Surface Area & Porosimetry Patents: Leaders & White Space 2026
- Filing activity has cooled since its 2021 peak. 18 filings that year fell to a single-digit pace by the midpoint of 2022, with no rebound yet visible in the record.
- B01J dominates the claim space almost completely. 200 of 212 records sit in chemical/physical processes and catalysis, meaning most measurement claims are written around a catalyst or refining process, not the instrument itself.
- No assignee shows momentum in the latest filing year. Every tracked leading assignee logged zero filings in the most recent year, a pattern consistent across the whole leaderboard rather than one firm's retreat.
A measurement method embedded inside catalyst and refining patents
Surface area and porosimetry measurement — BET surface area analysis, gas adsorption porosimetry and mercury intrusion porosimetry — rarely appears in this dataset as a standalone instrument patent. It shows up as a supporting claim inside catalyst composition, hydrotreatment and ceramics patents, where pore size distribution and degassing conditions are used to characterise a material rather than to protect a measurement device. That framing matters for anyone searching this space: the strongest prior art is filed under catalysis and process classifications, not instrumentation ones.
212 patent families span 2015 through the 2026 cut-off, concentrated overwhelmingly in the B01J chemical/physical processes class, with secondary density in acyclic and carbocyclic compound chemistry (C07C) and hydrocarbon oil refining (C10G). The United States is the leading receiving office by a wide margin, followed by the EPO and the WIPO PCT route, which signals that most applicants treat this as a domestic-first filing with selective international follow-through rather than a globally coordinated program.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 212-family dataset: how filing volume moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
A peak in 2021, then a decline
Filings rose from 7 in 2017 to a peak of 18 in 2021, then eased toward the midpoint value of 11 in 2022. Publication lag of roughly 18 months means the final one to two years are undercounted, but the shape of the curve — rise, peak, plateau — is already visible ahead of that adjustment.
B01J carries nearly all the volume
200 of 212 records classify under B01J (chemical/physical processes and catalysis), with C07C, C10G, B01D, C04B, C07B, C07D and C08F each contributing a secondary slice tied to a specific chemistry — hydrocarbon refining, ceramics, heterocyclics and vinyl polymers among them. The measurement method is a shared tool across all of these downstream applications.
Shares are the percentage of the 212 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
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Try EurekaThe most-cited prior art anchors catalyst chemistry, not instrumentation
Fuel cell electrode catalyst layer, its production process, membrane electrode assembly and solid polymer fuel cell
Filed by Mitsui Mining & Smelting, this record (EP3211697B1) frames pore structure and catalyst layer characterisation inside a fuel cell electrode assembly, illustrating the dataset's pattern: porosimetry data supports a materials claim rather than standing as an independent measurement patent.Title and content shown in the original filing language; representative of the corpus pattern.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6332976B1 | Catalyst containing phosphorous and a process hydrotreatment of petroleum feeds using the catalyst | 173 |
| 2 | US5776240A | Granules based on pyrogenically prepared silicon dioxide, methods for their preparation and use thereof | 147 |
| 3 | US4549957A | Hydrotreating catalyst and process | 103 |
| 4 | US7439272B2 | Ultraporous sol gel monoliths | 99 |
| 5 | US6576588B2 | Process for selective hydrogenation of alkynes and catalyst therefor | 84 |
| 6 | US20060131238A1 | Ultraporous sol gel monoliths | 81 |
| 7 | US7595350B2 | Ultraporous sol gel monoliths | 72 |
| 8 | US20030036669A1 | Process for selective hydrogenation of alkynes and catalyst therefor | 43 |
| 9 | US20120296111A1 | Catalyst and process for hydrogenating aromatics | 38 |
| 10 | US5002918A | Molded articles based on pyrogenically produced mixed-oxide systems of silicon dioxide and aluminum oxide, a … | 35 |
Citation counts favour older filings within the searched corpus; treat them as a measure of influence on later filers, not of current commercial relevance.
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Three read-throughs from the trend, the IPC split and the citation table.
The growth phase has already passed
Filings peaked in 2021 and were already down to 11 by the following year's midpoint reading. Combined with zero recent-year filings across every tracked leading assignee, this reads as a mature, settled claim space rather than one still being built out.
Almost every claim sits inside catalysis, not instrumentation
A near-total concentration in B01J means porosimetry and BET claims are drafted as supporting characterisation within a catalyst or process patent. A pure measurement-method claim, isolated from a specific chemistry, is the exception rather than the rule.
The oldest prior art still carries the most weight
The most-cited records date from the 1980s–2000s and cover hydrotreatment catalysts and silica granules. New filers are still citing back to this foundational chemistry, which suggests the measurement techniques themselves are settled and the open contest is in the materials they characterise.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to surface area and porosimetry measurement, with the prior art for and against each one.
A leaderboard with no recent movement
Every assignee with meaningful historical volume shows zero filings in the latest tracked year, including one with a recorded -100% year-over-year change. That is unusual for an active field and points to a claim space that filers consider largely staked out.
Legacy refining and catalyst players hold the depth
Firms with long histories in hydrotreatment and catalyst chemistry — the kind of organisations that anchor the most-cited records — account for the bulk of historical volume, but none show latest-year activity in this dataset.
Corporate-affiliate co-filing is the main collaboration pattern
The strongest co-assignee links pair a parent company with its regional subsidiary, rather than pairing independent firms or a firm with a university. Cross-organisation collaboration is rare in this corpus.
US filings lead by a wide margin
The United States receives more than double the filings of the EPO, with the WIPO PCT route, Japan, Canada and India trailing further behind — a pattern typical of domestic-first filing rather than a globally coordinated portfolio strategy.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| BASF SE | 0 | — |
| Degussa AG | 0 | — |
| Catalytic Distillation Technologies | 0 | — |
| King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals | 0 | — |
| Chevron Phillips Chemical Company | 0 | -100% |
| W.R. Grace & Co. | 0 | — |
| Varian, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Shell International Research Maatschappij B.V. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a settled claim space with a few specific gaps. These are the natural next steps for turning the landscape into a filing or freedom-to-operate decision.
Map your own claims against the B01J cluster
Given how concentrated prior art is in catalysis and process classifications, run a claim-by-claim comparison against that cluster before assuming an instrumentation angle is clear.
Explore Eureka for claim comparisonPressure-test the under-claimed branches
The gate chips above indicate where claim density is thin. Confirm whether that thinness reflects genuine white space or simply unindexed prior art.
Run a white space search in EurekaWatch for a re-acceleration signal
With every leading assignee flat in the latest year, a new entrant or a single renewed filer would be a meaningful signal worth tracking going forward.
Set up alerts in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
In this dataset, the dominant classification is B01J, covering chemical and physical processes including catalysis, which holds 200 of 212 records. Secondary classifications include C07C and C10G for hydrocarbon and organic chemistry, B01D for separation processes, and C04B for ceramics. This tells you that porosimetry and BET surface area claims are almost always filed as part of a materials or process patent rather than as a standalone instrumentation filing, so a classification-only search under G01N alone will miss most of the relevant prior art.
Filing activity peaked in 2021 at 18 records and had already eased to 11 by the 2022 midpoint, with no tracked assignee showing latest-year filings. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the very last one to two years in any dataset understate true activity, but the overall shape here is a rise-then-plateau rather than sustained growth. Treat this as a mature, settled field rather than an emerging one based on current evidence.
The leaderboard is populated by long-established catalyst, refining and specialty chemical companies rather than instrumentation manufacturers, consistent with the field's classification pattern. None of the tracked leading assignees show filings in the latest tracked year, and one shows a recorded -100% year-over-year change, indicating the leaderboard reflects historical depth rather than current activity. Co-filing is rare and, where it exists, mostly links a parent company to its own regional subsidiary.
The under-claimed branches sit adjacent to the dense B01J cluster: automated degassing protocol optimisation, micropore isotherm model selection for non-ideal gases, sample representativeness validation for heterogeneous powders, mercury intrusion pore-network modelling for ceramics, and in-situ porosimetry during catalyst regeneration. These are areas where claim density is comparatively thin relative to the core catalyst-characterisation cluster. A first claim in any of these should be checked against the broader B01J prior art before assuming true novelty, since related process patents may already cover the underlying material even if the measurement method itself is unclaimed.
The United States leads with 71 filings, more than double the EPO's 39, followed by the WIPO PCT route at 27, Japan at 17, Canada at 14 and India at 12. This distribution suggests most applicants file domestically first and pursue international protection selectively rather than running a globally coordinated filing program. Anyone assessing freedom to operate outside the US should not assume EPO or PCT filings mirror the US record exactly, given the gap in volume.
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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.