Photobioreactor Scale-Up Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
- 35.9% concentration at the top. The five leading assignees hold 93 of 259 records in scope, but the next tier thins out fast into single- and double-filer entrants.
- Filing has plateaued, not collapsed. Volume moved from 16 records in 2021 to 15 in 2024, a -6% span, with 2023 the peak year so far at 24 records — 2025-26 figures are still filling in due to publication lag.
- Bioreactor and microorganism classes dominate together. C12N and C12M each cover well over half of all 259 records, showing scale-up claims are being filed jointly with the biology rather than as standalone mechanical engineering.
Filing growth compares 2021 (16 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 259 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this dataset covers
This landscape draws on 259 published records filed between 2015 and mid-2026 that combine photobioreactor system claims with engineering-scale terms such as tip speed, power density, mixing similarity and oxygen demand. The IPC filter (C12M1/00, C12M1/42, C12N1/12) keeps the set anchored to bioreactor apparatus and the microorganisms cultured inside it, rather than general algae biology or downstream fuel processing.
Because a single filing can carry several IPC classes, the technology composition figures below sum to more than the record total — that is expected and reflects how densely scale-up claims overlap with microorganism and fermentation claims in this field.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 259 records: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims sit in.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings rose from 15 records in 2017 to a peak of 24 in 2023, then settled at 15 in 2024 — a -6% move from 2021's 16 records. Treat 2025 and 2026 as undercounts: publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the most recent two years will keep filling in.
IPC subclass composition
C12N (microorganisms and genetic engineering) and C12M (bioreactors and enzyme apparatus) each appear in well over 60% of the 259 records, confirming that scale-up claims are almost always bundled with organism or apparatus claims. C02F (water treatment) and C12P (fermentation) trail at roughly a third of records each, and separation processes under B01D sit at just 6.2% — a comparatively thin claim area given how central downstream dewatering is to commercial operation.
Shares are the percentage of the 259 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Photobioreactor Scale-Up with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about photobioreactor scale-up and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this set
WO2024107830A1 — Systems and methods for water treatment
A wastewater treatment system pairs an aerobic membrane bioreactor with an ultrafiltration/microfiltration algal photobioreactor (algal-MPBR): the MBR outputs sludge solids, carbon dioxide and partially treated water, the algal-MPBR consumes the carbon dioxide and partially treated water to output reuse water and algal biomass, and an anaerobic digester closes the loop with both units.Filed by The Regents of the University of California, published 2024-05-23.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6416993B1 | Method for treating a waste stream using photosynthetic microorganisms | 103 |
| 2 | US5137828A | Biomass production apparatus | 102 |
| 3 | US20100267122A1 | Microalgae cultivation in a wastewater dominated by carpet mill effluents for biofuel applications | 68 |
| 4 | WO2014074769A2 | Methods of culturing microorganisms in non-axenic mixotrophic conditions | 59 |
| 5 | US20090325253A1 | Methods and systems for production of biofuels and bioenergy products from sewage sludge, including recalcitr… | 52 |
| 6 | US20120088278A1 | Utilization of Wastewater for Microalgal Cultivation | 45 |
| 7 | WO2015172256A1 | Methods and apparatus for biomass growth | 38 |
| 8 | EP0239272A2 | Improvements relating to biomass production | 34 |
| 9 | US20180186842A1 | High productivity algal mutants having reduced photosynthetic antenna | 26 |
| 10 | US20160122705A1 | Dual-compartment bioreactor for use in wastewater treatment and algal production | 25 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus and skew toward older filings; they are not a measure of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three patterns stand out once the ranking, the trend and the IPC mix are read together.
The top of the field is settled, the rest is open
Five assignees hold 93 of the 259 records in scope. That leaves a long tail of entrants with one or two filings each once the ranked leaders are accounted for, which is unusual concentration for an apparatus-heavy field and suggests most white space sits outside the leading names rather than in gaps within their portfolios.
Volume has plateaued, not fallen off
Filing moved from 16 records in 2021 to 15 in 2024, essentially flat once the peak year of 24 (2023) is factored in. Because publication lags filing by about 18 months, 2025-26 counts are not yet reliable evidence of a slowdown.
Scale-up claims travel with the biology
Microorganism claims (C12N) and bioreactor apparatus claims (C12M) each cover well over half of all records, and most filings carry both. A mechanical scale-up claim filed alone, without an organism or culture-condition tie-in, is the exception in this corpus rather than the norm.
US and PCT routes lead filing strategy
The United States receives the largest single share of filings, with WIPO (PCT) and the EPO close behind and India, Australia and Canada forming a second tier. That spread points to applicants pursuing broad multi-jurisdiction protection rather than concentrating on one national market.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to photobioreactor scale-up, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the claim space is thin
The ranked leaders sit alongside universities, specialty chemical firms and a long tail of single-filing entrants; recent-year activity across the named leaders has gone quiet, which is consistent with the 18-month publication lag rather than a real drop-off.
A clear single leader ahead of the field
The top-ranked assignee holds 26 of the 259 records in scope, well ahead of fifth place at 13 and tenth place at 7 — a steep drop-off that marks this as a leader-plus-long-tail field rather than a flat competitive set.
The next five names add less than the first five
The top 10 combined account for 54.4% of all records, meaning places six through ten add roughly 18 percentage points beyond the top 5's 35.9% — a meaningfully flatter contribution per assignee once past the leader.
Co-filing is rare and clustered
Only five co-assignee pairings appear in this set, with the strongest links running through one shared industrial-genomics filer and a university-industry pairing — collaboration is the exception, not the pattern, in this corpus.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Heliae Development LLC | 0 | — |
| Synthetic Genomics Inc | 0 | — |
| Neste Oyj | 0 | -100% |
| Greenfield Specialty Alcohols | 0 | — |
| Cornell University | 0 | — |
| GSR Solutions LLC | 0 | — |
| BIOTECHNA | 0 | — |
| FCC AQUALIA | 0 | — |
Where to take this next
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, portfolio strategy or identifying a filing gap.
Check freedom-to-operate against the top 5
With 35.9% of all 259 records held by five assignees, any commercial scale-up design should be checked against their specific claim scope before committing to a reactor geometry or control scheme.
Run a freedom-to-operate check in EurekaWatch the under-claimed branches
Membrane fouling control, mixing-similarity protocols and downstream separation all sit below their apparent operational importance in filing density — worth monitoring for new entrants staking early claims.
Track white space in EurekaRe-check the 2025-26 trend once it settles
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the apparent plateau after 2023's peak of 24 records should be revisited once later years are fully reported.
Set a filing alert in EurekaCommon questions on photobioreactor scale-up patents
The ranking behind this dataset covers 97 companies across 259 published records. The field is concentrated at the top: the five leading assignees together hold 93 records, or 35.9% of all records in scope, while the tenth-ranked assignee holds only 7. Below that tenth position there is a long tail of entrants with just one or two filings each, so most named organisations in this space are not repeat filers.
Filing volume peaked so far at 24 records in 2023 and moved from 16 records in 2021 to 15 in 2024, a -6% change over that span — essentially flat rather than a clear decline. Counts for 2025 and 2026 look lower, but publication typically lags filing by about 18 months, so those recent years are undercounted and should not be read as a slowdown. A fair read is that filing has plateaued after a mid-2020s peak, not that interest has dropped.
The two dominant IPC subclasses are C12N (microorganisms and genetic engineering), covering 64.5% of the 259 records, and C12M (bioreactors and enzyme apparatus), covering 61.8%. Because records can carry multiple classes, these figures overlap heavily, showing most scale-up claims are filed jointly with organism or culture-condition claims rather than as standalone mechanical apparatus filings. Water treatment (C02F) and fermentation (C12P) each cover roughly a third of records, with separation processes (B01D) a comparatively thin 6.2%.
WO2024107830A1, filed by The Regents of the University of California and published 2024-05-23, describes a system pairing an aerobic membrane bioreactor with an ultrafiltration/microfiltration algal photobioreactor and an anaerobic digester in a closed loop. It is one of the more recent filings in this dataset combining wastewater treatment with algal cultivation at engineering scale. Anyone building a similar closed-loop MBR-to-algal-photobioreactor system should review its specific claim language before finalising a design.
Filing density is comparatively thin in downstream separation and dewatering (B01D covers just 6.2% of the 259 records) relative to how central that step is to commercial operation. Mixing-similarity scale-transition methods and tip-speed-to-power-density correlation claims — the core engineering variables named in this dataset's search terms — also show fewer dedicated filings than the biology-side claims around them. These are reasonable areas to investigate for a first claim, though a full freedom-to-operate check against the leading assignees' existing scope is still needed before filing.
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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.