Distillation & Absorption Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- Filing is concentrated but not locked up. the ranked leaders' top 5 combined hold 12.1% of all 74,724 records in scope, and the top 10 combined hold 19.9% — leaving a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants.
- Activity has cooled from its 2018 peak. filings ran at 760 in 2018 and moved from 534 in 2021 to 439 in 2024, an 18% decline over that three-year span, though 2025-2026 counts are still filling in due to publication lag.
- Separation and catalysis classes dominate composition. C07C acyclic/carbocyclic compounds cover 11.6% of records and B01D separation processes cover 7.3%, with gas liquefaction (F25J) and hydrocarbon refining (C10G) trailing well behind.
Filing growth compares 2021 (534 records) with 2024 (439) — 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 74,724 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this patent landscape covers
This landscape draws on 74,724 published records matching distillation column, gas absorption and chemical process distillation terms alongside process-engineering concepts such as mass transfer, phase separation and product selectivity. Coverage runs from 2015 through the 2026-08-31 data cut-off, spanning filings at the United States, European, WIPO/PCT, Canadian, Australian and Singapore receiving offices.
The dataset spans core separation engineering — distillation columns, absorption units and the mass-transfer and phase-separation mechanics that make them work — rather than a single narrow chemistry. That breadth means the technology composition section below carries as much signal as the assignee ranking: it shows which parts of the process stack are densely claimed and which sit comparatively open.
Let an AI agent run this analysis on your own technology
Pick a task. Every answer cites the patents behind it.
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 74,724-record dataset: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how records distribute across IPC subclasses. Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, the composition shares add up to more than 100% of records — that is expected and reflects genuine claim overlap between separation, catalysis and refining classes.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings peaked at 760 in 2018, held near 649 in 2017, and eased to 439 by 2024 — an 18% decline from the 534 filed in 2021. The 2025 and 2026 counts (24 in the most recent year) will rise as publication catches up with filing; treat the last 18 months as incomplete rather than as evidence of a further drop.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
C07C (acyclic and carbocyclic compounds) leads at 11.6% of all records, followed by B01D separation processes at 7.3% and B01J catalysis-related processes at 3.9%. F25J gas liquefaction, C10G hydrocarbon refining, C01B inorganic compounds, C07D heterocyclics and C10L fuels each account for a smaller but still material share of filings.
Shares are the percentage of the 74,724 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Distillation & Absorption Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about distillation & absorption patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited records
Modular mass transfer and phase separation system (US20030005823A1)
A modular mass transfer and phase separation system for a fluid comprising a mass transfer component and a second component from which the mass transfer component is separable by mass transfer. The system stages co-current contacting and phase separation so that fluid streams already separated in an earlier stage can be recontacted downstream, chaining multiple separation steps within a single modular unit.Abstract excerpted from the published filing; full claim language governs scope.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | EP0887379A1 | Process and apparatus for preparing propylene homopolymers and copolymers | 2,305 |
| 2 | US20190339688A1 | Methods and systems for data collection, learning, and streaming of machine signals for analytics and mainten… | 974 |
| 3 | US6657078B2 | Low energy carbonylation process | 880 |
| 4 | US6143930A | Removal of permanganate reducing compounds and alkyl iodides from a carbonylation process stream | 805 |
| 5 | US20200348662A1 | Platform for facilitating development of intelligence in an industrial internet of things system | 733 |
| 6 | US20210157312A1 | Intelligent vibration digital twin systems and methods for industrial environments | 716 |
| 7 | US20180284758A1 | Methods and systems for industrial internet of things data collection for equipment analysis in an upstream o… | 600 |
| 8 | US5599976A | Recovery of acetic acid from dilute aqueous streams formed during a carbonylation process | 565 |
| 9 | US20200225655A1 | Methods, systems, kits and apparatuses for monitoring and managing industrial settings in an industrial inter… | 563 |
| 10 | WO2006023815A2 | Cyclic DIOL-derived blocked mercaptofunctional silane compositions | 541 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older filings that have had more time to accumulate references — read them as a signal of influence on subsequent filings, not as a ranking of current commercial importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Put your own technology through the same analysis
Eureka on the web
When you want the answer in the next five minutes.
The agent works the prompt against patents and technical literature, citing every source.
Run your analysis now →MCP server & REST API
When it has to run inside your own pipeline.
Patent search, landscape analysis and assignee resolution as MCP tools. Drop them into any agent framework, or call REST directly.
Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for filing strategy
The concentration, trend and composition figures point to a field where claim space is unevenly occupied — dense in a handful of separation and catalysis classes, thinner elsewhere.
Leadership is real but not exclusive
The top 5 ranked assignees combined account for 12.1% of all records in scope, and the top 10 combined for 19.9%. That leaves roughly four-fifths of filing activity spread across a long tail of companies, meaning a new entrant is not filing into a two-player field.
Volume has eased from its 2018 peak
Filings ran at 760 in 2018 and fell from 534 in 2021 to 439 in 2024, an 18% decline over that span. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, 2025-2026 figures are still incomplete and should not be read as a continuation of the decline.
Separation chemistry carries the density
C07C acyclic and carbocyclic compounds and B01D separation processes together carry the heaviest claim density, at 11.6% and 7.3% of records respectively. Gas liquefaction, hydrocarbon refining and inorganic-compound classes each sit under 4%, suggesting comparatively lighter claim coverage there.
Filing is US- and Europe-weighted
The United States receiving office accounts for the largest single share of records at 8,182, with Europe (EPO) at 4,011 and WIPO/PCT at 2,634. Canada, Australia and Singapore trail behind, indicating where enforcement and freedom-to-operate checks matter most.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to distillation & absorption patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| BASF SE | Dow Global Technologies LLC | 70 |
| Celanese International Corp | JOHNSTON VICTOR J | 68 |
| Celanese International Corp | WARNER R JAY | 54 |
| Celanese International Corp | LEE DAVID | 51 |
| Celanese International Corp | SARAGER LINCOLN | 42 |
| Celanese International Corp | OROSCO ADAM | 40 |
| Celanese International Corp | JEVTIC RADMILA | 24 |
| Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. | Honeywell LNG LLC | 20 |
Ten co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, with the strongest pairing linking two major chemicals groups at a count of 70 shared records — evidence of joint filing on core process patents rather than isolated single-assignee activity.
Who is filing, and where momentum is shifting
The ranked leaders span integrated chemicals, refining and industrial-gas companies, but recent-year momentum figures show even the most active filers pulling back sharply from prior levels.
One filer sits well ahead of fifth place
The leading assignee holds 2,544 records against 1,405 for the fifth-ranked filer and 898 for tenth place — a steep drop-off that still leaves a broad group of active filers below the top tier.
Recent-year filing has slowed across the board
The leading assignee filed only 4 records in the latest year, down 64% year-on-year, and several other ranked filers show zero records in the latest year with year-on-year declines at or near 100%. This pattern is consistent with publication lag rather than a genuine stop in R&D.
Joint filing concentrates around a few pairs
Of the ten co-assignee pairs identified, the strongest links two major chemicals groups across 70 shared records, with two other pairs each exceeding 50 shared records — signalling structured collaboration rather than incidental co-invention.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| BASF SE | 4 | -64% |
| Uptake Technologies / IoT Portfolio 2016 LLC | 1 | -67% |
| Celanese International Corp | 0 | — |
| Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| UOP LLC | 0 | -100% |
| Catalytic Distillation Technologies | 0 | — |
| Honeywell International Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Praxair Technology, Inc. | 0 | — |
Where to take this landscape from here
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, white-space scouting, or tracking a named competitor.
Run a freedom-to-operate check on the under-claimed branches
The gate chips above flag sub-areas with lighter filing density than the core C07C and B01D classes. A targeted search on those branches, rather than the whole dataset, narrows the review to where a new filing is least likely to collide with existing claims.
Explore white space in EurekaTrack the leading filers' recent momentum
Several top assignees show sharp year-on-year drops in the latest year, which may reflect publication lag rather than reduced R&D. Monitoring their filings as 2025-2026 data fills in will clarify whether the slowdown is real.
Set up assignee tracking in EurekaReview the most-cited records for design-around risk
The most-cited records in this dataset concentrate on carbonylation process streams and polymer preparation — reviewing their claim scope directly is a faster filter than reading the full 74,724-record set.
Open the citation table in EurekaCommon questions about distillation and absorption patents
The assignee ranking in this dataset covers 100 companies, with the leading filer holding 2,544 records compared with 1,405 for the fifth-ranked filer and 898 for tenth place. The top 5 combined account for 12.1% of all 74,724 records in scope, and the top 10 combined for 19.9%, so leadership is real but leaves most of the field distributed across a long tail of other filers. Anyone assessing competitive position should look at both the leader's volume and the broader ranking, since a large share of filings sits outside the top tier.
Filing peaked at 760 records in 2018 and eased to 439 by 2024, down 18% from the 534 filed in 2021. That decline is measured only through 2024 because publication typically lags filing by roughly 18 months, meaning 2025 and 2026 figures (24 in the most recent year shown) are still incomplete and should not be read as continued decline. The honest read is a field that has cooled from a 2018 peak, with the most current trend line not yet fully visible.
By IPC subclass, C07C (acyclic and carbocyclic compounds) covers 11.6% of the 74,724 records in scope, the highest of any class tracked here, followed by B01D separation processes at 7.3% and B01J catalysis-related processes at 3.9%. Gas liquefaction (F25J), hydrocarbon refining (C10G), inorganic compounds (C01B), heterocyclics (C07D) and fuels (C10L) each carry a smaller share. Because records often carry multiple IPC codes, these percentages describe density within each class rather than an exhaustive breakdown of the whole field.
The classes with comparatively lower record shares — heterocyclic-compound separation, fuel-stream distillation integration, non-metallic inorganic gas absorption, and modular multi-stage phase-separation designs — carry noticeably less filing density than the dominant C07C and B01D classes. That does not guarantee an open field, but it does mean fewer existing claims to search against before committing to a filing strategy. A focused prior-art search on one of these narrower branches is a more efficient starting point than searching the full dataset.
US20030005823A1, assigned to Proscon Systems Limited, describes a modular mass transfer and phase separation system that chains co-current contacting and phase-separation stages so that separated fluid streams can be recontacted downstream within a single unit. It is used here as a representative filing because it illustrates a common architectural pattern in the dataset — staged, modular separation — rather than because it is the most-cited record. Anyone designing a multi-stage separation unit should check its claim scope directly rather than relying on the abstract alone.
Research Distillation & Absorption Patent Landscape in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole distillation & absorption patent landscape corpus yourself, in your own scope.
Every answer comes back with patent numbers you can open.
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.