Enhanced weathering patents typically claim methods of exposing alkaline minerals to atmospheric or dissolved CO2 over land or in coastal/ocean settings to accelerate natural rock weathering. Mineral carbonation patents more often claim engineered industrial processes that react CO2 directly with mineral feedstock, such as mine tailings or slag, under controlled conditions. In this dataset both terms appear together because the underlying chemistry overlaps, but the claim scope differs: weathering claims tend to cover deployment methods and site design, while carbonation claims tend to cover reactor conditions, feedstock preparation and reaction kinetics.

The dataset shows research universities, including Columbia University, the University of California system and Yale University, among the more active filers, often alongside named academic co-inventors. Dedicated carbon-removal companies such as CarbonRun also appear but with lower recent visible filing counts. No single assignee holds a dominant share of the 83 total families, so the field currently reads as fragmented rather than led by one clear incumbent.

The base chemistry of CO2 reacting with alkaline minerals is long established and not itself patentable, but specific engineered methods, apparatus configurations, feedstock preparation techniques and monitoring/verification processes built around that chemistry are being actively claimed, as shown by the 83 families in this corpus. Claims tend to focus on reaction kinetics, grinding energy reduction, and measurement or reporting verification methods rather than on the underlying reaction itself. A novelty search against the B01D-heavy prior art base is the practical starting point before drafting.

Based on this corpus, B01D (separation processes) is the dominant classification by a wide margin, followed by C02F (water and wastewater treatment) and C01B (non-metallic elements and inorganic compounds). C01F, C04B, C25B, C25C and E02B all appear at lower but non-trivial volumes and are worth including in a full clearance search, particularly for claims touching cement integration, electrolytic pathways or hydraulic engineering applications.

The clearest gap in this dataset sits between the heavily claimed capture and separation side (B01D) and the thinly claimed application side, particularly carbonation-cured concrete integration under C04B, which registers only 6 of 83 records. Feedstock grinding energy reduction and alkalinity measurement/reporting verification methods also appear underrepresented relative to the core separation-process claims, making them reasonable areas to investigate for a defensible first-mover filing.