Hydrogen direct reduction shaft furnace patents: who holds the ground and what is still open
Three assignees account for every one of the 18 records in scope, a field small enough that a single new filer can shift the ranking outright. Filings were at zero in 2017, rose to a peak of six records in 2023, and the trend cannot support a growth-rate claim because fewer than four complete years remain once the roughly 18-month publication lag is accounted for. Treat 2024–2026 counts as understated rather than as a real slowdown.
- 1赫塔金属公司50.0%
- 2氢能突破性炼铁技术发展公司38.9%
- 3JSW钢铁公司11.1%
See the full hydrogen direct reduction shaft furnace 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 on hydrogen DRI shaft furnace patents
How many companies actually hold patents in hydrogen direct reduction shaft furnace technology?
The assignee ranking for this dataset returns only 3 companies against 18 total published records, and together they account for 100% of the records in scope. That is not a top-50 or top-100 cut — it is the complete ranked set the data endpoint returns for this search. A field this concentrated means a new filer with even a handful of applications can meaningfully change the competitive picture.
Is hydrogen DRI shaft furnace patent activity growing or slowing down?
Filings peaked at six records in 2023, and the count is lower in 2024 through 2026, but that apparent decline should not be read as a real slowdown. Patent publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the most recent years in any dataset are always undercounted, and there are fewer than four complete years available here to compute a reliable growth rate. The honest read is 'not yet enough data,' not 'declining interest.'
Which patent classes cover the core hydrogen shaft furnace process versus the equipment?
C21C (steelmaking) and C21B (blast-furnace iron production) dominate, covering 88.9% and 83.3% of the 18 records respectively, which shows most applicants frame their inventions as process claims over the ironmaking method itself. Furnace hardware classes F27B and F27D are comparably lighter, at 38.9% and 33.3%. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC codes, these percentages sum to more than 100% and should be read against the 18-record total, not against each other.
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 Hydrogen Direct Reduction Shaft Furnace 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.