Liquefaction Process Cycles Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
Liquefaction Process Cycles: Patents Behind Mixed Refrigerant and Precooled Cycle Design
Concentrated leadership. the top 5 assignees hold 66.2% of all 133 records in scope, and the top 10 hold 88.7% — this field is not a long tail of small filers. Filings rose from 5 in 2017 to a peak of 25 in 2022, then fell sharply — 21 filings in 2021 dropped to 0 by 2024, a -100% move over that complete three-year span. Treat 2025 and 2026 as still filling in rather than as evidence of a continued decline.
- 1PRAXAIR TECH INC34
- 2SHELL INTERNATIONALE RESEARCH MAATSCHAPPIJ BV15
- 3CHART ENERGY & CHEMICALS INC13
- 4EXXONMOBIL UPSTREAM RESEARCH COMPANY(US)13
- 5AIR PROD & CHEM INC13
See the full liquefaction process cycles 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 about liquefaction process cycle patents
Who are the leading patent holders in mixed refrigerant and precooled cycle liquefaction?
The ranked list covers 22 companies, with the leading assignee holding 34 of the 133 records in scope — well ahead of the fifth-place company’s 13. The top 5 assignees combined hold 66.2% of all records, and the top 10 hold 88.7%, so filing activity is heavily concentrated rather than spread across many small players. Anyone assessing freedom to operate in this space should expect to run claim checks against a short list of established filers rather than a fragmented field.
Is patent filing activity for LNG liquefaction cycles growing or slowing?
Filings peaked at 25 in 2022 after rising from 5 in 2017, then fell to 0 by 2024 — a confirmed -100% move from the 21 filings recorded in 2021. That 2021-2024 window is the most reliable trend because publication typically lags filing by about 18 months, so 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete and should not be read as continued decline. The honest read is a post-peak lull with the most recent data still filling in.
What technology areas dominate liquefaction process cycle patents?
F25J, the IPC subclass covering gas liquefaction and separation, appears in 97.0% of the 133 records in this dataset, making it the clear anchor classification. Supporting classes — pump mechanisms (F04B, F04C, F04D) and control systems (G05B) — each appear in about 6.0% of records, while marine-specific and pressure-vessel classes sit even lower. This tells you the bulk of claimed invention sits directly on cycle thermodynamics and refrigerant handling, not on peripheral hardware.
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 Liquefaction Process Cycles 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.