RO Desalination Modeling Patent Snapshot 2026
RO desalination modeling is a concentrated, growth-stage field dominated by a small number of applicants — DESALITECH and Ebara Corporation together account for the majority of activity among the top filers. The United States is the primary filing jurisdiction, and the field is expanding on a multi-year basis with a 20% recent growth rate.
DESALITECH leads a highly concentrated field
DESALITECH holds the top position in the applicant ranking with 16 patent records, followed by Ebara Corporation with 13 patent records and Innovator Energy LLC with 7 patent records — establishing a clear three-tier hierarchy among active filers.
The top five filers account for 56% of the combined total among the ranked applicants visible in this query, signaling high concentration. A meaningful gap separates the top three from remaining applicants, most of whom hold only one or two patent records each.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DESALITECH | 16 | |
| 2 | Ebara Corporation | 13 | |
| 3 | Innovator Energy LLC | 7 | |
| 4 | Chevron USA Inc. | 3 | |
| 5 | Tianjin Polytechnic University | 2 | |
| 6 | Swing Corp | 2 | |
| 7 | Siemens Industry Inc. | 2 | |
| 8 | Hubei RT Advanced Materials Co., Ltd. | 2 | |
| 9 | Jiangsu UNSW CTET (Yixing) Co., Ltd. | 2 | |
| 10 | Chongqing University | 2 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Cangzhou Institute of Tiangong University | 1 | |
| 12 | Soochow University | 1 | |
| 13 | Pani Energy Inc. | 1 | |
| 14 | IBM Corporation | 1 | |
| 15 | LG Chem Ltd. | 1 | |
| 16 | Gulf Advanced Desalination Technologies Inc. | 1 | |
| 17 | Huaneng Power International Energy Development Co., Ltd. | 1 | |
| 18 | Zhao Xinzhi | 1 | |
| 19 | Huaneng Nanjing Thermal Power Co., Ltd. | 1 | |
| 20 | The Research Foundation for the State University of New York | 1 |
DESALITECH’s lead — built primarily on closed-circuit desalination apparatus and variable-pressure system patents — gives it a strong prior-art position that would require sustained investment to challenge directly. Ebara Corporation’s comparable focus on separation processes and water treatment indicates a similarly entrenched position.
Filing counts for the most recent 18–24 months are likely understated due to standard patent publication lag; current activity is probably higher than the raw numbers suggest. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Activity is growing with a strong digital-modeling overlay emerging
The annual filing trend and technology composition charts together reveal a field that is expanding on a multi-year basis while beginning to attract computational and AI-driven approaches alongside the visible membrane-separation and water-treatment work.
Annual filing trend
Filings were modest and variable from 2017 through 2023, then accelerated sharply with 10 patent records in 2024. The 2025 and 2026 counts are understated by publication lag and should not be read as a slowdown — the field’s lifecycle is assessed as Growth with a 20% recent growth rate.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
Water and wastewater treatment (C02F) and separation processes (B01D) together are visible in the technology mix, reflecting the core membrane-process focus. Digital data processing (G06F) and AI-based computing (G06N) appear as smaller but distinct branches, indicating early-stage integration of simulation and machine-learning tools into desalination system design.
↗ 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.
Seawater desalination system and energy recovery a…
The present invention relates to a seawater desalination system for desalinating seawater by removing salinity from the seawater and an energy recovery apparatus which is preferably used in the seawater desalination system. The energy recovery apparatus includes a cylindrical chamber (CH) being installed such that a longitudinal direction of the chamber is… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apparatus for continuous closed circuit desalinati… | 41 |
| 2 | Variable pressure closed circuit desalination | 39 |
| 3 | Apparatus for continuous closed circuit desalinati… | 37 |
| 4 | Systems and methods for ammonia recovery, acid gas… | 33 |
| 5 | Continuous closed-circuit desalination apparatus w… | 14 |
| 6 | Method for improving the percent recovery and wate… | 12 |
| 7 | Seawater desalination system and energy recovery a… | 12 |
| 8 | On-line performance management of membrane separat… | 9 |
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.
What the competitive structure means for R&D investment
The combination of high concentration, growth-stage dynamics, limited collaboration, and an emerging computational branch shapes a specific set of strategic considerations for engineers and IP teams.
Growth stage with accelerating annual filings
The lifecycle is assessed as Growth, with annual filings still rising and the most recent period understated by publication lag. The 2024 spike to 10 patent records in a single year marks the most active period on record for this corpus. Entry barriers remain lower than in a mature, crowded field, but the window for establishing foundational positions is narrowing as concentration increases.
Growth stageTwo incumbents hold a commanding prior-art position
DESALITECH and Ebara Corporation together are visible in the top of the ranking, and the top five filers account for 56% of the combined total among the ranked applicants visible in this query. Any new entrant targeting core closed-circuit or separation-process claims will face a dense prior-art landscape from these two players. Differentiation via computational modeling, digital twins, or AI-driven optimization offers a more open path.
High concentrationCollaboration is nascent and limited to Chinese applicant pairs
Three co-filing relationships are recorded: Chongqing University with the Chongqing Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Chongqing University with an individual inventor, and Jiangsu UNSW CTET (Yixing) Co. Ltd. with China Coal Tech & Engineering Group Hangzhou Environmental P. All three are single co-filed records each, suggesting that cross-institutional collaboration in this field is early-stage and geographically clustered rather than a broad ecosystem phenomenon.
Early collaborationUS-visible filing with China as a rising second jurisdiction
The United States leads with 23 patent records, followed by China with 18 and WIPO (PCT) with 8. Europe (EPO) holds 7 records. The US-China split reflects the dual centers of gravity in both industrial water treatment and academic research in this space. PCT and EPO filings indicate that at least some applicants are pursuing multi-jurisdictional protection, though the overall corpus remains relatively compact.
US + China visibleGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
| Applicant | Collaborator | Co-filings |
|---|---|---|
| Chongqing University | Chongqing Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources | 1 |
| Chongqing University | Yang Demin | 1 |
| Jiangsu UNSW CTET (Yixing) Co., Ltd. | China Coal Tech & Engineering Group Hangzhou Research Institute Co., Ltd. | 1 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
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.
DESALITECH
DESALITECH holds the top position with 16 patent records, anchored in closed-circuit and variable-pressure desalination apparatus — the most-cited patents in this corpus are attributable to this body of work. Its portfolio is concentrated in core system architecture rather than computational modeling, giving it a strong but potentially narrow moat as digital approaches gain traction.
patent records: 16Ebara Corporation
Ebara Corporation holds 13 patent records with a dual focus on B01D separation processes and C02F water treatment — specifically sub-classes B01D 61 and C02F 1, each appearing 11 times in its tech profile. It also covers membrane module design (B01D 63) with 4 records. Ebara’s breadth across both process and equipment classification positions it as a comprehensive challenger across the separation and treatment stack.
patent records: 13Frequently asked questions
The corpus covers 31 patent families. Filing activity has grown 20% in the recent window, and the field is assessed as being in a Growth lifecycle stage.
DESALITECH leads the applicant ranking with 16 patent records, ahead of Ebara Corporation with 13 and Innovator Energy LLC with 7. The top five filers together account for 56% of the combined total among the ranked applicants visible in this query.
The United States leads with 23 patent records, followed by China with 18, WIPO (PCT) with 8, and Europe (EPO) with 7. Japan, Australia, India, and Singapore also appear in the jurisdiction distribution.
Water and wastewater treatment (C02F) and separation processes (B01D) are the visible IPC classes, reflecting the core membrane-process focus of most applicants. Digital data processing (G06F), AI computing models (G06N), and ammonia-related chemistry (C01C) appear at lower but notable levels.
Collaboration is limited. Three co-filing relationships are recorded, all involving Chinese institutions: Chongqing University paired with the Chongqing Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Chongqing University paired with an individual inventor, and Jiangsu UNSW CTET (Yixing) Co. Ltd. paired with China Coal Tech & Engineering Group Hangzhou Environmental P. Each collaboration covers a single co-filed record.
The most sparse adjacent branches relative to technical relevance are G06N (AI and machine-learning computing models, 3 patent records, 2% share) and G06F (digital data processing and simulation, 9 patent records, 7% share). Both represent early-stage intersections with the visible membrane-process work and offer entry paths with lower prior-art density than core closed-circuit or separation-process claims.
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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.
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