Nonwoven Filtration Media Patents: Who Leads, Where Gaps Are 2026
- Filing has cooled since a 2018 peak of 15 records, with the midpoint year 2022 showing zero filings — the field is flat to declining, not accelerating.
- B01D separation-process claims dominate at 89.6% of the 67 records in scope, while adjacent nonwoven-structure (D04H) and sterilising (A61L) classes trail well behind.
- The assignee ranking runs 22 companies deep with a single leader at 22 records, then a sharp drop to single digits — concentrated at the top, thin below it.
What this patent set covers
This landscape covers 67 published records filed between 2015 and 2026 that combine nonwoven, meltblown or nanofiber filtration media with claims touching pressure drop, electret charge decay, pleatability, stiffness, loading capacity, washability or regeneration. That search scope deliberately narrows on the performance-property claims that separate a commodity filter media patent from one asserting a specific functional advantage. Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the 2025-2026 count in any trend chart understates real filing activity in those years.
Records cluster around separation-process claims first, nonwoven-structure claims second, with sterilising, water treatment and nanotechnology applications forming smaller but distinct clusters. The receiving-office spread points to the United States as the primary filing venue, with Europe and the PCT route as secondary tracks.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 67-record set: filing activity by year, and where those records sit across IPC subclasses. Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, the composition shares add up to more than 100% of the record total.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings rose to a peak of 15 in 2018, then fell away; the 2022 midpoint recorded zero, and the trend has not recovered since. Read the final one or two years as undercounted given publication lag rather than as a genuine stop in activity.
IPC subclass composition
B01D (separation processes) appears in 89.6% of the 67 records, confirming that most applicants frame their claims around filtration mechanics rather than material structure. D04H (nonwovens and felts) and A61L (sterilising and disinfecting) are the next most common, each present in roughly a quarter to a third of records, while B32B laminates and D01F fibre-feature claims remain a small minority.
Shares are the percentage of the 67 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Nonwoven Filtration Media for Air and Liquid with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about nonwoven filtration media for air and liquid and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this set
US8668758B2 — Tackified air filtration media and a self-supporting filter having improved stiffness and foldability
Describes a nonwoven filtration media built from a bonded mix of discontinuous thermoplastic resin fibers and optional cellulosic fibers, with an added tackifier to create a sticky fiber surface. The combination is claimed to give the media stiffness, foldability, filtration efficiency and fold retention together, allowing it to accept and hold pleats better than conventional filtration materials.Filed by Fibrix, LLC; granted 2014-03-11.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20040116026A1 | Charged synthetic nonwoven filtration media and method for producing same | 94 |
| 2 | WO2010107503A1 | Removal of microorganisms from fluid samples using nanofiber filtration media | 71 |
| 3 | US20120091072A1 | Removal of microorganisms from fluid samples using nanofiber filtration media | 50 |
| 4 | US20180280847A1 | Process for making high efficiency synthetic filter media | 38 |
| 5 | US20080120954A1 | Tackified And Non-Tackified Nonwovens Of Controlled Stiffness And Retained Foldability | 34 |
| 6 | US10981096B2 | Process for making high efficiency synthetic filter media | 29 |
| 7 | US20160023146A1 | Nonwoven filtration media including microfibrillated cellulose fibers | 27 |
| 8 | WO2014164127A1 | Nonwoven filtration media including microfibrillated cellulose fibers | 17 |
| 9 | US9750829B2 | Removal of microorganisms from fluid samples using nanofiber filtration media | 17 |
| 10 | US20090288558A1 | Nonwovens of controlled stiffness and retained foldability | 15 |
Citation counts are pulled from within this searched corpus and favour older filings that have had more years to accumulate citations — treat them as a signal of influence on subsequent filings, not of current commercial importance.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for filing strategy
Three patterns stand out once filing trend, technology composition and citation data are read together.
Growth is flat, not rising
The field peaked in 2018 at 15 records and has not returned to that level since; the 2022 midpoint sits at zero filings. Combined with publication lag depressing the most recent years further, this reads as a mature, low-growth filing environment rather than an expanding one.
Separation-process claims dominate
Nearly nine in ten records in scope carry a B01D separation-process classification, meaning most applicants are claiming filtration mechanics directly rather than approaching the technology through nonwoven structure or fiber chemistry alone.
Citation weight sits with older filings
The most-cited record in this set dates from the early 2000s filing wave and has accumulated 94 citations within the corpus; citation counts inside a searched corpus like this favour older records simply because they have had longer to be cited, not because the underlying claims are still the state of the art.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to nonwoven filtration media for air and liquid, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| PEART CHRISTOPHER | HAWKINS THOMAS | 5 |
| PEART CHRISTOPHER | DUELLO LEONARD | 5 |
| HAWKINS THOMAS | DUELLO LEONARD | 5 |
| PEART CHRISTOPHER | NANCE NATHANIEL | 4 |
| HAWKINS THOMAS | NANCE NATHANIEL | 4 |
| DUELLO LEONARD | NANCE NATHANIEL | 4 |
| Donaldson Company, Inc. | SHENOY SURESH LAXMAN | 3 |
| Donaldson Company, Inc. | JONES DEREK OWEN | 3 |
Ten co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset; the strongest linkages are between individual named inventors rather than corporate joint filings, suggesting most collaboration here happens at the inventor level rather than through formal cross-company R&D agreements.
Who holds the filing position
The assignee ranking returned by this dataset covers 22 companies, counted in records. It is not a top-50 or top-100 list — it is the complete ranking this search produced, and it drops off quickly after the leader.
One filer well ahead of the field
The leading assignee holds 22 records in this set, far ahead of the fifth-place holder at 3 and the tenth-place holder at 2. That gap indicates a single company built sustained filing depth in nonwoven filtration media while most other participants filed only a handful of times.
A thin middle and long tail
Filing counts fall to single digits by fifth place and stay there through the rest of the ranking. That pattern is typical of a field where one or two incumbents built early claim density and later entrants file narrowly around specific product lines rather than broad platforms.
Leading filers have gone quiet recently
Every one of the most active assignees in this dataset, including the ranking leader, shows zero filings in the latest year, with one recording a -100% year-on-year change. Given publication lag, some of this reflects filings not yet published rather than an actual halt, but it is consistent with the broader flat-to-declining trend.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| EMD Millipore Corp | 0 | — |
| KNOWLTON TECHNOLOGIES LLC | 0 | — |
| Donaldson Company, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Ahlstrom Oyj | 0 | — |
| PEART CHRISTOPHER | 0 | — |
| HAWKINS THOMAS | 0 | — |
| DUELLO LEONARD | 0 | — |
| NANCE NATHANIEL | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, portfolio benchmarking or identifying a filing gap.
Check freedom-to-operate against the top-cited records
The most-cited records in this set, including the 94-citation lead patent, define the claim boundaries that later filers have had to design around. Any new filing on charge-decay or stiffness claims should be checked against these first.
Explore citation chains in EurekaMap the under-claimed sub-areas before drafting
Regenerable media, electret stabilisation and nanofiber-to-substrate bonding all carry markedly fewer records than the core B01D cluster, which suggests room for a first-mover claim rather than crowded prior art.
Run a white-space search in EurekaTrack the leading assignee's recent activity
The ranking leader shows zero filings in the latest year alongside every other top assignee, which is worth monitoring given the 18-month publication lag before drawing conclusions about a real slowdown.
Set up assignee alerts in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
The assignee ranking for this dataset covers 22 companies, and it is led by a single filer with 22 records, well ahead of the rest of the field, where the fifth-place holder has only 3 and the tenth-place holder has 2. This pattern — one company with sustained filing depth followed by a thin field of occasional filers — is common in mature filtration technology areas where the core claim space was staked out early. Anyone assessing competitive position should look at the leader's full portfolio rather than assume the smaller filers represent meaningful competing platforms.
Based on the filing trend from 2017 to 2026, activity peaked at 15 records in 2018 and has not returned to that level, with the 2022 midpoint recording zero filings. This points to a flat-to-declining filing pattern rather than growth. It is worth remembering that publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months, so the very latest years in any such trend will always look weaker than they eventually turn out to be once those applications publish.
Separation-process claims under IPC class B01D appear in 89.6% of the 67 records in this scope, making it by far the dominant claim type. Nonwoven and felt structure claims (D04H) and sterilising or disinfecting claims (A61L) are present in a meaningful minority of records, while laminate structure (B32B) and fibre feature claims (D01F) are much less common. Because records can carry multiple IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100% of the record total, and they should be read as overlapping technology angles rather than mutually exclusive categories.
US8668758B2, assigned to Fibrix, LLC and granted in 2014, claims a nonwoven filtration media made from a bonded mix of discontinuous thermoplastic and optional cellulosic fibers with an added tackifier that gives the media a sticky fiber surface. The claimed advantage is a specific combination of stiffness, foldability, filtration efficiency and fold retention achieved through thermal bonding during production. Anyone developing a tackified nonwoven filter media aimed at improved pleat retention should review this patent's specific claim language on fiber composition and tackifier application closely before finalising a product design.
Compared with the dense B01D separation-process cluster covering 89.6% of records, sub-areas such as electret charge-decay stabilisation, regenerable or washable media constructions, and nanofiber-to-substrate bonding carry markedly fewer filings in this dataset. These adjacent branches sit close enough to the core claim space to be commercially relevant but have not been claimed as heavily, which typically means more room for a first, broad claim rather than having to design narrowly around existing prior art. Confirming this requires checking the specific sub-area against the full record set rather than relying on the IPC composition alone.
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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.