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The present study focuses on a bibliometric analysis of the global production of scientific papers related to the recovery of bioenergy from orange industrial waste or by‐products. The study also observed the top‐cited papers, international collaborative networks, top countries, and journals. The timespan was from 1900 to 2019, and the Web of Science© database was used. A total of 161 documents (research and review papers) were selected to carry out the investigation. Two main clusters of literature were highlighted, related to the authorship of the top‐cited papers and authorship collaboration networks, respectively. Recent scientific publications use different pre‐treatments to achieve the best biogas yield with many configurations of the anaerobic digestion system. The data indicated that the countries with most publications are Spain, China, and the USA, and the journals with a higher impact factors related to environmental assessments were responsible for a higher number of publications. In a biorefinery concept, orange peel could be submitted to different pre‐treatments to produce bioethanol and methane, as environmentally friendly fuels, and other co‐products such as d‐limonene and pectin. This study therefore presents trends in bioenergy production from orange industrial by‐products with the aim of supporting further research on energy recovery from orange industry solid waste and to assist future decision making in this field of science. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Ethanol production implies in by-products generation, mainly vinasse and stillage, respectively generated from sugarcane and corn ethanol production in flex plants. Both by-products require efficient treatment routes to avoid environmental side-effects to support energy recovery. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to evaluate the techno-economic potential of bioenergy (electric and thermal energy) production from the anaerobic digestion (AD) of vinasse and stillage. Three scenarios were defined: (a) Scenario 1, AD of vinasse; (b) Scenario 2, AD of stillage; and (c) Scenario 3, AD of vinasse and stillage in an integrated process. From the results, the methane production was estimated at 3.8 × 106 m3 year−1 considering the AD of stillage and vinasse in Scenario 3. The electricity and thermal energy generation was estimated as 14.61 GWh year−1 and 1.37 × 105 GJ year−1, respectively. This energy would mitigate 1096.05 and 7659.27 ton CO 2eq year−1 when replacing fossil fuel energy. The profitability analysis indicated a positive net present value in the scenarios evaluated, however, the highest value was achieved for Scenario 3 (7,890,407.44 USD). For the integrated process, an internal return rate of 86.87% and a payback of 0.68 year were observed. The sensitivity analysis showed that the project profitability is highly dependent on electricity and thermal energy selling prices. In conclusion, AD demonstrated to be a feasible alternative for vinasse and stillage management in an integrated process, being a sustainable technology to the circular economy transition and energy matrix decarbonization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]