Fischer-Tropsch Testing Patents: Leaders & Filing Trends 2026
- Filing has cooled sharply since 2019. the peak year for new families, filings have fallen back toward levels last seen before the shale-to-GTL push, with the most recent full year barely registering.
- Catalysis, not fuels chemistry, holds the claim density. B01J (chemical/physical processes & catalysis) appears in 607 of 1,104 families, well ahead of C10G refining classifications at 436.
- Momentum has stalled even among the historically active filers. several of the most established assignees in this dataset show zero families in the latest year, including one with a -100% year-on-year drop.
Filing growth compares 2021 (29 records) with 2024 (28) — 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 1,104 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks patent families at the intersection of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and the testing methods used to qualify it: catalyst activity testing, product analysis and catalyst characterization. It spans records published between 2015 and mid-2026, filtered on title/abstract/claims/description text rather than classification alone, which keeps the scope tied to the actual testing and inspection workflow rather than the broader universe of Fischer-Tropsch process patents. The corpus totals 1,104 patent families, each counted once regardless of how many jurisdictions it was filed in.
Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the final one or two years in any trend chart will always look thinner than they eventually turn out to be. That lag matters here: the apparent decline after 2019 is real in direction but likely overstated in magnitude for the most recent data points.
Let an AI agent run this analysis on your own technology
Pick a task. Every answer cites the patents behind it.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 1,104 families: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim volume.
A peak in 2019, then a long decline
Filings rose to 52 in 2017 and peaked at 88 in 2019. By the midpoint of the range, 2022, annual filings had fallen to 12, and the trend has stayed flat-to-declining since, with the partial latest year showing just 1 recorded family so far.
Catalysis and refining dominate the classification mix
B01J (catalytic and physical/chemical processes) leads at 607 records, followed by C10G hydrocarbon refining at 436 and C07C acyclic/carbocyclic compounds at 413. Narrower subclasses — C01B inorganic compounds, C10L fuels, C08F addition polymers, C07B organic methods and B01D separation — each account for well under half the volume of the top classification, pointing to where claim density thins out.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,104 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis Testing and Inspection with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about fischer-tropsch synthesis testing and inspection and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaA representative recent filing
Fischer-Tropsch Processes with Modified Product Selectivity (US20240002734A1, BP P.L.C., filed 2024-01-04)
The disclosure covers converting a hydrogen/carbon monoxide feed into alcohols and liquid hydrocarbons via Fischer-Tropsch synthesis using a supported cobalt-manganese catalyst, with a claimed process step of contacting the catalyst with a first gaseous feed for at least 12 hours to produce a C5+ hydrocarbon and alcohol product, before a further contacting step modifies selectivity.Abstract text drawn directly from the published filing; full claim language should be reviewed independently before relying on scope.
View full record| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20140227548A1 | Nanoparticles, Compositions, Manufacture and Applications | 267 |
| 2 | US20100154293A1 | Methods and compositions related to thioesterase enzymes | 183 |
| 3 | US20100282467A1 | Sulfonated internal olefin surfactant for enhanced oil recovery | 149 |
| 4 | US7541310B2 | Silica-alumina catalyst support, catalysts made therefrom and methods of making and using same | 130 |
| 5 | US20100160506A1 | Production of synthetic hydrocarbon fluids, plasticizers and synthetic lubricant base stocks from renewable f… | 128 |
| 6 | WO2010075483A2 | Methods and compositions related to thioesterase enzymes | 125 |
| 7 | US5968465A | Process for removal of HCN from synthesis gas | 120 |
| 8 | US8435920B2 | Cyclic catalytic upgrading of chemical species using metal oxide materials | 107 |
| 9 | US5725756A | In situ mitigation of coke buildup in porous catalysts with supercritical reaction media | 99 |
| 10 | US20080164443A1 | Cyclic catalytic upgrading of chemical species using metal oxide materials | 95 |
Citation counts accumulate over time, so older filings are structurally favoured; treat this table as a map of influence within the searched corpus, not a ranking of current 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 say about the field's trajectory
Three patterns stand out once filing volume, classification spread and citation behaviour are read together.
The rush has passed
Annual filings climbed from 52 in 2017 to a peak of 88 in 2019, then fell to 12 by 2022 and have stayed low since. This is consistent with a technology area that saw a concentrated wave of testing and characterization filings tied to a specific investment cycle in GTL and synthetic fuels, rather than one still in active build-out.
Catalysis carries the claim weight
More than half of all families touch B01J catalytic and physical/chemical process claims, ahead of C10G refining (436) and C07C compound claims (413). Separation processes (B01D, 42) and organic synthesis methods (C07B, 46) are comparatively open.
Even established filers have gone quiet
Several assignees with substantial filing histories in this corpus, including one showing a -100% year-on-year change, recorded no new families in the most recent year. That does not mean these programmes have ended, given publication lag, but it does mark a visible slowdown in disclosed activity.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to fischer-tropsch synthesis testing and inspection, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is active, and where the collaboration sits
Filing here concentrates among a small set of energy majors, national research bodies and universities, with collaboration patterns that mirror well-known industry partnerships.
University-national oil company pairing leads collaboration
The strongest co-assignee link in this dataset pairs a Saudi research university with the national oil company, at 36 shared families, ahead of a Chevron-CSIRO pairing at 27 and a University of California-BP North America pairing at 10.
US and EPO dominate filing venue choice
The United States receives the largest share of filings at 330, followed by the European Patent Office at 161 and the WIPO PCT route at 128. Australia, Canada and India each sit in the 50-85 range, reflecting jurisdictions with either domestic GTL interest or strong prior art search regimes.
Historical leaders are not the current filers
Assignees with deep filing histories, including major integrated oil companies and national laboratories, show no recorded activity in the latest year. Anyone assessing freedom-to-operate should weight older grants from these filers heavily, since they still define the boundaries even without fresh filings.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company | 0 | — |
| Chevron U.S.A. Inc. | 0 | — |
| Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences | 0 | — |
| Neste Corporation | 0 | — |
| King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) | 0 | -100% |
| Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) | 0 | — |
| Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) | 0 | — |
| Stepan Company | 0 | — |
Using this landscape in practice
The dataset points to where claim space is dense and where it has thinned out; what to do with that depends on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, licensing or new filing strategy.
Check freedom-to-operate against quiet incumbents
Several assignees with large historical portfolios show no recent filings. Their older grants still control claim scope in catalysis and product-selectivity methods, so a design-around review should not assume inactivity means expired relevance.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaProbe the under-claimed branches before committing R&D
Separation-integrated testing and non-cobalt characterization protocols carry meaningfully lower filing density than core B01J catalysis claims. That gap is worth validating against unpublished applications before treating it as genuinely open.
Run a white space search in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
This dataset counts 1,104 patent families published between 2015 and mid-2026 that match testing- and characterization-related search terms alongside Fischer-Tropsch synthesis language. That figure is a family count, meaning continuations and multi-jurisdiction filings of the same invention are counted once. It should be treated as a scoped subset of the broader Fischer-Tropsch patent universe, not the total for the process technology itself.
Filings peaked at 88 in 2019 after climbing from 52 in 2017, then fell to 12 by 2022 and have stayed low since, with the partial latest year showing only 1 recorded family. This pattern tracks a broader slowdown in gas-to-liquids and synthetic fuel investment cycles rather than a sudden technical dead end. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the very latest years will always undercount true filing activity, so the decline's exact scale should be treated cautiously until later data catches up.
The corpus shows filing concentrated among a handful of energy majors, national research organizations and universities, with the strongest collaboration link being a Saudi research university paired with the national oil company at 36 shared families. A Chevron-CSIRO pairing follows at 27 shared families. Several of the historically largest filers, however, show no new families in the most recent year, so current filing activity and historical portfolio size do not line up cleanly.
Catalyst activity testing claims typically cover methods for measuring conversion, selectivity or deactivation of a Fischer-Tropsch catalyst under defined process conditions, and these cluster heavily under IPC subclass B01J. Product analysis claims instead focus on characterizing the resulting hydrocarbon or alcohol product stream, often overlapping with C10G refining and C07C compound classifications. In practice many filings combine both, since testing a catalyst's activity usually requires analyzing its output.
Relative to the dense B01J catalysis and C10G refining claim clusters, separation-integrated testing methods (B01D, 42 records), organic synthesis verification methods (C07B, 46 records) and addition-polymer co-product testing (C08F, 57 records) all carry markedly lower filing density. That gap suggests these adjacent branches have not been as heavily claimed, though a targeted freedom-to-operate search is still needed before assuming the space is genuinely open, since unpublished applications will not appear in any published-record dataset.
Research Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis Testing and Inspection in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole fischer-tropsch synthesis testing and inspection 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.