Table 4
shows the top 10 highly cited articles in the field of CCUS
between China and the USA during 2000–2022; the USA
has 7 out of 10 studies, and China has only 3. It can be seen
that there is a gap between China and the USA in the field of
CCUS, and the USA has more influence in CCUS.
Research hotspots and topic clustering analysis
Research hotspots
Keywords are the core content of literature research, which
can analyze the evolution pattern of research themes,
research hotspots, and future directions (Tian et al. 2018).
On the other hand, keyword clustering analysis can present
the differences and connections between topics, thus iden-
tifying the knowledge communities in a particular research
area (Yao et al. 2020). In this paper, through data cleaning
and synonym conversion of keywords, and after screen-
ing and sorting, the frequency of keywords in the field of
CCUS in China and the USA was thus counted and ana-
lyzed (Table B.1 in the Appendix). It shows the top 15 high-
frequency keywords in the field of CCUS in China and the
USA during 2000–2021, which reflect the evolution of the
thematic pulse of the area over the past 20 years. It can be
seen that “CO2 capture” as the keyword of this study appears
528 times in China and 450 times in the USA. It occupies a
central and intermediary role. ­CO2 storage, ­CO2 emission,
flue gas, cost, model, and climate change are also the most
frequently reported keywords in China and the USA, which
are hot words in the CCUS field. This indicates that the
research hotspots in the field of CCUS in both China and
the USA show diversity and differentiation, and the variety
is reflected in the fact that they involve not only various
technical studies but also climate change, application areas,
numerical simulation, model construction, cost analysis, and
other fields. The differences are reflected in the fact that
the Chinese CCUS field emphasizes the application of ­CO2
utilization technologies in the coal sector. At the same time,
the USA is showing more attention in the field of ­CO2-EOR.
The USA received the world’s first patent for ­CO2-EOR in
1952 and has been actively deploying the technology world-
wide. It also represents the US’ leadership in the field (Lla-
mas et al. 2016). In addition, studies have shown that C ­ O2
utilization is considered an essential factor in driving the
future scale-up of CCUS technology (Zhang et al. 2020).
Topic clustering analysis
To better present the research themes in the field of CCUS
in China and the USA, this paper uses CiteSpace software
to perform a cluster analysis of Chinese CCUS keywords
(Fig. 6). Each cluster comprises multiple closely related key-
words, which are collated to form Table B.2 and Table B.3
(in the Appendix). The Q values in the table are greater
than 0.3, indicating significant clustering institutions. The S
values are greater than 0.7, showing convincing clustering.
Combining Table B.2 and Fig. 6a, it can be seen that
the thematic clustering in the field of CCUS in China
over the past 20 years mainly includes the following: #0
enhanced gas recovery, #1 coal-fired power plants, #2
dioxide capture, #3 power sector, #4 calcium carbonate,
#5 numerical simulation, #6 C ­ O 2 absorption, #7 super-
critical ­C O 2, #8 chemical looping combustion, #9 life
cycle assessment. Topics #1 and #3 are industries where
CCUS technology research is focused on applications. As

Table 4  Top 10 highly cited articles in the CCUS field in the USA and China from 2000 to 2022
Author TC Journal Country Research direction

Rao and Rubin (2002) 1334 Environmental Science & Technology USA Engineering; Environmental Sciences and
Ecology
McDonald et al. (2015) 767 Nature USA Science and Technology
Zhang et al. (2014) 607 Energy & Environmental Science China Chemistry; Energy and Fuels; Engineering;
Environmental Sciences and Ecology
Rubin et al. (2007) 519 Energy Policy USA Geochemistry and Geophysics; Mineralogy
Benson and Cole (2008) 491 Elements USA Chemistry; Energy and Fuels; Engineering;
Environmental Sciences and Ecology
Presser et al. (2011) 460 Energy & Environmental Science USA Science and Technology
Guan et al. (2008) 459 Global Environmental Change-Human and China Environmental Sciences and Ecology; Geog-
Policy Dimensions raphy
Zoback and Gorelick (2012) 434 PNAS USA Science and Technology
Rubin et al. (2015) 432 International Journal of Greenhouse Gas USA Science and Technology; Energy and Fuels;
Control Engineering
Lin et al. (2012) 425 Nature Materials China Chemistry; Materials Science; Physics

Note: TC indicates the total number of citations

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Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2023) 30:76437–76454
Fig. 6  Clustering of keyword
themes in the field of CCUS in
China (a) and the USA (b) dur-
ing 2000–2022
coal-fired power plants are major carbon emitters, more
and more domestic companies are using CCUS technol-
ogy to address carbon emissions in critical areas, such as
the National Energy Group, which has built the largest
CCUS complete process demonstration project for coal-
fired power plants in China. CCUS technology is superior
in reducing emissions in the power industry and is con-
sidered one of the essential options for China to achieve
76447
profound carbon reduction in the power sector. In the
future, CCUS technology will play a more critical role in
crucial carbon emissions industries such as power plants,
steel, and cement (Fan et al. 2022; Wei et al. 2021). Top-
ics #2, #4, #6, and #8 are all related to C
­ O2 capture tech-
nology, which is the most important technical component
of CCUS technology. Depending on the capture mecha-
nism, ­CO2 capture technology can be divided into several
13
76448
categories: chemical absorption, physical absorption,
physical adsorption, membrane separation, deep cooling
separation, etc. Chemical and physical absorption meth-
ods are relatively the most mature and widely used chemi-
cal industry (Lee and Park 2015; Wilberforce et al. 2021).
Topic #7 mainly deals with research related to carbon
dioxide transport. As the pipeline is an economical and
convenient transportation mode, it has excellent advan-
tages in carbon dioxide transport of CCUS projects and
is also an area of more current research (Lu et al. 2020).
Topics #0, #5, and #9 are standard research methods and
application scenarios for CCUS, especially in the C ­ O2
storage and ­CO2 utilization phase, and are often used to
improve ­CO 2 oil recovery rates (Cruz et al. 2021; Haro
et al. 2018).
Combined with what is known from Table B.3 and
Fig. 6b, it can be found that the US CCUS domain theme
clusters mainly include the following: #0 solid sorbent,
#1 risk assessment, #2 energy systems, #3 numerical
modeling, #4 ­CO2 capture, #5 climate change, #6 techno-
economic analysis, #7 air separation, #8 carbon capture
and storage, #9 enhanced oil recovery. Topic #1 is mainly
related to ­CO2 injection, geological storage, ­CO2 leakage,
and ­CO2 monitoring. Risk assessment and monitoring of
CCUS technology is a critical research task regarding
risk assessment before ­CO 2 injection and risk liability
issues after long-term storage (Balch and McPherson
2022). Topics #0, #4, and #7 are related to ­CO2 capture
technology research. For C ­ O2 capture technology, more
and more scholars have begun to research direct air cap-
ture technology (abbreviation DAC). This technology can
remove ­CO2 from the air environment using absorbers and
is considered a new generation of ­CO2 capture technology
(Madhu et al. 2021; Ozkan et al. 2022). Topics #3 and #9
contain keywords such as Monte Carlo, Bayesian infer-
ence, and ­CO2-EOR. The current hot area studies simulate
and optimize ­CO2 utilization and geological storage for
enhanced recovery of depleted reservoirs using numerical
simulation and other methods (Safi et al. 2016). Topics
#2, #5, #6, and #8 mainly include climate change, energy
systems, techno-economic analysis, etc. The economic
analysis and business model design of CCUS is a hot
topic of current research in the field of CCUS and one
of the constraints that limit the scale-up of CCUS (Ren
et al. 2022; Singh and Colosi 2021; Sullivan et al. 2020).
Based on the differences in the national conditions of the
two countries, it can be seen that there are some differences
in the clustering of CCUS keyword topics between China
and the USA, and the focus of research in the two countries
has its emphasis. Therefore, to promote the rapid develop-
ment of this field, cooperation and communication between
the two countries in the field of CCUS technology should be
strengthened in the future.
13
Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2023) 30:76437–76454
Analysis of the temporal evolution of research
themes
Time evolution analysis can reveal the development his-
tory of the CCUS field, keep abreast of the frontier areas
of research, and help grasp future research and develop-
ment trends in the subject area. This paper uses CiteSpace
software to map the evolution of keyword co-occurrence
time zones, focusing on expressing the interconnection and
influence between clusters. The literature information was
processed and imported into CiteSpace software to generate
a map of the evolution of CCUS time zones in China and the
USA, as shown in Fig. A.1 (in the Appendix), to visualize
the development of terminology at the frontier of research
in the field of CCUS in China and the USA.
As shown in Fig. A.1a (in the Appendix), from 2004 to
2008, CCUS-related research in China was relatively homo-
geneous, focusing mainly on C ­ O2 capture and C
­ O2 storage.
CCUS-related research in China started as early as 2004
with a larger circle of ­CO2 capture and storage, indicating
that they have been one of the hot topics of research in the
field of CCUS until now. CCUS research has grown rapidly
during the period 2009–2018. In this period, there are hot
study spots such as C ­ O2 geological storage, C­ O2 capture
and storage, cost, flue gas, supercritical ­CO2, power plant,
and system. It is not difficult to find that the research of
CCUS has been diversified and interdisciplinary. From 2019
to 2022, with the proposal of China achieving a carbon peak
before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060,
keywords such as carbon neutrality began to appear and have
become hot words in the development of the Chinese era.
With the future development of crucial carbon-neutral emis-
sion reduction technologies, CCUS technology will usher in
significant opportunities.
As can be seen from Fig. A.1b (in the Appendix), dur-
ing 2004–2008, the field of CCUS in the USA focused on
­CO2 storage, ­CO2 capture, ­CO2 capture and storage, climate
change, ­CO2 emissions, and C ­ O2 transportation during that
period. It can be found that the US research is earlier and
more prosperous than that of China. During 2009–2018,
the focus started on topics such as life cycle assessment,
techno-economic analysis, uncertainty, simulation, super-
critical ­CO2, optimization, leakage, and biomass, which are
the hot research topics in the field of CCUS in the USA at
that stage. During 2019–2022, the application of machine
learning in the field of CCUS has become a focus of atten-
tion for US scholars.
It can be seen that although the research hotspots of China
and the USA are not entirely the same in different stages.
However, both show that the research related to CCUS
shows a trend that the research on CCUS theory is becom-
ing more and more systematic, and the depth and breadth
of the study are increasing. It has developed from a single
Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2023) 30:76437–76454
technology to full-chain and multidisciplinary research on
CCUS. More and more scholars from different disciplinary
backgrounds have started to pay attention to and engage in
research in this field.
In addition, the CiteSpace software provides an emer-
gent term detection function. Emergent terms refer to
terms that appear more often or with higher frequency in
a shorter period, and the frontier and trend of the research
field can be judged according to the word frequency
change of emergent terms, which is suitable for examin-
ing emerging trends and sudden changes in the develop-
ment of disciplines. As shown in Fig. 7a. It can be seen
that the keyword proliferation point of China’s CCUS field
research started in 2004, and the change of each keyword
proliferation varies. The most vigorous emergent intensity
in China is C­ O2 geological storage, with a strength value
of 9.54, which appears more frequently between 2014
and 2017. It indicates that Chinese scholars highly valued
this keyword during this period. Then, Chinese scholars
received much attention from keywords such as supercriti-
cal ­CO2, numerical simulation, price, uncertainty, and real
options. The burst intensity has been maintained at a high
level since 2014. However, as CCUS technology evolves
and new issues arise, the attention to these keywords has
declined. The keywords of stability and deployment will
Fig. 7  Mutation map of CCUS
keywords in China (a) and the
USA (b) during 2000–2022.
Notes: The time slice is set to
1. Node types Select Key-
word. Strength indicates burst
strength. Begin indicates the
burst start year, and end indi-
cates the burst end year.
76449
be emphasized from 2020 onwards. It is foreseen that
CCUS technology, with maturity and strength, will be
deployed on a large scale in crucial emission reduction
industries to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality.
As can be seen from Fig. 7b, the sudden increase of key-
words in the CCUS field in the USA began in 2000, earlier
than that in China. “LCA” is the most burst strength, with
a strength value of 5.69, mainly active during 2018–2022.
It indicates that this keyword is crucial for US scholars in
CCUS. Secondly, the keywords of commercial readiness
technology, flue gas, ­CO2 transportation, renewable energy,
and climate change are also the focus of American scholars.
The research has been conducted since 2004, and attention
decreased until 2020. However, it can be seen that with the
continuous development and improvement of CCUS tech-
nology, life cycle assessment, negative emission technol-
ogy, and techno-economic analysis will be the areas that US
scholars will focus on in the future.
In conclusion, in the face of intensifying global green-
house gas emissions, scholars from various countries will
pay more and more attention to the R&D and application of
CCUS-related technologies, especially the development of
new-generation technologies and the generation of disrup-
tive technologies. This will significantly promote the devel-
opment of this technology.
13
76450
Conclusion
Based on the literature data of the Web of Science core data-
base, this paper used bibliometric tools such as CiteSpace
and VOSviewer to conduct statistical analysis and literature
mining of CCUS-related literature in China and the USA
from 2000 to 2022. By comparing the differences and con-
nections between Chinese and American CCUS technology
in the development process, cooperative institutions and
teams, hotspots, and future directions, this paper comprehen-
sively analyzes and sorts out the development characteristics
and research trends of CCUS. This study provides a new
understanding of CCUS technology development in China
and the USA. This work shows that research in the CCUS
field has become more in-depth in China and the USA over
the past two decades.
Regarding the overall trend, CCUS research in China and
the USA shows an upward trend, roughly divided into three
stages. They are the slow growth stage (2000–2008), rapid
rise stage (2009–2018), and vigorous development stage
(2019 to present). Studies have shown that the US research
in CCUS is earlier than in China. Although the USA ranks
first in the number of publications worldwide, however,
the number of publications in China in the field of CCUS
started to surpass the USA and continues to date after 2016.
It shows that China and the USA are vital forces in CCUS
research. As China and the USA attach great importance
to climate change, the literature published in the field of
CCUS will experience explosive growth. In addition, in
terms of journal and discipline distribution, core journals in
environmental science and energy technology, such as the
International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, Applied
Energy, Energy, Environmental Science & Technology, and
Energy Policy, showed greater interest in CCUS technology.
The results show that the CCUS technology has evolved
from a relatively single technology in the early days to a
comprehensive multidisciplinary cross-fertilization study. It
involves the fields of Engineering, Energy and Fuels, Envi-
ronmental Science and Ecology, Chemistry, Materials Sci-
ence, Business and Economics, and Geology.
Regarding the number of institutions publishing in the
CCUS field, 11 of the top 20 institutions are from China, and
9 are from the USA. These institutions issued 1197 articles,
accounting for 47.92% of the total publications, with Chi-
nese Acad Sci ranking first in the number of published arti-
cles. Chinese institutions ranked first regarding performance
regarding the number of articles published. US institutions
fared better in total article citations, with Carnegie Mellon
University ranking first with 6580 citations. At the same
time, American scholars have more impact factors and more
highly cited papers than China. As can be seen, China and
the USA have made outstanding contributions to the field
13
Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2023) 30:76437–76454
of CCUS and have had a profound impact on the global
CCUS field.
However, in terms of academic impact, American insti-
tutions and scholars have more significant influence than
China. In the future, cooperation between institutions and
teams in both countries should be strengthened to promote
learning exchange and diversification between groups. Based
on the cluster analysis of the literature, it is concluded that
the research themes in the field of CCUS in China and the
USA focus on C ­ O2 capture, C
­ O2 geological storage, C­ O2
emission, flue gas, model, climate change, numerical simu-
lation, model construction, and cost analysis, which are the
hotspots of research in the past 20 years. It also includes
the areas of risk assessment and monitoring caused by C ­ O2
leakage, public awareness of CCUS economic evaluation
and business model design, and policy incentives. Time-
line analysis and frontiers show that research hotspots in the
field of CCUS in China and the USA exhibit diversity and
differentiation. Based on the differences between the two
countries, the research priorities in CCUS in China and the
USA have their focus. To promote the rapid development
of this field, it is recommended to strengthen the exchange
of academic activities and talent cultivation in the field of
CCUS technology in both countries.
Recommendations
In the future, the research focus in this field should be to
strengthen the research and innovation of cutting-edge and
disruptive technologies, especially the study and application
of the new generation of low-energy consumption, low-cost
carbon capture technology, and new carbon capture materi-
als. We should strengthen interdisciplinary integration and
break the bottleneck of cutting-edge technologies such as
carbon dioxide utilization and new energy development.
To improve energy efficiency and reduce the cost of CCUS
technology throughout its life cycle, cross-industry and
cross-domain coupling optimization and comprehensive
integration of CCUS technology and other carbon emission
reduction technologies are carried out. At the same time, it
is necessary to establish a method system that can monitor,
measure, and verify carbon emission and carbon storage in
the whole CCUS process as soon as possible, and to improve
the CCUS technology standard system and formulate incen-
tive policies to promote the technology research and devel-
opment and demonstration application. It is foreseeable that
as global ecological and environmental problems become
more and more prominent, the research hotspots of CCUS
technology will further increase, and the research perspec-
tives and disciplinary fields will continue to expand.
Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2023) 30:76437–76454 76451

Appendix
Fig. A.1   Spatial and temporal
evolution of CCUS keywords in
China (a) and the USA (b) dur-
ing 2000–2022. Note: The cir-
cular nodes indicate keywords.
The lines indicate their develop-
ment, and the red numbers in
each long strip below the graph
represent the year

Table B.1  Top 15 high- China USA

frequency keywords in China
and the USA Rank Keywords Frequency Rank Keywords Frequency

1 CO2 capture 528 1 CO2 capture 450

2 CO2 storage 339 2 CO2 storage 386
3 Carbon dioxide 286 3 carbon dioxide 280
4 CCS 199 4 CCS 229
5 CO2 emission 113 5 CO2 geological storage 123
6 CO2 geological storage 109 6 climate change 107
7 flue gas 108 7 CO2 emission 103
8 adsorption 109 8 energy 100
9 China 94 9 cost 88
10 model 81 10 technology 88
11 CCUS 68 11 system 83
12 simulation 66 12 flue gas 78
13 energy 65 13 model 76
14 coal 58 14 impact 56
15 cost 52 15 CO2 transport 55

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76452 Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2023) 30:76437–76454

Table B.2  Topic clustering and significant keywords in the field of CCUS in China during 2000–2022
Rank Q S Cluster name Cluster name main keywords

#0 0.82 0.91 enhanced gas recovery enhanced gas recovery; numerical simulation; permeability; fluid
#1 0.82 0.88 coal-fired power plants flue gas; combustion; emission reduction; dissolution; chemical absorption; decomposition;
coal phase-out
#2 0.82 0.90 dioxide capture gas adsorption; competitive adsorption; sorbent; bituminous coal; natural gas hydrate; meth-
ane; nitrogen; membrane
#3 0.82 0.92 power sector coal; electricity; adsorbent; coal-ired; power industry; coal gasication; power to gas; energy
eiciency; polyeneration system; cogeneration
#4 0.82 0.95 calcium carbonate CO2 uptake; pulverized coal; particle size
#5 0.82 0.88 numerical simulation CO2 geological storage; ­CO2-EOR; equation; feasibllity
#6 0.82 0.87 CO2 absorption biphasic solvent; absorbent; cyclopentane; ethylenediamine
#7 0.82 0.87 supercritical ­CO2 pipeline; ­CO2 monitoring; carbon dioxide corrosion; corrosion mechanism; pore size distri-
bution
#8 0.82 0.83 chemical looping combustion fuel; heat; fluidized bed reactor; pre combustion capture
#9 0.82 1.00 life cycle assessment Conversion; ­CO2 capture and conversion; carbon dioxide utilization; climate

Note: Modularity (Q value) indicates the modularity value of the clusters, and it is generally considered that Q>0.3 means that the clustering
structure is significant. Silhouette (S value) indicates the average contour value of clusters, and it is generally considered that S>0.5 clusters are
reasonable, and S>0.7 means that the clusters are convincing

Table B.3  Topic clustering and significant keywords in the field of CCUS in the USA during 2000–2022
Rank Q S Cluster name main keywords Cluster name main keywords

#0 0.77 0.88 solid sorbent activated carbon; ionic liquid; mesoporous silica; graphene; C ­ O2 capture technology; ­CO2
adsorption; porous carbon; calcium carbonate
#1 0.77 0.96 risk assessment risk analysis; monitoring; C
­ O2 leakage; deep leaming; C ­ O2 injection; risk perception
#2 0.77 0.89 energy systems Scenario; climate change mitigation; integrated assessment model; energy transition
#3 0.77 0.91 numerical modeling capacity estimation; numerical modeling; monte carlo; bayesian inference
#4 0.77 0.92 CO2 capture gas combined cycle; sorbent; direct air capture;
#5 0.77 0.93 climate change Climate; energy technology; negative emission technology; carbon management; C ­ O2 miti-
gation; carbon constraint
#6 0.77 0.86 techno-economic analysis economic analysis; technoeconomic analysis; technoeconomic assessment; investment; cost;
carbon sequestration cost; technoeconomic assessment
#7 0.77 0.88 air separation CO2 adsorption; ionic liquid; solid sorbent; direct air capture
#8 0.77 0.99 carbon capture and storage CO2 capture and storage; capital-intensive energy technology; system; environmental policy
#9 0.77 0.87 enhanced oil recovery CO2-EOR; performance; capacity; ­CO2 storage efficiency

Note: Same as Table B.2.

13
Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2023) 30:76437–76454
Acknowledgements Thanks to anonymous peer reviewers for their
helpful comments.
Author contribution All authors contributed to the design of this
research as follows: Qiang Ren: writing—original draft, methodology,
and conceptualization. Shansen Wei: data curation, software. Jianhui
Du: formal analysis, visualization. Peng Wu: writing—review and edit-
ing, project administration, and funding acquisition. All authors care-
fully revised and commented on the manuscript. All authors read and
approved the final manuscript.
Funding We appreciate the publication of this article and the funding
support from Major Project of Key Research Bases of Humanities and
Social Sciences, Ministry of Education in China, No. 22JJD630011.
Data availability All data included in this study are available by con-
tacting the corresponding author upon request.
Declarations
Ethics approval Not applicable
Consent to participate Not applicable
Consent for publication Not applicable
Conflict of interest The authors declare no competing interests.
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