Deep Eutectic Solvents for Extraction Patents: Leaders & Trends 2026
- Filings nearly doubled from 2021 to 2024, up 102% as DES extraction moved from lab curiosity toward battery recycling and pharmaceutical extraction pipelines.
- No single filer controls the field: the leading assignee holds 23 of 1,040 records, and the top 5 combined account for just 7.9% of all records in scope.
- Separation and battery-recovery uses dominate the claim space, with B01D at 16.0% and H01M at 11.6% of records, while polysaccharide and therapeutic branches remain comparatively thin.
Filing growth compares 2021 (81 records) with 2024 (164) — 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 1,040 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the dataset covers
This landscape covers 1,040 published patent families filed between 2015 and mid-2026 that combine deep eutectic solvent or natural deep eutectic solvent language with claims touching hydrogen bond donors, viscosity, extraction yield, solvent recovery, water content or melting point depression. The scope spans separation processes, battery recycling, pharmaceutical extraction and polymer chemistry — DES chemistry now reaches well beyond its original green-solvent framing into applied recovery and formulation work.
Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in this dataset are still filling in and should be read as a floor, not a ceiling, on current activity.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 1,040 records: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Annual filings rose from 57 in 2017 to a peak of 198 in 2025, with the 2021-to-2024 span alone showing 102% growth as extraction and battery-recovery applications scaled. 2026 figures (40 so far) are partial and will revise upward as later publications land.
IPC subclass composition
Separation processes (B01D, 16.0% of records) and medicinal preparations (A61K, 13.9%) lead the composition, followed closely by battery-related H01M claims (11.6%). Because records can carry multiple IPC codes, these shares sum to more than 100% of the 1,040 records in scope.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,040 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Deep Eutectic Solvents for Extraction with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about deep eutectic solvents for extraction and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records in the corpus
Application of Deep Eutectic Solvent in Textile Dyeing (US20230175201A1)
The disclosure covers a natural hydrophobic deep eutectic solvent (HDES) system used as a dyeing medium for reactive dyeing of cotton. The HDES is mixed with a small amount of dye solution at high speed to form dye liquor, and alkali-soaked cotton fabric is dyed without added inorganic salts or conventional dyeing auxiliaries, using only a small amount of water and alkali agent to achieve comparable results.Filed by Jiangnan University, published 2023-06-08.
View full filing| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20190262647A1 | Firefighting foam compositions containing deep eutectic solvents | 79 |
| 2 | WO2012145522A2 | Deep eutectic solvent systems and methods | 73 |
| 3 | US20200399737A1 | Recycling li-ion batteries using green chemicals and processes | 62 |
| 4 | CN104887723A | 一种利用低共熔溶剂提取银杏叶中黄酮类化合物的方法 | 59 |
| 5 | US20110027664A1 | Metal-air battery with improved environmental stability | 59 |
| 6 | US20090247432A1 | Deep eutectic solvents and applications | 57 |
| 7 | WO2015019093A1 | Production of graphene and graphane | 52 |
| 8 | US20140275305A1 | Polyurethanes, polyurethane foams and methods for their manufacture | 48 |
| 9 | CN107417553A | 可聚合低共熔溶剂 | 47 |
| 10 | US20160122676A1 | Low transition temperature mixtures or deep eutectic solvents and processes for preparation thereof | 45 |
Citation counts favour older filings within this searched corpus and should be read as a signal of influence, not current 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.
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Reading volume, growth and concentration together points to where DES extraction claims are settling and where they are still contested.
Extraction moved from lab bench to pipeline
Filings climbed from 81 in 2021 to 164 in 2024, a growth rate that tracks DES adoption in battery recycling and pharmaceutical extraction rather than incremental solvent chemistry alone.
No dominant gatekeeper
The leading assignee holds 23 records out of 1,040, and the top 5 combined reach only 7.9% of all records in scope. That leaves the field open to new entrants rather than locked behind a handful of blocking portfolios.
Filing activity concentrates in China
China accounts for 464 filings, well ahead of the United States (119), WIPO PCT filings (117), India (100) and Europe (83), suggesting domestic academic and industrial labs are driving much of the recent volume.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to deep eutectic solvents for extraction, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Prime Planet Energy & Solutions, Inc. | Toyota Tsusho Corporation | 13 |
| Prime Planet Energy & Solutions, Inc. | Toyota Motor Corporation | 13 |
| Toyota Tsusho Corporation | Toyota Motor Corporation | 13 |
| Prime Planet Energy & Solutions, Inc. | Kyushu University | 11 |
| Toyota Tsusho Corporation | Kyushu University | 11 |
| Toyota Motor Corporation | Kyushu University | 11 |
| Dow Global Technologies LLC | Dow Korea Chemical Co., Ltd. | 4 |
| Dow Global Technologies LLC | SHEN CHENG | 3 |
Co-assignee activity is limited to 10 identified pairs, with the strongest links running through battery-industry partnerships rather than academic-industry crossover, indicating most DES extraction work is still filed independently rather than jointly developed.
Who is filing, and where the claim space is thin
The assignee ranking spans 100 companies and research institutes with no single controlling player, while several technically adjacent branches remain lightly claimed.
Leading assignee holds a narrow edge
The top-ranked assignee accounts for 23 of 1,040 records, a meaningful lead within the ranking but nowhere near dominant against the field as a whole.
A shallow drop-off past the leaders
The gap from fifth place (14 records) to tenth place (12 records) is small, pointing to a crowded mid-tier of active filers rather than a steep cliff after the top names.
Recent-year momentum has cooled at the top
Several of the historically active assignees show zero filings in the latest tracked year, though this partly reflects publication lag rather than a genuine pullback from the technology.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Fundacion Tecnalia Research & Innovation | 0 | — |
| Dow Global Technologies LLC | 0 | — |
| Sappi Biochemtech BV | 0 | — |
| University of Manchester | 0 | — |
| Nanjing Forestry University | 0 | -100% |
| Prime Planet Energy & Solutions, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Toyota Tsusho Corporation | 0 | — |
| Toyota Motor Corporation | 0 | — |
Where to take this next
The dataset points to specific follow-up questions rather than a single conclusion.
Track the 2025-2026 revision
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the apparent slowdown after 2025 is very likely a reporting artefact rather than a real pullback. Re-check this trend once later filings publish.
Explore filing trends in EurekaMap the under-claimed branches
Polysaccharide and metal-refining applications of DES carry lower claim density than separation and battery uses, which may leave room for narrowly drafted claims in those areas.
Search white space in EurekaWatch co-filing structures
With only 10 identified co-assignee pairs, most DES extraction filings remain independently owned. A shift toward more joint filings would signal consolidating industrial partnerships.
Review assignee networks in EurekaCommon questions on DES extraction patents
Across this dataset, deep eutectic solvents appear most often in separation processes (B01D, 16.0% of the 1,040 records), medicinal preparation extraction (A61K, 13.9%) and battery-related recovery work (H01M, 11.6%). Natural deep eutectic solvents specifically show up in polysaccharide extraction and pharmaceutical compound isolation, often as a replacement for volatile organic solvents. The spread across these categories shows DES chemistry has moved well past its original green-solvent framing into applied industrial recovery.
The assignee ranking covers 100 companies and institutions, with the leading filer holding 23 of the 1,040 records in scope. The top 5 assignees combined account for only 7.9% of all records, and the drop from fifth place (14 records) to tenth place (12 records) is shallow, indicating a genuinely fragmented field rather than one dominated by a handful of players. This makes freedom-to-operate analysis less about avoiding one or two blocking portfolios and more about checking a broad set of mid-sized filers.
Filings grew from 81 in 2021 to 164 in 2024, a 102% increase over that three-year span, which is the clearest complete-year growth signal in the dataset. Figures for 2025 and 2026 appear lower, but publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so those years are still filling in rather than reflecting an actual slowdown. Anyone using this data for a go/no-go filing decision should treat 2024 as the most recent reliable growth benchmark.
Relative to the dense separation and battery-recovery branches, polysaccharide-related claims (C08B, 9.6% of records), metal extraction and refining (C22B, 9.6%) and polymer composition work (C08L, 6.9%) carry noticeably lower claim density. Hydrogen bond donor ratio optimisation and solvent recovery or recyclability claims also appear comparatively underdeveloped given how central those parameters are to DES performance. These branches are worth a closer novelty search before assuming the space is occupied.
China leads by a wide margin with 464 filings, more than three times the next largest source. The United States (119), WIPO PCT filings (117), India (100) and Europe (83) follow at meaningfully lower volumes, with South Korea trailing at 18. This distribution suggests domestic Chinese academic and industrial research is currently the primary driver of new DES extraction filings, which matters for anyone weighing where to prioritise a freedom-to-operate search.
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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.