Nitrification & Urease Inhibitor Patents: Leaders & Trends 2026
- 60.8% concentration. The top five assignees combined account for 355 of the 584 records in scope — filing here is not evenly spread across the field.
- Filings cooled after 2018. Activity peaked at 81 records in 2018, and the tracked growth window shows a 61% drop from 2021 (38) to 2024 (15), the last year treated as complete.
- Fertiliser-mixture claims dominate. C05G fertiliser mixtures cover 89.0% of the 584 records, with nitrogen fertilisers (C05C) close behind at 61.6% — most protection sits on formulation, not on the inhibitor molecule itself.
Filing growth compares 2021 (38 records) with 2024 (15) — 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 584 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Nitrification and urease inhibitor formulations slow the conversion of applied nitrogen into forms that volatilise or leach, improving nitrogen use efficiency and cutting nitrous oxide emissions. The 584 records in scope span fertiliser-mixture claims, nitrogen-fertiliser compositions, and a smaller set of carrier, biocide and animal-feed applications built around the same inhibitor chemistries. Filing sits across national and PCT routes, with the United States, Europe and WIPO receiving the largest shares of applications.
Publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the most recent one to two years in any trend understate real filing activity. Readers should treat 2024 as the last year with a reasonably complete count, and read 2025-2026 figures as still filling in.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 584-record dataset: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how records distribute across IPC subclasses. Because a single record can carry several IPC codes, the class shares below add up to more than 100% of the record total.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings rose from 27 in 2017 to a peak of 81 in 2018, then declined; the tracked window shows 2021 (38) falling to 2024 (15), a 61% drop over that three-year span. 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete due to publication lag and should not be read as a continued decline on their own.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
Fertiliser mixtures (C05G) and nitrogen fertilisers (C05C) cover the large majority of records at 89.0% and 61.6% of the 584 in scope respectively. Smaller clusters sit in materials for miscellaneous applications (C09K, 10.8%), agrochemicals (A01N, 10.6%), other inorganic fertilisers (C05D, 8.7%), organo-metallic compounds (C07F, 7.7%), phosphate fertilisers (C05B, 6.8%) and animal feed (A23K, 6.7%).
Shares are the percentage of the 584 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Nitrification and Urease Inhibitor Formulations with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about nitrification and urease inhibitor formulations and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited records
Mixtures comprising a solid carrier with an urease inhibitor and a further solid carrier with a nitrification inhibitor
The present invention relates to mixtures comprising a solid carrier comprising an urease inhibitor and a further solid carrier comprising a nitrification inhibitor such as 3,4-dimethyl pyrazole phosphate (DMPP) or 2-(3,4-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl) succinic acid (DMPSA), to a method for improving the nitrification-inhibiting effect, or for increasing the health of a plant using mixtures of at least one compound I and at least one compound II; to the use of mixtures comprising compounds I and compounds II for increasing the health of a plant.Filed by BASF SE, published 2023-02-16.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5698003A | Formulation for fertilizer additive concentrate | 207 |
| 2 | US20070077428A1 | Cellulosic fibers with odor control characteristics | 116 |
| 3 | US20140090432A1 | Liquid Formulations of Urease Inhibitors for Fertilizers | 83 |
| 4 | WO1997022568A1 | Improved formulation for fertilizer additive concentrate | 82 |
| 5 | US20040163434A1 | Fertiliser compositions | 74 |
| 6 | US20160060184A1 | Reaction products and methods for making and using same | 63 |
| 7 | WO2017081183A1 | Improved urea-based blend composition and method for the manufacture thereof | 61 |
| 8 | US20140047883A1 | Liquid Compositions Containing Urease Inhibitors and Glycol Alkyl Ethers and Methods of Making a Use Thereof | 56 |
| 9 | US20070295047A1 | Solid urea fertilizer | 56 |
| 10 | US20150052960A1 | Urease inhibitor and non-UFP solid carrier composition | 55 |
Citation counts favour older records simply because they have had more time to be cited; treat them as a signal of influence within this corpus, not as a ranking of current technical importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the data means for filing strategy
Three patterns stand out once the records are broken down by assignee, class and geography.
Filing is concentrated, not fragmented
The top five assignees combined account for 355 of the 584 records, and the top ten reach 75.7%. A field this concentrated leaves a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants competing for the remaining claim space, mostly in narrower carrier and blending sub-claims.
Most protection sits on formulation, not molecule
Fertiliser-mixture claims (C05G) dominate at 89.0% of records, with nitrogen-fertiliser compositions (C05C) at 61.6%. Organo-metallic and biocide classes are present but far smaller, suggesting formulation and blending routes are more heavily claimed than novel inhibitor chemistries.
US, Europe and PCT carry the bulk of filings
The United States leads receiving offices at 134 records, ahead of the EPO at 93 and WIPO PCT filings at 79. Canada, Australia and China each carry a meaningfully smaller share, pointing to where enforcement and freedom-to-operate work should concentrate first.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to nitrification and urease inhibitor formulations, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
A handful of agrochemical majors and a cluster of individual co-inventors account for most of the activity; recent-year momentum has slowed across the leaders tracked here.
One filer sits well ahead of the field
The leading assignee holds 114 records against 22 at fifth place and 15 at tenth, a steep drop-off that marks this as a field with a dominant filer rather than several evenly matched competitors.
A small inventor cluster files together repeatedly
Ten co-assignee pairs appear in the data, the strongest linking the same individual inventor to three different co-filers across 29, 23 and 23 shared records. This points to a specific inventor group with a consistent filing practice rather than a broad industry collaboration pattern.
Recent-year filing has gone quiet across the top names
Among the assignees tracked for recent-year momentum, filing in the latest year sits at one record or fewer for every name shown, including the top-ranked filer. That is consistent with the broader decline visible in the 2021-2024 trend, though the very latest years are still subject to publication lag.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| SABIC Global Technologies B.V. | 1 | — |
| Yara International ASA | 0 | — |
| Koch Agronomic Services LLC | 0 | — |
| BASF SE | 0 | — |
| MCKNIGHT GARY DAVID | 0 | — |
| XU WEI | 0 | — |
| ZEHNI YANG | 0 | — |
| PERKINS RAY | 0 | — |
Where to take this next
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, licensing, or identifying open claim space.
Map freedom-to-operate against the leader's portfolio
With one assignee holding 114 records and the top five controlling 60.8% of the field, any new formulation should be checked against that concentrated set before development spend, not after.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaTest claims in the under-claimed branches
Carrier compatibility, animal-feed stabiliser use and liquid-formulation volatilization control show thinner coverage than the core fertiliser-mixture classes, and may offer more open claim space.
Run a white-space search in EurekaWatch for the next filing wave once 2025-2026 data settles
Because publication lags filing by about 18 months, the apparent decline through 2024 may look different once later years complete their reporting window.
Track filing trends in EurekaCommon questions on this landscape
One assignee leads the ranked field with 114 records, well ahead of the fifth-placed filer at 22 and the tenth-placed filer at 15. The top five assignees combined hold 60.8% of all 584 records in scope, and the top ten reach 75.7%. This is a concentrated field rather than one with many evenly matched competitors, so freedom-to-operate work should start with the leading names before looking at the long tail.
Filing peaked in 2018 at 81 records and has trended down since; the tracked growth window shows a 61% drop from 38 records in 2021 to 15 in 2024, the last year that can be treated as reasonably complete. Publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in and should not be read as continuing that decline. A fair reading is that filing has cooled from its 2018 peak, with the most recent trajectory still uncertain.
Fertiliser-mixture claims under IPC class C05G cover 89.0% of the 584 records in scope, and nitrogen-fertiliser compositions under C05C cover 61.6%. Smaller clusters exist in materials for miscellaneous applications, agrochemicals, other inorganic fertilisers, organo-metallic compounds, phosphate fertilisers and animal feed. Because records can carry multiple IPC codes, these shares add up to more than 100% and should be read as separate overlapping views, not as parts of a single pie.
The United States is the leading receiving office with 134 records, ahead of the European Patent Office at 93 and WIPO PCT filings at 79. Canada, Australia and China follow with smaller shares. Because these counts are by receiving office rather than inventor nationality, they indicate where applicants are seeking protection, not necessarily where the underlying research originated.
Relative to the dominant fertiliser-mixture claims, coverage looks thinner in areas such as urease-inhibitor compatibility with biological products, animal-feed nitrogen stabiliser carriers, and liquid-formulation approaches to ammonia volatilization control. These branches sit adjacent to the core C05G and C05C classes but carry a smaller share of the 584 records, which suggests room for narrower claims that a dominant portfolio has not yet occupied. Any filing there should still be checked against the leading assignees' existing mixture claims first.
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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.