Anaerobic Digestion Resource Recovery Patents: Leaders & Trends 2026
- Filing activity peaked in 2020 at 20 families and has since flattened rather than continued climbing — the field is not in a growth phase, it is holding ground.
- Wastewater treatment claims (C02F) dominate at 123 of 166 families, well ahead of bioreactor apparatus (C12M, 81) and fermentation (C12P, 60), showing where claim space is most occupied.
- The most-cited patent draws 100 citations for a combined nutrient-recovery-and-biogas-scrubbing system tied to animal manure digesters — a strong signal of which architecture other filers built on.
Filing growth compares 2021 (6 records) with 2024 (14) — 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 166 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks patent families at the intersection of anaerobic digestion and downstream resource recovery — nutrient stripping, struvite production, volatile fatty acid recovery and biogas upgrading — rather than digestion technology on its own. The search combines digester and biogas terminology with recovery-specific claim language and IPC codes spanning wastewater treatment, bioreactor apparatus and fertiliser production. That combination is deliberate: it isolates the part of the value chain where digestate stops being waste and starts being a feedstock.
Coverage runs from 2015 through the 2026 data cut-off. As with any recent-year count, the last one or two years are undercounted because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so 2025 and 2026 figures will rise as records catch up.
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Filing trends and technology composition
166 patent families make up this landscape, filed mainly through the United States, WIPO's PCT route and the EPO, with meaningful volume also from India, Canada and China.
A flat trajectory since a 2020 peak
Filings rose from 2 in 2017 to a peak of 20 in 2020, then settled near the 2022 midpoint of 17. That pattern reads as a technology that found its claim boundaries early rather than one still expanding — later entrants are filing into space already staked out, not opening new ground.
Wastewater treatment codes carry the weight
C02F (water and wastewater treatment) appears in 123 of 166 families, more than any other subclass, with C12M (bioreactors) and C12P (fermentation) well behind. C05F, the organic-fertiliser code, sits at 46 — a reminder that the fertiliser end-product side of nutrient recovery is claimed far less densely than the treatment-process side.
Shares are the percentage of the 166 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Anaerobic Digestion Resource Recovery with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about anaerobic digestion resource recovery and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe patents other filings build on
NZ700721B — Nutrient recovery systems and methods (DVO, Inc.)
Discloses a nutrient recovery system that heats and aerates anaerobic digester effluent to convert soluble ammonium to gaseous ammonia, then strips that ammonia with acid in a tower to collect an ammonium salt fertiliser. The system specifies a defined aeration reactor, controlled acid dosing, and a settling stage, covering a full stripping-tower route from digestate to solid ammonium fertiliser.Filed 2016-08-02.
View full record| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20090206028A1 | Combined nutrient recovery and biogas scrubbing system integrated in series with animal manure anaerobic dige… | 100 |
| 2 | US7014768B2 | Process for removal and recovery of nutrients from digested manure or other organic wastes | 71 |
| 3 | US20100170845A1 | Waste activated sludge phosphorus and magnesium stripping process and struvite production system | 59 |
| 4 | US20140033776A1 | Organics and nutrient recovery from anaerobic digester residues | 56 |
| 5 | US20040164021A1 | Process for removal and recovery of nutrients from digested manure or other organic wastes | 40 |
| 6 | CN112047590A | 一种利用餐厨垃圾预醇化强化污泥厌氧消化的方法 | 32 |
| 7 | US20120264197A1 | H2S Removal from Contaminated Gases | 30 |
| 8 | US20110091954A1 | Integration of anaerobic digestion in an algae-based biofuel system | 30 |
| 9 | US7909995B2 | Combined nutrient recovery and biogas scrubbing system integrated in series with animal manure anaerobic dige… | 30 |
| 10 | CA2416690A1 | Process for removal and recovery of nutrients from digested manure or other organic wastes | 25 |
Citation counts are drawn from within this searched corpus and favour older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations — read them as a signal of influence on subsequent claim drafting, not as a measure of current commercial 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. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once the trend line and IPC mix are read together.
A technology that stopped accelerating
The rise from 2 filings in 2017 to a 2020 peak, followed by a flattening rather than continued growth, suggests the core architectures — stripping towers, struvite reactors, membrane-based upgrading — were largely staked out by the early 2020s. New filers are more likely to be refining existing routes than opening new claim territory.
Treatment-side claims dominate over product-side claims
C02F leads by a wide margin over C05F (organic fertilisers, 46) and C05C/C01C (nitrogen fertilisers and ammonia compounds, 11 and 8). Most patent activity protects how nutrients are pulled out of digestate, not what is done with the recovered fertiliser product afterward.
One combined-system patent anchors the field
The most-cited record pairs nutrient recovery with biogas scrubbing in a single system tied to animal manure digesters, and the next several most-cited records are also manure- or sludge-focused nutrient stripping patents. Citation weight concentrates on integrated systems rather than single-step processes.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to anaerobic digestion resource recovery, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is active, and where the ground is open
Filing counts are concentrated among a small group of municipal, agricultural and specialty-chemical filers, with a long tail of single-filing entrants. One government-district pairing stands out for co-filing depth.
Metro Vancouver's regional utilities file jointly
Metro Vancouver Regional District and Greater Vancouver Sewerage & Drainage District share 9 families, the strongest co-assignee link in the dataset — a sign that municipal-scale digestate recovery gets built and filed as a joint utility program rather than by a single commercial vendor.
Agricultural digestate specialists hold foundational claims
DVO's stripping-tower ammonium recovery patent, alongside other manure-focused nutrient recovery filings among the most-cited records, shows agricultural and manure-processing specialists rather than large industrial conglomerates driving some of the field's most-referenced claim architectures.
Momentum has stalled even among top filers
None of the most active named assignees in this dataset show filings in the latest tracked year. That is consistent with the broader flat-to-declining trend line and suggests the current wave of activity has already crested rather than being mid-build.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Anaergia | 0 | — |
| CleanWater | 0 | — |
| METRO VANCOUVER REGIONAL DISTRICT | 0 | — |
| GREATER VANCOUVER SEWERAGE & DRAINAGE DISTRICT | 0 | — |
| DVO, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Corvinova | 0 | — |
| Yara International | 0 | — |
| Finndart Oy | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The landscape points to a mature, plateaued filing base with specific gaps rather than a fast-growing frontier. Two directions make sense from here.
Map claim boundaries around the top-cited systems
The five most-cited records cluster around combined nutrient-recovery-and-biogas systems and manure-specific stripping processes. Before filing in this space, check how tightly those claims are drawn around specific reactor configurations and temperature/pH ranges.
Explore citing patents in EurekaTest white space in VFA recovery and biogas-to-ammonia integration
B01D separation processes and C01C ammonia compounds are the thinnest-covered codes relative to C02F's dominance. A first claim combining volatile fatty acid separation with downstream ammonia stripping has comparatively little prior art to design around.
Run a freedom-to-operate search in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
This landscape identifies 166 patent families filed between 2015 and the 2026 data cut-off that combine anaerobic digestion or biogas digestion terminology with nutrient recovery, biogas upgrading, volatile fatty acid recovery or struvite recovery claims. Filing activity peaked at 20 families in 2020 and has since flattened rather than grown further. The most recent one to two years are likely undercounted because patent publication typically lags filing by about 18 months.
Activity is led by a mix of municipal utilities and agricultural/specialty filers rather than a single dominant conglomerate. Metro Vancouver Regional District and Greater Vancouver Sewerage & Drainage District co-file as a pair with 9 shared families, the strongest co-assignee link in the dataset, while DVO, Inc. holds one of the more heavily cited individual nutrient-recovery patents. None of the leading named assignees show filings in the latest tracked year, consistent with the overall plateau.
C02F, the wastewater and water treatment IPC subclass, appears in 123 of the 166 families and is by far the most densely claimed area, ahead of C12M bioreactor apparatus (81) and C12P fermentation processes (60). That density concentrates on how nutrients are extracted from digestate rather than on the recovered fertiliser product itself, since C05F organic-fertiliser claims sit at only 46 and nitrogen-specific codes lower still. New filers should expect the heaviest prior art around stripping and treatment-process claims specifically.
The thinner IPC codes relative to C02F's dominance point to the gaps: B01D separation processes sit at 18 families, B09B solid waste disposal at 13, and C01C ammonia compounds at just 8. Volatile fatty acid separation trains, struvite crystallisation control loops, and integrated biogas-to-ammonia stripping systems are technically specific sub-areas with comparatively little claim coverage. A first claim combining a separation train with a defined recovery product has more room to establish new ground than a claim on stripping-tower architecture alone.
NZ700721B claims a nutrient recovery system that heats and aerates anaerobic digester effluent to convert soluble ammonium into gaseous ammonia, then strips that ammonia using controlled acid dosing in a tower to collect a solid ammonium salt fertiliser. The claims specify a defined aeration reactor together with controlled aeration rates, temperature ranges, pH ranges and settling times, and a stripping tower with acid mixing. Anyone building an ammonia-stripping route from digester effluent should check the specific parameter ranges and reactor-plus-tower configuration this filing covers before designing a similar system.
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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.