Nitrogen Rejection Unit Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
Nitrogen Rejection Unit Patents: Who Leads and Where Filings Are Headed
55.5% of all 499 records sit with just five assignees, with the leader alone holding 99 records — a field with a narrow group of entrenched holders. Filings rose from 12 in 2017 to a peak of 39 in 2019, then settled into a narrower band; 2021's 22 records fell to 21 by 2024, a -5% change over that span. 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months.
- 1AIR PROD & CHEM INC99
- 2EXXONMOBIL UPSTREAM RESEARCH COMPANY(US)67
- 3BCCK HOLDING CO45
- 4LUMMUS TECHNOLOGY INC42
- 5HONEYWELL LNG LLC24
See the full nitrogen rejection units analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions on nitrogen rejection unit patents
Who holds the most nitrogen rejection unit patents?
Filing activity is concentrated at the top of the ranking: the leading assignee alone accounts for 99 of the 499 records in scope, and the top five combined hold 55.5% of all records. The top ten combined reach 70.9%, which leaves a long tail of single-digit filers among the 90 companies the ranking covers. This concentration reflects decades of process patents around cryogenic double-column distillation held by a small number of industrial gas and engineering firms.
What technology dominates nitrogen rejection unit patents?
Cryogenic gas liquefaction and separation, classified under F25J, covers 60.7% of the 499 records in scope, making it by far the dominant documented approach. Separation processes such as membranes and adsorption (B01D) trail at 20.6%, and purifying-fuel-gases claims (C10K) are the thinnest slice at 2.2%. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100%, and they should be read as claim density rather than exclusive categories.
Is patent filing activity for nitrogen rejection units growing or slowing?
Filings peaked in 2019 at 39 records and have since settled into a lower, fairly stable range: 22 records in 2021 versus 21 in 2024, a -5% change over that three-year span. That is a modest dip rather than a clear slowdown, and it should not be read as declining interest given how the most recent two years are still filling in. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, 2025 and 2026 figures will rise as more records post.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Nitrogen Rejection Units covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.