Mixing & Particle Processing Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
- Filing peaked in 2021 at 138 records, then fell 62% to 52 by 2024 — the last year the trend can be read as complete.
- The leader holds 90 records, but the top 5 assignees combined account for just 13.6% of all 1,769 records in scope — concentration is shallow.
- Medicinal preparations (A61K) touch 24.9% of records, while crushing and grinding (B02C) sits at just 5.3%, a much thinner claim layer on the mechanical side.
Filing growth compares 2021 (138 records) with 2024 (52) — 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 1,769 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Mixing and particle processing sits at the junction of formulation science and mechanical unit operations: how a process stream is agitated, how particle size is controlled, and how residence time and equipment scale interact to produce a target output. The 1,769 records in scope span pharmaceutical particle engineering, industrial catalysis, separation, and coatings — a wider net than a single-industry search would return, because the underlying mixing and sizing techniques cross those boundaries freely.
Filing rose through the late 2010s, peaked in 2021, and has since declined through the last complete reporting year. Because publication trails filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent one to two years in any chart will always look thinner than they eventually turn out to be — the 2021-to-2024 decline is the reliable read, not the tail beyond it.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 1,769 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
A sharp rise, an early-2020s peak, a real decline
Filings climbed from 77 in 2017 toward a peak of 138 in 2021, then dropped to 52 by 2024 — a decline of 62% over that three-year span. Years after 2024 are still incomplete in the data and should not be read as a continued fall.
Medicinal and analytical classes dominate the mix
A61K (medicinal preparations) appears on 24.9% of records and B01J (chemical/physical processes and catalysis) on 13.5%, ahead of G01N (material analysis and testing) at 11.5%. Mechanical processing classes — B01D separation at 6.1%, B02C crushing and grinding at 5.3%, C08J polymer processing at 5.1% — are present but noticeably thinner, and because records can carry multiple classes these shares sum to more than 100% of the record total.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,769 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Mixing & Particle Processing Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about mixing & particle processing patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited prior art
Methods and systems for selecting conditions for making inhalation formulations
A forecasting modeling computing system includes a processor and a memory holding instructions that receive design parameters, determine a predicted median particle size, identify a predictive quadratic model, and display a response surface visualization. The accompanying method covers the same sequence: receiving design parameters, determining a predicted median particle size, identifying a predictive quadratic model, and displaying a response surface visualization.Filed by Board of Regents, The University of Texas System — published 2024-01-25.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5710115A | Automatic dishwashing composition containing particles of diacyl peroxides | 539 |
| 2 | US3900554A | Method for the reduction of the concentration of NO in combustion effluents using ammonia | 377 |
| 3 | US6120967A | Sequenced addition of coagulant in toner aggregation process | 349 |
| 4 | US20140227548A1 | Nanoparticles, Compositions, Manufacture and Applications | 268 |
| 5 | US6667424B1 | Absorbent articles with nits and free-flowing particles | 196 |
| 6 | US20150268244A1 | Systems, apparatus, and methods for sorting particles | 170 |
| 7 | US4801411A | Method and apparatus for producing monosize ceramic particles | 167 |
| 8 | US5194266A | Amphotericin B/cholesterol sulfate composition and method | 161 |
| 9 | US20050211930A1 | Radiation detectable and protective articles | 156 |
| 10 | US4981582A | Process and apparatus for separating fine particles by microbubble flotation together with a process and appa… | 150 |
Citation counts accumulate over time and favour older filings; treat them as a signal of historical influence within this corpus, not as a ranking of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three signals stand out once the filing trend, the assignee ranking, and the IPC composition are read together.
Leadership is real but shallow
The single leader holds 90 records and fifth place holds 35, but combined the top 5 account for only 13.6% of all records in scope, and the top 10 for 21.1%. That leaves the large majority of filing activity distributed across a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants — this is not a field locked up by two or three players.
The 2021 peak has not been sustained
Filing rose from 77 records in 2017 to a peak of 138 in 2021, then fell to 52 by 2024. That three-year, -62% move is the most reliable trend read available; years beyond 2024 are still filling in under normal publication lag and should not be read as a continuing collapse.
Formulation classes outweigh mechanical processing classes
Medicinal preparations (A61K) and therapeutic activity (A61P) together dominate the IPC mix, while classes covering the physical mechanics of particle reduction — B02C crushing and grinding, B01D separation — sit at a fraction of that density. That gap suggests the formulation side of mixing and particle processing is far more heavily claimed than the equipment and process-control side.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to mixing & particle processing patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Assignee landscape and momentum
The ranking covers 100 companies counted by records, not a top-50 or top-100 cut by any external standard — most of the field sits below the leader in single digits.
One clear leader, then a steep drop-off
The leading assignee's 90 records dwarf the fifth-place count of 35 and the tenth-place count of 22, but even the leader represents a small fraction of the 1,769 total. No single company has claim coverage broad enough to define the field on its own.
Momentum has cooled across the named leaders
Year-over-year filing among the assignees with visible recent activity ranges from flat to sharply down, with several leading names showing zero filings in the latest year. That pattern is consistent with the broader 2021-to-2024 decline rather than any single company retreating from the space.
Co-filing is limited and concentrated
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, and the strongest of them repeats across a handful of records rather than dozens. Most filing here is done by single assignees rather than through joint ventures or named research partnerships.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Fluid Technology Corp | 3 | 0% |
| Vicore Pharma AB | 2 | -33% |
| Lyten Inc | 0 | — |
| Procter & Gamble Co | 0 | -100% |
| Corning Inc | 0 | — |
| NanoGram Corp | 0 | — |
| Hovione Inter | 0 | — |
| Hovione Inter | 0 | — |
Where to take this from here
The landscape points to a field with shallow concentration at the top and thinner coverage on the mechanical side of processing than on the formulation side.
Check freedom-to-operate on mechanical processing classes
B02C, B01D and C08J carry far less filing density than A61K or B01J. Before committing to a mechanical process-control claim, confirm that thinner density reflects open space rather than gaps in this particular search string.
Run a freedom-to-operate check in EurekaWatch for renewed filing once the 2025-2026 lag closes
The apparent decline through 2024 is real, but the two most recent years are still incomplete under normal publication lag. Re-check the trend once those years mature before concluding the field is contracting.
Track filing trends in EurekaMap the long tail below the leader
With the top 10 assignees holding only 21.1% of all records, most of the competitive picture sits in single- and few-filing entrants that a ranked-leader view alone will not surface.
Explore the full assignee list in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
The dataset's ranked leader holds 90 records, well ahead of fifth place at 35 and tenth place at 22, but that leader still represents a small share of the 1,769 total records in scope. The top 5 assignees combined hold only 13.6% of all records, and the top 10 combined hold 21.1%. That means leadership in this field is real at the individual-company level but does not translate into broad market-wide control — most activity sits with a long tail of smaller filers.
Filing rose from 77 records in 2017 to a peak of 138 in 2021, then declined to 52 records by 2024, a drop of 62% over that three-year span. That 2024 figure is the most recent year that can be treated as complete, since publication typically lags filing by around 18 months. The honest read is a clear decline from a 2021 peak, not a permanently shrinking field, since 2025-2026 figures are still filling in.
Medicinal preparations (A61K) appear on 24.9% of the 1,769 records, the highest of any class tracked, followed by chemical and physical processes and catalysis (B01J) at 13.5% and material analysis and testing (G01N) at 11.5%. Mechanical processing classes such as separation (B01D, 6.1%) and crushing and grinding (B02C, 5.3%) are present but far less dense. A record can carry multiple IPC classes, so these percentages describe overlapping coverage rather than a strict partition of the field.
The clearest gaps sit in the mechanical and process-control side of the field rather than the formulation side: crushing and grinding integration, in-line particle size feedback, equipment-scale-up validation and residence-time control in continuous mixers all show materially lower IPC density than medicinal-preparation or catalysis classes. That lower density does not guarantee the space is unclaimed everywhere, but it does mean fewer blocking claims have been identified in this search than in the formulation-heavy classes. A targeted freedom-to-operate search on those specific sub-areas is the reasonable next step before filing.
Concentration here is shallow: the leading assignee's 90 records are notable individually, but the top 5 combined only reach 13.6% of the 1,769 records in scope, and the top 10 reach 21.1%. Co-assignee activity is also limited, with only 10 identified co-filing pairs across the dataset. Compared with fields that show a dominant handful of firms holding a majority share, this landscape is closer to fragmented, with most records attributable to single-digit filers.
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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.