Membrane Biogas Upgrading Patents: Leaders & White Space 2026
- Filing peaked in 2023 at 48 records and has since declined toward 6 in the most recent (partial) year — a field that expanded fast then cooled, not one still accelerating.
- The top 10 assignees hold 47.6% of all 330 records while a single leader sits well ahead of the field at 36 filings, meaning most other entrants hold only a handful each.
- B01D separation claims cover 68.5% of records but bioreactor apparatus (C12M) and fermentation synthesis (C12P) each sit under 15%, pointing to thinner claim coverage downstream of the membrane itself.
Filing growth compares 2021 (26 records) with 2024 (36) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 330 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this dataset covers
This landscape draws on 330 published patent records filed between 2015 and mid-2026 that combine membrane-based biogas upgrading with claims touching methane recovery, purity tradeoffs, multi-stage configuration, membrane plasticization, compressor energy or off-gas methane handling. The scope spans core separation membranes as well as the surrounding process equipment — bioreactors, fermentation stages and downstream fuel conditioning — that a commercial biomethane plant has to integrate around the membrane skid.
Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the last one to two years in any trend understate real activity; treat the most recent year as a floor, not a ceiling.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 330 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
A field that rose, peaked, and is now retreating
Annual filings climbed from 11 in 2017 to a peak of 48 in 2023, roughly doubling the 2022 count of 19. Since then the count has fallen back toward 6 in the latest (partial) year — consistent with an early wave of filing settling rather than a technology still in its growth phase.
Separation claims dominate; process integration is thinner
B01D (separation processes) appears in 68.5% of the 330 records, confirming that the membrane and adsorption unit itself is the most heavily claimed component. C10L (fuels) follows at 35.5% and C02F (water/wastewater treatment) at 19.7%, while C12M (bioreactor apparatus, 13.3%) and C12P (fermentation, 7.3%) trail well behind — each record can carry multiple IPC classes, so these figures overlap rather than sum to 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 330 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Membrane Biogas Upgrading to Biomethane with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about membrane biogas upgrading to biomethane and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records and a representative recent filing
US20250128201A1 — Method and system for upgrading biogas using PSA
Filed by Iogen Corporation and published 24 April 2025, this application covers a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) route for upgrading biogas containing methane and nitrogen, operating a pressurized vessel at 65 atm or higher through a feed phase, depressurization phase and a methane recovery phase engineered to raise recovery of pipeline-quality, pipeline-pressure methane.Numbers and dates are drawn directly from the filing; abstract text is condensed for length.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20110185896A1 | Gas purification processes | 86 |
| 2 | US20110308790A1 | In SITU methanogenesis modeling and risk analysis | 82 |
| 3 | US7972082B2 | Collection of landfill gas at variable rates to match temporal needs for energy generation | 80 |
| 4 | US20040191755A1 | Reclaimable hybrid bioreactor | 74 |
| 5 | US20090136298A1 | Collection of landfill gas at variable rates to match temporal needs for energy generation | 64 |
| 6 | US7448828B2 | Landfill design and method for improved landfill gas capture | 62 |
| 7 | US20180112142A1 | Method and system for providing upgraded biogas | 58 |
| 8 | US20060034664A1 | Landfill design and method for improved landfill gas capture | 58 |
| 9 | US7198433B2 | Landfill design and method for improved landfill gas capture | 56 |
| 10 | US20190224617A1 | Production of biomethane using a high recovery module | 52 |
Citation counts favour older records simply because they have had more time to accumulate citations within the searched corpus — read them as a signal of influence, not of current technical relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the data implies for strategy
Three read-outs from the concentration, technology and filing-trend figures above.
A concentrated core, then a long tail
The leader alone accounts for 36 records and the top 5 combined hold 30.9% of all 330 records in scope. Below the top 10, filing activity thins quickly into single- and double-digit counts, suggesting most entrants are testing narrow process variants rather than building broad portfolios.
The filing wave has crested
Filings rose steadily through the late 2010s, doubled from 19 in 2022 to 48 in 2023, then fell sharply. Recent-year momentum by assignee shows several previously active filers, including some in the top 10, recording zero filings in the latest year — consistent with a first wave of core claims settling rather than a still-expanding field.
Separation hardware is the crowded layer
Membrane and adsorption separation (B01D) is claimed far more densely than the bioreactor and fermentation stages that feed it — C12M at 13.3% and C12P at 7.3% of the same 330 records. That gap marks where the upstream biological process and downstream integration remain comparatively open.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to membrane biogas upgrading to biomethane, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
The ranked leaders span industrial gas suppliers, waste-management groups and water-treatment specialists, but co-filing activity and recent momentum both point to a field that has not consolidated around one dominant architecture.
A single filer well ahead of the field
The top-ranked assignee holds 36 records, meaningfully more than fifth place at 13 and tenth place at 10 — a gap that widens quickly rather than tapering gently.
University-industry pairs stand out
The strongest co-assignee links pair a water and wastewater treatment specialist with university research groups, at 6 shared records — a pattern suggesting applied research partnerships rather than pure in-house R&D for at least part of the field.
Several filers have gone quiet
More than one assignee that filed in prior years recorded zero filings in the latest year, including entities that had been active adjacent to the top 10 — a sign that first-generation IP positions are largely staked out for those players.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. | 3 | -40% |
| WM INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY HOLDINGS LLC | 0 | -100% |
| UNCONVENTIONAL GAS SOLUTIONS LLC | 0 | -100% |
| Xebec Adsorption Inc. | 0 | — |
| Energy Technology Innovations LLC | 0 | — |
| Carollo Engineers Inc. | 0 | — |
| FCC AQUALIA | 0 | — |
| L'Air Liquide (Advanced Technologies US LLC) | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The figures above describe the shape of the field; the next steps depend on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, portfolio strategy or scouting.
Check freedom-to-operate against the dense B01D core
With 68.5% of the 330 records carrying separation-process claims, any new membrane or hybrid PSA-membrane design should be checked against this cluster specifically, not the dataset as a whole.
Run a claim-level search in Eureka →Track the assignees that went quiet
Several previously active filers show zero filings in the latest year. Confirming whether that reflects a completed filing cycle, a shift to trade secret, or reduced R&D spend changes how much weight to give their existing patents.
Monitor assignee activity in Eureka →Scope the under-claimed process-integration layer
C12M and C12P coverage trail far behind B01D, which may mean genuine open space in bioreactor-to-membrane integration and off-gas handling rather than a saturated adjacent field.
Explore white space with Eureka →Common questions about this landscape
One assignee leads the ranked field with 36 records, well ahead of fifth place at 13 and tenth place at 10. The top 5 assignees combined account for 30.9% of all 330 records in scope, and the top 10 combined reach 47.6%. Below that group, filing activity spreads thinly across a long tail of entrants with only a few records each, so no single company controls a majority of the field.
No, filing activity peaked in 2023 at 48 records after climbing steadily from 11 in 2017, and has declined since, down to 6 in the most recent partial year. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the last one to two years understate true activity, but the downward trend from the 2023 peak is clear even accounting for that lag. Several previously active assignees also show zero filings in the latest year tracked.
Separation processes under IPC class B01D appear in 68.5% of the 330 records, making membrane and adsorption hardware the most densely claimed layer. Fuels-related claims (C10L) follow at 35.5% and water/wastewater treatment (C02F) at 19.7%. Bioreactor apparatus (C12M, 13.3%) and fermentation synthesis (C12P, 7.3%) are claimed far less often, which suggests the upstream biological process and downstream integration carry comparatively lighter patent coverage.
The clearest gaps sit below the dense B01D separation core, in areas like membrane plasticization mitigation, multi-stage configuration control logic, compressor energy recovery integration, and coupling between the bioreactor stage and the membrane unit. These branches show up in the search scope but are covered by a smaller share of the 330 records than core separation claims, meaning there is more room to stake out a defensible position without confronting the densest prior art.
US20250128201A1, filed by Iogen Corporation and published in April 2025, claims a specific pressure swing adsorption approach operating at 65 atm or higher with a defined feed, depressurization and methane recovery phase sequence. It constrains that particular high-pressure PSA configuration but does not cover membrane-only upgrading routes or lower-pressure hybrid designs, so alternative process architectures outside its specific pressure and phase parameters remain open to design around.
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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.