Soil Washing Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
Soil washing and physical separation remediation patents: mapping the filers, the claim density, and the open ground
Filing has cooled sharply. the field peaked at 12 records in 2017 and growth from 2021 to 2024 sits at -100%, though 2025-26 counts are still filling in under the usual 18-month publication lag. Filings peaked at 12 records in 2017 and have declined since; the 2021-to-2024 growth figure of -100% is the clearest complete-year signal in the set. Treat 2025 and 2026 as still filling in rather than as a genuine drop-off, since publication typically lags filing by around 18 months.
- 1INSTITUT NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE15
- 2ENVIT14
- 3ENI REWIND SPA6
- 4WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORP6
- 5DURATEK SERVICES5
See the full soil washing and physical separation analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Frequently asked questions
How many patents cover soil washing and physical separation remediation?
This dataset tracks 100 published records filed or published between 2015 and the 2026 cut-off, spanning core soil-washing process claims and adjacent water-treatment, separation-equipment and radiation-protection filings. The number reflects a defined search string rather than every remediation patent ever filed, so it should be read as a scoped landscape rather than a total count. Filing activity peaked in 2017 at 12 records in a single year and has thinned since.
Who are the leading patent holders in soil washing remediation?
The ranking behind this landscape covers 44 companies, counted in records, with the leading assignee holding 15 records. The top 5 assignees together account for 46.0% of all 100 records, and that share extends to 66.0% across the top 10 — concentrated, but with more than a third of the field still spread among a long tail of smaller filers. Several of the named leaders show zero filings in the most recent year, which points to an established rather than an actively expanding leadership group.
Is soil washing patent filing activity growing or shrinking?
The complete-year data points to a decline: filings peaked at 12 records in 2017, and the 2021-to-2024 comparison the dataset supports shows -100% growth. That said, patent publication typically lags filing by about 18 months, so the 2025 and 2026 figures in any raw trend chart are still filling in and should not be read as confirmation of an accelerating drop. The safest read is that the field has cooled from its 2017 peak rather than that it has stopped.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Soil Washing and Physical Separation covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.