Algal Hydrothermal Liquefaction Patents: Leaders & Trends 2026
Filing growth compares 2021 (2 records) with 2024 (10) — 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.
What this landscape covers
Algal hydrothermal liquefaction converts wet algal biomass directly into a biocrude intermediate using sub-critical or near-critical water, avoiding the drying step that makes many algae-to-fuel routes energy-negative. The 53 records in scope span filings from 2015 through the 2026 cut-off, drawn from applicants filing at receiving offices in India, the United States, WIPO, France, Canada and the EPO. Claim activity concentrates on converting biomass into biocrude and refining it toward drop-in fuel products, with a smaller but persistent cluster of records on the biological front end — cultivation, bioreactor design and strain engineering.
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the last one to two years in any trend undercount true filing activity; treat 2024 as the most recent complete year and read 2025-2026 as still filling in rather than as a slowdown.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 53-record dataset: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
A field that moved from single filings to a double-digit peak
Filings were sparse and sporadic through the late 2010s, then climbed steadily; 2021 to 2024 alone saw the year count rise from 2 to 10, a +400% increase, with the peak year so far at 13 filings. That trajectory suggests the underlying process chemistry moved from lab demonstration toward pilot and pre-commercial claims across that window.
Refining and by-product classes lead; upstream biology stays thin
Hydrocarbon oil and refining claims (C10G) and inorganic pigment and treatment claims (C09C) each cover well over a third of the 53 records, reflecting heavy emphasis on turning biocrude into usable fuel and on managing the mineral by-products of liquefaction. Fuels and firelighters (C10L) sit at 15.1%, while bioreactor apparatus, fermentation, wastewater treatment, catalysis and microorganism engineering classes all sit at or below 11.3% — each a narrower, less-crowded slice of the same 53-record set.
Shares are the percentage of the 53 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Algal Biofuels: Algal Hydrothermal Liquefaction Patent Landscape with Eureka
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Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this landscape
Method of processing algae, carbonaceous feedstocks, and their mixtures to biocrude and its conversion into biofuel products
The application describes an integrated method for processing marine or freshwater algal biomass, alone or blended with carbonaceous feedstocks such as biosolids, into biocrude via hydrothermal liquefaction or co-liquefaction using sub-critical water. The resulting biocrude is then pretreated with a renewable biocatalyst to strip nitrogen, sulfur and oxygen impurities ahead of conversion to finished biofuel.Filed by Aban Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, 2017-07-13.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20170342327A1 | Method for converting algal biomass into a gas or into biocrude by hydrothermal gasification or hydrothermal … | 19 |
| 2 | US20210238519A1 | Integrated algal and cyanobacterial process for bioproduct manufacturing | 17 |
| 3 | WO2016097414A1 | Improved method for converting algal biomass into a gas or into biocrude by hydrothermal gasification and hyd… | 7 |
| 4 | US20170198223A1 | Method of processing algae, carbonaceous feedstocks, and their mixtures to biocrude and its conversion into b… | 6 |
| 5 | WO2015198347A1 | Method of processing algae, carbonaceous feedstocks, and their mixtures to biocrude and its conversion into b… | 5 |
| 6 | WO2023055931A1 | Methods of producing carbon blacks from low-yielding feedstocks and products made from same | 4 |
| 7 | FR3030562A1 | PROCEDE AMELIORE DE CONVERSION DE BIOMASSE ALGALE EN UN GAZ OU EN BIO-CRUDE RESPECTIVEMENT PAR GAZEIFICATION … | 4 |
| 8 | KR1020160114573A | Systems and methods for converting biomass to biocrude via hydrothermal liquefaction | 4 |
| 9 | WO2023147235A1 | Methods of producing carbon blacks from low-yielding feedstocks and products made from same utilizing plasma … | 3 |
| 10 | US10711201B2 | Method for converting algal biomass into a gas or into biocrude by hydrothermal gasification or hydrothermal … | 3 |
Citation counts reward older filings simply because they have had longer to accumulate citations inside this corpus; read them as a signal of influence on later filers, not as a ranking of current commercial importance.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Four read-outs from the dataset that matter more than the raw counts on their own.
The field is past the exploratory stage
Annual filings rose from 2 in 2021 to 10 in 2024. That is a fast enough climb that a new entrant should expect active prosecution and freedom-to-operate questions, not an empty field.
One leader, then a long tail
The ranking covers 20 assignees; the leader holds 21 records while fifth place holds 4 and tenth place holds just 1. Most of the ranked list is single- or double-digit filers, which leaves room for a new applicant to build a defensible position without displacing an entrenched monopoly.
Filings cluster around a small collaboration network
Seven co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, and the three strongest all link the same three organisations to each other at a co-filing count of 5 each — evidence of a joint development project rather than isolated bilateral deals.
Refining claims outweigh biology claims
Hydrocarbon oil and refining claims and inorganic pigment claims each cover well over a third of records, while bioreactor, fermentation and genetic-engineering classes each sit at 11.3% or below — the upstream biological process is comparatively under-claimed against the downstream conversion chemistry.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to algal biofuels: algal hydrothermal liquefaction patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| MURADEL | CHENNAI PETROLEUM LIMITED CPCL | 5 |
| MURADEL | ABAN INFRASTRUCTURE PVT | 5 |
| CHENNAI PETROLEUM LIMITED CPCL | ABAN INFRASTRUCTURE PVT | 5 |
| WENSEL PIERRE C | GERKEN HENRI | 2 |
| MURADEL | CHENNAI PETROLEUM | 1 |
| CHENNAI PETROLEUM LIMITED CPCL | CHENNAI PETROLEUM | 1 |
| ABAN INFRASTRUCTURE PVT | CHENNAI PETROLEUM | 1 |
The tightest co-assignee links sit outside the single largest filer, suggesting a second cluster of activity organised around joint pilot or demonstration projects rather than one company's internal R&D.
Where to take this next
The trend and class data point to specific next steps depending on whether you are scouting freedom-to-operate risk or looking for an underclaimed branch to file into.
Map the biology-side white space
Bioreactor, fermentation and microorganism-engineering classes each sit at or under 11.3% of the 53 records, well below the refining classes. A claim built around cultivation strain selection or bioreactor process control has fewer collisions to search against.
Explore this branch in Eureka →Check freedom-to-operate against the most-cited filings
The two most-cited records in this set both center on converting algal biomass to biocrude by hydrothermal liquefaction or gasification; any new process claim touching that conversion step should be checked against their claim scope before drafting.
Run a claim comparison in Eureka →Watch the collaboration cluster
Three organisations account for the strongest co-assignee pairings in the dataset. Their joint filings are a reasonable proxy for where a pilot-to-commercial pathway is furthest along.
Track this cluster in Eureka →Common questions about this landscape
This dataset covers 53 published patent records filed between 2015 and the 2026 cut-off, drawn from the search string matching algal hydrothermal liquefaction in titles, abstracts and claims. That figure counts individual published documents rather than deduplicated patent families across jurisdictions, so it is a reasonable proxy for total activity rather than an exact family count. Because publication lags filing by around 18 months, the true 2025-2026 filing volume is understated in any count taken today.
The ranking returned by this dataset covers 20 assignees, with the leader holding 21 records and a sharp drop-off after that — fifth place holds 4 records and tenth place holds just 1. That shape, one clear leader followed by a long tail of smaller filers, means the field is not locked up by a small cartel of applicants; most of the ranked list has filed only a handful of records each. A new entrant should expect to compete against one established filer's portfolio rather than a crowded top tier.
Growing, on the evidence available. Annual filings rose from 2 in 2021 to 10 in 2024, a +400% increase over that three-year span, with a peak year so far of 13 filings in 2022. Filings recorded for 2025 and 2026 look lower, but that is expected: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent one to two years in any patent trend always understate true activity and should not be read as a slowdown.
Claims cluster most heavily in hydrocarbon oil and refining processes (43.4% of the 53 records) and inorganic pigment and treatment handling of by-products (37.7%), reflecting emphasis on converting biocrude into usable fuel and managing mineral residues. Fuels and firelighter formulation covers 15.1% of records. Bioreactor apparatus, fermentation, wastewater treatment, catalysis and microorganism engineering each sit at or below 11.3%, marking those as comparatively less-claimed branches of the same technology.
US20170198223A1, filed by Aban Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, claims an integrated method for converting marine or freshwater algal biomass — alone or blended with carbonaceous feedstocks like biosolids — into biocrude via hydrothermal liquefaction or co-liquefaction using sub-critical water, followed by biocatalyst-based impurity removal before conversion to biofuel. Anyone developing a similar biomass-blending or sub-critical-water conversion process should review its claim scope closely, since it is one of the more heavily cited records in this landscape. Designing around it typically means changing the feedstock combination, the liquefaction conditions, or the impurity-removal step rather than the overall process concept.
The IPC composition data points to the biological front end — bioreactor design, fermentation and microorganism engineering — as comparatively under-claimed, each sitting at 11.3% of the 53 records or below, versus 43.4% for hydrocarbon refining claims. That gap suggests more room to file novel cultivation, strain-engineering or bioreactor-control claims without colliding with the dense downstream conversion and refining art. It does not mean those branches are technically easier, only that fewer claims currently occupy them.
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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.