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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/ballast-water-treatment-technology-landscape-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Marine & Offshore · Patent LandscapeBallast water treatment patents: where filings concentrate and where they have gone quiet
- Filings peaked in 2017 at 15 and have not returned to that level since, with the 2022 midpoint at zero — a signal of a maturing, IMO-compliance-driven filing wave rather than an expanding one.
- Ship auxiliary and water-treatment IPC codes dominate at 71 and 67 records respectively, while electrolytic production (C25B, 9 records) and cyclone separation (B04C, 3 records) sit as thin, largely open branches.
- The most-cited record, US20080283467A1, carries 44 citations versus 12-22 for the next tier, showing influence concentrated in a small set of early ship-side system architectures.
85
Published Records
65%
Top-5 Share of All Records
-100%
3-Yr Growth (lag-adjusted)
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Published byPatsnap Research··8 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
A compliance-driven field with a filing peak already behind it
Ballast water treatment patenting tracks a regulatory event: the IMO Ballast Water Management Convention pushed shipbuilders and equipment makers to file protective claims around UV, electrochlorination and filtration systems in the years leading up to and following entry into force. The 2017 peak of 15 filings sits inside that window, and the flat-to-declining trend toward 2022 suggests the initial claiming rush has largely run its course rather than continuing to build.
The technology composition confirms this is a systems field, not a chemistry field: ship auxiliary equipment (B63J) and water treatment (C02F) codes cover the large majority of records, with separation (B01D), electrolytic (C25B) and vessel hull (B63B) codes describing the supporting mechanics. Filing offices skew toward the United States and Europe, with smaller but present activity through the PCT route and in South Korea — consistent with a market where shipyards and marine equipment suppliers file where vessels are built, flagged and classed.
Filing activity, 2017-2026 (2026 partial)
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Ballast Water Treatment Technology Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
The data
Filing trend and technology composition
Publication figures for the most recent one to two years understate true filing activity, since patent applications typically publish around eighteen months after they are filed. Read the tail of any trend chart as a floor, not a ceiling.
A single peak, then a plateau near zero
Filings rose to 15 in 2017 and had fallen back to a 2022 midpoint of zero by the middle of the window, with 2026 itself still partial. That pattern is more consistent with a regulatory compliance wave working through the system than with an emerging technology still gathering filers.
Ship systems and water treatment carry the field
B63J (ship auxiliaries, 71 records) and C02F (water and wastewater treatment, 67) between them cover almost every record in the set, with B63B (ships and marine vessels, 26) and B01D (separation processes, 16) describing the surrounding hardware. C25B (electrolytic production, 9), C23F (corrosion and metal removal, 4), B04C (cyclone separators, 3) and G01S (radar, sonar and positioning, 2) are thin by comparison — each is a candidate for closer white-space review rather than a settled sub-field.
Shares are the percentage of the 85 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Ballast Water Treatment Technology Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
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The records other filings build on
Representative filing
US20210122647A1 — Ballast water treatment during de-ballasting
TROJAN TECHNOLOGIES GROUP ULC
An embodiment provides a ballast water treatment system, including: a ballast pump; a backwash pump, wherein an outflow of the backwash pump is mechanically coupled to an outlet of the ballast pump; a treatment unit, wherein the treatment unit is located fluidly between the ballast pump and the backwash pump; wherein the ballast water treatment system has at least two modes, comprising: a ballast mode, wherein, during the ballast mode, the ballast pump pumps water through the ballast treatment system to a ballast tank, and a de-ballast mode, wherein, during the de-ballast mode, the backwash pump conveys backwash water to an outlet of the ballast pump.Filed by Trojan Technologies Group ULC, published 2021-04-29.
Most-cited records in the corpus
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20080283467A1 | Ship-side ballast water treatment systems including related appratus and methods | 44 |
| 2 | JP2010013098A | Ballast treatment water supply ship | 22 |
| 3 | US20180201526A1 | Method and system for applying superimposed time-varying frequency electromagnetic wave for marine ballast wa… | 14 |
| 4 | US20120043270A1 | Ballast water treatment system | 13 |
| 5 | US10058806B2 | Ballast water treatment device | 12 |
| 6 | US20160236122A1 | Ballast water treatment device | 10 |
| 7 | US8025795B2 | Ballast water treatment system | 9 |
| 8 | WO2017018942A1 | Method and system for applying superimposed time-varying frequency electromagnetic wave for marine ballast wa… | 7 |
| 9 | CN106979458A | 船舶压舱水处理装置 | 5 |
| 10 | WO2016139496A1 | Ballast water treatment system based on whirling motion, hydrodynamic cavitation and vacuum effect | 5 |
Citation counts are drawn from within this searched corpus and favour earlier-filed records; treat them as a measure of influence on later claim drafting, not of current commercial relevance.
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.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Ballast Water Treatment Technology Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three patterns matter more than any single ranking: where citation weight sits, where the claim space is thin, and where filing activity has actually gone since the 2017 peak.
Citation concentration
44 citations
top-cited record
Early ship-side architectures still anchor the field
US20080283467A1 carries far more citations than any other record in the set, with the next tier sitting between 12 and 22. New system-level claims are likely to be read against this early architecture before anything filed more recently.
Citations favour older records; treat this as influence, not current relevance.
Filing trend
15 → 0
peak year to midpoint
The claiming wave has passed its peak
Filings reached 15 in the 2017 peak year and the 2022 midpoint sits at zero, a flat-to-declining pattern rather than a growing one. Any filing strategy built on an assumption of continued rapid growth in this space should be checked against that trend directly.
2026 figures are still partial due to publication lag.
Technology thinness
2-9 records
in G01S, B04C, C23F, C25B
Detection and electrolytic sub-branches stay thin
Radar/sonar-based organism or flow detection (G01S, 2 records), cyclone separation (B04C, 3), corrosion control (C23F, 4) and electrolytic generation methods (C25B, 9) each carry a fraction of the records that B63J or C02F do. That is where claim space is least occupied.
Low density signals open claim space, not unimportance.
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Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to ballast water treatment technology landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Co-filing is rare
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| WANG LINXING | OH JONG HWAN | 2 |
The strongest co-assignee pairing in the dataset, Wang Linxing with Oh Jong Hwan, appears on only two records — co-assignment is not a meaningful structural feature of this field.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Ballast Water Treatment Technology Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Players
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
Recent-year momentum across the tracked assignees is flat: several of the more active historical filers, including Evoqua Water Technologies, Techross, Sea Tech R&D, Wuxi Bluesky Electronics, Enviroclean and Miura, show zero filings in the latest tracked year. That does not mean these firms have exited the field — publication lag alone can explain a quiet final year — but it does mean the near-term filing signal is weak across the board rather than concentrated in any one laggard.
Filing concentration
85 families
total in ranking
A moderate-sized, systems-oriented field
With 85 total patent families across the full window, this is a contained landscape rather than a sprawling one. Reviewing the assignee ranking directly is practical for freedom-to-operate work, unlike fields running into the thousands of families.
Families, not raw document counts, are the fairer count here.
Receiving offices
US 28 · EPO 19
top two offices
US and European filings lead, PCT and Korea trail
The United States and the European Patent Office account for the largest share of receiving-office activity, with WIPO/PCT, Austria, South Korea and Singapore each in single digits. Vessel-building and classification geography, more than end-market size, likely explains this split.
Office counts reflect where protection was sought, not where vessels operate.
Recent momentum
0 in latest year
across tracked assignees
No assignee shows fresh near-term filing activity
Every assignee surfaced in the momentum data shows zero filings in the latest tracked year, consistent with the broader flat-to-declining trend. A new entrant filing today would be entering a corpus with little recent competitive pressure to work around.
Check pending applications directly given publication lag.
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Evoqua Water Technologies LLC | 0 | — |
| Techross Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Sea Tech R&D Pte Ltd | 0 | — |
| Wuxi Bluesky Electronics Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| ENVIROCLEANSE LLC | 0 | — |
| Miura Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. | 0 | — |
| CVETKOVIC MARTINA | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Ballast Water Treatment Technology Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
What's next
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, white-space filing, or monitoring.
Run a freedom-to-operate check on ship-side architecture claims
Given how much citation weight sits on early ship-side system patents, any new UV or electrochlorination system claim should be checked against that lineage before drafting.
Explore in EurekaDraft around the thin branches, not the crowded ones
Detection, cyclone separation and electrolytic byproduct control carry the fewest records in this corpus and are the most tractable places to stake a first claim.
Explore in EurekaTrack pending filings rather than relying on the published trend alone
Because publication lags filing by roughly eighteen months, the apparent decline toward 2026 may partly reverse as later applications publish; a pending-application search fills that gap.
Explore in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Ballast Water Treatment Technology Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions on ballast water treatment patents
The dataset shows filing spread across a number of marine equipment makers and water treatment specialists rather than dominance by a single firm, with several assignees — including Evoqua Water Technologies, Techross, Miura and others — appearing repeatedly across the 85 tracked families. Trojan Technologies Group ULC is notable for the representative de-ballasting system record featured in this landscape. No assignee shows fresh filing activity in the most recent tracked year, so current leadership is better read from the cumulative record than from recent momentum alone.
The core classes are B63J (ship auxiliaries, 71 of 85 records) and C02F (water and wastewater treatment, 67), reflecting that most inventions combine an on-board mechanical system with a water treatment process. Supporting classes include B63B (ships and marine vessels), B01D (separation processes such as filtration), C25B (electrolytic production, relevant to electrochlorination systems) and smaller classes like C23F (corrosion control) and G01S (detection and sensing). Searching across this full IPC set, rather than a single class, is necessary to capture the field completely.
Filing activity peaked in 2017 at 15 records and had fallen to zero at the 2022 midpoint of the tracked window, a flat-to-declining pattern rather than a growing one. This lines up with the field's regulatory driver: the IMO Ballast Water Management Convention prompted a concentrated filing response around system compliance, which appears to have largely worked through by the early 2020s. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still partial because publication typically lags filing by about eighteen months, so some rebound in the true filing count for those years is possible once later applications publish.
US20210122647A1, filed by Trojan Technologies Group ULC and published in 2021, claims a ballast water treatment system where a backwash pump's outflow is mechanically coupled to the ballast pump's outlet, with a treatment unit positioned fluidly between the two pumps, and where the system operates in distinct ballast and de-ballast modes. This is a specific plumbing and mode-switching architecture, not a claim over ballast water treatment generally. A new design that treats water without that particular backwash-to-ballast-pump coupling, or that uses a different mechanism for the de-ballast mode, would sit outside its narrower claims — though a full claim chart review is needed before relying on that distinction.
The thinnest branches by record count are radar/sonar-based detection (G01S, 2 records), cyclone-based separation (B04C, 3), corrosion-resistant materials (C23F, 4) and electrolytic byproduct or generation control (C25B, 9), compared with 71 and 67 records in the two core ship-auxiliary and water-treatment classes. These thin branches are candidates for open claim space rather than proof that the underlying technology is unimportant — low filing density can simply mean the sub-area has not yet attracted focused claiming. A prior-art search narrowed to one of these branches specifically is the practical next step before drafting.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Ballast Water Treatment Technology Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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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.