Nickel Cobalt Separation Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
Filing growth compares 2021 (14 records) with 2024 (11) — 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 691 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the nickel-cobalt separation patent record actually contains
Nickel and cobalt travel together through most sulphide and laterite ore bodies, and separating them cleanly is the step that determines whether a refiner can sell battery-grade output. The 691 records in this dataset span 2015 through mid-2026 and cluster heavily under C22B, the metal extraction and refining subclass, with a meaningfully smaller share in C01G compound chemistry and
Receiving-office data shows the United States, Australia, Europe and Canada as the leading jurisdictions, with WIPO PCT and China trailing — a pattern consistent with a field whose earliest commercial activity (Sherritt, Inco, Queensland-linked laterite processing) sat in Commonwealth mining jurisdictions before battery-driven demand pulled in broader filing.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 691-record set: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings rose from 13 in 2017 to a peak of 27 in 2022, then eased to 11 by 2024 — a 21% decline over that three-year span. 2025 and 2026 figures (7 in the latest year) are understated by publication lag and should not be read as a fresh drop-off.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
C22B (metal extraction & refining) appears in 87.1% of the 691 records, far ahead of C01G compounds (27.2%) and B01D separation processes (9.7%). Because records can carry multiple IPC codes, these shares sum past 100% and should be read as claim-density signals, not a partition of the field.
Shares are the percentage of the 691 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Critical-Mineral Refining & Separation: Nickel Cobalt Separation Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about critical-mineral refining & separation: nickel cobalt separation patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaFoundational filings and what they still cover
CA655716A — Separation of Nickel and Cobalt (Union Carbide Corporation, 1963-01-08)
One of the earliest documented filings in this dataset addressing nickel-cobalt separation directly, filed by Union Carbide decades before the current battery-driven filing wave began.Its priority date predates the modern citation cluster, which is itself topped by a 2011-era sulphuric-acid recovery filing cited 104 times.
View full record| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20110135547A1 | Method for recovering nickel from sulfuric acid aqueous solution | 104 |
| 2 | US20040228783A1 | Process for the recovery of value metals from material containing base metal oxides | 77 |
| 3 | US4240886A | Electrowinning using fluidized bed apparatus | 75 |
| 4 | US4042664A | Method for separating metal constituents from ocean floor nodules | 73 |
| 5 | US4861565A | Method of separately recovering metal values of petroleum refining catalyst | 72 |
| 6 | US6171564B1 | Process for extraction of metal from an ore or concentrate containing nickel and/or cobalt | 67 |
| 7 | WO2003093517A1 | Atmospheric pressure leach process for lateritic nickel ore | 61 |
| 8 | US20050265910A1 | Hydrometallurgical process of nickel oxide ore | 59 |
| 9 | US4900522A | Separation of nickel and cobalt from sulfate solutions by solvent extraction | 55 |
| 10 | CN101463427A | 一种从钴白合金中回收有价金属的方法 | 52 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older filings; treat this table as a map of influence on later drafting, not a ranking of current technical 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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Browse MCP servers →What the filing pattern tells a strategy team
Three read-throughs from the concentration, composition and citation data that matter for deciding where to file and where to watch.
Leadership is real but not exclusionary
The leader holds 124 records and fifth place holds 18 — a steep drop-off inside the top tier, then a long tail of smaller filers. That gap between first place and the rest suggests one or two incumbents set the technical baseline while everyone else files around specific process steps.
Extraction claims crowd out separation-mechanism claims
Nearly nine in ten records touch C22B extraction and refining, while genuine separation-process claims under B01D sit under one in ten. That gap is the clearest sign of where the field's name outruns its actual claim density.
The wave has crested, recent years are still filling in
Filing peaked in 2022 and had eased to 11 by 2024, a 21% decline over that span. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, 2025-2026 counts will rise as records catch up — the honest read is a plateau after a battery-driven surge, not a confirmed retreat.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to critical-mineral refining & separation: nickel cobalt separation patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Turning this landscape into a filing or freedom-to-operate decision
The dataset shows where claim density sits; deciding what to do with that reading depends on the specific process route and jurisdiction a team is working in.
Check freedom to operate against the dense clusters
C22B extraction claims cover 87.1% of records — before drafting a new extraction-route claim, check it against that density rather than assuming open space.
Explore Eureka for freedom-to-operate mappingTest the under-claimed branches for a real opening
Membrane-based and catalytic separation routes show materially lower filing density than extraction generally, but low density is not the same as no prior art — verify claim-by-claim.
Run a white-space search in EurekaTrack the leading assignee's recent activity directly
A record count that dwarfs the field combined with zero filings in the latest year is worth confirming against that company's current public filings, not just this dataset's lag.
Set up assignee monitoring in EurekaCommon questions on nickel-cobalt separation patents
One assignee leads the ranked field with 124 records, well ahead of fifth place at 18 and tenth place at 12. The top 5 assignees combined hold 30.1% of all 691 records in scope, and the top 10 hold 39.8%, which means the majority of filings sit with a long tail of smaller or single-filing entrants rather than concentrated among a handful of firms. Anyone assessing competitive position should look at both the leader's steep lead and the size of that remaining tail before assuming the field is locked up.
Filing peaked at 27 records in 2022 and had fallen to 11 by 2024, a 21% decline over that three-year span. Publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months, so the lower counts shown for 2025 and 2026 (7 in the most recent year) reflect that lag rather than a confirmed drop in filing activity. The safest read is that the battery-driven surge has plateaued, with the true 2025-2026 picture still emerging.
The dataset is built from a search targeting nickel-cobalt separation and selective extraction language, and the resulting 691 records cluster overwhelmingly under IPC class C22B, metal extraction and refining, which appears in 87.1% of records. Compound chemistry (C01G) and true separation-process claims (B01D) are present but far thinner, at 27.2% and 9.7% respectively. That composition tells you most patented activity addresses extraction and recovery process steps rather than the separation mechanism narrowly defined.
CA655716A, titled Separation of Nickel and Cobalt and filed by Union Carbide Corporation with a priority date of 1963-01-08, is one of the earliest documented filings in this specific dataset. It predates the modern citation cluster by decades — the most-cited record in the current corpus is a 2011-era sulphuric-acid recovery filing cited 104 times. Because patent terms run a fixed number of years from filing, this particular filing itself is long expired, but it remains useful as a marker of how early the core separation problem was already being patented.
The clearest gaps sit in branches adjacent to the dominant C22B extraction cluster: separation processes proper (B01D, 9.7% of records), catalytic or physical-chemical separation routes (B01J, 3.2%), and powder-metallurgy-based recovery (B22F, 3.5%) all show materially lower filing density than extraction generally. Low density is a signal to investigate, not a guarantee of open claim space, since some of these areas may simply have fewer applicants rather than no relevant prior art. A targeted freedom-to-operate search within the specific sub-branch is the only reliable way to confirm an opening.
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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.