PET Glycolysis Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
Filing growth compares 2021 (30 records) with 2024 (3) — 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 173 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks patent activity at the intersection of PET glycolysis, polyester glycolysis, ethylene glycol depolymerization and terephthalate depolymerization, filtered to records that also claim chemical recycling, polymer recycling or feedstock recovery. It spans 173 published records filed between 2015 and the 2026 data cut-off, giving a working view of who has staked claims on breaking PET back down to its monomer building blocks — terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol — for reuse as virgin-equivalent feedstock.
The technology sits mostly in acyclic and carbocyclic compound chemistry and polymer processing, with catalysis, condensation polymer and separation classes layered on top. That spread reflects the reality of the process: depolymerization chemistry, downstream purification, and repolymerization all show up as claims in the same filing family more often than not.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 173 records: how filing activity moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claims.
A sharp rise and an equally sharp pullback
Filings climbed from zero in 2017 to a peak of 30 in 2021, then declined to 3 by 2024 — a -90% drop over that span. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the low counts shown for 2025 and 2026 are not yet a reliable read on current filing activity; they will continue to fill in.
Chemistry and processing dominate the class mix
C07C (acyclic and carbocyclic compounds) appears on 62.4% of the 173 records and C08J (polymer processing and solutions) on 58.4%, confirming that most filings combine a depolymerization chemistry claim with a processing or recovery step. Catalysis (B01J, 21.4%) and separation (B01D, 6.9%) are present but thinner, and enzymatic routes under C12P sit at just 4.0% — a much smaller footprint than the thermochemical and catalytic classes above it.
Shares are the percentage of the 173 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Chemical Recycling & Feedstock Recovery — Polyethylene-Terephthalate Glycolysis Patent Landscape with Eureka
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Try EurekaThe most-cited anchor claims
Process for chemical recycling of post-consumption PET (US7884230B2, Braskem)
The process performs hydrolysis-based depolymerization of PET, rupturing the ester bonds between terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol to recover both monomers. It is claimed to operate at low to moderate pressure and 215-450°C, reaching the energy level needed for hydrolysis while separating the recovered feedstock streams in the same process.Filed by Braskem S.A., published 2011-02-08.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20150105532A1 | Methods and materials for depolymerizing polyesters | 92 |
| 2 | US20170008826A1 | Polyethylene terephthalate depolymerization | 64 |
| 3 | US9255194B2 | Methods and materials for depolymerizing polyesters | 52 |
| 4 | WO2017007965A1 | Polyethylene terephthalate depolymerization | 37 |
| 5 | US9550713B1 | Polyethylene terephthalate depolymerization | 32 |
| 6 | US20170152203A1 | Polyethylene terephthalate depolymerization | 30 |
| 7 | EP2565226A1 | Method of obtaining aromatic polyester-ether polyols from waste poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and aroma… | 29 |
| 8 | US20120223270A1 | Methods of depolymerizing terephthalate polyesters | 29 |
| 9 | US9914816B2 | Methods and materials for depolymerizing polyesters | 25 |
| 10 | US20170233525A1 | A process for preparation of modified polyethylene terphthalate with improved barrier, mechanical and thermal… | 25 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older filings — treat this as a map of influence on later filers, not a ranking of current commercial importance.
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Browse MCP servers →What the data means for a filing decision
Three patterns worth acting on before drafting claims in this space.
The top tier is narrow, not crowded
Half of all documented records sit with five assignees, and the top 10 hold 69.9% of the field. A newcomer is not competing against 62 equally-weighted rivals — the practical prior art to clear is concentrated in a handful of portfolios.
The 2021 surge has not repeated
Filing activity fell -90% from its 2021 peak of 30 to 3 in 2024, the last year that can be read as complete. Whether that reflects consolidation of claim space or a pause in R&D investment is not something citation counts alone can answer.
Enzymatic depolymerization is thin in this corpus
Against 62.4% for the core carbocyclic chemistry class, only 7 records touch fermentation or enzymatic synthesis. Filings combining PET depolymerization with biocatalytic routes are the exception here, not the rule.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to chemical recycling & feedstock recovery — polyethylene-terephthalate glycolysis patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Where to take this landscape
The dataset points to specific follow-up questions rather than a single conclusion.
Map freedom-to-operate against the top 10
With 69.9% of records held by ten assignees, a freedom-to-operate review can focus there first before widening to the long tail.
Run a claim comparison in Eureka →Track the post-2021 filing pattern as it fills in
The 2025-2026 counts are still incomplete; revisit the trend once another 12-18 months of publications land to see whether the 2021 peak was cyclical.
Set a filing alert in Eureka →Pressure-test the under-claimed branches
Enzymatic routes and membrane separation show thin class coverage relative to the core chemistry — worth a targeted novelty search before drafting.
Search white space in Eureka →Common questions on PET glycolysis patents
One assignee leads the ranked field with 39 records, well ahead of the fifth-ranked filer at 11 and tenth place at 6. The top 5 assignees together account for 50.9% of all 173 records in scope, and the top 10 account for 69.9%. That means the practical prior art to clear before filing is concentrated in a small number of portfolios rather than spread evenly across the 62 ranked companies and institutions.
Filing activity peaked in 2021 at 30 records and had fallen to 3 by 2024, a decline of -90% over that three-year span. However, publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the low counts shown for 2025 and 2026 understate real activity and should not yet be read as a continuing decline. A clearer picture will emerge once those years finish publishing.
US7884230B2, assigned to Braskem, claims a hydrolysis-based process for depolymerizing post-consumption PET, rupturing the ester bonds between terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol to recover both monomers, operating at 215-450°C and low to moderate pressure. It also covers apparatus for carrying out that recycling process. Anyone designing a hydrolytic recovery process for PET at similar temperature and pressure conditions should check this claim scope directly rather than assume it is limited to glycolysis chemistry alone.
Relative to the core depolymerization chemistry, enzymatic and fermentation-based routes appear on only 4.0% of the 173 records, and separation processes such as membrane-based purification sit at 6.9%. Catalyst recovery and reuse, continuous-flow reactor configurations, and mixed-feedstock co-depolymerization also show thinner coverage than the dominant hydrolysis and glycolysis chemistry classes. These are the branches worth a dedicated novelty search before assuming clear space.
The United States leads with 41 filings as a receiving office, followed by the European Patent Office at 28 and the WIPO PCT route at 20. India follows at 18, with Australia and Canada each at 5. This distribution tracks the largest PET-consuming markets and the jurisdictions with active recycled-content or extended producer responsibility regulation, which is where recovered feedstock has the clearest commercial pull.
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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.