Polystyrene Depolymerization Patents: Who Leads, Trends 2026
A narrow, concentrated field around styrene recovery chemistry
Polystyrene depolymerization to recover styrene monomer is a small, tightly held patent field. Sixteen published records span 2015 through the 2026 cut-off, filed through a mix of European, US, PCT and national offices, with Europe (EPO) the single largest receiving office ahead of the United States and WIPO. The core chemistry claimed is depolymerization using solvents and catalysts to break the polymer back into monomer while suppressing byproducts such as ethylbenzene — the same problem addressed in the representative filing from Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology.
Because the ranked assignee list returns only three companies and they cover every record in scope, this is not a field with a long tail of opportunistic filers. It behaves more like a technical niche being worked by a handful of research institutes and process-technology firms, which changes how a newcomer should read freedom-to-operate risk here.
Filing trend and technology composition
Sixteen records, one visible peak year, and a claim map that concentrates almost entirely on one IPC subclass. The pattern below is what to check before assuming this space is either wide open or fully blocked.
Filing trend: a single peak, no sustained ramp
Filings were at zero in 2017, rose to a peak of seven records in 2022, and have not repeated that level since. With fewer than four complete post-lag years to compare, no growth rate can be stated reliably; treat the most recent year's low count as an artefact of publication lag rather than a slowdown.
Technology composition: one dominant class, several thin ones
C07C (acyclic and carbocyclic compounds) appears in 93.8% of the 16 records in scope, making it the chemistry that almost every filing touches. C08J (polymer processing and solutions) follows at 50.0%. B01J, C10B and C10G each sit at 6.3% — a single record apiece — marking catalysis, destructive distillation and refining-integrated routes as areas with almost no claim density yet.
Shares are the percentage of the 16 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 — Polystyrene Depolymerization to Styrene Patent Landscape with Eureka
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Method for recovering styrene monomers from waste polystyrene
The present disclosure relates to a method for recovering styrene monomers from waste polystyrene, and more specifically, to a method for recovering styrene monomers from waste polystyrene, in which the waste polystyrene is depolymerized using an eco-friendly solvent and a potassium-containing carbonate depolymerization catalyst to suppress the generation of ethylbenzene, etc. generated as by-products in a styrene monomer recovery step, and thus the styrene monomers can be recovered in high yield.Filed by Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, published 2024-06-06.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WO2024015227A1 | Recovery of styrene monomer from polystyrene | 5 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older filings; read them as a signal of influence within this dataset, not as a measure of current commercial relevance.
Publication numbers are shown where the record carries one (1 of 1 rows); clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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The dataset is small enough that every figure carries real weight in a freedom-to-operate read. Three patterns stand out.
No long tail behind the top filers
The top three assignees combined account for every record in the dataset. There is no fringe of single-filing entrants diluting the picture, which means a freedom-to-operate check here is really a check against a short, known list rather than a statistical exercise.
One clear peak, not a steady ramp
Activity climbed from zero in 2017 to a peak of seven records in 2022 and has since pulled back. That shape looks more like a research push around a specific solvent-catalyst approach than a market building toward scale-up filings.
Nearly every filing touches the same core chemistry class
C07C compound claims appear in the overwhelming majority of records, with C08J polymer-processing claims in half. Catalysis (B01J), destructive distillation (C10B) and refining-integrated recovery (C10G) each appear in only one record, leaving those approaches comparatively unclaimed.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to chemical recycling & feedstock recovery — polystyrene depolymerization to styrene patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next checks rather than a general market read.
Test freedom-to-operate against three names, not a market
With 100% of records held by three assignees, a practical FTO screen here means reading their claim sets directly rather than running a broad landscape search.
Run a targeted assignee searchScope claims around the thin IPC classes
B01J, C10B and C10G each carry a single record. A first claim drafted around catalytic integration or refinery-based recovery has comparatively little prior art to design around.
Explore white space by IPC classWatch for the 2026 filing lag to resolve
The most recent filing year will understate true activity for roughly 18 months after publication; revisit the trend once later filings clear examination and publish.
Track filing trends over timeCommon questions about polystyrene depolymerization patents
Within this dataset of 16 published records, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology is the leading filer with 9 records. Two Technip-related entities make up the remainder of the ranked assignees, and together the three cover 100% of the records in scope. That means there is no wider field of smaller filers to track beyond these three organisations for this specific chemistry.
The dominant approach, appearing in 93.8% of the 16 records, is solvent-and-catalyst depolymerization aimed at recovering styrene monomer while suppressing byproducts like ethylbenzene, as described in filings such as the representative Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology application. Polymer-processing claims (C08J) appear alongside this in half the dataset. Catalytic pyrolysis, destructive distillation and refinery-integrated recovery each appear in only one record apiece, making them minor but not absent routes.
It is concentrated rather than crowded: only three assignees are responsible for all 16 records, and nearly all of them cluster around the same core chemistry class, C07C. That leaves several adjacent branches, including catalytic integration and refinery-based recovery, with only a single filing each. A newcomer is more likely to find open claim space in those thinner branches than in the core solvent-catalyst depolymerization chemistry.
Filing activity rose from zero records in 2017 to a peak of seven records in 2022, then pulled back in subsequent years. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the low counts shown for the most recent years understate real filing activity and should not yet be read as a genuine slowdown. A clearer read on the post-2022 trend will only be possible once those recent filings finish publishing.
US20240182663A1, filed by Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology and published 2024-06-06, claims a method for recovering styrene monomers from waste polystyrene using an eco-friendly solvent together with a potassium-containing carbonate depolymerization catalyst, specifically to suppress ethylbenzene and other byproducts during recovery. Anyone developing a similar solvent-plus-carbonate-catalyst route for styrene recovery should review this filing's claim scope closely. Routes built on different catalyst chemistries or on the under-claimed IPC branches, such as catalytic pyrolysis or refinery-integrated recovery, sit further from this claim's likely scope.
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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.