Scientometric Research Progress on the Resource Utilization of Industrial Solid Waste in the Building Materials Field

Abstract

This study adopts a scientometric approach to systematically review and critically analyze the research progress on the resource utilization of industrial solid waste in the building materials field. According to the Web of Science (WoS) database, a total of 250 relevant English papers from 2001 to 2025 were ultimately obtained. Using VOSviewer for visualization of yearly publishing patterns, authors' keyword co-occurrences, and the development history of research interests. From 2021 onwards, due to the increasing rigidity of environmental supervision and strengthening of CO₂ reduction targets, more articles have been published in this field over time, which shows that there is an increasing focus on researching how solid waste management links with low carbon consumption building materials. Moreover, this study provides a systematic review of the main research topics in the treatment and application of typical industrial solid waste materials in the building industry, including fly ash, coal gangue, metallurgical slag, gypsum, and red mud. From a management perspective, industrial solid waste resources have helped enhance the degree of resource utilisation through the promotion of the construction of a circular economy and reducing CO₂ emissions. Additionally, it raises requirements for the establishment of standard systems, implementing incentive policies, improving regional cooperation mechanisms, and constructing integrated industries. Although industrial solid waste has broad application prospects in the construction industry, there are still deficiencies in its performance improvement, durability guarantee, economy, and scale constraints during use. Future research needs to pay more attention to green treatment technologies, life cycle management, and policy-industry collaboration mechanisms' building to drive industrial solid waste from a resource utilization process towards its transition to sustainable large-scale applications.