Solid Oxide Electrolyzer Storage Patents: Leaders & Trends 2026
- Filing already peaked. 2018 recorded 27 filings against a 68-record corpus, and the midpoint year 2022 shows zero — the field front-loaded its claims rather than building steadily.
- C25B dominates the claim set. Every one of the 68 records sits in C25B (electrolytic production of compounds), with C01B, H01M and C10L trailing far behind — most of the surrounding process chemistry is thinly claimed.
- Start-up and stand-by operation is the most-cited cluster. The two top-cited records, one filed in Japan and one in the US, both describe starting or stand-by-mode operation of multi-reactor power-to-gas units — a narrow but heavily referenced control problem.
Filing growth compares 2021 (9 records) with 2024 (0) — 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.
What this patent set covers
This landscape tracks patent families at the intersection of solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOEC) and hydrogen storage or power-to-gas integration, filtered to records whose title/abstract mention SOEC, solid oxide electrolyzer, or solid oxide electrolysis, and whose claims-and-description language covers hydrogen production-storage integration, power-to-gas, or co-electrolysis to syngas. The IPC filter narrows this further to C25B1/04, C25B15 and F17C — electrolytic hydrogen production and gas storage vessel classes.
68 records make up the corpus, all classified under C25B, with meaningful overlap into inorganic chemistry (C01B), fuel cells (H01M), nitrogen compounds (C01C) and fuel treatment (C10L). Publication data through the 2026 cut-off understates the most recent filing year, since publication typically lags filing by around 18 months.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 68-record corpus: how filing activity moved over time, and where those filings sit across the IPC classification system.
A front-loaded filing curve
Filings begin in 2017, spike to 27 in 2018 — the single peak year for the entire corpus — and fall away sharply afterward, with the 2022 midpoint showing no recorded filings and 2026 (partial year) also at zero. This is not a growth curve; it is a burst of activity concentrated in one filing window, followed by a long tail.
Concentrated in electrolytic production, thin elsewhere
C25B (electrolytic production of compounds) covers all 68 records by definition of the search, but the secondary classifications tell the real story: C01B (18 records) and H01M (9) show some spillover into inorganic hydrogen chemistry and fuel-cell integration, while C01C (ammonia), C10L (fuels) and C10K (gas purification) each register single-digit counts. B01D (separation processes) has just one record — a sign that downstream gas separation and purification claims around SOEC-based hydrogen storage remain largely unclaimed.
Shares are the percentage of the 68 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Solid Oxide Electrolyzer Hydrogen Storage with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about solid oxide electrolyzer hydrogen storage and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records
Process for starting mode or stand-by mode operation of a power-to-gas unit comprising a plurality of high-temperature electrolysis (SOEC) or co-electrolysis reactors
The application relates to a process for operating in starting mode or in stand-by mode a unit, termed power-to-gas unit, comprising a number N of reactors with a stack of elemental electrolysis cells of solid oxide type (SOEC), the cathodes of which are made of methanation reaction catalyst material(s).Filed by Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives; granted 2021-07-06.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JP2019112717A | Method of startup mode or standby mode operation of power-to-gas unit including multiple high temperature ele… | 38 |
| 2 | US20190194816A1 | Process for starting mode or stand-by mode operation of a power-to-gas unit comprising a plurality of high-te… | 25 |
| 3 | WO2019072608A1 | A method for generating synthesis gas for ammonia production | 18 |
| 4 | EP3502317A1 | Method for operating in start-up mode or stand-by mode a power-to-gas unit comprising a plurality of high-tem… | 6 |
| 5 | US20210214849A1 | Expander for SOEC applications | 5 |
| 6 | US20220081785A1 | Ambient air separation and SOEC front-end for ammonia synthesis gas production | 2 |
| 7 | US20210032761A1 | A method for generating synthesis gas for ammonia production | 2 |
| 8 | CN111201339A | 产生用于氨生产的合成气的方法 | 2 |
| 9 | WO2020201282A1 | Ambient air separation and SOEC front-end for ammonia synthesis gas production | 1 |
| 10 | IN202017008322A | A method for generating synthesis gas for ammonia production | 1 |
Citation counts reflect references within the searched corpus and skew toward older filings; treat them as a measure of influence on later filers, not of current commercial weight.
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.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing strategy
Three read-throughs from the filing curve, the IPC spread and the citation table, framed around what a filer or licensor would want to know before committing to this space.
A single filing wave, not sustained growth
Almost all documented activity clusters around one peak year, with the corpus going quiet well before the data cut-off. That pattern usually means either an early consolidation of the core IP, or a technology whose commercial case has not yet forced a second filing wave.
The electrolysis core is fully occupied
Every record touches C25B, the electrolytic-production class, which is expected given the search definition — but the steep drop-off into C01B, H01M and C10L shows that adjacent process integration (storage vessel design, gas conditioning, ammonia/syngas routes) is comparatively open.
Start-up and stand-by control is the reference point
The two most-cited records — a Japanese filing and its US counterpart — both address starting and stand-by operation of multi-reactor power-to-gas units. Later filers in this corpus cite that control problem more than any single materials or stack-design claim.
Filing is dispersed, not concentrated in one jurisdiction
No single receiving office dominates; Europe, the US, Australia, Canada and Malaysia each carry a handful of filings. That spread suggests applicants are hedging across export markets for hydrogen and syngas rather than defending one home jurisdiction.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to solid oxide electrolyzer hydrogen storage, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the ground, and where it's thin
Recent-year momentum across the tracked assignees shows no filing activity in the latest year for the entities in this ranking, consistent with the corpus's front-loaded, pre-2022 filing pattern.
Named assignees have gone quiet
The tracked assignees — spanning a fuel-cell components maker, a national energy research body, and an engine-and-test-equipment firm — show no filings in the most recent year, matching the corpus-wide drop after the 2018 peak.
A modest, specialised corpus
With 68 total families, this is a narrow technical niche rather than a broad hydrogen-economy category — ownership is likely to be concentrated among a small number of specialist and institutional filers rather than spread across a long tail of startups.
No single home jurisdiction
Filing counts are close across Europe, the United States, Australia, Canada, Malaysia and Germany. That balance points to applicants protecting export markets for green hydrogen and synthetic gas rather than one dominant domestic filer base.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Haldor Topsoe A/S | 0 | — |
| Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA) | 0 | — |
| AVL List GmbH | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a narrow, front-loaded field with a small number of heavily cited control patents and thin coverage in the surrounding process chemistry.
Map the start-up/stand-by claim family in detail
The most-cited records all cluster around starting and stand-by operation of multi-reactor SOEC units. A claim-by-claim comparison of that family would show exactly how tightly the control method is fenced and where a design-around might sit.
Explore in Patsnap EurekaTest the white-space chips against live prosecution
Downstream gas separation, ammonia synthesis from co-electrolysis syngas, and storage-vessel integration all show thin IPC coverage here. Before filing, check whether that thinness holds up against pending applications not yet published.
Explore in Patsnap EurekaCommon questions on this landscape
The core class is C25B, which covers electrolytic production of compounds and holds every record in this corpus. Storage-specific claims fall under F17C (gas storage vessels), while downstream chemistry spreads into C01B (inorganic compounds), C01C (ammonia and nitrogen compounds), H01M (fuel cells) and C10L/C10K (fuel treatment and purification). A freedom-to-operate search in this space should not stop at C25B alone, since integration claims often sit in these adjacent classes instead.
This corpus shows 27 filings in 2018 against a total of 68 records, with the 2022 midpoint at zero — a pattern consistent with an early cluster of foundational filings around start-up and stand-by control of multi-reactor units, rather than steady year-on-year growth. Publication lag of roughly 18 months means the most recent years are always undercounted, so the apparent drop-off should not be read as the technology losing momentum outright. It more likely reflects a gap between an initial patenting wave and a second wave tied to commercial deployment, which may not yet be visible in published data.
The tracked assignees in this corpus include a national energy research body, a fuel-cell components specialist and an engine-and-test-equipment firm, none of which show filings in the most recent tracked year. With only 68 total families, ownership is concentrated among a small set of institutional and specialist filers rather than distributed across many independent companies. Anyone assessing licensing risk should look at the most-cited patents directly, since citation weight in this field is currently a better proxy for influence than raw filing counts.
US11053599B2 claims a process for operating a power-to-gas unit — built from multiple high-temperature SOEC or co-electrolysis reactors — in starting mode or stand-by mode, where the reactor cathodes use methanation-reaction catalyst materials. It is one of a small family of related filings (including a Japanese and a European counterpart) covering the same start-up/stand-by control method, and it is held by the Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives. Anyone designing multi-reactor SOEC control logic with methanation-capable cathodes should review this claim set specifically, since it is among the most-cited in the entire corpus.
Based on the IPC spread, downstream gas separation and purification (C10K, B01D) is barely claimed, with only one to two records each, despite sitting directly downstream of electrolytic hydrogen production. Ammonia synthesis routes from co-electrolysis syngas and storage-vessel integration under F17C also show thin coverage relative to the core C25B electrolysis claims. These gaps do not guarantee an easy filing — they may simply reflect where applicants have not yet looked — but they are the areas least defended by the current 68-record corpus.
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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.