RO Membrane Fouling & Life Patent Landscape 2026
The RO membrane fouling and life-extension field is moderately concentrated, with Kurita Water Industries holding a clear lead and the top five filers accounting for roughly a quarter of the hundred largest filers’ combined activity. The field peaked in 2018 and annual volume has since eased, though the United States remains the dominant filing jurisdiction and corporate applicants continue to outpace academic entrants.
Kurita leads a moderately concentrated field with a clear tier gap
Kurita Water Industries holds the top position in applicant rankings, well ahead of the next tier comprising Toray Industries, Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies Support, BP Exploration Operating, and Ecolab USA.
The top five filers collectively represent approximately 24% of the hundred largest filers’ combined patent records, indicating moderate concentration — dominant enough for the leader to set directional standards, but open enough for challengers to stake out meaningful positions.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kurita Water Industries Ltd | 163 | |
| 2 | Toray Industries Inc | 92 | |
| 3 | VEOLIA WATER SOLUTIONS & TECHNOLOGIES SUPPORT SAS | 84 | |
| 4 | BP Exploration Operating Co Ltd | 74 | |
| 5 | Ecolab USA Inc | 49 | |
| 6 | Nitto Denko Corporation | 46 | |
| 7 | Water Standard Co LLC | 40 | |
| 8 | Nanyang Technological University | 39 | |
| 9 | IDE Water Technologies Ltd | 36 | |
| 10 | Aquatech International LLC | 36 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | The Regents of the University of California | 35 | |
| 12 | Organo Corporation | 34 | |
| 13 | BL Technology Inc | 32 | |
| 14 | General Electric Co | 31 | |
| 15 | Battelle Memorial Institute | 30 | |
| 16 | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engineering Ltd | 28 | |
| 17 | LG Chem Ltd | 28 | |
| 18 | Toray Advanced Materials Korea Inc | 28 | |
| 19 | Zenon Environmental Inc | 28 | |
| 20 | Hydranautics | 27 |
Kurita’s lead, reinforced by a positive recent momentum trend of plus 24%, signals active portfolio maintenance; by contrast, BP Exploration Operating and Veolia show declining momentum, suggesting portfolio consolidation or strategic exit from certain sub-areas.
The most recent 18–24 months of data are likely under-counted due to standard patent publication lag; the 2025 and 2026 filing figures should be treated as provisional. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Annual volume has eased from its 2018 peak; separation and water-treatment classes dominate the technology mix
The filing trend chart and the IPC composition chart together reveal both the pace of activity and the structural character of the field — one anchored firmly in filtration science and water chemistry.
Annual filing trend
Filings peaked at 218 records in 2018 and have trended lower since; the 2025 and 2026 bars are incomplete due to publication lag and should not be read as sustained decline. The multi-year window still covers substantial accumulated activity across 1,566 patent families in scope.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
B01D (separation processes / filtration) and C02F (water and wastewater treatment) dominate the IPC mix, together accounting for the large majority of classified records. Adjacent branches such as E21B (earth drilling / wells), B01J (chemical and physical processes), C11D (detergents and cleaning compositions), and A23L (foods and beverages) appear at noticeably lower counts, pointing to sector-specific applications of RO fouling control that remain comparatively under-served.
↗ 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 method for analyzing influence varia…
This disclosure relates to an apparatus and method for analyzing an influence variable on membrane fouling of a seawater desalination system, wherein influence variables other than variables having a low degree of influence, among variables affecting the membrane, are selected, and the influence thereof on membrane fouling is used to derive an equation. The… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | High water recovery membrane purification process | 341 |
| 2 | Water treatment process for membranes | 324 |
| 3 | Microfiltration enhanced reverse osmosis for water… | 252 |
| 4 | Method and apparatus for high efficiency reverse o… | 244 |
| 5 | Method and apparatus for high efficiency reverse o… | 229 |
| 6 | Highly permeable composite reverse osmosis membran… | 221 |
| 7 | Production of high purity water using reverse osmo… | 199 |
| 8 | Purification of gases from water using reverse osm… | 193 |
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 decisions
Four structural observations — maturity, concentration, collaboration patterns, and geographic footprint — together define the investment risk and entry calculus for this field.
Field is in decline phase from a 2018 peak
The lifecycle evidence indicates annual filings have been easing back from the 2018 peak of 218 records, consistent with a maturing, post-peak field. Core fouling-control and cleaning-chemistry approaches are well-documented in the prior art, raising freedom-to-operate risk for incremental R&D. New entrants should focus on differentiated sub-areas — such as sector-specific applications or novel membrane surface chemistries — rather than core antiscalant or CIP (clean-in-place) formulation work.
Post-peak · 2018 highModerate concentration with a visible tier gap below the leader
Kurita Water Industries holds a substantial lead in patent records over the next-ranked filers Toray Industries and Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies Support. The top five filers account for 24% of the hundred largest filers’ combined records, leaving roughly three-quarters distributed across a long tail of smaller applicants. This structure means the leader can credibly set technical benchmarks, but the tail still offers collaboration or acquisition targets for players seeking rapid portfolio build-out.
Top-5 share: 24%LG Chem–LG NanoH2O and Nitto Denko–Hydranautics are the most active co-filing pairs
The most frequent co-applicant pairings are LG Chem with LG NanoH2O (16 joint records) and Nitto Denko with Hydranautics (16 joint records), reflecting intra-group IP consolidation. Kurita Water Industries co-files with Nanyang Technological University (5 records) and with Kitakawa Industries (2 records), indicating selective academic and supply-chain partnerships. Nanyang Technological University also collaborates with Oxford University Innovation (1 record), pointing to an emerging academic cluster in membrane science.
Key pairs: LG, NittoUnited States leads filing activity; Middle East and Southeast Asia show notable presence
The United States is the leading jurisdiction by a wide margin, followed by Europe (EPO), China, and WIPO (PCT) filings. Australia, India, Israel, and Singapore also carry substantial patent-record counts, reflecting the commercial importance of desalination markets in water-stressed regions. Japan and South Korea are present but at lower volumes than their industrial footprint in membrane manufacturing might suggest, potentially indicating a preference for domestic-registry protection alone.
Lead: United StatesGo 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 |
|---|---|---|
| LG Chem Ltd | LG NanoH2O Inc | 16 |
| Nitto Denko Corporation | Hydranautics | 16 |
| Kurita Water Industries Ltd | Nanyang Technological University | 5 |
| General Electric Co | BL Technology Inc | 4 |
| BP Exploration Operating Co Ltd | BP America Inc | 3 |
| Kurita Water Industries Ltd | Kitakawa Industries Co Ltd | 2 |
| Kurita Water Industries Ltd | Shinshu University | 2 |
| Nanyang Technological University | Oxford University Innovation Ltd | 1 |
| Nitto Denko Corporation | Japan Science and Technology Institute Co Ltd | 1 |
| Nitto Denko Corporation | Shinmaywa Industries Ltd | 1 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Kurita leads on operational fouling control; Toray anchors membrane materials science
The two principal leaders occupy distinct but overlapping technical positions — one oriented toward system-level fouling management and chemical treatment, the other toward membrane structure and performance.
Kurita Water Industries
Kurita Water Industries holds 163 patent records, the highest in the ranking. Its portfolio is concentrated in B01D65 (membrane operation and fouling control), B01D61 (pressure-driven membrane processes), and C02F1 (water treatment), reflecting an end-to-end focus on RO system operation and chemical treatment programs. Recent momentum is positive at plus 24%, making Kurita the only top-five applicant showing meaningful growth — a signal of continued active investment rather than portfolio wind-down.
163 patent recordsToray Industries
Toray Industries holds 92 patent records and leads its portfolio with B01D61, C02F1, and B01D65, indicating deep coverage across both membrane process engineering and water treatment chemistry. Momentum data for Toray is not separately detailed in the evidence, but its position as a global membrane manufacturer and the breadth of its IPC coverage make it the most technically proximate challenger to Kurita. Its subsidiary Toray Advanced Materials Korea also appears independently in the top-20 ranking with 28 patent records, amplifying the group’s aggregate presence.
92 patent records| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Kurita Water Industries Ltd | 26 | ▲ +24% |
| BP Exploration Operating Co Ltd | 2 | ▼ -94% |
| Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies Support SAS | 9 | ▼ -50% |
| Ecolab USA Inc | 7 | ▼ -36% |
| Nanyang Technological University | 8 | ▲ new entrant |
Under-served adjacent branches worth monitoring
Several IPC classes appear at low counts relative to the dominant B01D and C02F branches, suggesting that RO fouling principles have not yet been extensively applied — or patented — in those sectors.
E21B · Oil & Gas Well Fouling Control
With 78 patent records, E21B (earth and rock drilling, wells) is the largest of the lower-share adjacent branches. RO membranes are used in produced-water treatment and injection-water conditioning in oilfield operations, where fouling from hydrocarbons, scale, and biocides presents distinct challenges relative to municipal desalination. The sub-field is technically plausible — BP Exploration Operating’s presence in the top-five applicants suggests commercial relevance — yet patent density remains low relative to the core separation classes, indicating room for differentiated oilfield-specific fouling management IP.
Search this in Eureka →C11D · Membrane Cleaning Formulations
C11D (detergents and cleaning compositions) carries 58 patent records, placing it alongside B01J as a sparse adjacent branch. Chemical cleaning of RO membranes — including alkaline, acidic, and enzymatic CIP agents — is a commercially critical but apparently under-patented area relative to the broader process and equipment filings. Specialty chemical firms and membrane service providers without strong current positions in the ranking may find this a more accessible entry point than the crowded core B01D space, particularly for bio-fouling removal formulations targeting the healthcare or food-processing membrane sectors.
Search this in Eureka →How leading applicants differ across RO fouling technology routes
Route coverage across the main technology branches in the current evidence set.
| Player | C02F 1 · Water & wastewater treatment | B01D 61 · Separation processes (filtration etc.) | B01D 65 · Separation processes (filtration etc.) | C02F 9 · Water & wastewater treatment | C02F 103 · Water & wastewater treatment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kurita Water Industries Ltd | Strong · 97 | Strong · 103 | Strong · 106 | Emerging · 14 | Absent |
| Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies Support SAS | Strong · 70 | Strong · 48 | Moderate · 24 | Moderate · 18 | Emerging · 13 |
| Toray Industries Inc | Strong · 54 | Strong · 80 | Moderate · 35 | Absent | Absent |
| BP Exploration Operating Co Ltd | Strong · 67 | Strong · 61 | Absent | Absent | Strong · 36 |
| Water Standard Co LLC | Strong · 39 | Strong · 39 | Absent | Strong · 34 | Absent |
| Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd | Strong · 33 | Strong · 30 | Strong · 20 | Moderate · 13 | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus contains 1,566 patent families in scope. Note that the most recent 18–24 months of filings are likely under-counted due to standard patent publication lag.
Kurita Water Industries holds the top position with 163 patent records, ahead of Toray Industries at 92, Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies Support at 84, BP Exploration Operating at 74, and Ecolab USA at 49.
The United States is the leading jurisdiction, followed by Europe (EPO), China, and WIPO (PCT). Australia, India, Israel, and Singapore also carry notable patent-record counts, reflecting the commercial importance of desalination in water-stressed regions.
The evidence classifies the field as in decline, with annual filings easing back from a 2018 peak. This is consistent with a maturing technology where core approaches are well-established in the prior art.
Among top filers, Kurita Water Industries shows positive recent momentum at plus 24%. Nanyang Technological University is flagged as a new entrant in the recent period. BP Exploration Operating and Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies Support both show declining recent momentum.
The largest sparse adjacent branches are E21B (earth and rock drilling, wells) at 78 patent records and B01J (chemical and physical processes) and C11D (detergents and cleaning compositions) each at 58 patent records. These branches sit at a fraction of the dominant B01D and C02F counts, suggesting they are comparatively under-patented relative to their commercial relevance.
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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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