Solid-State Fermentation Heat Management Patents: Leaders & Trends 2026
- One assignee holds 16 of 67 records, while a long tail of single-filing entrants fills out the rest of the ranked field.
- Filings grew 67% from 2021 to 2024, the last year the dataset treats as complete before publication lag sets in.
- Bioreactor apparatus claims (C12M) touch 76.1% of records, leaving thermal-sensing and airflow-specific claims comparatively thin.
Filing growth compares 2021 (3 records) with 2024 (5) — 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 67 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Solid-state fermentation packs microbial or fungal cultures into a static or semi-static solid substrate bed, which makes metabolic heat removal one of the harder engineering problems in scale-up: unlike liquid fermentation, there is no easy convective mixing to even out a temperature gradient. This landscape tracks 67 published records filed against IPC classes covering bioreactors, microorganism handling and fermentation processes, filtered specifically for language around bed temperature, cooling airflow, heat removal and thermal sensing. The scope is deliberately narrow — it is not solid-state fermentation broadly, but the subset of it where heat management is the documented technical problem.
The field is small and concentrated. A handful of assignees account for most of the activity, and the claim language clusters heavily around bioreactor apparatus rather than the sensing or control layer that sits on top of it.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 67 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim language.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings peaked at 12 in 2020, then settled into a lower but rising band, up 67% from 2021 (3 filings) to 2024 (5 filings) — the most recent year the dataset treats as complete. 2025 and 2026 figures will fill in further as publication catches up with filing.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
Bioreactor and apparatus claims (C12M) appear in 76.1% of the 67 records, and microorganism-related claims (C12N) in 53.7%. Food-application claims (A23L) and fermentation-process claims (C12P) each cover roughly a third of the field, while peptide, polymer-additive and detergent-related classes are minor threads.
Shares are the percentage of the 67 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Solid-State Fermentation Heat Management with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about solid-state fermentation heat management and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited prior art
Producing fungal spores by solid-state fermentation (US20240060034A1)
A method of producing fungal spores utilizing solid-state fermentation (SSF), the method including steps of combining, in a solid-state fermentation vessel, fungal spores and a solid substrate to produce a fungal culture; subjecting the fungal culture in the solid-state fermentation vessel to solid-state fermentation conditions; where the solid-state fermentation conditions include conditions for targeted production of further fungal spores by fungal cells relative to growth of the fungal cells; and collecting the further fungal spores.Filed by The University of Akron, published 2024-02-22.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20090117633A1 | Process of Producing Ethanol Using Starch with Enzymes Generated Through Solid State Culture | 90 |
| 2 | US6197573B1 | Solid state fermentation | 85 |
| 3 | US6620614B1 | Solid-state fermenter and method for solid-state fermentation | 73 |
| 4 | US6664095B1 | Solid state fermentation | 67 |
| 5 | WO2010032260A1 | Stacked basket bioreactor for solid state fermentation | 39 |
| 6 | US20200102530A1 | Bioreactor Paradigm for the Production of Secondary extra-Particle Hyphal Matrices | 29 |
| 7 | WO2020072140A1 | A bioreactor paradigm for the production of secondary extra-particle hyphal matrices | 21 |
| 8 | CN105567740A | 农用芽孢杆菌的高密度固体发酵方法 | 14 |
| 9 | US11359174B2 | Bioreactor paradigm for the production of secondary extra-particle hyphal matrices | 6 |
| 10 | EP1131404A1 | Solid state fermentation | 6 |
Citation counts reward older filings that have had more time to accumulate references — read them as a signal of influence within this corpus, not as a ranking of current technical importance.
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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Three read-throughs of the concentration, growth and citation data that matter before drafting a claim in this space.
Ownership sits with a small group
The top 5 assignees combined account for 45 of the 67 records in scope, and the top 10 climb to 86.6%. A single leader holds 16 records outright. For a new entrant, this means the core apparatus and process claims in solid-state fermentation heat management are already staked out by a small set of holders rather than diffused across the field.
Activity is rebuilding after a 2020 peak
Filings peaked at 12 in 2020, dipped, and have since grown from 3 in 2021 to 5 in 2024 — a 67% increase over that span. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025-2026 figures are not yet a reliable read on whether that growth is continuing.
Apparatus claims dominate over control-layer claims
C12M bioreactor and apparatus claims appear in more than three-quarters of records, while narrower classes tied to additives, peptides and detergents each cover a few percent. Heavy density in apparatus claims means the vessel and bed design space is well-occupied; the instrumentation and control logic layered on top of it is comparatively open.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to solid-state fermentation heat management, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claims, and where the gaps sit
The ranked field covers 28 companies, counted by patent family. Ownership is front-loaded, but the momentum data shows the leading assignees are not currently active in the latest tracked year, which leaves room for new filers willing to work the less-crowded corners.
A single holder anchors the field
The leading assignee's 16 records set the pace for the entire ranking; the fifth-ranked holder has 5 and the tenth has just 2, showing how quickly the field thins out below the top few names.
Most holders appear once or twice
Below the top ten, assignees drop to single-digit and often single-record counts. That long tail includes university and small-company filers working on specific fungal or fermenter-design applications rather than broad platform claims.
Leading holders have gone quiet recently
Assignee-level momentum data shows the top-ranked holders recording zero filings in the most recent tracked year, including a -100% year-on-year drop for at least one. Given publication lag, this understates true recent activity but still signals an opening for newer filers to establish position while the historical leaders are not actively adding to their claim base.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Green Spot Tech SAS | 0 | — |
| The University of Akron | 0 | -100% |
| Ecovative Design LLC | 0 | — |
| PROPHYTA BIOLOGISCHER PFLANZENSCHUTZ GMBH | 0 | — |
| Biocon Ltd | 0 | — |
| The Fynder Group Inc | 0 | — |
| ZEUS BIOTECH PVT LTD | 0 | — |
| KULKARNI SAMEER SUDHIR | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is defensive clearance or active filing.
Map the apparatus claims before drafting
With 76.1% of records carrying a C12M bioreactor claim, any new vessel or bed-design filing needs a freedom-to-operate check against the top-held assignees before drafting begins.
Explore bioreactor claims in EurekaWatch the control-layer gap
Thermal sensing and cooling-airflow control show thinner claim density than the apparatus cluster around them, and the current leaders show no recent filings there.
Run a white-space search in EurekaTrack citation-heavy prior art
The most-cited records in this set date back over a decade; confirming which of their claims remain in force is a necessary step before relying on the surrounding space as open.
Check prior art status in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
This landscape tracks 67 published records filed against IPC classes for bioreactors, microorganism handling and fermentation processes, filtered for language specific to bed temperature, cooling airflow, heat removal and thermal sensing. That is a narrow technical slice of solid-state fermentation as a whole, not a count of every solid-state fermentation patent. The number reflects publications through the mid-2026 data cut-off, and recent years will still rise as later filings publish.
The ranked field covers 28 companies counted by patent family, and it is front-loaded: the top-ranked assignee holds 16 records, the fifth-ranked holds 5, and the tenth holds 2. The top 5 assignees combined account for 67.2% of all 67 records, and the top 10 account for 86.6%. Below that, most holders appear only once or twice, so the practical competitive set to watch is small even though the full ranked list runs to 28 names.
Filings peaked at 12 in 2020 and have since rebuilt from 3 in 2021 to 5 in 2024, a 67% increase over that span and the clearest reliable trend in the data. Because patent publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in the dataset are still incomplete and should not be read as a slowdown. The honest read is that the field cooled off after its 2020 peak and has been climbing again through the last complete filing year.
Bioreactor and apparatus claims (C12M) dominate at 76.1% of the 67 records, while the instrumentation and control layer above the reactor bed — thermal-gradient sensing, cooling-airflow control logic, and substrate-embedded probes — shows thinner claim density by comparison. Smaller classes like peptide chemistry, polymer additives and detergents each cover only a few percent of records, suggesting limited cross-over filing into adjacent chemistry. These thinner areas are worth a dedicated freedom-to-operate and white-space search before assuming they are open, since absence of dense filing is not the same as absence of any prior art.
US20240060034A1, assigned to The University of Akron and published 2024-02-22, covers a method for producing fungal spores using solid-state fermentation, where the fermentation conditions are specifically tuned to favour spore production over general fungal growth. Its scope is centred on that spore-yield method rather than on reactor apparatus or cooling-airflow hardware, so it does not automatically block a heat-management or bioreactor design filing. Anyone working on fungal spore production via solid-state fermentation should still review its claim language closely rather than assume it only concerns unrelated microorganisms.
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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.