Recent trend in phytoremediation of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soil: a bibliometric review

Abstract

Phytoremediation is an environmentally friendly and low-cost technology for remediating petroleum contaminated soils. This review analyzed the publications indexed in the Scopus database between 2015 and 2025. The number of publications and citations related to the phytoremediation of petroleum hydrocarbons has increased rapidly, presumably due to the growing environmental pollution of petrochemicals worldwide. China emerged as the most productive country, followed by India and the United States, respectively. The majority of publications were found in Environmental Science and Pollution Research, International Journal of Phytoremediation, Chemosphere, Science of the Total Environment, and Journal of Hazardous Materials. The top five keywords in this field were bioremediation, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, petroleum hydrocarbons, rhizoremediation, and heavy metals, excluding phytoremediation. The keyword analysis showed a focus on co-contaminated soil, plant-microbial interaction, amendment-assisted phytoremediation, and phytotoxicity. This bibliometric review provides valuable insights for future directions related to the phytoremediation of petroleum hydrocarbons.