Algal Biofuels Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- 50.0% of the field sits with a handful of filers. the top 5 assignees account for 45 of 90 records in scope, with the leader alone holding 15.
- Filing has quadrupled since 2021. from 1 record in 2021 to 5 in 2024, the last year the trend can be read as complete.
- Fermentation and microorganism claims dominate. C12N and C12P together cover roughly half of all 90 records, while water treatment and fatty-oils processing stay under 11%.
Filing growth compares 2021 (1 records) with 2024 (5) — 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 90 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this dataset covers
This landscape draws on 90 published records matching algal biofuel feedstock conversion, fuel composition, product upgrading and related processing claims, filed or published between 2015 and the 2026-08-31 cut-off. The scope is deliberately narrow: it isolates documents that tie algae or microalgae biomass to a defined conversion or upgrading step, rather than every algae-adjacent filing in the broader bioenergy space. Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so counts for 2025 and 2026 will keep rising as more applications publish.
Reading the field means separating raw document counts from real technical footholds. A single assignee filing many continuations inflates document counts without adding new claim territory, which is why the assignee ranking and the concentration figures below are the more reliable read on who actually controls the space.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 90 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings peaked at 9 in 2017, dropped through the early 2020s to a low of 1 in 2021, then climbed back to 5 by 2024 — a +400% move over that three-year span. 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete because of publication lag and should not be read as a slowdown.
IPC subclass distribution
C12N (microorganisms and genetic engineering) and C12P (fermentation and enzymatic synthesis) each cover close to half of the 90 records, confirming that most claim activity sits at the biological conversion step rather than downstream fuel finishing. C10L, G06Q and H01M each sit at 17.8%, and C11B and C02F trail below 11%, marking the least-crowded classes in scope.
Shares are the percentage of the 90 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Algal Biofuels Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about algal biofuels patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records in this landscape
Production of Cellulases and Hemicellulases in Algal Biofuel Feedstocks (US20120322106A1, STC.UNM)
A method for producing hemicellulase and cellulase for use in processing cellulosic materials for biofuel production. The method involves transforming algal feedstock to express hemicellulase and cellulase and then collecting hemicellulase and cellulase that has been secreted into a culture medium by the algae. The method may further involve transforming the algal feedstock to express other recombinant products and/or processing the alga feedstock to produce biofuels.Filed by STC.UNM, published 2012-12-20 — predates the 2015 scope window but remains a foundational reference for enzyme-secretion approaches to algal feedstock pretreatment.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20110092726A1 | System for cultivation and processing of microorganisms, processing of products therefrom, and processing in … | 232 |
| 2 | US20170341942A1 | Methods and systems for large scale carbon dioxide utilization from lake KIVU via a co2 industrial utilizatio… | 208 |
| 3 | WO2015172256A1 | Methods and apparatus for biomass growth | 38 |
| 4 | US20170263945A1 | Fuel-cell system and method of generating energy from crude fuel | 36 |
| 5 | US10577248B2 | Methods and systems for large scale carbon dioxide utilization from Lake Kivu via a CO<sub>2 </sub>industrial… | 32 |
| 6 | US20150072400A1 | System for cultivation and processing of microorganisms, processing of products therefrom, and processing in … | 32 |
| 7 | US20130288325A1 | Biofuel and chemical production by recombinant microorganisms via fermentation of proteinaceous biomass | 32 |
| 8 | WO2012061653A2 | Biofuel and chemical production by recombinant microorganisms via fermentation of proteinacious biomass | 28 |
| 9 | US20150233001A1 | Microbial electrochemical cells and methods for producing electricity and bioproducts therein | 26 |
| 10 | US20120271677A1 | Tracking, Accounting, and Reporting Machine | 26 |
Citation counts reflect activity inside this searched corpus only, and favour older records that have simply had more time to accumulate citations — treat them as a signal of influence, not of current commercial priority.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the data means for a filing decision
Three read-outs from the concentration, trend and citation figures that matter for deciding where to file or partner.
The top of the field is tight, the rest is a long tail
The top 5 assignees hold 45 of the 90 records in scope, and the top 10 extend that to 68.9%. The leader alone accounts for 15 records, roughly a sixth of everything in scope, while fifth place holds just 6 and tenth place 3 — a steep drop-off rather than a gradual one.
Activity rebuilt after a mid-decade trough
Filing peaked early at 9 records in 2017, fell to a low of 1 in 2021, then rebuilt to 5 by 2024. That three-year rebound is the clearest read available; 2025-2026 counts are still filling in under normal publication lag and should not be read against 2024 as a decline.
Biological conversion is the crowded step
Microorganism engineering (C12N) and fermentation or enzymatic synthesis (C12P) each appear on close to half of all records, meaning most competitive pressure sits at the biological conversion stage rather than at fuel finishing or downstream blending.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to algal biofuels patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
The ranked list covers 47 companies across 90 records — not a top-50 or top-100 cut, but the complete set the underlying data returns. Universities and national labs feature prominently among the leaders, alongside smaller commercial entrants filing single records.
One filer holds a clear lead
The top-ranked assignee holds 15 of the 90 records in scope, well ahead of fifth place at 6 and tenth place at 3. That gap suggests an early, sustained filing programme rather than a recent surge.
A small cluster of repeat co-filers
Ten co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, with one inventor group tied to three separate co-assignee relationships at 5 shared records each — a sign of a specific lab or founder network working across multiple corporate vehicles.
Several historical leaders have gone quiet
A number of the university and national-lab assignees that built early filing volume show zero records in the latest year, including one with a -100% year-on-year change. That does not necessarily mean exit — it may reflect publication lag on very recent filings — but it does mean the current active-filer list looks different from the all-time ranking.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Board of Trustees of Michigan State University | 0 | — |
| RHODES JAMES S III | 0 | — |
| Regents of the University of California | 0 | — |
| RHODES III JAMES S | 0 | — |
| Texas A&M University | 0 | -100% |
| National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC | 0 | — |
| YAN YAJUN | 0 | — |
| SCARAMELLA AMEDEO | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this next
The figures above answer where the field stands today. Two follow-on questions decide what to do with that read.
Test a claim against the crowded core
If a concept sits inside C12N or C12P territory, checking it against the specific claims held by the top-ranked assignees is more useful than reading the class-level share alone.
Explore claim scope in EurekaTrack the assignees that went quiet
Several early leaders show zero filings in the latest year. Confirming whether that is publication lag or genuine exit changes how much weight to put on their historical share.
Run an assignee monitor in EurekaCommon questions about algal biofuels patenting
The dataset ranks 47 companies and institutions across 90 records, with the top-ranked assignee holding 15 records on its own. The top 5 assignees combined account for 45 records, exactly half of the 90 in scope, and the top 10 extend that to 68.9%. Universities and national laboratories feature heavily among the early leaders, which is typical for a field that started with public research funding before commercial conversion technology matured.
Filing rebuilt sharply in the middle of the decade: from a low of 1 record in 2021 to 5 in 2024, a +400% increase over that span. 2024 is the most recent year that can be read as complete, because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months. Figures for 2025 and 2026 will keep rising as more applications publish, so they should not be read as evidence of a slowdown.
Microorganism and genetic engineering claims (IPC class C12N) and fermentation or enzymatic synthesis claims (C12P) dominate, each appearing on close to half of the 90 records in scope. Fuel composition (C10L), data processing (G06Q) and fuel-cell related claims (H01M) each sit around 17.8%, while fatty-oils production and water treatment trail below 11%. That pattern points to the biological conversion step as the most contested claim territory, with downstream processing comparatively open.
The lower-count IPC classes in this dataset point to it: fatty-oils and wax production (C11B) and water or wastewater treatment (C02F) each cover under 11% of the 90 records, well behind the fermentation and microorganism core. Practically, that means claims tying microalgae-derived fuel to fuel-cell integration, wastewater co-processing, or cultivation-stage carbon capture face less prior art density than a fresh fermentation-pathway claim would.
High citation counts inside this corpus mark records that later filers had to reference or design around, but they also reflect age — older filings accumulate citations simply by being in the searched pool longer. A record cited 232 times signals foundational claim territory in cultivation and processing systems, so a new filing in that exact space should expect dense prior art. It is a signal of influence within this dataset, not a guarantee that the underlying approach is still the commercially preferred one.
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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.