Forward Osmosis Control Patent Snapshot 2026
Forward osmosis control is a compact, highly concentrated field in which two players—Waterwhelm Ltd and Oasys Water Inc—together account for the majority of filings, with the United States as the dominant filing jurisdiction. Annual volume peaked in 2021 and has since eased, placing the field in a mature phase with selective pockets of activity from energy-sector and academic entrants.
Two players dominate a tightly held niche
Waterwhelm Ltd leads the forward osmosis control corpus with 8 patent families, followed by Oasys Water Inc with 5. These two organizations alone represent the top two ranked filers, with Saudi Arabian Oil Co third at 3 patent families.
Concentration is pronounced: the top five filers account for 79% of the combined total among the ranked applicants visible in this query, signaling a field where a small group of specialists sets the technical direction and late entrants face a narrow but defined competitive target.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Waterwhelm Ltd | 8 | |
| 2 | Oasys Water Inc | 5 | |
| 3 | Saudi Arabian Oil Co | 3 | |
| 4 | China CAMC Engineering Hongkong Co Ltd | 2 | |
| 5 | Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering | 1 | |
| 6 | Water Conservation Technology International Inc | 1 | |
| 7 | Qatar University | 1 | |
| 8 | Aramco Services Co | 1 | |
| 9 | KOREA INST OF CIVIL ENG & BUILDING TECH | 1 | |
| 10 | Gambro Lundia AB | 1 |
The leaders’ positions imply deep institutional expertise in osmotic separation and water treatment process design; challengers seeking differentiation must either extend into application verticals—such as industrial hydrocarbons or medical devices—or pursue membrane-level innovation that the current leaders have not prioritized.
Filings from approximately 2024 onward are subject to publication lag and are likely under-counted; the apparent low volume in that window should not be read as reduced activity. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
A 2021 surge has settled into a steady, lower baseline
The filing trend and technology composition charts together reveal a field that burst into activity around 2021 and has since moderated, with its technical focus overwhelmingly anchored in separation processes and water treatment.
Annual filing trend
Filings were sparse from 2017 through 2020, spiked to 6 in 2021, then declined to 4 in 2022 and 2 in 2023. The 2024–2026 data points reflect publication lag and should be treated as provisional floors rather than final counts. The 2021 peak marks the field’s high-water mark; subsequent years show a moderation consistent with the Maturity life-cycle stage.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
Separation processes (B01D) and water/wastewater treatment (C02F) are visible in the IPC distribution, confirming that forward osmosis control innovation is concentrated in the core membrane-separation and process-chemistry space. Smaller clusters appear in hydrocarbon refining (C10G), medical fluid devices (A61M), and control systems (G05B), each representing sparse but structurally distinct adjacent branches.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
VORRICHTUNG UND VERFAHREN ZUR FLÜSSIGKEITSBEHANDLU…
A method of recovering draw agent utilised in a forward osmosis membrane cell, the method comprising the steps of passing diluted draw agent to a vapour-liquid separator; using the vapour-liquid separator to separate draw agent vapour and solvent; and condensing draw agent vapour. (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Advanced wastewater treatment system and method by… | 22 |
| 2 | Osmotic separation systems and methods | 18 |
| 3 | Apparatus and method for liquid treatment by forwa… | 6 |
| 4 | Systems and methods for improving performance of f… | 6 |
| 5 | Ultrafast water flux through hot-pressed solution … | 4 |
| 6 | Osmotic separation systems and methods | 2 |
| 7 | Decomposition of gas field chemicals | 1 |
| 8 | Decomposition of gas field chemicals | 1 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
Assignee snapshot from the current evidence set
The applicants below are visible in this query result. Because the evidence set is relatively small, read this section as a directional snapshot rather than a full competitive ranking.
Waterwhelm Ltd
Waterwhelm Ltd holds 8 patent families, the largest position in the corpus, with its primary technical focus in B01D 61 (osmotic separation processes), supported by C02F 1 (water treatment) and B01D 3 (distillation-adjacent separation). Its momentum is flagged as a new entrant trajectory, suggesting its filing activity is concentrated in the most recent window and its full portfolio depth is still being established. This makes Waterwhelm both the current leader and potentially still in an active filing phase.
patent families: 8Oasys Water Inc
Oasys Water Inc holds 5 patent families, with a balanced emphasis across B01D 61 (separation processes), C02F 1 (water treatment), and B01D 63 (membrane module configurations). This breadth across both process control and module-level design gives Oasys a more diversified IP footprint than Waterwhelm’s more separation-focused portfolio. Oasys’s momentum data is not present in the recent-entrant window, which may indicate a more established, earlier-vintage filing history.
patent families: 5Frequently asked questions
The corpus comprises 20 patent families in scope. This is a compact, specialist field rather than a high-volume technology area.
Waterwhelm Ltd leads with 8 patent families, followed by Oasys Water Inc with 5 and Saudi Arabian Oil Co with 3.
The field reached a filing peak in 2021 and has since plateaued, placing it in a Maturity life-cycle stage with near-zero recent growth. The most recent filing years are subject to publication lag, so current activity may be higher than the raw counts suggest.
The United States leads with 9 patent records. India and WIPO (PCT) each have 3, while Australia, Europe (EPO), and the United Kingdom each have 2. The UAE, Canada, and South Korea each have 1.
The only documented collaboration is between Saudi Arabian Oil Co and Aramco Services Co, who jointly filed one patent family. No other cross-organization co-filings are recorded in the corpus.
Hydrocarbon oil refining (C10G) has only 2 patent records, and medical body-fluid devices (A61M) has only 1. Both are structurally adjacent to forward osmosis principles but have attracted minimal dedicated filing activity, making them observable gaps worth monitoring.
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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.
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