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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/hydrogen-metallurgy-and-dri-hydrogen-ironmaking-furnace-patent-landscape-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-08-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Metals & MetallurgyHydrogen ironmaking furnace patents: who holds the core operating claims and where the filing has stalled
A patent landscape review of hydrogen ironmaking furnace and DRI technology: filing trends since 2017, the leading assignees, IPC composition, and the most-cited blast-furnace hydrogen operating patents.
40
Published Records
0%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
EP
Leading Jurisdiction
2018
Peak Filing Year
Filing growth = 2021 (5 records) → 2024 (5); 2024 is the last year we treat as complete.
Published byPatsnap Research··6 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What this landscape covers
This review covers 40 published records filed between 2015 and the 2026 data cut-off that claim hydrogen ironmaking furnace operation or hydrogen-based direct reduced iron (DRI) processing under IPC classes C21B and C22B. The scope is narrow by design: it targets furnace-level method and plant claims rather than the broader hydrogen-steel literature, so the picture here is of who controls how a blast or DRI furnace is run on hydrogen, not of hydrogen metallurgy in general.
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 counts in the trend chart are still filling in and should not be read as a drop-off. The dataset is small enough that individual assignees, rather than broad industry shifts, explain most of the movement in the numbers.
Filing activity and technology composition, 2017-2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Hydrogen Metallurgy & DRI: Hydrogen Ironmaking Furnace Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. 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 40-record dataset: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
Filings rose to a 2018 peak, then flattened
Annual filings ran from 8 in 2017 to a peak of 13 in 2018, then settled into a lower, flatter pattern. The three-year span used for the growth figure on this page, 2021 to 2024, shows 5 filings in both years — 0% growth. Treat the 2025-2026 tail as incomplete rather than as a decline; those records are still being published.
Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in. Growth rates on this page therefore end at 2024; running them to the last bar would understate the field.
Claims concentrate on furnace process, not furnace hardware
Every one of the 40 records in scope carries a C21B (iron production / blast furnace) class, which is the scope condition rather than a finding. Underneath that, 57.5% of records also carry F27B (furnaces & kilns), pointing to process-and-operation claims, while F27D (furnace details & accessories) appears in only 10.0% — a narrower, more mechanical branch. C21C (steelmaking), C22B (metal extraction & refining) and C25B (electrolytic production) each sit at 5.0% or below, marking them as adjacent rather than core to this corpus.
Shares are the percentage of the 40 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 Hydrogen Metallurgy & DRI: Hydrogen Ironmaking Furnace Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
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The most-cited operating patents
Representative filing
Steelmaking method and associated network of plants (US20250019782A1, ArcelorMittal, 2025-01-16)
ARCELORMITTAL
The filing describes producing hot metal in a blast furnace with at least two levels of gas injection, recovering blast-furnace top gas to extract an H2-rich stream of more than 90% v hydrogen, and re-injecting that stream back into the process alongside a hot blast above 1000°C. It ties gas recovery, hydrogen extraction and re-injection into a single claimed operating loop rather than claiming any one piece of hardware in isolation.Abstract text and figure references are drawn directly from the published filing.
Most-cited records in the dataset
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20200149124A1 | Method for operating an iron- or steelmaking- plant | 17 |
| 2 | EP3425070A1 | Method for operating an iron-or steelmaking-plant | 16 |
| 3 | WO2019007908A1 | Method for operating an iron- or steelmaking- plant | 8 |
| 4 | EP3425070B1 | Method for operating an iron-or steelmaking-plant | 8 |
| 5 | US11377700B2 | Method for operating an iron- or steelmaking- plant | 2 |
| 6 | CA3241284A1 | Ironmaking method and associated plant | 1 |
| 7 | WO2023111654A1 | Ironmaking method and associated plant | 1 |
| 8 | CA3068613A1 | Method for operating an iron-or steelmaking-plant | 1 |
Citation counts favour older records simply because they have had longer to accumulate citations inside this corpus; read them as a signal of influence within the field, not as a measure of current commercial importance.
Publication numbers are shown where the record carries one (8 of 8 rows); clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Hydrogen Metallurgy & DRI: Hydrogen Ironmaking Furnace Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Four things the dataset supports directly, without extrapolating beyond what it shows.
Concentration at the top
23 of 40 records
held by the leading assignee
One assignee dominates a short ranked list
The assignee ranking returned by this dataset lists only four companies, and the leader alone holds 23 of the 40 records in scope. That leaves a genuinely short tail rather than a long one — a filer entering this space is negotiating around one dominant portfolio, not diffusing risk across dozens of small holders.
Ranking covers 4 companies only
Flat filing activity
0% growth, 2021→2024
using the complete-year window
Activity has plateaued since the 2018 peak
Filings peaked at 13 in 2018 and have not returned to that level since; the 2021-2024 window this page tracks for growth shows 5 filings in both years, a flat 0%. That is a mature, steady-state filing pattern rather than a growing or a shrinking one.
2018 peak: 13 filings
Where claims sit
57.5% of 40 records
carry an F27B furnace/kiln class
Process operation is claimed more than furnace hardware
F27B (furnaces & kilns) appears across more than half the dataset, while F27D (furnace details & accessories) appears in only 10.0% of records. That gap suggests the mechanical detail of furnace construction is comparatively under-claimed relative to how the furnace is operated.
F27D share: 10.0% of records
Where filings are lodged
7 filings at the EPO
the leading receiving office
Europe leads filing office activity, with India and PCT close behind
The EPO accounts for the largest single share of receiving-office filings (7), with India and WIPO's PCT route each at 4, and Canada and the United States each at 3. That spread points to European and Indian steel markets, plus PCT filers keeping multi-jurisdiction options open, as the priority territories for this technology.
EPO: 7; India: 4; PCT: 4
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Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to hydrogen metallurgy & dri: hydrogen ironmaking furnace patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Hydrogen Metallurgy & DRI: Hydrogen Ironmaking Furnace Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
What's next
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a narrow, concentrated field with specific gaps. These are the natural next steps for a team acting on it.
Map the leader's full claim scope
With one assignee holding the majority of records in a four-company ranking, understanding exactly what its operating-method claims cover — and where they stop — is the first task before filing nearby.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaTest the furnace-detail gap
F27D claims sit in only 10.0% of the 40 records, well behind the 57.5% carrying F27B process claims. That gap is worth a freedom-to-operate check before assuming it is open.
Run a white-space search in EurekaTrack the 2025-2026 tail as it fills in
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent two years in this trend will keep gaining records. Re-checking the trend in six to twelve months will show whether the 2021-2024 plateau is holding.
Set up a monitoring alert in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Hydrogen Metallurgy & DRI: Hydrogen Ironmaking Furnace Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions about hydrogen ironmaking furnace patents
The assignee ranking for this dataset lists only four companies, and one of them holds 23 of the 40 records in scope — a clear majority within a short list. The other three ranked companies, including ArcelorMittal and Air Liquide-affiliated entities, hold the remainder. Because the ranking has only four names, this is not a fragmented field with a long tail of small filers; it is a small group of parties with one clear leader.
Filings peaked at 13 in 2018, and the most recent complete-year comparison available, 2021 to 2024, shows flat activity at 5 filings in both years — 0% growth. Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the lower counts shown for 2025 and 2026 in any chart reflect incomplete data, not an actual drop in filing. Read the trend as a plateau since 2018 rather than as either sustained growth or decline.
Every record in this dataset carries a C21B classification (iron production / blast furnace), which reflects the search scope itself. Within that, 57.5% of the 40 records also carry an F27B classification covering furnace and kiln operation, while only 10.0% carry F27D, which covers furnace construction details and accessories. Steelmaking (C21C), metal extraction (C22B) and electrolytic production (C25B) each appear in 5.0% or fewer records, marking them as adjacent rather than core claim territory.
The most-cited records in this dataset are a cluster of related filings around operating an iron- or steelmaking plant, including US20200149124A1 (cited 17 times) and its European counterpart EP3425070A1 (cited 16 times), along with related PCT and granted-patent siblings from the same family. High citation counts in this kind of corpus tend to favour older filings simply because they have had more time to accumulate citations, so treat these as markers of influence on later filings rather than as the most commercially active patents today.
The clearest gap by claim density is furnace hardware detail: F27D (furnace details & accessories) appears in only 10.0% of the 40 records in scope, compared with 57.5% for F27B furnace and kiln operation claims. Adjacent branches such as C25B electrolytic production sit at just 2.5%, suggesting integration between electrolytic hydrogen generation and furnace operation is thinly claimed. Any freedom-to-operate work should still verify these gaps against the leading assignee's specific claim language before treating them as open.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Hydrogen Metallurgy & DRI: Hydrogen Ironmaking Furnace Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. 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.