RO Desalination Digital Twin Patent Snapshot 2026
The RO desalination digital twin patent space is nascent but expanding on a multi-year basis, with 10 patent families filed by a small cohort of specialized applicants led by Veolia Water Solutions and Synauta Inc. Activity is heavily concentrated in the United States and dominated by separation-process and water-treatment classifications, with digital-computing branches remaining materially under-represented.
A nascent field led by Veolia and Synauta, with high applicant concentration
Two applicants — Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies Support SAS and Synauta Inc — each hold 3 patent families, together accounting for the visible share of the ten-family corpus. Dehlsen Associates of the Pacific Ltd follows with 2 patent families, while Hebei University of Technology, Ecolab USA Inc, and Alliance for Energy Innovation LLC each hold 1.
The top five filers account for 91% of the ranked applicants visible in this query’ combined total, signaling an exceptionally concentrated visible assignee structure with a steep tier gap between the top two and all others. This level of concentration is typical of a very early-stage field where a handful of pioneers define the initial claim space.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VEOLIA WATER SOLUTIONS & TECHNOLOGIES SUPPORT SAS | 3 | |
| 2 | Synauta Inc | 3 | |
| 3 | Dehlsen Associates of the Pacific Ltd | 2 | |
| 4 | Hebei University of Technology | 1 | |
| 5 | Ecolab USA Inc | 1 | |
| 6 | Alliance for Energy Innovation LLC | 1 |
The positions of Veolia and Synauta — both new entrants on momentum measures — suggest that incumbency advantage is still being established, leaving meaningful room for fast followers who can differentiate on digital modeling depth or system-integration scope.
The most recent 18–24 months of filing data are subject to publication lag and should be treated as under-counted; the true volume for 2024–2025 is likely higher than current records indicate. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Multi-year growth with separation-process patents dominating the technology mix
The annual filing trend reveals a field that launched in 2021 and has maintained activity since, while the technology composition chart shows that membrane-separation and water-treatment classifications overwhelm digital-computing branches.
Annual filing trend
No filings were recorded before 2021, after which activity jumped to 3 families and has continued at low but persistent levels. The field is still expanding on a multi-year basis — recent three-year filings sit 67% above the prior three-year window — though annual volume has eased from its 2021 peak. Data for 2024 and 2025 are understated due to publication lag.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
B01D (separation processes, including filtration and reverse osmosis) covers all 10 patent families and is the defining classification. C02F (water and wastewater treatment) covers 9. Business and commerce data processing (G06Q) appears in 3 records, while electric digital data processing (G06F) and computational chemistry (G16C) each appear in only 1, revealing that the ‘digital twin’ computing layer remains under-patented relative to the physical process layer.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Apparatus and methods for cleaning reverse osmosis…
Apparatus and processes for controlling a reverse osmosis system for water desalination to reduce energy consumption. The system has a controller configured to receive information from the sensor array and determine a fouling parameter for each reverse-osmosis stage based on one or more of: an A-Value, a B-value and a normalized differential pressure. The… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Method for inhibiting scale formation and/or dispe… | 91 |
| 2 | Apparatus and methods for cleaning reverse osmosis… | 8 |
| 3 | Wind-Powered Direct Air Carbon Dioxide Capture Dev… | 5 |
| 4 | Systems and methods for organic acid recovery | 1 |
| 5 | Wind-Powered Direct Air Carbon Dioxide Capture for… | 1 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
Assignee snapshot from the current evidence set
The applicants below are visible in this query result. Because the evidence set is relatively small, read this section as a directional snapshot rather than a full competitive ranking.
Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies Support SAS
Holds 3 patent families concentrated in B01D 61 and B01D 65 (membrane separation processes) and C02F 1 (water treatment), indicating a focus on process-layer digital twins for RO membrane performance and fouling management. Momentum is flagged as a new entrant, meaning all activity falls within the recent filing window — positioning Veolia as a first-mover rather than a legacy holder.
families: 3Dehlsen Associates of the Pacific Ltd
Holds 2 patent families with a distinctive technology emphasis spanning B01D 61, B01D 63 (membrane modules), and B63B 1 (ships and marine vessels), suggesting a focus on offshore or vessel-mounted RO desalination digital twin systems — a differentiated niche not addressed by the other leaders. Also flagged as a new entrant, with recent filings consistent with this positioning.
families: 2Frequently asked questions
The corpus currently contains 10 patent families. This is a very small and nascent body of prior art, indicating that the field is in an early growth stage with significant room for new foundational filings.
Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies Support SAS and Synauta Inc are tied at 3 patent families each, making them co-leaders. Dehlsen Associates of the Pacific Ltd follows with 2 families.
No filings were recorded before 2021, when 3 families were filed in a single year. Activity has continued since at low but persistent levels, with the most recent years likely under-counted due to publication lag.
The United States is visible in with 7 patent records. Single records each appear in the UAE, Australia, China, and India, suggesting that international portfolio strategies are still underdeveloped in this field.
B01D (separation processes, primarily reverse osmosis membranes) covers all 10 patent families and is the defining class. C02F (water and wastewater treatment) covers 9. Digital computing branches such as G06F and G16C each cover only 1 record, revealing that the software and modeling layers are materially under-patented.
No co-applicant filings were identified in the current corpus. The absence of collaboration records suggests the field has not yet attracted the cross-sector partnerships that are common in more mature technology areas.
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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.
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