Li-Ion Battery Recycling Patent Landscape 2026
The Li-ion battery recycling patent field has expanded sharply on a multi-year basis, with three-year filing volume up 205% over the prior three-year window, though annual volume eased from its 2023 peak. Competition is moderately concentrated, with AGR Lithium and Green Li-Ion leading a field populated by specialist recyclers, mining process companies, and research institutions across multiple continents.
AGR Lithium and Green Li-Ion lead a fragmented but consolidating field
AGR Lithium holds the top position with 39 patent families, followed closely by Green Li-Ion with 38 and the Regents of the University of California with 33. The top five applicants together account for 39% of the combined output of the hundred largest filers, signalling moderate concentration with meaningful space for challengers.
The gap between the top two filers and the rest is narrow — AGR Lithium and Green Li-Ion are near-tied — while a distinct second tier sits at 27 families (Metso Outotec) and drops quickly to 12 and below. This tiered structure suggests a contested leadership position rather than a dominant incumbent.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AGR Lithium Inc | 39 | |
| 2 | Green Li-Ion Pte Ltd | 38 | |
| 3 | Regents of the University of California | 33 | |
| 4 | Metso Outotec Finland Oy | 27 | |
| 5 | Hulico LLC | 12 | |
| 6 | II-VI Delaware Inc | 12 | |
| 7 | Guangdong Brunp Recycling Technology Co Ltd | 11 | |
| 8 | UT-Battelle LLC | 11 | |
| 9 | Ascend Elements Inc | 11 | |
| 10 | Mazda Motor Corporation | 10 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | American Hyperform Inc | 10 | |
| 12 | Hunan Brunp Recycling Technology Co Ltd | 10 | |
| 13 | Li Industries Inc | 10 | |
| 14 | Metastable Materials Pte Ltd | 8 | |
| 15 | Mitsubishi Materials Corporation | 7 | |
| 16 | Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd | 7 | |
| 17 | Hunan Jinyuan New Materials Co Ltd | 6 | |
| 18 | Hunan Brunp EV Recycling Co Ltd | 6 | |
| 19 | Lohum Materials Pte Ltd | 5 | |
| 20 | Attero Recycling Pvt Ltd | 4 |
Both leading positions are held by new entrants (on a momentum basis), which indicates that the current rankings reflect recent, rapid capacity-building rather than decades of accumulated filing. Established industrial players such as Metso Outotec and research institutions such as the University of California provide a counterbalancing long-run base.
Filings from 2024 onward are subject to publication lag and are likely undercounted; the apparent easing from the 2023 peak should not be interpreted as a reversal of the multi-year growth trend. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Multi-year growth remains strong; electrochemistry and hydrometallurgy dominate the technology mix
The filing trend and technology composition together reveal a field in active expansion anchored in two core technical domains, with a long tail of adjacent process branches that remain comparatively sparse.
Annual filing trend
Annual filings grew from 4 families in 2017 to a peak of 119 in 2023, reflecting the 205% three-year growth. The 2024 and 2025 figures (78 and 56 respectively) and the minimal 2026 count are subject to publication lag and should be read as floors rather than final totals; the multi-year growth trajectory remains intact.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H01M (batteries, cells, and fuel cells) and C22B (metal extraction and refining) together dominate the IPC distribution, confirming that direct recycling and hydrometallurgical metal recovery are the two primary technical routes. Downstream and enabling branches — solid waste disposal (B09B), metal compound synthesis (C01G, C01B, C01D), and separation processes (B01D) — each carry a fraction of that activity, marking them as adjacent but under-served relative to the core.
↗ 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.
Reactive phase separation of black mass from lithi…
Methods for processing black mass material from lithium-ion battery recycling processes include fractionating the black mass into a lithium fraction, a graphite fraction, and a concentrated metal powder fraction. This is accomplished using a multiphase liquid blend of nonpolar hydrophobic solvent and water to dissolve the lithium and produce a multiphase… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Flotation method for recovering lithium-ion batter… | 256 |
| 2 | Recycling of coated electrode materials | 48 |
| 3 | Relithiation in oxidizing conditions | 36 |
| 4 | Lithium-ion battery recycling method and recycling… | 35 |
| 5 | 一种从废旧锂离子电池回收过程产生的含锂废液中提取锂的方法 | 34 |
| 6 | Method for recovering valuable material from used … | 29 |
| 7 | Relithiation in oxidizing conditions | 28 |
| 8 | 废旧锂离子电池正、负极活性材料协同处理的方法 | 27 |
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.
What the competitive structure means for R&D investment decisions
Four structural dimensions — lifecycle stage, concentration, collaboration networks, and geographic coverage — each carry distinct implications for where an entrant or incumbent should focus.
Growth stage: rapid multi-year expansion, annual volume easing from 2023 peak
The field is classified as Growth, with three-year filing volume 205% above the prior three-year window. Annual filing peaked in 2023 at 119 families and has eased since, though publication lag means recent years are understated. For R&D teams, this signals a window where differentiated technical approaches can still establish meaningful IP positions before the field matures into slower incremental filing.
Growth stageModerate concentration; leadership is contestable
The top five filers hold 39% of the combined output of the hundred largest filers, and the top two positions are separated by only one family. No single incumbent commands a dominant share. This structure rewards focused portfolio building in specific technical sub-routes (e.g., direct cathode relithiation or selective leaching) rather than broad, undifferentiated coverage.
Contestable leadershipBrunp group entities form the most active co-filing cluster
The most active co-filing relationships are within the Brunp recycling group: Guangdong Brunp Recycling Technology co-filed with Hunan Brunp Recycling Technology on 10 families, with Hunan Brunp EV Recycling on 6 families, and with Hunan Brunp Automotive Recycling on 2 families. Outside this group, cross-institutional collaboration appears sparse in the current evidence, suggesting that partnering with academic or national-lab filers — such as the University of California or UT-Battelle — could be a differentiation lever.
Intra-group clusteringUS filing dominates; PCT and EPO routes signal global protection intent
The United States leads all jurisdictions in patent records, followed by WIPO (PCT) and Europe (EPO). India is the fourth-largest single jurisdiction, ahead of China — an unusual pattern for a battery-related field — likely reflecting the presence of India-headquartered filers such as Attero Recycling. Canada, Australia, and South Korea round out the coverage map. Teams targeting global freedom-to-operate should prioritize US, PCT, and EPO prosecution, and monitor India as an emerging enforcement jurisdiction.
US-led, globally distributedGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
| Applicant | Collaborator | Co-filings |
|---|---|---|
| Guangdong Brunp Recycling Technology Co Ltd | Hunan Brunp Recycling Technology Co Ltd | 10 |
| Guangdong Brunp Recycling Technology Co Ltd | Hunan Brunp EV Recycling Co Ltd | 6 |
| Guangdong Brunp Recycling Technology Co Ltd | Hunan Brunp Automotive Recycling Co Ltd | 2 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
AGR Lithium and Green Li-Ion lead with complementary technical emphases
The two top filers entered the corpus recently and have built their positions quickly, each concentrating on a distinct combination of electrochemical and hydrometallurgical approaches.
AGR Lithium Inc
AGR Lithium leads with 39 patent families and is classified as a new entrant on a momentum basis, with 34 recent families — meaning virtually its entire portfolio was built in the recent filing window. Its technical focus clusters in C22B 7 (metal recovery from secondary materials), H01M 10 (battery cell recycling methods), and C22B 26 (lithium and light-metal extraction), indicating a hydrometallurgical-first strategy directed at critical mineral recovery.
families: 39Green Li-Ion Pte Ltd
Green Li-Ion holds 38 patent families and is also a new entrant, with 37 of those families filed in the recent window. Its top IPC codes — H01M 10, C22B 3 (leaching and solvent extraction), and C22B 47 (nickel and cobalt recovery) — point to a cathode-material regeneration and selective hydrometallurgical route, complementary to but distinct from AGR Lithium’s lithium-recovery emphasis. The near-identical family count and momentum profile make these two the closest competitive pair in the field.
families: 38| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| AGR Lithium Inc | 34 | ▲ new entrant |
| Green Li-Ion Pte Ltd | 37 | ▲ new entrant |
| Regents of the University of California | 17 | ▲ +31% |
| Metso Outotec Finland Oy | 6 | ▼ -71% |
| II-VI Delaware Inc | 12 | ▲ new entrant |
| Hulico LLC | 1 | ▲ new entrant |
| Guangdong Brunp Recycling Technology Co Ltd | 9 | ▲ new entrant |
Under-served branches adjacent to the dominant recycling routes
Several IPC classes appear in the corpus with low patent-record counts relative to the dominant H01M and C22B branches; each is technically adjacent to active recycling workflows and may represent areas where incremental IP is easier to establish.
B01D · Separation processes (filtration, membrane, solvent extraction)
With 19 patent records — roughly 2% of the IPC distribution — B01D covers filtration, membrane separation, and solvent-extraction steps that are integral to hydrometallurgical recycling but patented infrequently as standalone inventions. Given that C22B 3 (leaching and solvent extraction) is a primary focus area for multiple top filers, the separation sub-steps that enable those processes appear under-protected. An entrant with membrane or filtration expertise could carve out a defensible position in this enabling layer.
Search this in Eureka →C01D · Alkali-metal compounds (lithium carbonate / lithium hydroxide synthesis)
C01D carries 27 patent records — 3% of the distribution — covering synthesis of alkali-metal compounds, directly relevant to converting recovered lithium into battery-grade lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide. This step sits at the boundary between recycling and precursor manufacturing and is addressed by few dedicated filers in this corpus. Teams with chemistry expertise in lithium salt purification and precipitation could find this branch relatively open for differentiated filing.
Search this in Eureka →Frequently asked questions
The corpus contains 401 patent families. The United States is the lead filing jurisdiction, followed by WIPO (PCT) and Europe (EPO).
AGR Lithium Inc leads with 39 patent families, followed closely by Green Li-Ion Pte Ltd with 38. Both entered the corpus recently and built their portfolios rapidly in the most recent filing window.
The field is classified as Growth. Three-year filing volume is 205% above the prior three-year window on a multi-year basis. Annual filing peaked in 2023 and has eased since, but 2024 and 2025 figures are likely understated due to publication lag, so the recent dip should not be read as a decline.
H01M (batteries, cells, and fuel cells) and C22B (metal extraction and refining) are the two dominant IPC classes, reflecting that direct recycling of battery cells and hydrometallurgical metal recovery are the primary technical routes. Downstream steps — compound synthesis (C01G, C01B, C01D), separation processes (B01D), and waste disposal (B09B) — are represented at much lower levels.
The most-cited work in the corpus covers a flotation method for recovering Li-ion battery materials (256 citations), recycling of coated electrode materials (48 citations), relithiation in oxidizing conditions (36 citations, cited twice in the top list), and a lithium-ion battery recycling method (35 citations). A Chinese-language patent on extracting lithium from waste liquor generated during recycling also ranks in the top five by citation count.
The most active co-filing cluster identified in the evidence is within the Brunp group: Guangdong Brunp Recycling Technology co-filed with Hunan Brunp Recycling Technology on 10 families and with Hunan Brunp EV Recycling on 6 families. Cross-organisational collaboration outside this group is not prominent in the current evidence.
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