Industrial Centrifugation Patents: Leaders & Filing Trends 2026
- Filing has cooled since 2018. the peak year for this dataset was 2018 at 16 filings, and the 2022 midpoint sits at just 2 — a flat-to-declining trend, not a growth story.
- The core prior art is old and heavily cited. the most-cited record in the set is a decanter centrifuge patent cited 136 times, with three more centrifuge-apparatus patents each cited over 100 times.
- B04B dominates the classification mix. 335 of 383 records sit in the centrifuge subclass itself, while adjacent water-treatment, metals and pulp applications each account for a small fraction — a sign of a narrow, mechanically-defined field.
A mature mechanical field with a thin, aging core
Industrial centrifugation and sedimentation patents cluster tightly around the decanter and disc-decanter centrifuge as a mechanical apparatus, rather than around a chemistry or a process innovation. The search set spans 383 patent families filed between 2017 and 2026, concentrated overwhelmingly in B04B (centrifuges) with smaller overlaps into filtration, water treatment, metals extraction, pulp processing and well drilling. The filing trend is not accelerating: the peak year was 2018, and by the 2022 midpoint annual filing had dropped to just 2 records in this set, before data-cut-off effects further understate the last one to two years.
The most-cited prior art — apparatus patents from the 1970s and a disc-decanter patent from the 1990s — still anchors the field's core mechanical claims around bowl geometry, conveyor design and beach-section slope. That combination of low recent filing volume and old, heavily-cited foundational patents points to a technology where the basic machine architecture is settled and most current activity is incremental: wear resistance, throughput tuning and flocculant interaction rather than new apparatus concepts.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 383-family dataset: filing activity by year, and how records distribute across IPC subclasses. Both point to a field defined by its mechanical core rather than by a fast-moving chemistry.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings rose to a peak of 16 in 2018, then declined through the dataset's midpoint (2 filings in 2022) toward 0 in the most recent year. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the last one to two years are undercounted rather than genuinely empty — but the multi-year decline through 2022 predates that lag effect and reflects a real slowdown.
IPC subclass composition
B04B (centrifuges) accounts for 335 of 383 records, dwarfing B01D (separation processes, 67), C02F (water treatment, 29), C22B (metal extraction, 15), D21C (pulp, 15), E21B (drilling, 14) and the smaller polymer-related subclasses. The long tail of adjacent IPC codes shows where centrifugation technology gets embedded into other industrial processes rather than developed as a standalone claim.
Shares are the percentage of the 383 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Industrial Centrifugation and Sedimentation with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about industrial centrifugation and sedimentation and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe prior art doing the most work
Decanter centrifuge for producing cake with reduced moisture content and high throughput (US5840007A)
The patent describes a decanter centrifuge with a bowl having a cylindrical portion and a beach portion with two sections of differing slope, the second section shallower than the first, positioned ahead of the cake discharge opening. A conveyor sits at least partially inside the bowl. The design targets cake with reduced moisture content at high throughput — the two variables that define competitive performance in solid-liquid separation equipment.Filed by Baker Hughes; granted 1998-11-24.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5364335A | Disc-decanter centrifuge | 136 |
| 2 | US3795361A | Centrifuge apparatus | 125 |
| 3 | US3885734A | Centrifuge apparatus | 115 |
| 4 | US3934792A | Centrifuge apparatus | 101 |
| 5 | US4240578A | Solid bowl decanter centrifuges of the scroll discharge type | 74 |
| 6 | US4228949A | Solid bowl scroll discharge decanter centrifuges | 71 |
| 7 | US4245777A | Centrifuge apparatus | 64 |
| 8 | US5203762A | Variable frequency centrifuge control | 60 |
| 9 | US5374234A | Decanter centrifuge with energy dissipating inlet | 57 |
| 10 | US5643169A | Decanter centrifuge with adjustable gate control | 54 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older filings, since they have had more time to accumulate citations — treat this table as a map of influential prior art, not of current competitive priority.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three signals from the dataset that matter more than the raw count of 383 families.
Activity has not recovered since 2018
The filing trend peaked in 2018 and dropped sharply by the 2022 midpoint. Even allowing for publication lag understating the most recent one to two years, the multi-year decline through the middle of the dataset window is a real signal that new entrants are not flooding this space.
The field is defined by apparatus, not chemistry
Nearly nine in ten records sit in the centrifuge apparatus subclass. The smaller IPC codes — water treatment, metals, pulp, drilling — mostly reflect centrifugation equipment adapted into an end-use process rather than a distinct separation chemistry being patented.
Foundational claims date to the 1970s-1990s
The most-cited records — apparatus patents from the 1970s and the disc-decanter patent from the 1990s — still anchor bowl, conveyor and beach-section claims. New filings in this area are competing against decades-old, well-tested prior art rather than a recent dominant filer.
Collaboration is limited and concentrated
Only ten co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, with the strongest pairing linked to BASF's Swiss entity and named-inventor pairings at Alfa Laval separation technology entities. This is a field of largely independent filers rather than joint development programmes.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to industrial centrifugation and sedimentation, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the ground, and where the gate is thin
Recent-year momentum across the named assignees is uniformly flat: every one of the tracked assignees shows 0 filings in the latest year in this dataset, consistent with the broader slowdown after 2018. That makes current market position a function of legacy portfolio strength rather than recent aggressive filing.
Positions built before the slowdown
Names like Alfa Laval's separation technology entities and Baker Hughes hold portfolios built during and before the 2018 peak. With zero recent-year filings recorded for the tracked assignees, incumbency here reflects older grants rather than active claim expansion.
A small web of named-inventor and corporate pairings
The strongest co-assignee pairing links a BASF entity to its Swiss affiliate; two further pairings connect Alfa Laval's separation technology unit to individually named inventors. These are narrow, specific relationships rather than broad joint ventures.
Europe and the US lead filing volume
EPO and US filings lead the receiving-office count, with Canada, WIPO/PCT, Australia and China each in the high teens to low thirties. That spread suggests protection strategy here is built around established industrial markets rather than a single dominant jurisdiction.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Alfa Laval Separation Technology | 0 | — |
| Alfa Laval AB | 0 | — |
| Alfa Laval Copenhagen A/S | 0 | — |
| Andritz AG | 0 | — |
| Baker Hughes Holdings LLC | 0 | — |
| Nalco Company | 0 | — |
| BASF SE | 0 | — |
| RECOVERY ENERGY SERVICES INC | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a mechanically mature field with specific underexplored edges. These are reasonable next steps for a filing or freedom-to-operate decision.
Map the beach-section and conveyor claim family
The most-cited prior art centres on bowl beach-section slope and conveyor placement. Before drafting new apparatus claims, chart exactly how far those geometry claims extend and where a genuinely different configuration starts.
Explore claim scope in EurekaTrack the under-claimed process-control branch
Cake-dryness sensing and flocculant dosing show comparatively thin filing density next to the core apparatus claims. A process-control angle may sit outside the older mechanical patents entirely.
Run a white space search in EurekaWatch for portfolio reactivation
With every tracked assignee at zero filings in the latest year, a single reactivated filer could shift the competitive picture quickly. Set an alert on the legacy holders rather than assuming the current calm continues.
Set assignee alerts in EurekaCommon questions on industrial centrifugation patents
The dataset's citation leaders include long-established equipment makers such as Baker Hughes and the Alfa Laval group of separation-technology entities, alongside apparatus patents dating back to the 1970s that remain the most-cited references in the field. However, every tracked assignee shows zero filings in the most recent year covered, so current portfolio strength reflects legacy filing rather than active recent expansion. A freedom-to-operate check should look at grant status and remaining term on these older families, not just family count.
Filing volume in this dataset peaked in 2018 at 16 records and had fallen to 2 by the 2022 midpoint, with the most recent year showing no new filings in the set. Some of that recent drop is an artefact of publication lag, since patents typically publish around 18 months after filing. But the decline through the middle of the window predates that lag and indicates genuinely reduced new filing activity industry-wide.
B04B covers centrifuges as apparatus — bowl design, conveyor mechanisms, drive systems — and accounts for 335 of the 383 records in this dataset. B01D covers separation processes more broadly, including filtration methods that may or may not involve a centrifuge, and appears in 67 records, often where the centrifuge is one step within a larger separation process claim. A patent classified in both typically claims a specific apparatus used within a defined process.
The strongest under-claimed areas relative to core apparatus claims are cake-dryness sensing with closed-loop control, flocculant dosing optimisation for variable feedstock, wear-resistant scroll conveyor liners, bowl geometry tuned for high-viscosity feeds, and energy recovery from braking cycles. These sit adjacent to the dense B04B apparatus claims but are not the subject of the most-cited prior art, suggesting narrower and more defensible claim scope. A first claim in these areas would typically pair a sensor or material innovation with a specific centrifuge subsystem rather than claiming the whole machine.
US5840007A claims a specific bowl configuration: a beach portion with two sloped sections, the second shallower and positioned nearer the cake discharge opening, combined with an internally-mounted conveyor, aimed at reducing cake moisture while raising throughput. It does not claim decanter centrifuges generally, nor does it cover single-slope beach designs or systems where dryness is controlled by means other than beach geometry. Designs using alternative dryness-control mechanisms, such as variable differential speed control or flocculant-based moisture reduction, sit outside its specific claim language.
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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.