From biotechnology to sustainable innovation: A bibliometric analysis of microbial electricity generation and its entrepreneurial potential

This research addresses the need to understand the scientific development and entrepreneurial potential of microbial electricity generation, a technology that converts organic waste into bioelectricity using microbial fuel cells (MFCs) while treating wastewater. Despite its promising dual nature-treatment and electricity production-its degree of maturity and market transfer pathways remained unclear, prompting a bibliometric analysis to map trends, key players, and business opportunities. To this end, a search strategy was designed in the Scopus database (1986-2025) with terms related to microorganisms, energy, conversion, entrepreneurship, and biotechnology, retrieving 215 documents that were filtered, normalized, and exported for analysis. Quantitative methods-annual production, distribution by document type, and citation metrics (citations, h-index)-were combined with mapping tools in VOSviewer: keyword co-occurrence, co-Authorship networks, Sankey diagrams, and trend issues. Minimum thresholds were established to focus the maps on the most relevant actors, concepts, and collaborations. The results indicate that 40.2% of the publications are peer-reviewed, 34.1% original articles, 22.4% papers, and 3.3% other formats, with exponential growth in production since 2000. The thematic analysis revealed three main clusters: microbial biotechnology ("bacteria,""metabolism"), applied innovation ("innovation,""bioengineering"), and technical-chemical tools ("chemistry,""biofuel"). The international collaboration network places China, the United States, and India as dominant hubs, and authors such as Singh S. and Zhang W. as leaders. These findings demonstrate the consolidation of the field and open avenues for green ventures, such as the integration of CCMs into water treatment plants and portable power generation devices, providing an empirical basis to guide policies and business models toward a circular bioeconomy.