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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/residue-upgrading-and-heavy-oil-hydroprocessing-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Oil Refining & LubricantsResidue Upgrading and Heavy Oil Hydroprocessing Patents
- One assignee dominates the ranking. the leader holds 14 records against a long tail where fifth and tenth place each sit at 2, a pattern of one strong filer surrounded by occasional entrants rather than a competitive cluster.
- Filings have not kept pace with the 2017 peak of 7. the 2021-to-2024 span shows a -100% change, and since 2024 is the last year publication lag lets us treat as complete, that drop should be read as a real slowdown in completed filings, not noise.
- C10G carries the field almost alone. 82.9% of the 35 records in scope sit in hydrocarbon oil refining classes, while separation (B01D) and catalysis (B01J) trail well behind, at 17.1% and 22.9% respectively.
35
Published Records
-100%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
15
Active Filers Ranked
Filing growth compares 2021 (3 records) with 2024 (0) — 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.
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What this landscape covers
This review tracks patent filings at the intersection of residue hydroprocessing and heavy oil upgrading, narrowed to records that address asphaltene precipitation, metal removal, ebullated bed reactor operation, sediment formation, conversion limits or catalyst replacement rate. The scope is deliberately technical rather than commercial: it captures process and catalyst claims aimed at converting the heaviest fractions of crude into usable products, not general refining equipment.
The dataset spans 35 published records filed between 2015 and 2026, with the 2026 count necessarily partial because publication trails filing by roughly a year and a half. Coverage runs across United States, PCT, Canadian, European, Indian and South Korean filings, giving a reasonably international view of where this work is being protected.
Filing activity and technology mix, 2015–2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Residue Upgrading and Heavy Oil Hydroprocessing 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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The Data
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 35-record set: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claims.
A 2017 peak that has not been matched since
Filings peaked at 7 in 2017. The 2021-to-2024 window recorded a -100% change, the last stretch long enough for publication lag to have settled, which points to genuinely thinner recent filing rather than an artefact of recency.
Concentrated in refining, thin elsewhere
C10G (hydrocarbon oils and refining) appears in 82.9% of the 35 records, far ahead of B01J catalysis (22.9%), B01D separation (17.1%), C09K materials (11.4%) and C10L fuels (11.4%). E21B well and drilling classification appears in a single record, marking it as a minor edge case rather than a real branch.
Shares are the percentage of the 35 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 Residue Upgrading and Heavy Oil Hydroprocessing covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
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The most-cited records in this set
Representative filing
Process for Recycling an Active Slurry Catalyst Composition in Heavy Oil Upgrading
CHEVRON U.S.A. INC
The instant invention is directed to a process employing slurry catalyst compositions in the upgrading of heavy oils. The slurry catalyst composition is not permitted to settle, which would result in possible deactivation. The slurry is recycled to an upgrading reactor for repeated use and products require no further separation procedures for catalyst removal.US20090050526A1, filed by Chevron U.S.A. Inc., published 2009-02-26.
Highest-citation documents
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US7431824B2 | Process for recycling an active slurry catalyst composition in heavy oil upgrading | 52 |
| 2 | WO2015023842A2 | Viscosity reduction of heavy oils by cashew nut shell liquid formulations | 36 |
| 3 | US20060054533A1 | Process for recycling an active slurry catalyst composition in heavy oil upgrading | 28 |
| 4 | US20160200995A1 | Viscosity reduction of heavy oils by cashew nut shell liquid formulations | 20 |
| 5 | US20200123456A1 | System for conversion of crude oil to petrochemicals and fuel products integrating vacuum residue hydroproces… | 11 |
| 6 | US20180155641A1 | Process and system for conversion of crude oil to petrochemicals and fuel products integrating vacuum residue… | 11 |
| 7 | US10487276B2 | Process and system for conversion of crude oil to petrochemicals and fuel products integrating vacuum residue… | 9 |
| 8 | US7972499B2 | Process for recycling an active slurry catalyst composition in heavy oil upgrading | 8 |
| 9 | US20210403817A1 | Process for heavy oil upgrading utilizing hydrogen and water | 6 |
| 10 | US11162039B1 | Systems and processes integrating hydroprocessing and an aromatics recovery complex for separating and upgrad… | 6 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus and skew toward older filings; read them as historical signal, not current relevance.
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 Residue Upgrading and Heavy Oil Hydroprocessing 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 a filing decision
Three read-outs from the ranking, the trend and the citation table, framed for someone deciding where to file next.
Concentration
14 vs. 2
leader vs. fifth place
One filer, then a long tail
The ranked leader holds 14 records while fifth and tenth place each hold only 2. That gap suggests most of the claim space around slurry catalyst recycling and related process control has been staked out by a single filer, with everyone else contributing isolated filings rather than a sustained programme.
Based on the 15-company ranking returned for this dataset.
Momentum
-100%
2021 to 2024
A real slowdown, not a lag artefact
Filing fell from 3 in 2021 to 0 in 2024, and 2024 is the last year clean enough to read past publication lag. That makes the drop a defensible signal that active filing in this niche has thinned, rather than a symptom of recent records still filtering into the database.
2025 and 2026 are excluded from this reading because of publication lag.
Technology mix
82.9%
of 35 records in C10G
Refining claims dwarf adjacent processes
C10G alone covers the large majority of records, while separation, catalysis, materials and fuels classes each sit well under a quarter of the set. Claims specific to sediment or metal separation equipment, rather than the refining process itself, are comparatively rare.
Class shares sum above 100% because records can carry multiple IPC codes.
Influence
52 citations
top-cited record
Older slurry-catalyst filings still anchor the field
The most-cited record, on recycling an active slurry catalyst composition, and its related family member together account for the two highest citation counts in the set. Citation weight this concentrated in a handful of older documents means newer entrants are filing in the shadow of well-established prior art rather than open ground.
Citation counts favour older filings within the searched corpus.
Eureka AI Agent
Looking for what nobody has claimed yet?
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to residue upgrading and heavy oil hydroprocessing, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Residue Upgrading and Heavy Oil Hydroprocessing 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
Who's Filing
Assignee landscape
Fifteen companies make up the full ranking returned for this dataset. One name accounts for the bulk of activity; the rest file occasionally and sometimes jointly.
Leader
14 records
ranked #1
A single dominant filer
The top-ranked assignee holds 14 of the records in this ranking, filing across slurry catalyst recycling, metal removal and related process control. Its co-assignee pairings with related service and individual-inventor entities suggest an internal programme with named engineers credited alongside the corporate filer.
Strongest co-assignee pairing in the set: 3 shared records.
Mid-tier filers
2 records
fifth and tenth place
Occasional, not sustained, activity
Fifth and tenth place in the ranking each hold only 2 records, a pattern consistent with companies patenting a specific process improvement rather than running a continuous filing programme in this niche.
Based on the 15-company ranking, not a top-50 or top-100 cut.
Latest-year activity
0
for every tracked assignee
No fresh filings yet visible from any major filer
Every assignee tracked for recent-year momentum, including the leader, shows 0 filings in the latest year. Given publication lag, this is more likely incomplete data than a genuine halt, but it means the most recent competitive picture is still forming.
Read alongside the 18-month publication lag noted for the overall trend.
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Saudi Aramco) | 0 | — |
| Chevron U.S.A. Inc. | 0 | — |
| ETHICAL SOLUTIONS LLC | 0 | — |
| Council of Scientific & Industrial Research | 0 | — |
| Saudi Aramco Services Company | 0 | — |
| Ethical Solutions LLC | 0 | — |
| CHEN KAIDONG | 0 | — |
| CHABOT JULIE | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Residue Upgrading and Heavy Oil Hydroprocessing 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
The ranking and trend point to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate or finding open claim space.
Check freedom-to-operate against the leader's portfolio
With one assignee holding 14 of 35 records, any new slurry-catalyst or metal-removal process should be checked against that portfolio specifically, not just the field average.
Run a freedom-to-operate check in EurekaProbe the under-claimed branches before drafting
Sediment sensing, catalyst regeneration and viscosity co-formulations show thinner coverage than core C10G refining claims, which may leave room for a first-mover claim.
Explore white space in EurekaWatch for the next filing wave once lag clears
Every tracked assignee shows zero filings in the latest year, a figure publication lag makes unreliable; revisit this ranking once 2025 and 2026 records finish publishing.
Set a monitoring alert in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Residue Upgrading and Heavy Oil Hydroprocessing 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 this landscape
One assignee leads the ranking with 14 of the 35 records in this dataset, well ahead of the rest of the field where fifth and tenth place each hold only 2 records. That gap indicates a single company has built a sustained filing programme around slurry catalyst recycling and related process control, while other filers appear with isolated, one-off filings. Anyone assessing competitive risk in this space should treat that leader's portfolio as the primary reference point rather than averaging across the full ranking.
Filing peaked at 7 records in 2017 and has not returned to that level since. Between 2021 and 2024, the last year clean enough to read past publication lag, filings fell 100%, from 3 down to 0. That is a genuine slowdown in completed filings rather than an artefact of recent data still being published, though it is worth revisiting once 2025 and 2026 records finish appearing.
Hydrocarbon oil refining, IPC class C10G, appears in 82.9% of the 35 records in scope, making it by far the largest single category. Catalysis-related classes (B01J) and separation processes (B01D) appear in 22.9% and 17.1% of records respectively, with fuels and materials classes trailing further behind. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC codes, these shares add up to more than 100%, and they show that claims center on the refining process itself rather than downstream separation or materials handling.
US20090050526A1, assigned to Chevron U.S.A. Inc., claims a process for recycling an active slurry catalyst composition in heavy oil upgrading without letting the catalyst settle, avoiding a separate catalyst-removal step. It and a closely related family member together carry the highest citation counts in this dataset, meaning later filings in the slurry-catalyst space have had to draft around this prior art. Anyone working on continuous slurry catalyst recycling should review this filing's claim scope directly rather than relying on citation count alone as a proxy for current relevance.
The technology composition shows filings clustering heavily in core refining process claims (C10G) with much thinner coverage in specific sub-areas such as sediment-formation sensing, catalyst replacement-rate scheduling and metal-removal media regeneration. These sub-areas show up in the dataset but do not carry anywhere near the density of the core refining classes, suggesting room for narrowly drafted claims that the dominant filer's broader process patents may not cover. Confirming that gap requires checking the leading assignee's specific claim language, not just its record count.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Residue Upgrading and Heavy Oil Hydroprocessing 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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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.