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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/enzymatic-plastic-recycling-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Enzymatic Plastic RecyclingEnzymatic Plastic Recycling Patents: Who Holds the Claims and Where the Gaps Sit
- One applicant leads by a wide margin. the top-ranked assignee sits at 13 records against a fifth-place figure of 9, in a ranking of 20 companies.
- Filing concentrates in two functions. microorganism and enzyme-engineering claims (C12N, 47.4% of the 19 records) and polymer processing (C08J, 42.1%) dominate, while separation and water-treatment classes each sit at a single record.
- Activity is recent and still building. the filing trend shows zero activity in 2017 and a peak of 15 records in 2024, with the most recent year necessarily undercounted by publication lag.
19
Published Records
WO
Leading Jurisdiction
20
Active Filers Ranked
2024
Peak Filing Year
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
A narrow but fast-forming claim space around enzyme-driven depolymerisation
Enzymatic plastic recycling sits at the intersection of protein engineering and polymer processing: patent claims here cover the enzymes that cleave polyester bonds, the pretreatment steps that make crystalline plastic accessible to those enzymes, and the reactor systems that try to make the whole process economical at scale. The 19 records in scope span filings from 2015 through the current data cut-off, with the great majority of technical activity concentrated in enzyme engineering and polymer-processing classes rather than in downstream waste handling or separation.
Because the search string ties enzymatic routes to specific bottlenecks — crystallinity, reaction rate, enzyme cost, process scale-up — this is a bottleneck-defined corpus rather than a broad recycling landscape. That framing matters for reading the class breakdown below: absence of filing in a bottleneck class is a signal of open claim space, not of a solved problem.
Filing activity and technology composition, 2015–2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Enzymatic Plastic Recycling covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
The Data
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 19-record set: activity over time, and how records distribute across IPC subclasses. Because a single record can carry more than one classification, the class shares below sum to more than 100% of the record total.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings were absent in 2017 and built toward a peak of 15 records in 2024. The 2026 figure is a partial year and, together with 2025, is understated by the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication — treat the most recent two years as a floor, not a ceiling.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
C12N (microorganisms and genetic engineering) and C08J (polymer processing and solutions) each account for a large share of the 19 records in scope, at 47.4% and 42.1% respectively. B09B (solid waste disposal) follows at 21.1%, while condensation polymers, separation, water treatment, peptide chemistry and polymer compositions each register in the low single digits — a sign that most inventive effort is still spent on making the enzyme work, not on integrating it into a waste stream.
Shares are the percentage of the 19 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Enzymatic Plastic Recycling covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
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The most-cited records in this set
Representative Filing
Systems and methods for pretreatment and/or enzymatic degradation of crystallizable polymers, including copolymers
PROTEIN EVOLUTION INC.
Systems, methods, and compositions relating to pretreatment and enzymatic degradation of polymeric materials comprising one or more crystallizable polymers or copolymers are generally described. Certain aspects are directed to methods comprising reacting a polymeric material comprising a crystallizable polymer or copolymer with a reactive agent to produce a pretreated polymeric material and exposing the pretreated polymeric material to a polymer-degrading enzyme. In some embodiments, the reactive agent induces chain extension, branching, and/or cross-linking of the crystallizable polymer or copolymer.Filed by Protein Evolution Inc., published 2024-07-11 as US20240228727A1.
Most-cited patent records
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CA2937569A1 | Processes, enzymes and microorganisms for depolymerizing polyester plastics | 10 |
| 2 | WO2024197030A2 | Methods and compositions for the separation of particles from a fluid | 1 |
| 3 | US20240228727A1 | Systems and methods for pretreatment and/or enzymatic degradation of crystallizable polymers, including copol… | 1 |
| 4 | CN117106749A | 一种聚酯水解酶突变体及其应用 | 1 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus reward older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations — read them as a signal of influence on the field so far, not as 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. Publication numbers are shown where the record carries one (4 of 4 rows); clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Enzymatic Plastic Recycling covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the filing pattern tells a technical reader
Read together, the class composition, citation table and filing trend point to a field where the core enzyme chemistry is being claimed aggressively while the surrounding process engineering is comparatively open.
Enzyme engineering dominates
47.4% of 19 records
C12N share
Most claims still target the catalyst, not the process
Nearly half of the records in scope carry a C12N classification, covering engineered microorganisms and the polyester hydrolases themselves. This confirms that enzyme variant and expression-system claims remain the most contested ground in the field.
C12N · 9 of 19 records
Pretreatment is the second front
42.1% of 19 records
C08J share
Crystallinity reduction claims sit close behind enzyme claims
C08J filings, covering polymer processing and solutions, sit only a few points behind C12N. Read alongside the featured filing on pretreatment of crystallizable polymers, this suggests substrate-accessibility work is now drawing claim activity on par with the enzymes themselves.
C08J · 8 of 19 records
A concentrated leaderboard
13 vs 9 records
Leader vs fifth place
One applicant has filed well ahead of the rest
The top-ranked assignee holds 13 records against 9 for the assignee in fifth place, in a ranking of 20 companies. That gap, combined with a strong co-assignee cluster around academic partners, points to one applicant setting the pace while a group of research institutions files alongside it.
Ranking of 20 assignees
Waste-stream integration is thin
1 record each
B01D, C02F, C07K, C08L
Separation and water-treatment claims are barely present
Filtration/separation (B01D), water treatment (C02F), peptide chemistry (C07K) and polymer composition (C08L) each appear in only a single record. For a field aimed at industrial-scale recycling, that is a narrow base of claims covering how the enzymatic step connects to an actual waste stream.
Each at 5.3% of 19 records
Eureka AI Agent
Looking for what nobody has claimed yet?
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to enzymatic plastic recycling, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Enzymatic Plastic Recycling covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Players
Who is filing, and where the pack thins out
The ranking covers 20 assignees, from a clear leader at 13 records down to single-digit filers. A tight cluster of academic co-assignees files alongside the leading commercial applicant, while the tenth-ranked assignee holds just 1 record — the long tail here is genuinely long.
Leader
13 records
Top-ranked assignee
A single applicant sets the pace
The top-ranked assignee's filing count is well clear of the rest of the field, and its recurring co-assignee pairings with several academic institutions suggest a sponsored-research model behind the enzyme-engineering claims.
Ranking of 20 companies
Mid-field
9 records
Fifth-ranked assignee
A cluster of research institutions follows
Fifth place sits at 9 records, and the strongest co-assignee pairs in this dataset link the leading applicant to university and national-research-centre partners, pointing to a small group of tightly connected academic filers just behind the leader.
Co-assignee pairs: 10 identified
Long tail
1 record
Tenth-ranked assignee
Most of the ranking is single-digit filers
By the tenth position the count has dropped to a single record, meaning the majority of the 20 ranked assignees have filed only a handful of times each — a pattern typical of a field still moving from academic discovery into applied filing.
20 assignees ranked in total
Recent filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Protein Evolution Inc. | 0 | — |
| Sorbonne University | 0 | — |
| Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | 0 | — |
| Paris Sciences et Lettres University (PSL) | 0 | — |
| ESPCI Paris (Ecole Superieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris) | 0 | — |
| TOURNILHAC FRANCOIS | 0 | — |
| RONDELEZ YANNICK | 0 | — |
| PALLIS JACK | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Enzymatic Plastic Recycling covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
What's Next
Where to take this next
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, partnership scouting, or spotting where to file.
Check freedom-to-operate around the leader's core claims
With one assignee at 13 records and strong co-assignee ties to academic partners, any new enzyme-engineering or pretreatment filing should be checked against that cluster's claim scope before development spend goes further.
Explore claims in EurekaTrack the pretreatment branch closely
C08J filings are nearly as dense as the core enzyme class, and the featured filing shows pretreatment and enzymatic degradation being claimed together — a sign this branch is consolidating fast.
Monitor this branch in EurekaLook at process-integration classes for open filing room
Separation, water treatment and polymer-composition classes each sit at a single record. That is a narrow claim base for anyone building a full recycling process rather than just an enzyme.
Search white space in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Enzymatic Plastic Recycling covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions about enzymatic plastic recycling patents
In this dataset of 19 records, one assignee leads the ranking with 13 records, well ahead of the fifth-placed assignee at 9. That leader also appears repeatedly as a co-assignee alongside several academic institutions, which suggests a sponsored-research relationship behind a meaningful share of its filings. The remaining 20 ranked assignees form a long tail, with the tenth position holding only a single record, so most organisations in the field have filed just a handful of times.
The two largest IPC classes in this corpus are C12N, covering microorganisms and enzyme engineering, at 47.4% of the 19 records, and C08J, covering polymer processing and solutions, at 42.1%. Solid waste disposal (B09B) follows at 21.1%. Classes tied to downstream integration, such as separation and water treatment, each appear in only a single record, indicating that most claim activity is still focused on the enzyme and the substrate rather than on full process integration.
The filing trend in this dataset shows zero records in 2017 and a peak of 15 records in 2024, indicating clear year-on-year build-up over that period. A precise growth rate cannot be stated from this evidence because the most recent years are affected by publication lag, typically around 18 months between filing and publication, which understates 2025 and 2026 figures. The 2024 peak should be read as a floor for recent activity rather than a ceiling.
US20240228727A1, filed by Protein Evolution Inc. and published in 2024, covers systems and methods that combine pretreatment of crystallizable polymers with subsequent enzymatic degradation, including reactive agents that induce chain extension, branching, cross-linking or chain scission of the polymer before enzyme exposure. Anyone developing a process that pairs a chemical or physical pretreatment step with an enzymatic depolymerisation step on crystallizable plastics should review this filing's specific claim language before finalising a process design. It does not appear to cover enzyme engineering in isolation, which is claimed separately elsewhere in this dataset.
Based on IPC class density across the 19 records in scope, the thinnest areas are separation processes, water and wastewater treatment, peptide/protein chemistry claimed independently of enzyme engineering, and polymer composition claims, each represented by only a single record. These are the branches connecting an enzymatic depolymerisation step to a practical waste stream, such as continuous separation of monomers or treatment of process effluent, and they carry noticeably less claim density than the core enzyme-engineering and pretreatment classes.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Enzymatic Plastic Recycling covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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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.