PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Dry reforming of methane (DRM) is considered a promising technology to produce syngas since it offers possibilities for carbon dioxide (CO2) conversion, sustainable generation of hydrogen, and environmentally friendly production. However, the efficiency of the current process, its sustainability, and its scalability remain critical considerations despite the numerous scientific developments in the field. Process safety needs special attention while addressing the problem of carbon deposition, catalyst deactivation and other hazards associated with DRM at the industrial level and operational risks, to ensure the practicality and reliability of large-scale applications. This study aims to evaluate global research trends at the intersection of DRM and process safety through a bibliometric analysis. In total, 1,036 research papers collected from the Scopus database within the timeframe of 1997-2024 were used in this study via a multi-phase process of material collection and analysed using bibliometric techniques, including publication trend analysis, country and author productivity assessment, collaboration network analysis, and keyword co-occurrence mapping. The results show a significant increase in research activity after 2017. Among the productive countries and authors, China and the USA are considered the key drivers and contributors to the topic. Four major safety-related themes have been defined as follows: safety in syngas production, carbon formation and catalyst deactivation, catalyst stability and anti-poisoning capabilities, and process intensification with innovative reactor design. These results indicate that safety issues are becoming more integrated into the DRM research field, especially through studies relating to operational stability, performance of reactors, and mitigating hazards. This paper attempts to provide a systematic analysis of emerging safety themes, identify current research gaps, and propose future directions involving inherently safer design, predictive safety monitoring, and pilot-scale validation. The outcomes may support researchers and industry practitioners in developing safer and more reliable DRM technologies for large-scale implementation.