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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/regenerative-thermal-oxidizers-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Environmental & Water TreatmentRegenerative Thermal Oxidizer Patents: Who Holds the Core Claims
- Filing peaked in 2021 at 52 records, then fell 69% to 16 by 2024 — the last year the data can be read as complete.
- 42.6% of all 612 records sit with just five assignees, but the ranking runs 100 companies deep with a long single-filer tail below them.
- F23G incinerator claims cover 58.7% of records, while valve switching (F16K) and heat-exchange apparatus (F28D) sit well under 15% — that gap is where the openings are.
612
Published Records
43%
Top-5 Share of All Records
-69%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (52 records) with 2024 (16) — 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 612 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What the regenerative thermal oxidizer patent record shows
Regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) patenting sits at the intersection of combustion engineering, ceramic materials and process control. The claim set spans incinerator and waste-burning design, heat-exchange media, and the valve switching mechanisms that route flow between ceramic beds. This dataset covers 612 published records filed between 2015 and mid-2026 under a search built around destruction removal efficiency, heat recovery, ceramic media, valve switching, fuel consumption and bake-out cycle terms.
Filing activity rose through the late 2010s, peaked in 2021, and has since declined — a pattern consistent with a technology whose core mechanical architecture is now well staked out, even as specific implementations (media coatings, control logic, multi-chamber configurations) keep generating new filings. Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent one to two years in any trend chart will always look thinner than they eventually turn out to be.
Filing activity and technology composition, 2017-2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
The Data
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 612-record set: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how records distribute across IPC subclasses. Because a single record can carry several IPC codes, the subclass shares add up to well over 100% of the record total — that is expected and does not indicate double-counting.
A sharp rise, then a pullback from a 2021 peak
Filings climbed from 4 in 2017 to a peak of 52 in 2021, then fell 69% to 16 by 2024 — the most recent year the trend can be treated as complete. 2025 and 2026 figures will fill in as publication catches up; they should not yet be read as a continued decline.
Incineration design dominates; valve and heat-exchange hardware trail
F23G (incinerators & waste burning) appears in 58.7% of the 612 records, well ahead of B01D separation processes at 26.8% and F27D furnace details at 20.4%. F16K valves (13.9%) and F28D heat-exchange apparatus (11.8%) — the mechanical heart of an RTO's bed-switching cycle — carry proportionally fewer filings, suggesting more room to claim novel switching and heat-transfer hardware than novel combustion chamber design.
Shares are the percentage of the 612 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
Go deeper on Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about regenerative thermal oxidizers and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaKey Patents
The most-cited records in this space
Representative Filing
Heat Exchange Media For Managing Silica Build-Up In A Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer
GRECO, RICHARD
A heat-exchange medium for use in a regenerative thermal oxidizer has a coating of potassium aluminum silicate which prevents the build-up of silicon dioxide from processed gas on the surface of the ceramic heat-exchange media.Filed by Richard Greco, published 2010-06-24 as US20100155038A1 — illustrates how narrowly a single coating chemistry can be claimed against a specific fouling mechanism.
View full filingHighest-cited RTO patents in scope
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6423284B1 | Fluorine abatement using steam injection in oxidation treatment of semiconductor manufacturing effluent gases | 262 |
| 2 | US4941415A | Municipal waste thermal oxidation system | 101 |
| 3 | US6302188B1 | Multi-layer heat exchange bed containing structured media and randomly packed media | 64 |
| 4 | US6261092B1 | Switching valve | 60 |
| 5 | US6039927A | Valve system for regenerative thermal oxidizers | 59 |
| 6 | US20090136406A1 | Flameless thermal oxidation method | 51 |
| 7 | US5837205A | Bypass system and method for regenerative thermal oxidizers | 51 |
| 8 | US20080223268A1 | Freefall pyrolytic oven | 46 |
| 9 | US6213758B1 | Burner air/fuel ratio regulation method and apparatus | 46 |
| 10 | US5620668A | Annular air distributor for regenerative thermal oxidizers | 46 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older filings that have had more time to accumulate references — treat them as a signal of influence on later filers, not as a measure of current commercial importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the numbers mean for filing strategy
Three patterns stand out once the record set is broken down by year, class and assignee concentration.
Filing Momentum
-69%
2021 → 2024
The 2021 peak has not been sustained
Filings rose from 4 in 2017 to a peak of 52 in 2021, then fell to 16 by 2024 — a 69% drop over that three-year span. That is the last window with a complete publication record; 2025-2026 counts will still rise as later filings publish.
Read as consolidation, not as the field closing.
Concentration
42.6%
of 612 records
The top five hold a large but not dominant share
The top five assignees combined account for 261 of 612 records in scope, 42.6% of the total. The ranking runs 100 companies deep, so a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants sits beneath a moderately concentrated top.
Room remains outside the leading names.
Technology Split
58.7% vs 11.8%
F23G vs F28D
Combustion design is crowded; heat-exchange hardware less so
F23G incinerator and waste-burning claims cover 58.7% of the 612 records, while F28D heat-exchange apparatus sits at only 11.8% and F16K valves at 13.9%. The mechanical components that actually cycle an RTO's ceramic beds are comparatively under-claimed relative to combustion chamber design.
A narrower but more open filing lane.
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Looking for what nobody has claimed yet?
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to regenerative thermal oxidizers, with the prior art for and against each one.
Co-assignee activity is limited
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Megtec Systems Inc. | Babcock & Wilcox Megtec LLC | 11 |
| NESTER JAMES L | REIMLINGER RICK | 10 |
| Megtec Systems Inc. | Durr Systems Inc. | 9 |
| Durr Systems Inc. | Babcock & Wilcox Megtec LLC | 9 |
| Megtec Systems Inc. | BRIA MICHAEL P | 3 |
| Megtec Systems Inc. | SCHNEIDER RANDALL M | 2 |
| Megtec Systems Inc. | GLENN GEORGE D | 2 |
| Durr Systems Inc. | HARBISON GORDON MATTHEW | 2 |
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, with the strongest pairings linking a small number of established combustion-equipment firms and individual inventors — most filings in this field are single-assignee.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Players
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
The leader holds 147 records against a fifth-place figure of 12 and a tenth-place figure of 9 — a steep drop-off that signals one clearly dominant filer above a much flatter field of specialists and industrial gas or waste-heat contractors.
Leader
147 records
vs 12 at fifth place
One filer well ahead of the pack
The top-ranked assignee holds 147 records, more than ten times the count at fifth place (12). That gap is unusually steep and suggests a foundational equipment portfolio built up over years rather than recent aggressive filing.
Recent-year momentum for this filer reads as zero, consistent with a mature, already-staked position.
Mid-Tier
12 → 9
5th to 10th place
A flatter field below the leader
From fifth place (12 records) to tenth place (9 records) the counts flatten out, pointing to a cluster of established combustion and waste-heat equipment makers each holding a modest, comparable slice rather than a second dominant player.
No single challenger stands out in this band.
Long Tail
100 companies ranked
in the assignee ranking
A wide base of smaller filers
The ranking returned by the dataset covers 100 companies, the full set the endpoint provides. Most of them sit well below the top ten, filing occasionally rather than building a defensive thicket — that is where new entrants typically appear first.
Not a top-50 or top-100 cut; this is the complete ranked list returned.
Recent-year filing momentum by leading assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Megtec Systems Inc. | 0 | — |
| Honeywell International Inc. | 0 | — |
| WTE Waste to Energy Canada Inc. | 0 | — |
| TPC Group LLC | 0 | — |
| Durr Systems Inc. | 0 | — |
| Babcock & Wilcox Megtec LLC | 0 | — |
| NESTER JAMES L | 0 | — |
| John Zink Company LLC | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
What's Next
Where to take this next
The dataset points to specific follow-up questions rather than a single conclusion.
Track the 2025-2026 publication catch-up
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the apparent decline after 2021 needs re-checking once 2025 and 2026 records finish publishing before drawing conclusions about the field slowing.
Monitor filing trends in EurekaMap claims against the under-claimed valve and heat-exchange classes
F16K and F28D carry far fewer records than F23G combustion design, which is where a freedom-to-operate check is most likely to turn up open space rather than dense prior art.
Run a claim-level search in EurekaWatch the long tail below the top ten
With a 100-company ranking and a flat mid-tier from fifth to tenth place, new competitive entrants are more likely to surface among smaller, occasional filers than from the already-dominant leader.
Build an assignee watchlist in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions about RTO patents
One assignee leads clearly with 147 records in this dataset, more than ten times the count held by the fifth-ranked filer (12 records). Below that leader the field flattens quickly, with fifth through tenth place clustering between 12 and 9 records each. The ranking overall covers 100 companies, so beyond the leader this is a moderately fragmented field rather than a duopoly or a tight cartel of patents.
Filings rose from 4 in 2017 to a peak of 52 in 2021, then fell 69% to 16 by 2024 — the last year with a reasonably complete publication record. That drop reads as consolidation around an established mechanical architecture rather than the technology disappearing, since companies keep filing on specific media, coatings and control logic. Figures for 2025 and 2026 will still rise as later filings publish, given the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication.
F23G, covering incinerators and waste burning, appears in 58.7% of the 612 records in scope, making it the single largest technology bucket. B01D separation processes (26.8%) and F27D furnace details (20.4%) follow. Valve switching (F16K, 13.9%) and heat-exchange apparatus (F28D, 11.8%) — the components that actually cycle an RTO between ceramic beds — carry proportionally fewer filings, which is worth noting for anyone assessing where claim space is still open.
The IPC composition points to valve switching mechanisms and heat-exchange bed hardware as comparatively under-claimed relative to combustion chamber design: F16K and F28D each sit under 15% of records versus F23G's 58.7%. Ceramic media coatings aimed at specific fouling mechanisms, such as the silica build-up addressed in US20100155038A1, are narrow enough that adjacent coating chemistries or fouling mechanisms may remain open. Any freedom-to-operate check should weigh these branches separately from the crowded combustion-design core.
The top five assignees combined hold 261 of the 612 records in scope, 42.6% of the total, and the top ten hold 311 records, 50.8% of the total. That is meaningful concentration but not dominance — roughly half of all records sit outside the ten most active filers, spread across a ranking of 100 companies with a long tail of occasional filers below the leaders.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Research Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole regenerative thermal oxidizers corpus yourself, in your own scope.
Every answer comes back with patent numbers you can open.
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.