Black Mass Processing Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
Lithium Battery Black Mass Processing Patents
56.4% of all 204 records sit with just five assignees, and 81.4% with ten — this field is concentrated at the top with a long tail below rank ten. Filings rose from a standing start in 2017 to a peak of 57 in 2023, with the 2021-to-2024 span alone showing +35% growth (17 to 23 records). Treat 2025 and 2026 figures as provisional given the roughly 18-month publication lag.
- 11001297676 ONTARIO INC30
- 2LI CYCLE CORP30
- 3KOREA ZINC CO LTD20
- 4KEMCO20
- 5POSCO HLDG INC15
See the full lithium battery black mass processing 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 black mass processing patents
What is black mass in lithium battery recycling patents?
Black mass is the mixed powder of cathode and anode materials — lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese and graphite compounds — left after shredding and thermal or mechanical pretreatment of spent lithium-ion batteries. Patents in this space claim the downstream steps that separate and purify that mixture, including graphite separation, impurity control and lithium recovery. This dataset of 204 records covers exactly that processing layer, sitting between battery shredding and finished cathode-precursor output.
Who are the leading patent filers in battery black mass processing?
Filing is concentrated: five assignees account for 56.4% of the 204 records in scope, and ten account for 81.4%, out of 61 ranked companies overall. The top-ranked assignee alone holds 30 records, roughly double the fifth-place company’s 15. Several of the most active filers are integrated metals and recycling groups with corporate-group co-filing patterns, rather than single independent inventors.
Is patent filing in this area still growing?
Yes, based on complete years: filings rose from 17 in 2021 to 23 in 2024, a 35% increase, with a peak of 57 records in 2023. Figures for 2025 and 2026 appear lower in the raw data, but that reflects the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication rather than a real slowdown. Growth claims should be anchored to 2024 as the last complete year rather than to the partial later years.
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 Lithium Battery Black Mass Processing 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.