Process Safety Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Filing peaked in 2021 at 246 records, then fell to 151 by 2024 — a 39% decline over that three-year span, the most recent period the data can call complete.
- The leader holds 123 records, but the top 5 combined account for just 13.4% of all 3,677 records in scope — concentration is modest, not dominant.
- B01J and C07C together anchor the field, at 21.3% and 18.8% of records respectively, while separation processes and refining chemistry sit well behind at single-digit-to-high-single-digit shares.
Filing growth compares 2021 (246 records) with 2024 (151) — 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 3,677 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks 3,677 published records matched against process safety and chemical process risk terms combined with process-engineering concepts such as residence time, particle size, unit operation and chemical reactor design. That pairing captures patents where safety or risk language is tied to a concrete process step, rather than safety management documents in the abstract. The scope runs from 2015 through the 2026 data cut-off, with publication lagging filing by roughly 18 months — so the most recent one to two years understate real filing activity.
Reading the results by patent family rather than raw publication count is the fairer approach here, since a single invention can generate several continuation or multi-jurisdiction filings that inflate simple document tallies without adding new technical content.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 3,677-record corpus: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the technical weight.
Filing trend: a 2021 peak, then a pullback
Filings rose from 129 in 2017 to a peak of 246 in 2021, then declined to 151 by 2024 — a 39% drop over that three-year window. 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete because of publication lag and should not be read as a continued fall.
Where the claims sit
B01J (chemical/physical processes and catalysis) leads at 21.3% of records, with C07C (acyclic and carbocyclic compounds) close behind at 18.8%. C07D, B01D, C08F, C01B, C10G and A61K each account for a meaningful but smaller slice — each record can carry more than one class, so these shares sum above 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 3,677 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Process Safety & Risk Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about process safety & risk patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaA representative filing and the most-cited prior art
Process for the preparation and particle size reduction of pirfenidone
The present invention relates to an improved process for the preparation of pure pirfenidone having a particular particle size distribution, a crystalline form of pirfenidone, and pharmaceutical compositions thereof, as well as methods for particle size reduction of pirfenidone, and methods for particle size reduction of pirfenidone by wet milling techniques using colloid mill, ultrasonicator, or high speed homogenizer devices.Filed by Laurus Labs, published 2018-11-22 as US20180334434A1.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6329297B1 | Dilute remote plasma clean | 740 |
| 2 | US6602806B1 | Thermal CVD process for depositing a low dielectric constant carbon-doped silicon oxide film | 553 |
| 3 | US20030066482A1 | Lid cooling mechanism and method for optimized deposition of low-K dielectric using TRI methylsilane-ozone ba… | 551 |
| 4 | US20030077857A1 | Post-deposition treatment to enhance properties of SI-O-C low films | 534 |
| 5 | US7326657B2 | Post-deposition treatment to enhance properties of Si-O-C low k films | 523 |
| 6 | US8143174B2 | Post-deposition treatment to enhance properties of Si-O-C low K films | 520 |
| 7 | US5872065A | Method for depositing low K SI-O-F films using SIF4/oxygen chemistry | 451 |
| 8 | US6189482B1 | High temperature, high flow rate chemical vapor deposition apparatus and related methods | 451 |
| 9 | US20030008528A1 | Surface treatment of c-doped SiO2 film to enhance film stability during 02 ashing | 446 |
| 10 | US20040083964A1 | Method using TEOS ramp-up during TEOS/ozone CVD for improved gap-fill | 439 |
Citation counts reward older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations within this searched corpus — treat them as a signal of influence on the field, not of current technical importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Four read-throughs from the trend, the technology mix and the citation record.
The 2021 peak has cooled, not collapsed
Filings fell 39% from the 2021 peak of 246 to 151 in 2024, the last year the data can treat as complete. That is a real pullback from an unusually active year, not evidence that the field is winding down — 2025 and 2026 counts are still filling in under normal publication lag.
Modest concentration at the top
The leading assignee holds 123 records and the top 5 combined reach 13.4% of all 3,677 records in scope, rising to 21.6% for the top 10. That leaves most of the corpus outside the leading names — a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants rather than a field locked up by a handful of players.
Catalysis and reaction chemistry carry the field
B01J (chemical/physical processes and catalysis) and C07C (acyclic and carbocyclic compounds) are the two largest classes at 21.3% and 18.8% of records respectively. Refining chemistry (C10G) and medicinal preparations (A61K) sit further back at 6-7%, suggesting the corpus is weighted toward core process chemistry rather than downstream pharmaceutical formulation.
Citation leaders are older deposition-process patents
The most-cited records in this corpus, led by a filing cited 740 times, cluster around thin-film deposition and low-k dielectric process patents rather than recent process-safety-specific claims. That is typical of citation counts inside any searched corpus: older filings simply have had more time to accumulate citations.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to process safety & risk patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
The ranking covers 100 companies counted in records — the full list the data endpoint returns, not a curated top-50 or top-100.
One clear leader, no runaway gap
The leading assignee's 123 records put it ahead of the field, but the gap to fifth place (75) and tenth place (54) narrows quickly — this is a led field, not a locked one.
Even the leader has slowed in the latest year
The leading assignee shows only 2 filings in the latest year on record, and several other major names in the ranking show none in that same window. Given publication lag, this understates true recent activity for all of them, but it means the latest-year figures should not be read as a ranking of current effort.
Co-filing is limited and mostly intra-group
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear across the corpus, and the strongest ones look like related corporate entities filing jointly rather than arms-length collaboration between competitors. Cross-company technical partnerships are the exception here, not the norm.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij BV | 2 | — |
| Dow Global Technologies LLC | 0 | — |
| LG Chem Ltd | 0 | — |
| Bayer Pharma AG | 0 | — |
| Applied Materials Inc | 0 | — |
| Bracco Imaging SpA | 0 | — |
| F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG | 0 | -100% |
| DSM IP Assets BV | 0 | — |
Where to take this from here
The dataset points to a field with a modest leader, a wide tail of smaller filers, and technology concentrated in a few IPC classes. Turning that into a filing or freedom-to-operate decision means going deeper on specific claims and specific competitors.
Check freedom-to-operate before drafting
Dense classes like B01J and C07C carry real prior art risk for new reactor-chemistry claims — a targeted search against the leading assignees' recent filings is the first step before committing to a claim direction.
Explore freedom-to-operate in EurekaTrack the leader's next moves
A leader with only 2 filings in the latest year may be shifting strategy rather than slowing down entirely; monitoring its portfolio for new filing types is more informative than its aggregate count.
Set up assignee monitoring in EurekaScope the under-claimed branches
Sub-areas such as continuous-flow residence-time control and unit-operation-level hazard interlocks show thinner filing density than the core classes and may be worth a dedicated novelty search.
Run a white-space search in EurekaCommon questions on process safety patents
This dataset covers 3,677 published records matched against process safety and chemical process risk terms combined with process-engineering concepts like residence time, particle size and reactor design, spanning 2015 through the 2026 data cut-off. Filing activity rose from 129 records in 2017 to a peak of 246 in 2021 before falling to 151 in 2024, the most recent year that can be treated as complete. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete and will rise as more filings publish.
The ranking lists 100 companies counted in records, with the single leading assignee holding 123 records. The top 5 assignees combined account for 13.4% of all 3,677 records in scope, rising to 21.6% for the top 10 — a led field but not a tightly locked one, since most of the corpus sits with smaller filers outside the ranked leaders. Recent-year filing counts for even the largest names are low, partly reflecting publication lag rather than reduced activity.
B01J, covering chemical and physical processes and catalysis, is the largest single IPC subclass at 21.3% of the 3,677 records, followed closely by C07C (acyclic and carbocyclic compounds) at 18.8%. Heterocyclic compounds, separation processes, addition polymers, inorganic compounds, hydrocarbon refining and medicinal preparations each contribute smaller but meaningful shares. Since a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these percentages sum to more than 100% and should be read as overlapping technical themes rather than a strict breakdown.
Filing activity peaked in 2021 at 246 records and declined to 151 by 2024, a 39% drop over that three-year span — the clearest complete-year comparison the data supports. That said, the 2021 peak was itself an unusually active year, so the decline should be read against that high point rather than as a sign the field is disappearing. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still filling in due to normal publication lag and should not be used to call a continued downward trend.
Filing density is heaviest in core reaction chemistry and catalysis (B01J, C07C), leaving branches such as real-time reactor risk monitoring, particle-size control in continuous milling operations, and unit-operation-level hazard interlocks comparatively under-claimed relative to the core. These are areas where fewer filings compete for claim space, though a dedicated novelty search is needed before relying on that as a filing strategy. Co-filing across companies is also rare in this corpus, with only 10 co-assignee pairs identified, suggesting most technical development here happens inside single organisations rather than through joint ventures.
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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.