Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Patent Landscape 2026
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Patent Landscape in 2026
The SAF patent field is in a confirmed growth phase, with 1,660 patent families on record and a multi-year filing increase of 205% — led by Haldor Topsoe and UOP LLC, who together command the top two positions. Hydrocarbon oil refining dominates the technology mix, but electrolytic and fermentation-based routes are emerging as structurally distinct adjacencies.
Haldor Topsoe and UOP LLC lead a moderately concentrated field
Haldor Topsoe leads the top tier is compact, with Gevo Inc rounding out the top four at 101 patent families.
The top five filers account for 38% of the combined total across the hundred largest filers — a moderate concentration level that leaves meaningful room for challengers and new entrants, as evidenced by multiple applicants entering the ranking with no prior filing history in the data window.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Haldor Topsoe A/S | 183 | |
| 2 | UOP LLC | 175 | |
| 3 | EXXONMOBIL TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING CO | 108 | |
| 4 | Gevo Inc | 101 | |
| 5 | IFP Energies Nouvelles | 55 | |
| 6 | Sasol Technology (Pty) Ltd | 55 | |
| 7 | Infinium Technology LLC | 54 | |
| 8 | Chevron USA Inc | 48 | |
| 9 | Air Co Holdings Inc | 47 | |
| 10 | Research Triangle Institute | 34 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | North Carolina State University | 28 | |
| 12 | TerraVia Holdings Inc | 28 | |
| 13 | Nuseed Global Innovation Ltd | 25 | |
| 14 | Toyo Engineering Corporation | 25 | |
| 15 | Corbion Biotech Inc | 25 | |
| 16 | Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij BV | 24 | |
| 17 | Renewable Energy Group Inc | 24 | |
| 18 | Rebo International Inc | 21 | |
| 19 | Swift Fuel LLC | 16 | |
| 20 | BP Corporation North America Inc | 16 |
The leaders’ positions reflect deep investment in hydrocarbon oil refining and fuel-specification chemistry, routes that align directly with existing refinery infrastructure and ASTM certification pathways — giving incumbents a durable process-IP moat.
Filing counts for 2025 and 2026 are understated due to standard patent publication lag; the apparent plateau in those years should not be interpreted as a slowdown. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Multi-year growth with refining chemistry at the core and electrolytic routes emerging
Two charts together tell the SAF innovation story: a steep multi-year filing ramp that began in 2018, and a technology mix overwhelmingly anchored in hydrocarbon oil refining with a growing tail of bio- and electro-chemical routes.
Annual filing trend
Filings were negligible through 2017, then accelerated sharply from 2018 onward, reaching a recorded peak around 2023–2024. The 2025 and 2026 bars are significantly understated due to publication lag and should not be read as a reversal of the growth trend.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
C10G (hydrocarbon oils and refining) is the dominant branch by a wide margin, followed by C10L (fuels and firelighters) and C07C (acyclic and carbocyclic compounds). Smaller but notable shares appear in B01J (catalysis), C12P (fermentation), and C25B (electrolytic production) — the last two signaling diversification toward bio- and power-to-liquid pathways.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Screening method for raw materials of high-yield s…
Disclosed is a screening method for raw materials of high-yield sustainable aviation fuel, comprising the following steps: obtaining composition and content of fatty acid in different waste animal and vegetable oils; obtaining the theoretical limit yields of sustainable aviation fuel prepared from different fatty acids; calculating the theoretical yields of… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Production of tailored oils in heterotrophic micro… | 201 |
| 2 | Renewable Diesel and Jet Fuel from Microbial Sources | 201 |
| 3 | Process for Co-Producing Jet Fuel and LPG from Ren… | 193 |
| 4 | Manufacturing of tailored oils in recombinant hete… | 172 |
| 5 | Process for conversion of biomass to fuel | 170 |
| 6 | Renewable Compositions | 145 |
| 7 | Process for conversion of biomass to fuel | 135 |
| 8 | Fuel Composition | 135 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
What the patent structure means for R&D investment decisions
The combination of rapid growth, moderate concentration, and technology diversification creates a field where both incumbents and focused new entrants have credible paths. Four structural readings follow.
Growth stage — filing volume still expanding on a multi-year basis
The lifecycle evidence classifies SAF as a Growth-stage field, with a 205% increase in filings over the recent window and annual volume that has not yet eased from its recorded peak. This implies that core process IP is still being established, and that early movers in emerging sub-routes can still build defensible positions before the field matures.
Growth stageModerate top-tier concentration with active new entry
The top five filers hold 38% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total — concentrated enough that incumbents set the technical agenda, but open enough for challengers. Notably, UOP LLC, IFP Energies Nouvelles, and Infinium Technology LLC all appear as new entrants in the recent filing period, indicating the competitive map is still being drawn. A focused portfolio in an adjacent sub-route can still establish a differentiated position.
Moderate concentrationCo-filing activity is nascent; Gevo and LG Chem are the most active co-filers
The evidence identifies one active co-filing relationship: Gevo Inc and LG Chem, with 6 joint patent families. This is a low absolute number relative to the overall corpus, suggesting that cross-company collaboration is not yet a dominant feature of the SAF IP landscape. R&D teams seeking partnerships may find a relatively open field for structuring joint development agreements with IP co-ownership.
Early-stage ecosystemUS-centric filing with broad PCT reach and notable Asia-Pacific presence
The United States leads as the primary filing jurisdiction, followed by WIPO PCT filings and the European Patent Office — the standard triadic pattern for commercially ambitious technology. Canada, India, Australia, and Singapore each show material filing counts, and China, while lower in the ranking, is present. South Korea and Japan trail, which may reflect the relative focus of those markets’ aviation sectors on other decarbonization paths.
US-led, global scopeGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
| Applicant | Collaborator | Co-filings |
|---|---|---|
| Gevo Inc | LG Chem Ltd | 6 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Haldor Topsoe anchors the field; UOP LLC and ExxonMobil show accelerating momentum
The top four applicants are all established process-technology or energy companies, each with a distinct emphasis within the hydrocarbon refining pathway. Momentum diverges sharply across leaders.
Haldor Topsoe
Haldor Topsoe leads with 183 patent families, concentrated in C10G hydrocarbon oil refining sub-codes — particularly hydrotreating and multi-stage refining processes. Their recent filing trend shows a modest –7% versus the prior period, suggesting the portfolio is consolidating rather than expanding rapidly. The depth in refining chemistry positions them as the reference licensor for hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) routes.
183 patent familiesUOP LLC
UOP LLC ranks second with 175 patent families and is classified as a new entrant in the recent filing period — meaning their filing activity has surged from a negligible prior base, with 105 families filed in the recent window alone. Their focus spans C10G multi-stage refining and C07C acyclic compound synthesis, suggesting investment across both established HEFA and synthetic hydrocarbon routes. This trajectory makes UOP LLC the most aggressive recent mover in the field.
175 patent families| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Haldor Topsoe A/S | 83 | ▼ -7% |
| UOP LLC | 105 | ▲ new entrant |
| Neste Corporation | 61 | ▼ -31% |
| ExxonMobil Technology & Engineering Co | 82 | ▲ 7.5× vs prior 3-yr |
| Gevo Inc | 25 | ▲ +25% |
| TotalEnergies OneTech | 61 | ▲ 4.1× vs prior 3-yr |
| IFP Energies Nouvelles | 46 | ▲ new entrant |
| Infinium Technology LLC | 52 | ▲ new entrant |
Under-served routes in catalysis, electrolysis, and fermentation
Within the 1,660-family corpus, several IPC branches sit at the margin of the dominant refining cluster. These branches are observations of relative sparsity; where plausible technical value and a realistic entry path exist, they are noted as worth monitoring.
C25B · Electrolytic production — power-to-liquid pathway
C25B has one of the lower shares in the corpus, anchored primarily by Infinium Technology LLC’s focus on electrolytic CO2 reduction routes. Power-to-liquid (PtL) SAF — using green hydrogen and captured CO2 — is a technically distinct pathway from bio-based HEFA and could become critical if feedstock constraints on biomass tighten. The sparse patent density relative to its strategic importance suggests that a focused filing program in electrolytic synthesis and Fischer-Tropsch integration could establish a differentiated position before incumbents fully commit.
Search this in Eureka →C12P · Fermentation & enzymatic synthesis — bio-conversion routes
C12P represents the fermentation-based SAF pathway, with a share of approximately 2% of the corpus — notable given the commercial interest in alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) and direct fermentation routes. The most-cited work in the corpus references microbial oil production, yet this branch remains thinly defended relative to the refining-chemistry cluster. Teams with competence in synthetic biology or metabolic engineering face a less contested landscape here than in C10G, and can potentially leverage bio-IP across both SAF and bio-chemical co-product markets.
Search this in Eureka →How leading applicants differ by technology route emphasis
Strength of each leader across the main technology routes.
| Player | C10G 3 · Hydrocarbon oils & refining | C10L 1 · Fuels & firelighters | C10G 45 · Hydrocarbon oils & refining | C10G 2 · Hydrocarbon oils & refining | C10G 69 · Hydrocarbon oils & refining |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neste Corporation | Strong · 142 | Strong · 104 | Strong · 100 | Moderate · 62 | Emerging · 21 |
| Haldor Topsoe A/S | Strong · 128 | Absent | Moderate · 58 | Emerging · 9 | Moderate · 58 |
| ExxonMobil Technology & Engineering Co | Strong · 47 | Strong · 59 | Moderate · 25 | Absent | Moderate · 21 |
| UOP LLC | Strong · 35 | Absent | Strong · 31 | Moderate · 14 | Strong · 54 |
| TotalEnergies OneTech | Strong · 36 | Strong · 33 | Strong · 26 | Strong · 29 | Absent |
| IFP Energies Nouvelles | Strong · 25 | Strong · 21 | Strong · 40 | Absent | Moderate · 10 |
| Sasol Technology (Pty) Ltd | Absent | Strong · 47 | Moderate · 17 | Strong · 32 | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus covers 1,660 patent families globally. This represents the deduplicated family count; individual patent records across jurisdictions exceed this number because a single family can be filed in multiple countries.
Haldor Topsoe leads with 183 patent families, followed by UOP LLC at 175 and ExxonMobil Technology & Engineering Co at 108. All three are concentrated in hydrocarbon oil refining chemistry.
Yes. The lifecycle evidence classifies the field as Growth stage, with a 205% increase in filings over the recent multi-year window. The 2025 and 2026 filing counts are understated due to publication lag and should not be read as a slowdown.
C10G (hydrocarbon oils and refining) is the dominant IPC branch by a wide margin, consistent with the prevalence of hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) routes. C10L (fuels and firelighters) and C07C (acyclic and carbocyclic compounds) are the next largest branches.
The United States leads as the primary filing jurisdiction, followed by WIPO PCT and the European Patent Office. Canada, India, Australia, and Singapore each have meaningful filing counts. China and South Korea are present but at lower levels relative to the US and European offices.
UOP LLC and IFP Energies Nouvelles are both classified as new entrants in the recent filing period, meaning their recent filing volumes represent a step-change from a negligible prior base. ExxonMobil Technology & Engineering Co shows a 7.5× increase versus the prior three-year period, also from a relatively low prior base.
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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.
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