Slurry & Chemical Blending Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
- Concentrated at the top. Five assignees hold 78.8% of the 292 records in scope, and ten hold 91.1% — a field with a dominant core and almost no long tail beyond it.
- Filings peaked in 2022 at 80, then fell sharply; 2021 to 2024 shows a -98% change, though 2025-2026 figures are still filling in due to publication lag.
- Material analysis and pumps lead the class mix, with G01N present in 35.3% and F04B in 29.1% of records — testing and delivery hardware, not mixing chemistry, carry the bulk of the claim activity.
Filing growth compares 2021 (66 records) with 2024 (1) — 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 292 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This landscape maps 292 published records tied to slurry distribution, chemical blending and recirculation-loop systems, spanning filings from 2015 through the 2026 data cut-off. The search combines terms for slurry and blending delivery systems with terms for the operating problems that drive design choices in this space — large particle count, shear degradation, settling prevention, filtration strategy, concentration control and recirculation loop behaviour.
Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent one to two years in any trend chart will always look thinner than the underlying filing activity actually was. Treat the 2024 figure as the last complete year and read 2025-2026 as still filling in rather than as evidence of a slowdown.
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 292 records: how filing activity moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim volume. Because a single record can carry several IPC codes, the class shares below sum to well over 100% of the record total — that is expected and does not indicate an error.
A sharp rise and an equally sharp fall
Filings climbed from 7 in 2017 to a peak of 80 in 2022, then dropped fast — the 2021-to-2024 change is -98%. Because publication lag means 2025 and 2026 are undercounted by design, this reads as a genuine post-2022 pullback in new filing activity through the last complete year, not as a technology in decline.
Testing and delivery hardware dominate the class mix
G01N (material analysis and testing) appears in 35.3% of the 292 records and F04B (positive-displacement pumps) in 29.1%, ahead of B01D separation processes at 25.7% and B01F mixing and stirring at 15.1%. Agricultural soil-working (A01B, 13.4%) and addition polymers (C08F, 12.7%) show the field's reach into adjacent application domains, while G05D control systems (8.6%) and B24B grinding/polishing (8.2%) sit further down the mix.
Shares are the percentage of the 292 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Slurry and Chemical Blending Distribution with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about slurry and chemical blending distribution and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this space
US5924794A — Chemical blending system with titrator control
A chemical blending system for blending two or more constituent chemicals to a desired concentration. One embodiment includes a mix tank, a recirculation line with an inlet and outlet in the tank, and a pump in the recirculation line for recirculating and mixing the blended chemical. A source of diluent is fluidly coupled to the mix tank through a diluent inlet and supply line, and a source of concentrated chemical is fluidly coupled to the recirculation line through a concentrated chemical inlet, supply line and an adding valve located between the inlet and the pump. A conductivity-type sensor in the recirculation line provides continuous measurement of the blend.Filed by Air Liquide Electronics U.S. LP, published 1999-07-20 — the most-cited record in this landscape at 98 citations.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5924794A | Chemical blending system with titrator control | 98 |
| 2 | US20210268456A1 | Agricultural sampling system and related methods | 92 |
| 3 | US5486134A | System and method for texturing magnetic data storage disks | 84 |
| 4 | US20180071425A1 | Switchable digital scent generation and release, and vapor and liquid delivery methods and systems | 77 |
| 5 | US5476572A | Chip feeding for a continuous digester | 69 |
| 6 | US20140261824A1 | Slurry Supply and/or Chemical Blend Supply Apparatuses, Processes, Methods of Use and Methods of Manufacture | 67 |
| 7 | WO2021171121A1 | Agricultural sampling system and related methods | 66 |
| 8 | WO2021171120A1 | A filter unit for removing particulate from a slurry | 65 |
| 9 | WO2016164917A1 | Switchable digital scent generation and release, and vapor and liquid delivery methods and systems | 60 |
| 10 | US6475071B1 | Cross flow slurry filtration apparatus and method | 50 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older filings that have had more time to accumulate references — read them as a signal of influence on the field, not as a ranking of current commercial relevance.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three patterns stand out once the assignee ranking, the filing trend and the class mix are read together: a small group of firms controls most of the claim space, the peak filing wave has already passed, and the densest classes are hardware-adjacent rather than chemistry-adjacent.
A dominant core, not a long tail
Five assignees combine for 230 of the 292 records in scope, and the leader alone accounts for 152. This is not a fragmented field with many small players; it is a small group with entrenched claim positions, and the fifth-place assignee already holds only 13 records versus the leader's 152.
The filing wave peaked in 2022
Activity rose from 7 records in 2017 to 80 in 2022, then fell to 1 by 2024. Because publication lag understates 2025-2026, this drop should be read as a real pullback through the last complete year rather than as the technology winding down entirely.
Testing and pump hardware lead, not mixing chemistry
Material analysis (G01N) and positive-displacement pumps (F04B) each appear in over a quarter of the 292 records, ahead of mixing and stirring (B01F) at 15.1%. Claim activity concentrates on measuring and moving the slurry, less on the blending chemistry itself.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to slurry and chemical blending distribution, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Sensable Tech Inc | Regents of the University of California | 14 |
| BOC Group Inc | ROBERTS BENJAMIN R | 2 |
| BOC Group Inc | POZNIAK PETER M | 2 |
| Phoenix Water | WILSON KATHRYN MOIRA | 1 |
| Phoenix Water | URWIN PETER M | 1 |
| Phoenix Water | REES GLENN | 1 |
| Phoenix Water | OCONNELL MICHAEL JOHN | 1 |
| Applied Materials, Inc. | HU JIANJUN | 1 |
Only 8 co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, and the strongest pair reaches 14 shared records — collaboration is the exception in this field, not the norm.
Who holds the claim space
The assignee ranking covers 45 companies, counted by patent family. It is the complete ranking the dataset returns, not a curated top-50 or top-100 — and it shows a field where a handful of names hold nearly all of the ground.
One assignee sets the pace
The leading assignee holds 152 of the 292 records in scope — more than the next four ranked competitors combined. Any new entrant needs to map this assignee's claims before choosing where to file.
A steep drop after the leader
Fifth place holds 13 records and tenth place holds 5 — the gap between the leader and the rest of the ranked field is wide, and it narrows quickly again after the top ten.
Momentum has cooled across the leading names
Several of the most active historical assignees show zero filings in the latest year, consistent with the broader post-2022 pullback in the filing trend rather than any single company exiting the space.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Precision Planting LLC | 0 | -100% |
| Nova Chem (Int) SA | 0 | — |
| Sensable Tech Inc | 0 | — |
| Regents of the University of California | 0 | — |
| AHLSTROM MASCH INC | 0 | — |
| BOC Group Inc | 0 | — |
| Phoenix Water | 0 | — |
| Air Liquide Electronics U.S. LP | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field with a settled leadership group and a filing wave that has already crested. The open questions now are about where claim density is thin and what still blocks a new design.
Map the leader's full claim set
With one assignee holding 152 of 292 records, understanding exactly which recirculation, sensing and control claims it holds is the first step before designing around it.
Explore assignee claims in Eureka →Check the under-claimed branches
Particle-count sensing, shear-resistant pump design and automated filtration switching show thinner filing density than the core blending classes — worth a closer freedom-to-operate check before committing engineering time.
Run a white space search in Eureka →Common questions about this landscape
The assignee ranking in this dataset covers 45 companies by patent family, and it is heavily front-loaded: the top five combined hold 78.8% of all 292 records in scope, with the leading assignee alone accounting for 152. The drop-off after the leader is steep — fifth place holds only 13 records — so this is a field led by a small, entrenched core rather than a broad competitive set. Anyone assessing freedom to operate should start with that leader's portfolio before looking further down the ranking.
Filing activity rose from 7 records in 2017 to a peak of 80 in 2022, then fell sharply — the change from 2021 to 2024 is -98%. However, publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so 2025 and 2026 figures in any dataset will look artificially low regardless of actual filing activity. Treat 2024 as the last complete year and read the recent pullback as real through that point, without assuming the technology has stopped attracting filings entirely.
US5924794A describes a chemical blending system built around a mix tank, a recirculation line with a pump, separate diluent and concentrated-chemical supply lines feeding into that recirculation line, and a conductivity-type sensor providing continuous concentration measurement. It is the most-cited record in this landscape at 98 citations, which signals strong influence on later filings in the field rather than automatic blocking power over every blending design. Whether it constrains a specific new system depends on whether that system uses the same recirculation-line sensing and dual-inlet architecture the claims describe, which requires a claim-by-claim comparison rather than a keyword match.
Relative to the dense core classes — G01N material testing at 35.3% of the 292 records and F04B pumps at 29.1% — areas like real-time particle-count sensing inside recirculation loops, shear-degradation-resistant pump geometries, and automated filtration-strategy switching show thinner filing density. These are not zero-activity areas, but they sit below the concentration seen in the core testing and pump classes. A first claim in one of these branches would need to tie a specific sensing or switching mechanism to the blending or recirculation context to differentiate from the existing dense filings.
Each of the 292 records can carry more than one IPC subclass, since a single patent often claims both a mechanical delivery system and a measurement or control method. So G01N at 35.3%, F04B at 29.1%, B01D at 25.7% and the other classes listed are each calculated against the same 292-record total, not against each other, and a record counted in G01N may also be counted in F04B. This is standard for IPC composition charts and is not an error in the underlying data.
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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.