Carbon Fiber Recycling Patent Landscape 2026
The carbon fiber recycling patent field is Japanese-dominated and mature, with activity peaking in 2021 and annual volume easing since then. A small cluster of chemical and materials companies holds the leading positions, and D01F chemical filament features anchors nearly every top applicant’s portfolio.
Japan-headquartered incumbents lead a concentrated, maturing field
Tonengeneral Sekiyu KK holds the top position in the applicant ranking, followed by Resonac Holdings Corp, GSI Creos Corp, Toray Industries Inc, and Asahi Kasei Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha. These five together account for one-quarter of the combined patent records of the hundred largest filers.
The top tier is tightly clustered among Japanese chemical and fiber producers, with a visible gap before a second tier of international entrants such as Carbon Holdings Intellectual Property and UT Battelle. The concentration at the top implies that any new entrant faces well-established prior art in core fiber processing routes.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tonengeneral Sekiyu KK | 69 | |
| 2 | Resonac Holdings Corp | 41 | |
| 3 | GSI Creos Corp | 39 | |
| 4 | Toray Industries Inc | 38 | |
| 5 | Asahi Kasei Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha | 31 | |
| 6 | Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation | 25 | |
| 7 | Teijin Ltd | 23 | |
| 8 | Carbon Holdings Intellectual Property LLC | 20 | |
| 9 | UT-Battelle LLC | 20 | |
| 10 | Mitsubishi Oil Co Ltd | 18 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Mitsubishi Rayon Co Ltd | 17 | |
| 12 | RISE Innventia AB | 16 | |
| 13 | Hyperion Catalysis International Inc | 16 | |
| 14 | EXXONMOBIL TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING CO | 14 | |
| 15 | TerraPower LLC | 14 | |
| 16 | Innventia AB | 13 | |
| 17 | Carbon Fiber Recycle Industry Co Ltd | 12 | |
| 18 | Toho Tenax Co Ltd | 12 | |
| 19 | National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) | 12 | |
| 20 | Kawasaki Steel Corporation | 12 |
The leaders’ positions reflect decades of integrated carbon fiber manufacturing know-how; their portfolios span precursor chemistry, pitch processing, and surface treatment, making it difficult to approach this space from a single technology angle without overlapping existing claims.
Patent records published in the most recent 18–24 months are subject to publication lag and likely undercount actual recent activity; the apparent decline from 2023 onward should be treated cautiously. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Activity peaked in 2021; fiber chemistry dominates the technology mix
The annual filing trend and the IPC branch composition together show a field that built steadily through the late 2010s, surged to a 2021 peak, and has since eased, while remaining anchored in a narrow set of chemistry classes.
Annual filing trend
Filings grew from 29 families in 2017 to a peak of 55 in 2021, then stepped down to 46 in 2022 and 38 in 2023. Values for 2024–2026 reflect publication lag and should not be read as a structural decline; the multi-year window remains above the 2017 baseline.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
D01F (chemical filament and fibre features) is by far the dominant IPC class, followed at a distance by C08J (polymer processing and solutions), C01B (non-metallic elements and inorganic compounds), and C10C (tar and pitch). The long tail of minor branches — including B09B solid waste disposal, H01M batteries, and B82Y nanotechnology — signals early-stage diversification into end-use and circular-economy applications.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Method for manufacturing high-tensile continuous f…
An embodiment method for manufacturing a high-tensile continuous fiber spun yarn using a recycled carbon fiber (rCF) includes recovering a rCF raw material from a waste composite material product, the waste composite material product including carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), fabricating a rCF nonwoven fabric using the recovered rCF raw material… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Method for growing continuous fiber | 249 |
| 2 | Carbon fibrils, method for producing same and adhe… | 248 |
| 3 | Production of carbon fiber grown in vapor phase | 236 |
| 4 | Continuous fiber of single-wall carbon nanotubes | 225 |
| 5 | Preparation of carbon fiber by vapor-phase method | 135 |
| 6 | Method for growing continuous carbon fiber and com… | 128 |
| 7 | Method for growing continuous fiber | 121 |
| 8 | Continuous process for the production of carbon na… | 117 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
What the competitive structure means for R&D investment decisions
Four structural observations — maturity stage, concentration, collaboration patterns, and geographic spread — frame the strategic context for any team evaluating entry or portfolio expansion in carbon fiber recycling.
Field is in a mature, post-peak phase
Annual filings plateaued near their 2021 peak and have eased since, consistent with a Maturity lifecycle stage. Core precursor and fiber-formation routes are well claimed, and incremental improvements rather than foundational breakthroughs are the likely competitive dynamic. New entrants should prioritize differentiated end-of-life processing or application-specific reuse routes to avoid dense existing claim coverage.
Lifecycle: MaturityTop five hold one-quarter of the leading hundred filers’ combined records
The top five applicants’ share of the hundred largest filers’ combined patent records stands at 25%, indicating meaningful but not overwhelming concentration. A mid-tier of roughly fifteen additional applicants with 10–39 patent records apiece creates a competitive second tier. This structure leaves room for focused challengers in sub-domains not yet heavily contested by the leaders.
Moderate concentrationCo-filing clusters around Endo Morinobu and Resonac Holdings lineage
The most active co-filing pair is Endo Morinobu with GSI Creos Corp (17 joint records), followed by Asahi Kasei Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha with Asahi Chemical Industry (13 records), and Nippon Mitsubishi Oil with Nippon Oil (9 records). Resonac Holdings Corp co-filed with multiple partners including individual inventors and institutional actors, suggesting it functions as a network hub. These pairings indicate that industry–researcher collaboration is a meaningful feature of the ecosystem.
Industry-researcher tiesJapan dominates filings; US and EPO are secondary markets
Japan is the leading jurisdiction by a wide margin, followed by the United States and Europe (EPO). China ranks fourth, reflecting a more recent and still-growing interest from Chinese producers. South Korea, Canada, and Australia account for smaller but non-trivial filing activity. This geography closely mirrors where integrated carbon fiber manufacturing capacity sits, and gaps in some markets may represent freedom-to-operate opportunities.
Japan-led, global spreadGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
| Applicant | Collaborator | Co-filings |
|---|---|---|
| ENDO MORINOBU | GSI Creos Corp | 17 |
| Asahi Kasei Corporation | Asahi Chemical Industry Co Ltd | 13 |
| Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Corporation | Nippon Oil Corporation | 9 |
| Resonac Holdings Corp | Koyama Tsuneo | 5 |
| Resonac Holdings Corp | Endo Morinobu | 4 |
| ENDO MORINOBU | Nano Graphite Materials Co Ltd | 3 |
| Resonac Holdings Corp | Director General of Agency of Industrial Science and Technology | 2 |
| Resonac Holdings Corp | Tatsufuji Morinobu | 1 |
| Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd | 1 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Tonengeneral Sekiyu and Resonac Holdings lead; Toray is an active new entrant
The top two applicants are both Japanese chemical majors with deep pitch and precursor chemistry portfolios. Trajectory data highlight divergent momentum across the ranking.
Tonengeneral Sekiyu KK
The top-ranked applicant with 69 patent records, Tonengeneral Sekiyu’s portfolio is concentrated in D01F chemical filament and fibre features (69 records), C10C tar and pitch chemistry (32 records), and D06M textile chemical treatment (14 records). This combination reflects integrated pitch-based carbon fiber processing from raw material through surface sizing — a defensible position covering both precursor and functional finishing steps.
patent records: 69Resonac Holdings Corp
Ranked second with 41 patent records, Resonac Holdings (formerly Showa Denko) focuses on D01F chemical filament features (42 records), C30B crystal growth (16 records), and B01J catalysis (9 records) — a portfolio tilted toward high-crystallinity fiber growth and catalytic processing. Momentum data show a –55% recent trend versus the prior three-year period, suggesting the pipeline has contracted relative to its earlier pace.
patent records: 41| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Toray Industries Inc | 2 | ▲ new entrant |
| Carbon Holdings Intellectual Property LLC | 5 | ▼ -55% |
Under-served branches adjacent to the dominant fiber-chemistry core
Several IPC classes appear at meaningful absolute counts but represent lower relative shares of total activity, marking them as areas where the existing IP landscape is thinner relative to their technical relevance to carbon fiber recycling.
B09B · Solid Waste Disposal
B09B covers solid waste disposal processes, a natural regulatory and technical home for end-of-life CFRP recycling workflows. Its presence in the corpus is comparatively sparse relative to the dominant fiber-formation classes, despite being directly relevant to composite part dismantling and material-stream management. Teams developing solvolysis, pyrolysis, or mechanical recycling processes at the component level may find less prior art density here, offering a plausible entry path for differentiated claims.
Search this in Eureka →H01M · Batteries, Cells & Fuel Cells
H01M is a lower-share branch in this corpus, yet recycled carbon fiber’s conductivity and surface-area properties make it a technically plausible electrode or current-collector material for energy storage applications. The intersection of carbon fiber recycling and battery electrode engineering is an area where filings are sparse, and the growing demand for battery materials creates a realistic motivation to invest. Realistic entry would require bridging fiber surface chemistry expertise with electrochemical performance validation.
Search this in Eureka →How leading applicants differ by technology route
Route coverage across the main technology branches in the current evidence set.
| Player | D01F 9 · Chemical filament & fibre features | C08J 11 · Polymer processing & solutions | C10C 3 · Tar & pitch | C01B 31 · Non-metallic elements & inorganic compounds | C08K 7 · Use of additives in polymers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tonengeneral Sekiyu KK | Strong · 69 | Absent | Moderate · 32 | Emerging · 9 | Absent |
| GSI Creos Corp | Strong · 39 | Absent | Absent | Strong · 29 | Moderate · 10 |
| Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Corporation | Strong · 27 | Absent | Strong · 25 | Absent | Absent |
| Resonac Holdings Corp | Strong · 42 | Absent | Absent | Emerging · 8 | Absent |
| Asahi Kasei Corporation | Strong · 31 | Absent | Absent | Moderate · 7 | Absent |
| Toray Industries Inc | Strong · 34 | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus covers 339 patent families. This is the base count for the landscape; applicant and technology branch analyses are drawn from this set.
Tonengeneral Sekiyu KK leads the applicant ranking with 69 patent records, ahead of Resonac Holdings Corp (41) and GSI Creos Corp (39). All three are Japanese chemical and materials companies.
The field is assessed as Mature. Annual filings peaked in 2021 at 55 families and have eased since, with volume plateauing near that peak level. The multi-year window remains above the 2017 baseline.
D01F (chemical filament and fibre features) is the dominant IPC class by a wide margin. C08J (polymer processing and solutions), C01B (non-metallic elements and inorganic compounds), and C10C (tar and pitch) form the next tier.
Japan is the leading jurisdiction, followed by the United States and Europe (EPO). China ranks fourth. This geographic pattern reflects where integrated carbon fiber manufacturing capacity is concentrated.
The most active co-filing relationship is between Endo Morinobu and GSI Creos Corp (17 joint records). Asahi Kasei Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha and Asahi Chemical Industry co-filed 13 records together. Resonac Holdings Corp appears as a hub, co-filing with multiple partners including individual inventors and institutional actors.
Built on Patsnap Open Platform
This report’s underlying patent dataset — filings, assignees, technology clusters — is open for developers via MCP and REST API. Free to start, 10,000 credits, no credit card required.
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.