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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/soil-and-groundwater-remediation-electrokinetic-soil-remediation-patent-landscape-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Water & Environmental TechnologiesElectrokinetic Soil Remediation Patents: Who Files, What They Claim, Where the Gaps Sit
406
Published Records
24%
Top-5 Share of All Records
+8%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
CN
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (25 records) with 2024 (27) — 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 406 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··6 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What the patent record shows
Electrokinetic soil remediation applies a direct electric current across contaminated soil to mobilise heavy metals and organic pollutants toward electrodes for extraction, often paired with bioremediation, chemical oxidation or nanomaterial-assisted approaches. The 406 records captured here span 2015 through the middle of 2026 and are classified predominantly under B09C1 (soil and contaminated land reclamation), with secondary activity touching water treatment, specialty materials and separation processes. The filing trend peaked in 2018 at 31 records and has since settled into a steadier pattern, with 2021 to 2024 filings rising 8% before the most recent two years understate true activity due to publication lag.
Chinese applicants dominate the receiving-office count by a wide margin, reflecting both the scale of domestic soil remediation programmes and a preference for filing first at the China National Intellectual Property Administration before any international extension. Academic and research-institute assignees feature heavily among the leaders, alongside a smaller group of specialist remediation companies and at least one long-standing cross-institution collaboration.
Filing activity and technology composition, 2015–2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Soil & Groundwater Remediation: Electrokinetic Soil Remediation Patent Landscape 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
The Numbers
Filing trends and technology composition
The dataset covers 406 published records across the 2015–2026 window, with technology classification and filing-year data drawn directly from the underlying patent families.
Filing activity, 2017–2026
Filings opened the window at 23 in 2017, rose to a peak of 31 in 2018, and later grew 8% from 25 filings in 2021 to 27 in 2024. The final one to two years in the chart are undercounted because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so 2025 and 2026 should not be read as a decline.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
B09C1 (soil and contaminated land reclamation) covers 98.3% of the 406 records, confirming this is overwhelmingly a soil-focused art. Secondary classes — C02F water treatment at 6.4%, C09K specialty materials at 5.7%, and B01D separation processes at 3.7% — mark where electrokinetic techniques cross into adjacent remediation and materials disciplines. Because records can carry multiple IPC codes, these shares sum to more than 100% of the record total.
Shares are the percentage of the 406 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 Soil & Groundwater Remediation: Electrokinetic Soil Remediation Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
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Most-cited records and a representative filing
Representative Filing
US6086739A — Electrokinetic remediation prefield test methods
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
Methods for determining the parameters critical in designing an electrokinetic soil remediation process — including electrode well spacing, operating current and voltage, electroosmotic flow rate, electrode well wall design, and buffering or neutralizing solution volumes — performed prior to a full-scale remediation process in order to achieve efficient contaminant removal.Filed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, granted 2000-07-11 — an early foundational filing on process design methodology rather than a specific remediation chemistry.
Highest-cited records in scope
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6210955B1 | Foam transport process for in-situ remediation of contaminated soils | 140 |
| 2 | US5458747A | Insitu bio-electrokinetic remediation of contaminated soils containing hazardous mixed wastes | 127 |
| 3 | US20100200501A1 | Green synthesis of nanometals using plant extracts and use thereof | 126 |
| 4 | CN106269843A | 一种重金属‑有机复合污染土壤的原位修复方法 | 70 |
| 5 | CN102441564A | 一种复合电极对重金属污染土壤的电动修复方法 | 53 |
| 6 | US5348422A | Methods for the formation and operation of an in situ process reactor | 49 |
| 7 | CN102527707A | 一种对重金属污染土壤的强化电动修复方法 | 40 |
| 8 | CN201454977U | 电动力吸附复合修复重金属污染土壤装置 | 39 |
| 9 | US6193867B1 | Management of soil conditions and electroosmotic flow in electrokinetic remediation | 38 |
| 10 | US10835938B1 | System and method for rapid reclamation of saline-sodic and heavy metal contaminated soils | 36 |
Citation counts favour older records simply because they have had more time to be cited within the searched corpus; treat them as a signal of influence rather than of current relevance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. 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 Soil & Groundwater Remediation: Electrokinetic Soil Remediation Patent Landscape 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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Reading the concentration and the gaps
Three patterns stand out once the ranking, the trend and the technology split are read together: a concentrated top tier, a still-growing filing base, and a technology mix skewed almost entirely to one IPC subclass.
Concentration
23.9%
of 406 records held by top 5 assignees
A narrow leading group, then a long tail
The leading assignee alone accounts for 23 records, and the top five together hold 97 of the 406 records in scope (23.9%). The top ten extend that to 136 records (33.5%) — meaning two-thirds of all filings sit outside the ranked leaders entirely, spread across a large number of single- or few-filing entrants, largely research institutes and regional environmental engineering firms.
Ranked leaders, 100 companies counted in records
Growth
+8%
filing growth, 2021 → 2024
Steady rather than surging activity
Filings grew from 25 in 2021 to 27 in 2024, a modest 8% increase over the three-year span rather than a sharp acceleration. The peak year on record remains 2018 at 31 filings; more recent years in the chart understate true activity because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months.
2024 is the most recent year treated as complete
Technology mix
98.3%
of records classified under B09C1
Almost everything is filed as soil reclamation
B09C1 covers 399 of the 406 records, making this an overwhelmingly soil-classified field. Water treatment (C02F, 6.4%), specialty materials (C09K, 5.7%) and separation processes (B01D, 3.7%) are present but comparatively thin, suggesting the electrode and process-design core is far more crowded than the adjacent materials and separation angles.
Shares sum above 100% because records can carry multiple IPC codes
Geography
280
records at China's receiving office
Filing activity is heavily China-centred
China's receiving office accounts for 280 of the records in scope, well ahead of South Korea (34), the United States (26) and Taiwan (10), with WIPO/PCT and EPO filings each in single digits. This pattern is consistent with domestic remediation programme scale rather than a signal of where enforcement or licensing activity is strongest internationally.
Receiving-office counts, all 406 records
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 soil & groundwater remediation: electrokinetic soil remediation patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Soil & Groundwater Remediation: Electrokinetic Soil Remediation Patent Landscape 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 analysis
The figures above establish the shape of the field; the next step is usually to test a specific claim, applicant or gap against the full record set.
Check freedom-to-operate against the leading claims
Before committing engineering effort to electrode design or process-control methods, run the specific claim language against the most-cited and most-recent filings from the ranked leaders.
Explore claims in EurekaTrack the under-claimed branches
Separation-process and specialty-materials angles remain thin relative to the core soil-reclamation art, which is where new filings face the least prior art density.
Map white space in EurekaWatch the long tail for consolidation signals
Two-thirds of filings sit outside the ranked leaders; monitoring which of these smaller assignees file again, or get acquired, flags where the field may consolidate next.
Set up assignee tracking in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Soil & Groundwater Remediation: Electrokinetic Soil Remediation Patent Landscape 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 on this landscape
The dataset used for this landscape contains 406 published records covering 2015 through mid-2026, classified under IPC codes B09C1 (soil and contaminated land reclamation) and C02F (water and wastewater treatment). Almost all of these, 98.3%, carry the B09C1 classification, confirming that most activity is filed as soil-reclamation technology rather than water treatment. The true current total is likely higher than 406 because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so recent filings are still working their way into public databases.
The ranking covers 100 companies and research institutions counted by number of records, with the leading assignee holding 23 records and the fifth-ranked holding 12. The top five together account for 23.9% of all 406 records, and the top ten account for 33.5%, which leaves roughly two-thirds of filings spread across a long tail of smaller filers. Universities and government research institutes feature prominently among the leaders, alongside a smaller number of specialist environmental remediation companies, particularly those based in China and South Korea.
Filing activity grew 8% from 25 records in 2021 to 27 in 2024, which is a modest but genuine increase rather than a surge. The historical peak so far is 2018, with 31 filings. Figures for 2025 and 2026 in any trend chart will look lower, but that reflects publication lag rather than an actual drop in filing activity, since patent applications typically become publicly visible around 18 months after they are filed.
Beyond the core soil-reclamation classification (B09C1, 98.3% of records), the next most common technical overlaps are water and wastewater treatment (C02F, 6.4%), specialty materials such as surfactants or nanomaterials (C09K, 5.7%), and separation processes including filtration (B01D, 3.7%). Smaller overlaps appear with general cleaning methods, well drilling equipment, chemical detoxification and solid waste disposal. Because a single patent record can carry more than one IPC classification, these percentages add up to more than 100% of the 406 total records.
The technology composition data shows the core soil-reclamation art (B09C1) is heavily filed, at 98.3% of all 406 records, while separation-process integration (B01D, 3.7%), general cleaning methods (B08B, 1.7%) and drilling-well integration (E21B, 1.5%) remain comparatively thin. A new entrant is more likely to find unclaimed combinations by pairing electrokinetic transport with these lower-density branches than by filing directly against core electrode or process-control claims, where the leading assignees and highly-cited early patents already occupy dense prior art.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Soil & Groundwater Remediation: Electrokinetic Soil Remediation Patent Landscape 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.