Direct Air Capture Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Filing peaked in 2024 at 37 records, then the pace flattened rather than kept climbing — the technology is occupied, not accelerating.
- 173 families sit almost entirely inside B01D and B01J, with only single-digit counts reaching into polymer, electrolytic or water-treatment adjacencies.
- The most-cited grant, US11389761B1, draws 23 citations, while recent-year momentum has gone flat or negative for several of the historically active filers.
Filing growth compares 2021 (26 records) with 2024 (37) — 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 the direct air capture patent record actually covers
Direct air capture (DAC) patenting in this dataset centres on two mechanical routes: solid sorbent contactors that cycle amine-functionalised materials through adsorption and thermal or humidity-swing regeneration, and liquid solvent systems that scrub CO2 from ambient air before stripping it out in a separate desorption stage. The search string isolates records that combine direct air capture language with claims on sorbent regeneration, air contactor design or CO2 removal from air, filtered to the separation and sorption IPC classes that dominate the field. Almost every record falls under B01D or B01J, which tells you where the claim space is dense before you look at a single assignee name.
The 173 families span receiving offices led by the United States, with meaningful PCT, European, Australian and Canadian filing alongside a smaller Israeli cohort. That spread points to a technology still being routed internationally rather than one settled into a single home jurisdiction, which matters for freedom-to-operate work that assumes US-only exposure.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Publication counts by year and by IPC subclass, drawn directly from the 173 families in this search.
A flat-to-declining curve after a 2024 peak
Filings ran from zero in 2017 to a peak of 37 in 2024, with the 2022 midpoint at 25. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures are understated in this trend and should not yet be read as a slowdown in actual filing activity.
Separation and sorption classes dominate
B01D covers all but one of the 173 records and B01J appears in 78, confirming that contactor and sorbent-cycle mechanics carry almost the entire claim burden. C01B, C08G, C25B, C08J, C02F and F01K each register only single digits, marking those as adjacent rather than core to how this technology has been claimed so far.
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 Direct Air Capture Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about direct air capture landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited prior art and a representative recent filing
US20250144558A1 — Extreme temperature direct air capture solvent
A solvent formulation for the direct air capture of carbon dioxide is provided. The solvent formulation includes an amino acid salt, a polar solvent and an antifreeze agent. A direct air capture system for the direct air capture of carbon dioxide is further provided. The direct air capture system includes a desorption column, a gas separator, and an air contactor. The desorption column, gas-liquid separator, and air contactor are in fluid communication. The air contactor includes the solvent formulation.Filed by UT-Battelle, LLC, published 2025-05-08 — pairs an antifreeze-modified amino acid salt solvent with a defined desorption-column and air-contactor architecture.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US11389761B1 | System and method for improving the performance and lowering the cost of atmospheric carbon dioxide removal b… | 23 |
| 2 | US20240252983A1 | Atmospheric carbon dioxide capture system | 21 |
| 3 | WO2021111366A1 | Direct capture of carbon dioxide | 16 |
| 4 | US20240252984A1 | Atmospheric carbon dioxide capture system | 14 |
| 5 | US20240139705A1 | Direct air capture co2 removal system and process | 13 |
| 6 | US11612853B1 | Fully automated direct air capture carbon dioxide processing system | 12 |
| 7 | US11266951B1 | System and method for improving the performance and lowering the cost of atmospheric carbon dioxide removal b… | 12 |
| 8 | US20230001351A1 | Direct capture of carbon dioxide | 10 |
| 9 | WO2021102385A1 | Rotating continuous multi-capture systems and apparatus for improved direct air capture of carbon dioxide (DA… | 10 |
| 10 | US20230213247A1 | Using Carbon Dioxide From A Direct Air Capture System As A Low Global Warming Car And Industrial Refrigerant | 9 |
Citation counts reward age within a searched corpus; treat them as a signal of influence on later filers, not as a ranking of current commercial relevance.
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 signals for teams entering this space
Three read-throughs from the trend, the IPC spread and the citation data, aimed at where to spend diligence effort.
Growth has plateaued, not accelerated
The climb from 0 in 2017 to a peak of 37 in 2024 looks steep in isolation, but the 2022 midpoint of 25 shows the curve flattening well before the peak, and several previously active assignees show zero or -100% year-on-year movement in the latest year.
Separation-class claims are nearly universal
With B01D present in all but one record, contactor geometry and separation-stage mechanics are the most heavily claimed surface in this dataset. B01J's 78 records show catalytic and sorbent-material claims as the second-densest layer, leaving the six other IPC classes as comparatively open ground.
Influence concentrates in a small cluster of grants
US11389761B1 leads at 23 citations, with a small group of atmospheric carbon dioxide capture system filings close behind. That clustering suggests later filers are designing in reference to a handful of system-level architectures rather than a broad, evenly-cited base.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to direct air capture landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Global Thermostat Operations, LLC | EISENBERGER PETER | 7 |
| Global Thermostat Operations, LLC | PETER EISENBERGER | 3 |
| ATWOOD MATTHEW | Carbon Capture, LLC | 2 |
| ATWOOD MATTHEW | MATTHEW ATWOOD | 2 |
| EISENBERGER PETER | PETER EISENBERGER | 2 |
| ATWOOD MATTHEW | Matthew Atwood | 1 |
| Global Thermostat Operations, LLC | Eisenberger Peter | 1 |
| EISENBERGER PETER | Eisenberger Peter | 1 |
Only 9 co-assignee pairs appear across 173 families, and the strongest pairing links a single organisation with an individual inventor at 7 shared records — collaboration here is the exception, not the norm.
Who is filing, and where activity has cooled
Recent-year momentum diverges sharply from historical activity: several of the assignees with the largest historical footprints show no filings in the latest year.
University of California system stays active
Among the tracked assignees, the University of California regents show 2 filings in the latest year — the only entry in this group with any recent-year activity at all, against a field where most peers register zero.
Individual-inventor filing has gone quiet
Matthew Atwood, tied to one of the dataset's co-assignee pairs, shows no filings in the latest year, consistent with a broader cooling among the historically active names in this corpus.
Several established filers dropped to zero
Robert Bosch, Eight Rivers Capital and Heirloom Carbon Technologies each show a -100% year-on-year change, moving from prior activity to zero filings in the latest year — a pattern to check against licensing or divestment activity before assuming exit.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| The Regents of the University of California | 2 | — |
| ATWOOD MATTHEW | 0 | — |
| Robert Bosch GmbH | 0 | -100% |
| Eight Rivers Capital, LLC | 0 | -100% |
| Heirloom Carbon Technologies | 0 | -100% |
| Global Thermostat Operations, LLC | 0 | — |
| EISENBERGER PETER | 0 | — |
| AIRMYNE INC | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The published record gives a structural map; the next steps depend on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, licensing or R&D targeting.
Run a freedom-to-operate check on B01D/B01J claims
Given how densely both classes are claimed, any new sorbent or contactor design should be checked specifically against the highest-cited grants before development spend commits to a specific mechanical architecture.
Explore claims in EurekaTrack the assignees showing zero recent-year filings
A -100% year-on-year drop can mean a shift to trade secrecy, licensing-out, or genuine exit — worth confirming with corporate filings or news before adjusting a competitive watch list.
Monitor assignee activity in EurekaScope the under-claimed adjacent classes
C08G, C25B, C08J, C02F and F01K each carry only a handful of records; a novelty search focused there is more likely to find open claim space than one aimed at the B01D core.
Search white space in EurekaCommon questions on direct air capture patents
This dataset identifies 173 patent families published between 2015 and mid-2026 that match direct air capture claim language combined with sorbent regeneration, air contactor or CO2-removal-from-air terms. That figure reflects one specific search definition rather than every DAC-adjacent filing worldwide, so a broader or narrower query on adjacent IPC classes will return a different count. Families, rather than raw document counts, are the fairer unit here because they strip out duplicate continuation and multi-jurisdiction filings of the same invention.
Filing activity in this corpus is concentrated among a small group of assignees, several of which show declining or zero filings in the most recent year even though they hold significant historical volume. The University of California regents is the one tracked assignee still showing filings in the latest year among this group. Because publication lags real filing activity by roughly 18 months, a name showing zero in the newest year has not necessarily stopped filing — its most recent applications may simply not be published yet.
Nearly the entire corpus, 172 of 173 records, falls under IPC class B01D covering separation processes, with B01J's catalytic and sorption processes present in 78 records. That means air contactor geometry, sorbent-cycle mechanics and regeneration methods carry almost all of the claim density in this field. Adjacent classes like inorganic compound chemistry, condensation polymers, electrolytic production and water treatment each register only single-digit counts, marking them as comparatively open ground rather than core claim territory.
Filing rose from zero in 2017 to a peak of 37 in 2024, but the pace flattened well before that peak — the 2022 midpoint of 25 shows growth already slowing rather than accelerating toward the top. Several of the historically most active assignees show zero filings or a -100% year-on-year change in the latest tracked year. Given the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication, the apparent 2025-2026 dip should be read cautiously rather than as confirmed contraction.
The clearest under-claimed areas sit in IPC classes adjacent to the dominant B01D/B01J core: condensation polymer sorbent chemistry, electrolytic regeneration coupling, polymer solution processing for contactor membranes, thermal power integration for desorption heat, and combined water-treatment loops each carry only a handful of records. A new filing targeting one of these adjacencies, rather than core contactor or sorbent-cycle mechanics, is more likely to find room against the existing prior art. That said, low filing counts should be confirmed against non-patent literature to rule out areas that are simply commercially unattractive rather than genuinely open.
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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.