Flotation Collectors Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
Flotation Collector and Selectivity Patents: Concentration, Claim Space and Where It Is Still Open
Top-heavy but not locked down. the top 5 assignees account for 62.4% of all 101 records in scope, yet 22 of the 32 ranked companies sit outside the top 10 with only a handful of filings each. Filings rose to a peak of 10 in 2021 before falling to 0 by 2024, a -100% swing over that three-year span. 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent bars will fill in over time rather than reflecting an active decline.
- 1CHEVRON PHILLIPS CHEMICAL COMPANY LP29
- 2VERSITECH INC10
- 3TEEBEE HLDG9
- 4BASF SE9
- 5EVONIK OPERATIONS GMBH6
See the full flotation collectors and selectivity analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions about flotation collector patents
Who holds the most flotation collector patents?
One assignee leads the ranked field with 29 of the 101 records in this dataset, well ahead of the fifth-ranked company at 6 records and the tenth-ranked company at 3. The ranking covers 32 companies in total, so beyond the leader the field spreads across a long tail of smaller filers. This concentration pattern suggests a sustained, deliberate filing programme at the top rather than a field with many equally matched competitors.
Is flotation collector patent activity growing or declining?
Filing activity peaked at 10 records in 2021 and fell to 0 by 2024, a complete reset over that three-year span. However, publication typically lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the 2025 and 2026 figures in any dataset are still incomplete and should not be read as evidence of an active slowdown. The fairer comparison is the 2021-to-2024 window, which is the most recent period that can be treated as filing-complete.
What is the difference between xanthate and non-xanthate flotation collectors in the patent literature?
Xanthate collectors are the historically dominant chemistry for sulfide mineral flotation and appear throughout the most-cited records in this dataset, including older foundational filings on sulfide mineral species separation. Non-xanthate alternatives — including lignin-based and other biopolymer collector formulations — appear in more recent filings, often blended with a conventional collector rather than replacing it outright. The patent record shows more claim density around established xanthate and thiophosphate chemistries than around fully non-xanthate formulations.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Flotation Collectors and Selectivity covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.