Morphological characterization of aggregates and agglomerates by image analysis: A systematic literature review

The morphological characterization of aggregates or agglomerates using image analysis is an increasingly active area of research, whether in the chemical, environmental or civil engineering industries, in the food industry or in the medical and pharmaceutical fields. The final properties of agglomerates are often related to their size and shape distribution, and the morphology of aggregates can in turn influence the efficiency of industrial processes or their impact on health and the environment. Since the morphology of aggregates has such a considerable influence, tools are needed to measure, characterize and quantify it, in particular by image analysis. Therefore, this article proposes to apply the method of Systematic Literature Review (SLR) to answer a series of questions, such as which are the most popular imaging devices, the size and type of aggregates studied, the most active research fields, the most popular image analysis techniques, the most represented authors and journals and, above all, the main morphological characteristics measured, with their definition given in the supplementary material. For this purpose, the SLR method is described in detail, as well as the research questions and the protocol followed. A total of 145 articles were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and the data collected are presented. All morphological characteristics measured and reported are presented, described, and defined for a total of more than 45 different morphological characteristics and more than 110 definitions. Techniques for image analysis, aggregate characterization, and the full range of imaging devices used are listed. Finally, other reviews on the study of aggregates or agglomerates are mentioned, and the main points of this article are summarized in a conclusion with some guidelines for future authors.