Metal-Organic Framework Separation Process Patent Landscape 2026
- Filing has flattened, not accelerated: 927 families climbed from 49 in 2017 to a peak of 105 in 2024, then eased back — the growth phase already happened.
- The claim space is split down the middle: B01D separation processes (691 records) and B01J catalysis/adsorption processes (643) each cover roughly three-quarters of the corpus, so most filings straddle both.
- Leading assignees have gone quiet this year: the top-ranked universities and energy majors, including the strongest co-filing pair, show zero filings in the latest year.
Filing growth compares 2021 (62 records) with 2024 (105) — 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 927 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This landscape covers patent families claiming metal-organic frameworks (including porous coordination polymers) applied to gas separation, CO2 capture, adsorptive separation and MOF membrane separation, filtered to the core separation and adsorption IPC classes. The corpus spans 927 patent families published between 2015 and the 2026 data cut-off, covering both the base framework chemistry and the processes built on top of it.
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent one to two years in any trend line will always look thinner than they eventually turn out to be — a real consideration when reading the apparent slowdown after 2024 in this dataset.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Filing volume across 927 families tracks a build-up through the late 2010s, a peak in 2024, and an apparent pullback in the two most recent years — though the newest filings are still working through the roughly 18-month publication lag, so 2025 and 2026 will fill in as more applications publish.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
From 49 records in 2017, filings climbed to a peak of 105 in 2024 before easing to 15 in the partial 2026 year; the 2022 midpoint of 79 confirms this is a flattening curve rather than a still-accelerating one.
IPC subclass distribution
B01D (separation processes) and B01J (catalysis and physical processes) dominate at 691 and 643 records respectively, confirming this is process- and adsorbent-centred art; C07F organometallic chemistry at 205 and C08G condensation polymers at 75 mark the material-design and membrane-fabrication side, while C02F water treatment and C10L fuels remain thinly filed.
Shares are the percentage of the 927 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 Separation Process with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about metal-organic framework separation process and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited prior art
Method for the adsorptive separation of ethylene and ethane using ultramicroporous metal-organic framework
Provides a method for separating C2H4/C2H6 mixtures using an ultramicroporous MOF of formula [M3L3A]∞, where the metal cation M is selected from a defined set including Cu2+. The mixture is contacted with the framework material and C2H4 is preferentially adsorbed, achieving the separation.Filed by Zhejiang University, published 2024-10-01 — illustrates the shift toward named-separation-pair process claims layered on top of established open-metal-site chemistry.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20130313193A1 | Metal-organic framework supported on porous polymer | 159 |
| 2 | US20060252641A1 | High gas adsorption in a microporous metal-organic framework with open-metal sites | 142 |
| 3 | US7662746B2 | High gas adsorption metal-organic framework | 105 |
| 4 | US20200197901A1 | Metal organic framework (MOF) composite materials, methods, and uses thereof | 88 |
| 5 | US20150367294A1 | Process for the preparation of mofs-porous polymeric membrane composites | 77 |
| 6 | US20140061540A1 | Metal-organic framework adsorbents for composite gas separation | 72 |
| 7 | US20120297982A1 | Methods for Electrochemically Induced Cathodic Deposition of Crystalline Metal-Organic Frameworks | 72 |
| 8 | CN102652035A | 金属有机骨架聚合物混合基体膜 | 70 |
| 9 | WO2019175717A1 | Method for in-SITU synthesis of metal organic frameworks (MOFS), covalent organic frameworks (COFS) and zeoli… | 68 |
| 10 | JP2016052620A | Composite of metal-organic framework and cellulose nanofiber | 64 |
Citation counts are drawn from the searched corpus only and favour older filings; read them as markers of foundational influence, not current commercial weight.
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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Browse MCP servers →What the filing pattern signals
Three cross-cuts of the same 927-family dataset — technology mix, citation weight and receiving-office spread — point to a field where the foundational chemistry is well staked out and the open questions have moved to process and application claims.
Separation and adsorption claims dominate
Nearly three-quarters of records sit in B01D (separation processes) or B01J (catalysis and physical processes), with organometallic chemistry (C07F, 205) and condensation-polymer membrane work (C08G, 75) trailing well behind. That gap shows most invention is happening at the process and application layer, not in new framework chemistry.
Influence is concentrated in early open-metal-site art
The most-cited record in the corpus predates the recent filing peak by several years, and the next three most-cited records follow the same open-metal-site framework theme. Citation weight inside a search corpus favours older filings by construction, so treat this as a map of foundational chemistry, not of what is currently competitive.
Filing is split between the US and China, with PCT as the bridge
United States (300) and China (206) lead receiving-office counts, with WIPO PCT filings (142) and EPO filings (118) indicating a meaningful share of applicants are seeking multi-jurisdiction protection rather than filing domestically only.
Joint filing is rare and concentrated
Only 10 co-assignee pairs exist across 927 families, and the strongest of them — a national university paired with a national oil company — accounts for 18 shared filings. Most assignees in this field file alone, which lowers the bar for a new entrant to find genuinely uncontested claim space.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to metal-organic framework separation process, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) | Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) | 18 |
| The Regents of the University of California | ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company | 17 |
| National University of Singapore | Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) | 10 |
| ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company | Georgia Tech Research Corporation | 8 |
| King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) | Aramco Services Company | 4 |
| King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) | EDDAOUDI MOHAMED | 4 |
| Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) | Aramco Services Company | 4 |
| The Regents of the University of California | Chevron U.S.A. Inc. | 2 |
The top three pairs span academic-industrial (university plus national oil company) and cross-border academic-institutional (national university plus national research agency) models, suggesting collaboration here tracks access to pilot-scale testing rather than shared IP strategy alone.
Who holds the claim space
Ranking by family count shows a small set of universities, national research organisations and energy majors holding the largest positions, with a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants behind them. Recent-year momentum for the leaders is flat, which is worth weighing against their historical share.
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology + Saudi Aramco
The single strongest co-filing relationship in the dataset pairs a research university with a national oil company, consistent with framework chemistry developed academically and tested against real hydrocarbon streams industrially.
University of California + ExxonMobil
A comparable academic-industrial pairing with a US energy major, reinforcing the pattern that the largest joint portfolios in this field bridge university framework design with industrial-scale separation testing.
National University of Singapore + Agency for Science, Technology and Research
A national university and its affiliated national research agency form the third-strongest pair, an academic-institutional model distinct from the industry-linked partnerships above.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) | 0 | — |
| The Regents of the University of California | 0 | — |
| ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company | 0 | — |
| Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) | 0 | — |
| National University of Singapore | 0 | — |
| Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) | 0 | — |
| BASF SE | 0 | — |
| Immaterial Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this analysis
The trends and rankings above answer what has already been filed. Deciding what to file next, or where a competitor's claim actually stops, requires reading the underlying claim language directly.
Check freedom-to-operate against the top-cited records
The most-cited records in this corpus define the densest prior art for any new adsorptive-separation claim; a targeted FTO read against them is a faster filter than a full landscape re-run.
Run a claim comparison in EurekaScreen the under-claimed sub-areas before drafting
Water treatment, fuel desulfurization and cyclic-stability claims all show thin filing density relative to the core separation classes — worth a quick prior-art pull before committing drafting time.
Screen white space in EurekaTrack leading-assignee momentum, not just historical rank
Several top-ranked assignees show no filings in the latest year; pairing rank with recent momentum gives a truer read of who is actively expanding versus holding a legacy position.
Monitor assignee activity in EurekaCommon questions about MOF separation patents
Filing volume peaked at 105 families in 2024 after climbing steadily from 49 in 2017, and the two most recent years show fewer published records. That drop should be read cautiously: publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so 2025 and 2026 figures are undercounted rather than proof of a real slowdown. The honest read is that growth has flattened from its earlier trajectory, not that the technology has stopped attracting filings.
The open-metal-site framework claims behind the two most-cited records in this dataset (159 and 142 citations) are the densest prior art to clear, because later filings across the corpus have had to distinguish their material or process from this base chemistry. New filings tend to succeed by claiming a specific separation pair, a defined metal-cation set, or a process step sequence rather than a broad composition claim. Checking a draft claim against these two records first is a reasonable filter before deeper freedom-to-operate work.
Water and wastewater treatment (IPC C02F, 25 records) and fuel processing (C10L, 32 records) carry a fraction of the filing volume seen in the core B01D and B01J separation classes, despite the same framework chemistry being technically transferable. With only 10 co-assignee pairs across 927 families, most organisations are also filing solo, so a specific composition-plus-application claim in one of these adjacent branches faces comparatively little direct overlap.
The ranking is concentrated at the top rather than evenly spread, with a small number of universities, national research bodies and energy majors holding the most families and the strongest co-filing relationships. Recent-year momentum data shows several of these leading assignees recording no new filings in the latest year, which is more consistent with settled portfolios than with active expansion. That combination — high historical share, low current-year activity — is typical of a field where the foundational claims were staked out early.
US12102956B2, assigned to Zhejiang University and published in October 2024, claims a two-step process — contacting a C2H4/C2H6 mixture with an ultramicroporous metal-organic framework of formula [M3L3A]∞ and preferentially adsorbing ethylene — using a defined set of metal cations including Cu2+. It blocks that specific process-and-material combination but not ethane-selective adsorption or frameworks with a different stoichiometry or metal set. Anyone building an olefin-paraffin separation process should check this claim alongside the older, more heavily cited open-metal-site records it depends on.
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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.