MBR Membrane Filtration Patent Landscape 2026
The MBR membrane filtration patent space is a moderately concentrated, maturing field where a small cohort of established water-technology firms holds the leading positions, with BL Technology Inc commanding the top rank. Filing volumes peaked in 2017 and have eased since, signaling that foundational process IP is largely staked while adjacent biological and catalytic branches remain comparatively sparse.
BL Technology Inc leads a field where the top five account for one-fifth of the hundred largest filers’ combined output
BL Technology Inc holds the top position with 41 patent families, followed closely by Jiangxi JDL Environmental Protection Co Ltd (32), Fibracast Ltd (30), Evoqua Water Technologies LLC (27), and Nalco Co (25). The top five filers together represent 21% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total, indicating moderate rather than extreme concentration.
A clear first tier of four to five players is distinguishable, but the gap between the leader and the fifth-ranked applicant is only 16 patent families, suggesting no single firm has achieved decisive lock-in. The field below the top five is populated by numerous mid-tier and niche filers, including Chinese environmental-technology specialists and academic institutions.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BL Technology Inc | 41 | |
| 2 | Jiangxi JDL Environmental Protection Co Ltd | 32 | |
| 3 | Fibracast Ltd | 30 | |
| 4 | Evoqua Water Technologies LLC | 27 | |
| 5 | Nalco Co | 25 | |
| 6 | Siemens Industry Inc | 18 | |
| 7 | General Electric Co | 18 | |
| 8 | DOOSAN HEAVY IND & CONSTR CO LTD | 18 | |
| 9 | Zenon Environmental Inc | 17 | |
| 10 | Suntar Membrane Technology (Xiamen) Co Ltd | 14 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation | 14 | |
| 12 | Tongji University | 13 | |
| 13 | Beijing Origin Water Film Tech | 12 | |
| 14 | Siemens Water Technologies Corp | 12 | |
| 15 | Blue Array LLC | 10 | |
| 16 | Zenon Tech Partnership | 10 | |
| 17 | SUZHOU SUKE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION SCI & TECH CO… | 10 | |
| 18 | Tianjin Bishuiyuan Membrane Material Co Ltd | 10 | |
| 19 | Suzhou Sujing New Materials in Environmental Protection Co Ltd | 10 | |
| 20 | Degremont SA | 9 |
The leaders’ positions imply broad portfolio coverage across both wastewater-treatment chemistry (C02F) and membrane-separation hardware (B01D), making freedom-to-operate on foundational MBR process configurations genuinely challenging for new entrants without differentiated technical approaches.
Filing counts for 2024–2026 are subject to publication lag and likely understate actual recent activity; the apparent drop in those years should not be read as a structural collapse in R&D interest. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Annual volume eased from a 2017 peak; wastewater treatment and membrane separation dominate the technology mix
The filing trend and technology-composition charts together reveal a field past its growth inflection, concentrated heavily in two IPC branches, with a long tail of adjacent classes representing underexplored territory.
Annual filing trend
Annual filings peaked at 134 patent families in 2017 and have trended downward since, with 2022 (85) and 2024 (81) marking the lowest recent readings. Years 2024–2026 are affected by publication lag and almost certainly undercount actual filings; the apparent sharp drop to 36 in 2025 and 5 in 2026 should be treated as an artifact of lag, not a real-world collapse.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
C02F (Water and wastewater treatment) and B01D (Separation processes including filtration) together account for the overwhelming majority of records, confirming that core MBR process and membrane-module IP drives the field. Biological apparatus (C12M), catalytic processes (B01J), mixing (B01F), and microbiology (C12N) each register very low counts, marking them as adjacent but currently underserved branches.
↗ 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.
Membrane module and membrane bioreactor, water tre…
A hollow fiber membrane module includes a hollow fiber membrane bundle consisted of a plurality of hollow fiber membrane filaments, end part(s) at one end or both ends of the hollow fiber membrane bundle, an air inlet pipe and a produced water pipe. An air distributing device having air distributing holes is disposed at an end surface of at least one of the… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Modular shipboard membrane bioreactor system for c… | 165 |
| 2 | Apparatus for mass transfer involving biological/p… | 158 |
| 3 | Filtration apparatus comprising a membrane bioreac… | 155 |
| 4 | Submerged membrane bioreactor for treatment of nit… | 142 |
| 5 | Organic slurry treatment process | 138 |
| 6 | Organic slurry treatment process | 134 |
| 7 | Membrane bioreactor, process and aerator | 102 |
| 8 | Membrane bioreactor, process and aerator | 98 |
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 MBR R&D strategy
Four structural dimensions — maturity, concentration, ecosystem collaboration, and geography — shape where new investment is likely to gain traction and where it faces the steepest prior-art headwinds.
Declining phase: foundational IP is staked, incremental innovation dominates
The lifecycle evidence places MBR membrane filtration in Decline, with annual filings easing back from the 2017 peak of 134 patent families. Core process configurations and membrane-module architectures are broadly covered; new entrants are more likely to find value in system integration, process control, or application-specific adaptations than in re-staking process fundamentals.
Past-peak fieldModerate concentration with no single dominant lock-in
The top five filers account for 21% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total, and the spread between first (41 patent families) and fifth (25 patent families) is narrow enough that no single firm enjoys structural dominance. A challenger with focused, technically differentiated IP in membrane materials or biological process optimization could realistically close the gap with sustained filing.
Contested leadershipZenon Environmental Inc is the most active co-filer; GE and BL Technology also collaborated
The most active co-filing pair by joint patent count is Zenon Environmental Inc with OTV Omnium de Traitements et de Valorisation SA (4 joint patents), followed by General Electric Co with BL Technology Inc (2), Zenon Environmental Inc with OTV SA (2), Jiangxi JDL Environmental Protection with Shenzhen Jindalai Investment Management (2), and Evoqua Water Technologies with Siemens Industry Inc (2). Collaboration activity is modest overall, suggesting that most IP is generated within individual organizations rather than through broad consortium arrangements.
Limited ecosystemChina dominates filings; the US and EPO are the key secondary markets
China is the leading filing jurisdiction by a wide margin, followed by the United States and the European Patent Office. South Korea, Australia, Canada, and India represent meaningful secondary markets. The disparity between the Chinese filing volume and all other jurisdictions suggests that much Chinese-origin IP has not been extended internationally — a potential freedom-to-operate advantage for non-Chinese markets if validated by a freedom-to-operate search.
China-heavy geographyGo 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Zenon Environmental Inc | OTV OMNIUM DE TRAITEMENTS & DE VALORISATION SA | 4 |
| General Electric Co | BL Technology Inc | 2 |
| Zenon Environmental Inc | OTV SA | 2 |
| Jiangxi JDL Environmental Protection Co Ltd | Shenzhen Jindalai Investment Management Co Ltd | 2 |
| Evoqua Water Technologies LLC | Siemens Industry Inc | 2 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
BL Technology Inc leads on volume; Fibracast Ltd differentiates through membrane-module hardware
The top two players illustrate divergent strategies: BL Technology Inc spans the full process chain from biological treatment to filtration, while Fibracast Ltd concentrates heavily on membrane-module and membrane-maintenance engineering.
BL Technology Inc
BL Technology Inc holds the top rank with 41 patent families, with its technology emphasis concentrated in biological wastewater treatment (C02F3), filtration separation (B01D61), and water treatment chemistry (C02F1). Momentum data indicate recent filing activity is very low, with a ‘new entrant’ trend signal likely reflecting a base transition after a period of high output — suggesting the core portfolio may be mature.
Families: 41Fibracast Ltd
Fibracast Ltd ranks third with 30 patent families and shows a sharply differentiated focus on membrane-module geometry (B01D63) and membrane maintenance and fouling control (B01D65), alongside water treatment chemistry (C02F1). Recent momentum has declined sharply (down 80% versus its prior three-year period), indicating that its foundational membrane-fabrication portfolio has been largely established and new filing activity has slowed.
Families: 30| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Fibracast Ltd | 5 | ▼ -80% |
| BL Technology Inc | 1 | ▲ new entrant |
| Beijing Origin Water Film Tech | 1 | ▲ new entrant |
Under-served adjacent branches in biological apparatus and catalytic process integration
Against the backdrop of saturated core C02F and B01D coverage, several IPC classes show very low record counts — making them observable as sparsely covered adjacent areas with plausible technical relevance to next-generation MBR systems.
C12M · Bioreactors and enzyme apparatus
With only 50 records against the dominant C02F and B01D volumes, bioreactor apparatus engineering is sparsely covered in the MBR context. As MBR systems increasingly incorporate advanced biological processes — including enzymatic degradation of micropollutants and sidestream anaerobic stages — purpose-built bioreactor apparatus IP could offer a differentiated entry point. Organizations with fermentation or bioprocess engineering backgrounds could translate existing C12M competence into MBR-specific claims.
Search this in Eureka →B01J · Chemical and physical processes including catalysis
B01J covers catalytic and adsorptive process steps that could be integrated into MBR trains for micropollutant removal or advanced oxidation. With only 19 records in this corpus, the combination of catalytic chemistry with membrane bioreactor operation is an observed gap. Entry requires both MBR process knowledge and heterogeneous catalysis or adsorption expertise, but the sparse prior art may make claim differentiation more achievable than in the saturated core classes.
Search this in Eureka →How leaders differ by technology route across biological treatment and membrane-separation branches
Route coverage across the main technology branches in the current evidence set.
| Player | C02F 3 · Water & wastewater treatment | B01D 65 · Separation processes (filtration etc.) | C02F 1 · Water & wastewater treatment | B01D 63 · Separation processes (filtration etc.) | B01D 61 · Separation processes (filtration etc.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co Ltd | Strong · 21 | Strong · 22 | Strong · 14 | Strong · 25 | Moderate · 7 |
| Fibracast Ltd | Strong · 17 | Strong · 21 | Strong · 21 | Strong · 26 | Absent |
| Nalco Co | Strong · 27 | Absent | Strong · 26 | Absent | Strong · 25 |
| Siemens Water Technologies Corp | Strong · 14 | Strong · 14 | Moderate · 9 | Strong · 21 | Strong · 12 |
| General Electric Co | Strong · 36 | Absent | Strong · 19 | Absent | Moderate · 13 |
| Zenon Environmental Inc | Strong · 26 | Absent | Strong · 22 | Absent | Moderate · 7 |
| BL Technology Inc | Strong · 23 | Absent | Strong · 15 | Absent | Strong · 15 |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus covers 912 patent families in scope across the global MBR membrane filtration space.
BL Technology Inc leads with 41 patent families, followed by Jiangxi JDL Environmental Protection Co Ltd (32) and Fibracast Ltd (30).
Annual filings peaked in 2017 at 134 patent families. Activity has eased since then, and the field is classified in a Decline stage based on that trend. Note that 2024–2026 figures are subject to publication lag and understate recent true filing levels.
China is the leading filing jurisdiction, followed by the United States and the European Patent Office. South Korea, Australia, Canada, and India are notable secondary markets. Much Chinese-origin IP has not been extended internationally, which may have freedom-to-operate implications in non-Chinese markets.
C02F (Water and wastewater treatment) and B01D (Separation processes including filtration) account for the large majority of records. Adjacent classes such as C12M (Bioreactors and enzyme apparatus), B01J (Chemical/physical processes and catalysis), and B01F (Mixing and stirring) each have fewer than 50 records, indicating sparse coverage.
Based on applicant momentum data, Beijing Origin Water Film Tech and BL Technology Inc each show a ‘new entrant’ trend in the most recent period, indicating recent filing activity from a low base. Fibracast Ltd, by contrast, shows a sharp decline of approximately 80% versus its prior three-year period, suggesting its foundational portfolio is largely established.
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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.