Activated Carbon VOC Adsorption Patents: Leaders & White Space 2026
- Concentrated at the top. the five leading assignees account for 63.2% of all 19 records in scope, and the ranked ten reach 89.5%.
- Filings roughly quadrupled. from 1 record in 2021 to 4 in 2024, a +300% rise over that three-year span, before the still-incomplete 2025-26 window.
- China dominates the filing venue. 10 of the tracked receiving-office filings originate there, well ahead of Europe, India, Japan, South Korea and the US combined.
Filing growth compares 2021 (1 records) with 2024 (4) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 19 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this patent set covers
This landscape tracks patent families addressing volatile organic compound adsorption and activated carbon air purification, filtered to records that also engage practical performance concerns: adsorption capacity, breakthrough time, sorbent regeneration, humidity competition, carbon impregnation and odour removal. That combination narrows the field to engineering-grade disclosures rather than broad air-filter claims, which is why the scope holds at 19 published records.
The dataset spans filings from 2015 through the 2026 data cut-off, though publication lag means the most recent two years are still filling in. Within that window it captures a mix of corporate filers, national research institutes and university labs, with activity split across separation-process engineering, catalytic and sorbent chemistry, and a smaller cluster of analytical and computational-prediction work.
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Filing trend and technology mix
Two views of the same 19-record dataset: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the disclosures actually sit in.
A slow build, then a step up
Filings held near zero through the late 2010s, then rose from 1 record in 2021 to a peak of 4 in 2024 — a +300% increase over that span. 2025 and 2026 show fewer publications, but that reflects the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication rather than a real slowdown; treat the peak-year figure of 4 as the last reliable data point.
Separation and catalysis dominate the classification mix
B01D (separation processes) appears on 73.7% of the 19 records and B01J (chemical/physical processes and catalysis) on 68.4%, confirming that most disclosures are about physically or chemically capturing VOCs rather than downstream uses. C01B (non-metallic elements and inorganic compounds, 31.6%) points to sorbent-material chemistry, while G01N, G06F and G16C together show a smaller but real thread of analytical and computational-prediction filings. Because records can carry multiple IPC codes, these shares sum to well over 100% of the record total and should be read individually, not added together.
Shares are the percentage of the 19 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Activated Carbon and VOC Adsorption in Air Cleaners with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about activated carbon and voc adsorption in air cleaners and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records and a representative filing
ZA202109215A — Volatile organic compound adsorption and desorption treatment and resource recovery device
Filed by Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, this disclosure combines an adsorption-desorption unit with paired adsorbers, a water circulation system and a vacuum unit. A steam-water mixer sits between the circulating water pump and the adsorber's heat exchanger inlet, and both adsorbers share a common induced-draft fan and waste-gas buffer tank — a design aimed at regenerating the sorbent while recovering the desorbed VOCs rather than simply venting them.Abstract condensed from the original filing.
View full record| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CN116593376A | 一种基于填充式吸附的挥发性有机物吸附量预测方法 | 9 |
| 2 | JP2011110546A | Apparatus and method for decomposing volatile organic compound | 6 |
| 3 | CN120489884A | 一种跨吸附温度的挥发性有机物吸附量预测方法 | 2 |
| 4 | US20220259054A1 | Hydrophobic zeolite, method for producing same and use of same | 2 |
| 5 | CN218687896U | 一种具有超强VOC吸附能力的高疏水性分子筛 | 1 |
Citation counts favour older records that have had more time to accumulate references — read them as a signal of influence within this searched corpus, not as a ranking of current technical importance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Publication numbers are shown where the record carries one (5 of 5 rows); clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the filing pattern signals
Reading the concentration, the trend and the citation data together points to a field that is active but still young, with room to move before claim space hardens.
Filing activity sits with a small group
The five leading assignees hold 63.2% of all 19 records in scope, and the ranked ten reach 89.5%. That leaves a long tail of single- or double-filing entrants — enough breadth that a newcomer is not boxed out, but concentrated enough that any freedom-to-operate check should start with the leaders' claim scope.
Growth is real but the base is small
Filings rose from 1 record in 2021 to 4 in 2024. That is a genuine step-change in a field that had almost no activity earlier in the window, but the absolute volumes are still small enough that a handful of new filings could shift the ranking quickly.
China is the primary filing venue
Ten of the tracked receiving-office filings are in China, versus two each in Europe, India and Japan and one each in South Korea and the US. Anyone benchmarking freedom-to-operate outside China should not assume the same density of prior art applies.
Most disclosures are separation engineering, not chemistry alone
B01D appears on 73.7% of records and B01J on 68.4%, meaning most filings combine a physical separation approach with a catalytic or sorbent chemistry claim. The smaller C01B, G01N, G06F and G16C clusters mark adjacent threads — material composition and adsorption-prediction modelling — that have not yet reached the same density.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to activated carbon and voc adsorption in air cleaners, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gate sits
A mix of Japanese corporate filers, Chinese research institutes and universities make up the ranked leaders. Co-assignee pairs suggest at least one active corporate-institute collaboration, but momentum has cooled across the board in the latest tracked year.
A single corporate filer leads the ranking
The top-ranked assignee holds 5 of the 19 records, with the fifth-place and tenth-place holders each contributing 1. That gap between first and the rest is the clearest sign of where sustained R&D investment has gone, and where a competitor's existing claims are most likely to overlap with new filings.
Research institutes fill out the long tail
Beyond the corporate leader, Chinese universities and research institutes account for most of the remaining ranked entries, each typically holding a single record. This pattern is consistent with an academically-active but commercially early field.
One corporate-institute cluster stands out
Three co-assignee pairs appear in the data, with the strongest pairing linking a corporate filer, an automotive manufacturer and a materials research centre at a count of 2 each. That triangle suggests joint automotive cabin-air or emissions work rather than isolated single-inventor filings.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Tosoh Corporation | 0 | — |
| Denso Corporation | 0 | — |
| Toyota Motor Corporation | 0 | — |
| University of Chinese Academy of Sciences | 0 | -100% |
| Japan Fine Ceramics Center | 0 | — |
| Jeongjin High-Tech Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Suzhou Industrial Park Anzewen Environmental Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Suzhou University | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this next
The dataset points to specific follow-up questions rather than a single conclusion — use them to scope the next round of diligence.
Check freedom-to-operate against the leading assignee
With one assignee holding 5 of 19 records, any new filing in separation or catalytic sorbent design should be checked against that portfolio first, not just the aggregate field.
Run a claim comparisonWatch the 2024 peak for confirmation
The +300% rise to 2024 is the last complete data point before publication lag distorts the picture; a similar filing rate reappearing in 2025-26 data as it publishes would confirm sustained momentum rather than a one-year spike.
Track filing updatesExplore the under-claimed prediction cluster
Computational and machine-learning approaches to breakthrough-time and adsorption-capacity prediction appear in only a handful of records, despite touching the same core adsorption mechanics as the denser B01D/B01J claims.
Explore white spaceCommon questions about this landscape
In this 19-record dataset, one assignee leads with 5 records, and the top five combined account for 63.2% of all records in scope. The ranking includes 15 companies and institutes total, so beyond the leader the field spreads across a long tail of single- or double-filing entrants, including several Chinese universities and research institutes. This concentration pattern means a competitor check should start with the leader's specific claims rather than assuming the field is evenly distributed.
Yes, based on the data available: filings rose from 1 record in 2021 to a peak of 4 in 2024, a +300% increase over that span. Figures for 2025 and 2026 appear lower, but that reflects the roughly 18-month lag between when a patent is filed and when it publishes, not an actual drop in activity. 2024 should be treated as the most recent reliable year for trend purposes.
Most records classify under B01D (separation processes, 73.7% of the 19 records) and B01J (chemical and catalytic processes, 68.4%), meaning the bulk of filings combine a physical adsorption mechanism with sorbent or catalyst chemistry. A smaller but distinct cluster touches C01B (inorganic compound chemistry, 31.6%) and analytical or computational-prediction classes like G01N, G06F and G16C, each around 10-16% of records. Because a single patent can carry multiple IPC codes, these percentages overlap rather than sum to a whole.
China is the dominant receiving office with 10 of the tracked filings, more than all other jurisdictions combined. Europe, India and Japan each show 2 filings, and South Korea and the United States each show 1. This geographic skew suggests that prior-art density and freedom-to-operate risk are highest for anyone filing or operating in China, and comparatively lighter elsewhere in this specific dataset.
ZA202109215A, filed by Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, describes a VOC adsorption-desorption device that pairs two adsorbers with a shared induced-draft fan and waste-gas buffer tank, plus a water-circulation and vacuum system built around a steam-water mixer positioned between the circulating pump and the adsorber's heat exchanger inlet. It specifically claims resource recovery of desorbed VOCs rather than simple venting. A design that avoids this specific steam-water mixer placement and dual-adsorber sharing arrangement, or that recovers VOCs through a different regeneration mechanism entirely, would sit outside its literal claim scope, though a full freedom-to-operate read of the granted claims is needed before relying on that distinction.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.