MOF Carbon Capture Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Filing has already peaked. Annual filings rose to 71 in 2022 and have since declined toward 10 in 2026, a pattern that looks more like claim consolidation than an expanding frontier.
- No single assignee is currently active. Every one of the leading assignees by cumulative filings — including university and oil-major names — shows zero filings in the latest year, meaning the visible ranking is a record of past activity, not present momentum.
- Catalysis claims dominate over separation hardware. 460 of 510 records sit in B01J (chemical/physical processes) versus 347 in B01D (separation processes), showing the crowded ground is sorbent chemistry, not capture equipment.
Filing growth compares 2021 (36 records) with 2024 (67) — 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 510 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This landscape tracks patent families filed between 2017 and mid-2026 that combine metal-organic framework, MOF or porous coordination polymer materials with CO2 capture claims — post-combustion, direct-air, or general CO2 adsorption — under the IPC classes covering gas separation and porous adsorbents. The corpus totals 510 published records, treated here as 510 patent families.
Filing offices skew heavily toward the United States and the PCT route, with China, Europe, Canada and India forming a secondary tier. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the most recent filing years in any trend line understate real activity and should be read as provisional.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 510-family corpus: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how those filings distribute across IPC subclasses.
A rise, a peak, and a pullback
Annual filings climbed from 15 in 2017 to a peak of 71 in 2022, then declined toward 10 in 2026. Because 2022 sits at the corpus midpoint and volume has fallen since, this reads as flat-to-declining momentum rather than sustained growth — consistent with a field where the core sorbent chemistries have already been claimed and filers are now defending or narrowing positions rather than staking new ground.
Chemistry and catalysis outweigh separation hardware
B01J (chemical/physical processes and catalysis) appears in 460 records and B01D (separation processes) in 347, meaning most filings are anchored in sorbent material design rather than the equipment used to run a separation. Organo-metallic chemistry (C07F, 133) and condensation polymer synthesis (C08G, 31) show that framework-building chemistry itself is a significant claim territory, while fuels (C10L, 15) and alkaline-earth compounds (C01F, 12) are thin, secondary branches.
Shares are the percentage of the 510 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Metal-Organic Framework Carbon Capture with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about metal-organic framework carbon capture and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited prior art
MOFs based on UiO-66 for direct air capture of CO2
A metal-organic framework material for selective direct air capture of carbon dioxide includes a UiO-66-X MOF, where X is a covalently bonded aminosilane carrying one or more primary or secondary amine groups. The filing also covers a method of making the UiO-66-X material and a method for capturing carbon dioxide directly from a CO2-containing gas stream.Filed by King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, published 2025-09-11 — a recent illustration of amine-functionalized UiO-66 chemistry aimed specifically at direct air capture rather than post-combustion streams.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20140061540A1 | Metal-organic framework adsorbents for composite gas separation | 72 |
| 2 | WO2013059527A1 | Alkylamine functionalized metal-organic frameworks for composite gas separations | 67 |
| 3 | CN108786755A | 一种有机胺负载的金属有机框架-多孔聚合物复合材料及其制备方法和应用 | 51 |
| 4 | US20130157837A1 | Confinement of nanosized metal organic framework in NANO carbon morphologies | 51 |
| 5 | US20080184883A1 | Mesh-Adjustable Molecular Sieve | 50 |
| 6 | US20170361300A1 | System and process for continuous and controlled production of metal-organic frameworks and metal-organic fra… | 42 |
| 7 | US10364718B2 | On-board CO<sub>2 </sub>capture and storage with metal organic framework | 40 |
| 8 | CN104307482A | 功能化ZIF类型金属有机骨架多孔材料、其制备方法与应用 | 40 |
| 9 | WO2018065555A1 | Metal-organic frameworks, methods for their manufacture and uses thereof | 38 |
| 10 | CN109647343A | 多活性吸附位点金属-有机骨架复合材料及其制备和应用 | 33 |
Citation counts favour older filings simply because they have had more time to accumulate citations inside this searched corpus; treat them as a measure of influence on subsequent filers, not as a signal of current relevance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three read-throughs from the filing trend, the IPC composition and the citation table, translated into what they mean for someone deciding where to file or license.
The growth phase is behind this field
Volume peaked in 2022 and has fallen in every subsequent year toward 10 in 2026. Combined with the ~18-month publication lag, the true 2025–2026 numbers will be somewhat higher than shown, but the direction is unambiguous: this is a maturing, consolidating filing pattern rather than an emerging one.
Sorbent chemistry is the dense ground
Nearly every record in the corpus touches catalysis and physical-process claims (B01J), and two-thirds touch separation-process claims (B01D). A new filing that only varies framework metal or ligand chemistry is filing into the most heavily worked part of the map.
US and PCT routes dominate filing strategy
The United States receives more than a third of filings outright, with the PCT route a distant second ahead of China, Europe, Canada and India. A freedom-to-operate check anchored only on one jurisdiction will miss meaningful coverage elsewhere.
Filing is mostly solo, with a few dense alliances
Only ten co-assignee pairs appear across the corpus, but the strongest — a university and an oil major — share 20 families together, and academic-national lab pairings recur elsewhere. These look like long-running joint research programs rather than one-off collaborations.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to metal-organic framework carbon capture, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the ground, and where it's open
The assignee ranking here reflects cumulative filings through 2026, not present-day activity — every leading name shows zero filings in the latest year, so the map below is a record of who built the position, not who is currently expanding it.
University research feeding an oil major's pipeline
The densest collaboration in the corpus pairs a university with an energy-technology engineering firm, suggesting a long-running sponsored research arrangement rather than incidental co-filing.
A national university and a national oil company
A Middle Eastern university and its national oil company co-assignee form the second-densest pairing, consistent with sovereign investment in direct-air-capture chemistry aimed at point-source and DAC applications alike.
A national university paired with a public research agency
A Singaporean university and its national science agency form the third pairing, reflecting a state-funded research-to-patent pipeline rather than corporate R&D.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| The Regents of the University of California | 0 | — |
| ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company | 0 | — |
| King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) | 0 | — |
| National University of Singapore | 0 | — |
| Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) | 0 | — |
| Northwestern University | 0 | — |
| French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) | 0 | — |
| Immaterial Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this analysis
The landscape points to specific next questions depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, licensing, or identifying a filing gap.
Check freedom-to-operate against the most-cited records
The highest-cited patents in this corpus, several from the early-2010s, still anchor claim scope in composite gas-separation and functionalized-MOF chemistry — worth clearing before filing new sorbent composition claims.
Explore the citation networkMap the under-claimed branches against your own chemistry
Direct-air-capture-specific amine functionalization and MOF-derived membrane composites show thinner filing density than core sorbent claims — a plausible first-claim opening for a differentiated filing.
Run a white space searchTrack whether dormant leaders resume filing
Every currently-leading assignee shows zero filings in the latest year; a resumption from any of them would signal renewed commercial interest worth monitoring.
Set up assignee monitoringCommon questions about this landscape
This landscape identifies 510 published patent families filed between 2017 and mid-2026 that combine MOF, metal-organic framework or porous coordination polymer materials with CO2 capture claims. The count is based on a search across the relevant IPC classes for gas separation and porous adsorbents, so it excludes MOF patents unrelated to gas capture. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures will rise somewhat as more filings publish.
No — filings rose from 15 in 2017 to a peak of 71 in 2022 and have declined every year since, reaching around 10 in 2026. That pattern, combined with the fact that every currently-leading assignee shows no filings in the latest year, points to a field that is consolidating existing claims rather than expanding into new ground. The publication lag means the very latest years are undercounted, but the multi-year downward trend from 2022 is unlikely to be a lag artifact alone.
The ranking is led by a mix of universities, national research institutions and energy companies, several of which co-file together — a university and an energy-technology engineering firm share the strongest co-assignee pairing in the corpus, followed by a Middle Eastern university paired with its national oil company. Importantly, none of these leading assignees have filed in the most recent year, so the ranking reflects historical filing volume rather than current activity. Anyone assessing licensing or competitive risk should check whether a given assignee has resumed filing recently rather than relying on cumulative rank alone.
Sorbent and framework chemistry is the densest ground: 460 of 510 records touch IPC class B01J, covering chemical and physical processes and catalysis, and 347 touch B01D, covering separation processes. Organo-metallic compound chemistry (C07F) and condensation-polymer synthesis (C08G) are also meaningfully represented, since building the MOF itself is patentable territory alongside its use in capture. Filing a new claim purely on framework metal or ligand variation is entering the most heavily worked part of the landscape.
The thinner IPC branches — alkaline-earth and rare-earth compound chemistry (C01F, 12 records) and fuels/firelighter applications (C10L, 15 records) — suggest under-claimed adjacent areas, such as MOF-derived composite materials for downstream fuel conversion or hybrid sorbents incorporating alkaline-earth chemistry. Direct-air-capture-specific amine functionalization of established frameworks like UiO-66, illustrated by a recent 2025 filing, is also a narrower and more recently opened claim area compared to general post-combustion sorbent chemistry. A useful approach is to cross-reference these thin IPC branches against your own material system before assuming freedom to file.
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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.