Reaction Engineering Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- Concentration is moderate, not dominant. the top 5 assignees hold 17.9% of all 3,624 records in scope, and the top 10 hold 25.0% — leaving three-quarters of the field to a long tail of filers.
- Filing pace has cooled from its 2023 peak. annual filings ran from 103 in 2021 down to 75 in 2024, a 27% decline over that span, though 2025-2026 figures are still filling in due to publication lag.
- Catalysis and process chemistry dominate the IPC mix. B01J (chemical/physical processes & catalysis) touches 35.2% of records and C07C (acyclic & carbocyclic compounds) touches 24.4%, far ahead of separation and fermentation classes.
Filing growth compares 2021 (103 records) with 2024 (75) — 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 3,624 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the reaction engineering patent record shows
Reaction engineering sits at the intersection of catalysis, reactor design and process-stream management — the search string behind this dataset pulls records that combine reaction-medium or reactor terminology with mass-transfer, heat-transfer or product-selectivity language. Across 3,624 records published between 2015 and the 2026 cut-off, filing activity peaked in 2023 at 158 records before easing, a pattern consistent with a field that expanded its core claim territory earlier in the decade and is now filing more selectively.
The assignee base is not tightly held. A handful of large chemical and refining companies account for a meaningful share of filings, but the majority of records come from entities outside the ranked leaders, which points to a field where reactor and catalysis know-how is still being contested by smaller players and individual inventors rather than settled by a few incumbents.
Filing trends and technology composition
The figures below are drawn directly from the 3,624 records in scope, covering publication years 2015 through the 2026 data cut-off. Recent years are understated because publication typically lags filing by roughly 18 months.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Annual filings rose from 104 in 2017 to a peak of 158 in 2023, then declined to 75 by 2024 — a 27% drop from the 2021 level of 103. The two most recent years on the chart are still incomplete and should not be read as a continued decline.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
B01J (catalysis and physical/chemical processes) is the largest single class at 35.2% of records, followed by C07C (acyclic and carbocyclic compounds) at 24.4%. Addition polymers, heterocyclic compounds, separation processes, hydrocarbon refining, fermentation and inorganic compounds each sit in the 7-11% range — since records can carry multiple IPC codes, these shares sum to more than 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 3,624 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Reaction Engineering Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about reaction engineering patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records in the field
WO2020048520A1 — Air-drying kinetics via reaction engineering approach
The filing, from Soochow University, sets out a method for determining air-drying kinetics of a product by constructing a reaction engineering approach: measuring temperature and moisture change over time, deriving the ratio of heat-transfer to mass-transfer coefficients, calculating activation energy and rate constant, and establishing a temperature-moisture relationship equation. It also covers a purpose-built device for making these measurements.Filed and published 2020-03-12.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5348982A | Slurry bubble column (C-2391) | 306 |
| 2 | CN107563051A | 微界面强化反应器气泡尺度构效调控模型建模方法 | 304 |
| 3 | US6861494B2 | Polyester process using a pipe reactor | 213 |
| 4 | US20170341942A1 | Methods and systems for large scale carbon dioxide utilization from lake KIVU via a co2 industrial utilizatio… | 208 |
| 5 | WO2006008251A2 | Process for the photoactivation and use of a catalyst by an inverted two-stage procedure | 196 |
| 6 | US4826799A | Shaped catalyst and process for making it | 194 |
| 7 | US4816121A | Gas phase chemical reactor | 190 |
| 8 | WO2005103106A1 | Method of producing polymeric particles with selected size, shape, morphology and composition | 188 |
| 9 | US6894183B2 | Method for gas-solid contacting in a bubbling fluidized bed reactor | 183 |
| 10 | US20100224365A1 | Method of treating a subterranean formation and forming treatment fluids using chemo-mathematical models and … | 166 |
Citation counts reflect activity inside this searched corpus and skew toward older, more-established filings — treat them as a signal of influence rather than current importance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once the assignee ranking, IPC mix and receiving-office data are read together.
No single company controls the field
The leader holds 311 records, but the gap to fifth place (67) and tenth place (45) is steep. With three-quarters of records held outside the top 10, freedom-to-operate analysis has to look well beyond the largest filers.
Activity has pulled back from its 2023 peak
Filings climbed steadily through the late 2010s and peaked at 158 in 2023 before easing. The decline predates the most recent, still-incomplete publication years, so it reflects a real cooling rather than a data artefact.
Catalysis and physical process claims dominate
B01J and C07C together touch the majority of records, signalling that catalytic process control and carbocyclic/acyclic compound chemistry are the most heavily claimed territory. Separation (B01D) and fermentation (C12P) classes are present but far less crowded.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to reaction engineering patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company | MANZER LEO ERNEST | 69 |
| MANZER LEO ERNEST | DAMORE MICHAEL B | 65 |
| E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company | DAMORE MICHAEL B | 46 |
| MANZER LEO ERNEST | KNAPP JEFFREY P | 46 |
| DAMORE MICHAEL B | KNAPP JEFFREY P | 46 |
| E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company | KNAPP JEFFREY P | 27 |
| MANZER LEO ERNEST | MILLER JR EDWARD S | 25 |
| DAMORE MICHAEL B | MILLER JR EDWARD S | 25 |
Ten co-assignee pairs appear in the data, with the strongest pairing linked across 69 shared records — evidence of sustained joint filing rather than one-off collaboration.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
The ranked assignee list spans 100 companies, from a leader with 311 records down to single-digit filers. Momentum data shows the largest historical filers with zero activity in the latest year, which is as much a sign of publication lag as of strategic pullback.
A large but not dominant top filer
The top-ranked assignee holds 311 of 3,624 records, well ahead of fifth place at 67 — but even combined, the top 5 account for under a fifth of the field.
A tight band behind the leader
Ranks five through ten sit close together, between 45 and 67 records each, suggesting a group of established filers rather than a sharp drop-off after the top name.
Most filings come from outside the ranked leaders
Three-quarters of records sit outside the top 10 assignees, spread across the remaining ranked companies and unranked filers — consistent with a field still open to new entrants.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company | 0 | — |
| ExxonMobil Technology & Engineering Company | 0 | — |
| MANZER LEO ERNEST | 0 | — |
| ExxonMobil Chemical Patents Inc. | 0 | — |
| Engelhard Corporation | 0 | — |
| DAMORE MICHAEL B | 0 | — |
| GranBio Intellectual Property Holdings, LLC | 0 | -100% |
| Eastman Chemical Company | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, white-space scouting or competitor tracking.
Map claims against the long tail
With 75% of records held outside the top 10 assignees, a freedom-to-operate check needs to reach beyond the largest filers into the ranked mid-tier and unranked entrants.
Explore assignee detail in EurekaWatch the under-claimed IPC branches
Fermentation, inorganic reaction media and hybrid separation-reaction claims sit well below the catalysis and hydrocarbon core, and may offer more room to file distinct claims.
Run a white-space search in EurekaTrack momentum once 2025-2026 fills in
The recorded decline from 2021 to 2024 is real, but the most recent two years are still incomplete. Re-check the trend once publication catches up before drawing conclusions about direction.
Set a filing-trend alert in EurekaCommon questions about reaction engineering patents
The ranked assignee list covers 100 companies, led by a single company holding 311 of the 3,624 records in scope. The gap to the fifth-ranked assignee (67 records) and tenth-ranked (45 records) is substantial, but even combined, the top 10 account for only 25.0% of all records. This means the field is led by a small group of large chemical, refining and specialty-materials companies, but is not controlled by them — most filings come from outside that group.
Filings rose from 104 in 2017 to a peak of 158 in 2023, then declined to 75 by 2024 — a 27% drop from the 2021 level of 103. That decline is measured only through 2024, the last year with reasonably complete publication data; 2025 and 2026 figures will rise as pending applications publish, since publication typically lags filing by about 18 months. Treat the recent pullback as real but not yet fully resolved.
Catalysis and physical/chemical process claims under IPC class B01J are the largest single category, touching 35.2% of the 3,624 records. Acyclic and carbocyclic compound chemistry (C07C) follows at 24.4%. Addition polymers, heterocyclic compounds, separation processes, hydrocarbon refining, fermentation and inorganic compounds each appear in roughly 7-11% of records, and because a single record can carry several IPC codes these shares do not sum to 100%.
Relative to the dense catalysis and hydrocarbon core, classes like C12P (fermentation and enzymatic synthesis) at 7.2% and C01B (non-metallic inorganic compounds) at 6.9% carry noticeably fewer records. Cross-cutting claims that combine reactor control with fermentation processes, or that pair separation unit operations directly with reaction steps, appear less crowded than single-discipline catalysis claims. These are reasonable starting points for a novelty search rather than confirmed gaps, since density alone does not prove an area is unclaimed.
The United States receives the largest volume at 1,071 filings, followed by the European Patent Office at 578 and the WIPO PCT route at 483. Canada, Australia and India each show 168-207 filings. This spread indicates that most applicants are pursuing US protection first and using the PCT and EPO routes for broader international coverage, with secondary filing in Canada, Australia and India.
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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.