Power-to-Liquid Fuel Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
Filing growth compares 2021 (16 records) with 2024 (34) — 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 143 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Power-to-liquid (PtL) and electrofuel patents cover the conversion of hydrogen and carbon dioxide (or syngas) into liquid hydrocarbons or oxygenates usable as drop-in aviation and marine fuel. The 143 records in scope, spanning 2015 through mid-2026, mix core synthesis chemistry — Fischer-Tropsch, methanol and syngas routes — with electrolysis hardware, gas purification, and even carbon-accounting software claimed alongside the fuel-production process itself.
Filing activity was negligible before 2018 and has climbed steadily since, peaking so far in 2024. The assignee base ranges from energy majors and specialist e-fuel start-ups to individual inventors, with a small number of co-filing pairs suggesting joint ventures or academic-industry collaborations rather than a broad web of alliances.
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 143 records: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claims.
Filing trend: a threefold rise, then a data-lag illusion
Annual filings moved from 0 in 2017 to a peak of 34 in 2024, with the 2021-to-2024 span alone showing +113% growth (16 to 34 records). 2025 and 2026 show fewer records only because publication has not caught up with filing — treat the apparent recent dip as an artefact, not a slowdown.
Technology mix: inorganic synthesis and refining lead, software and gas cleanup trail
C01B (non-metallic elements & inorganic compounds) and C10G (hydrocarbon oils & refining) are the two largest classes, at 33.6% and 27.3% of the 143 records respectively — consistent with a field still centred on core Fischer-Tropsch and syngas-to-liquid chemistry. Electrolytic production (C25B, 18.2%) and catalysis (B01J, 14.0%) show hydrogen-generation and catalyst claims are well represented too, while G06Q (business/data processing, 12.6%) signals a growing layer of carbon-accounting and provenance-tracking claims filed alongside the chemistry.
Shares are the percentage of the 143 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
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Try EurekaA representative filing and the most-cited prior art
Production, blending and transport of net-zero-carbon organic compounds (US20240391858A1, TerraH2, 2024-11-28)
A net-zero-carbon methanol or ethanol is produced from hydrogen recovered from a geological formation and carbon dioxide captured from ambient air, synthesised in a reactor, then blended with crude oil or condensate at the production site for transport and later separated at a refiner before final blending into gasoline or jet fuel.The claim structure spans storage, synthesis and a blend-transport-separate logistics chain rather than the synthesis chemistry alone.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20100181539A1 | System and method for dual fluidized bed gasification | 165 |
| 2 | US20230015077A1 | Real-time carbon footprint estimation | 88 |
| 3 | US8241523B2 | System and method for dual fluidized bed gasification | 32 |
| 4 | US20150126627A1 | Integration of syngas generation technology with fischer-tropsch production via catalytic gas conversion | 19 |
| 5 | US20240218284A1 | Method for Reduction of Abnormal Combustion Events | 17 |
| 6 | WO2010090863A2 | System and method for dual fluidized bed gasification | 13 |
| 7 | WO2014014818A1 | Integration of syngas generation technology with fischer-tropsch production via catalytic gas conversion | 11 |
| 8 | EP4397738A1 | Method for reduction of abnormal combustion events | 6 |
| 9 | US20240046190A1 | Computer-implemented monitoring methods and systems for a renewables plant | 6 |
| 10 | IN201927018036A | Method and system for improving the greenhouse gas emission reduction performance of biogenic fuels heating m… | 5 |
Citation counts favour older, foundational filings — read them as influence within this searched corpus, not as a ranking of current commercial importance.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing or freedom-to-operate decision
Four read-outs from the underlying data that matter more for strategy than the raw counts alone.
A crowded field, a short list of real players
Just five assignees account for 54.5% of all 143 records in scope, and the top ten hold 70.6%. A field that looks fragmented at 45 ranked companies is, in practice, dominated by a small group — worth tracking individually rather than treating the space as diffuse.
Filings accelerated sharply into 2024
Annual filings rose from 16 in 2021 to 34 in 2024, a +113% increase over three years and the highest count in the dataset. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, 2025 and 2026 numbers will revise upward rather than signal a real slowdown.
Core synthesis chemistry still leads the claim space
Inorganic synthesis (C01B) and hydrocarbon refining (C10G) between them touch more than a third and a quarter of all 143 records respectively, confirming that Fischer-Tropsch and syngas-to-liquid routes remain the densest prior art. Fuels/firelighters claims (C10L, 10.5%) and gas purification (C10K, 11.2%) are comparatively lighter.
PCT and US filings anchor the international strategy
WIPO (PCT) receiving-office filings lead at 30, ahead of the United States at 26 and Europe at 22, with Canada, Australia and India each in single or low double digits. That pattern points to applicants seeking broad international protection before committing to specific national phases.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to sustainable aviation fuels: power-to-liquid fuel synthesis patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field with clear leaders, real growth, and pockets of unclaimed space worth checking before you file.
Map freedom-to-operate against the top assignees
With 70.6% of records held by ten companies, a targeted FTO search against that group is more useful than a broad novelty search across all 45 ranked filers.
Explore assignees in EurekaWatch the under-claimed branches
Fuels/firelighters (C10L) and gas purification (C10K) carry the lightest claim density among the classes tracked here — worth a closer look before assuming the space is taken.
Run a white-space search in EurekaTrack the 2024 filing surge as it publishes
Filings already peaked in 2024; the next 12-18 months of publications will reveal whether that pace held through 2025-2026.
Set a filing alert in EurekaCommon questions about power-to-liquid fuel patents
This landscape covers 143 published records dated 2015 through mid-2026, based on a search string targeting power-to-liquid, electrofuel and e-fuel production claims that involve hydrogen, carbon dioxide, syngas or Fischer-Tropsch chemistry. Filing activity was minimal before 2018 and grew steadily afterward, peaking so far in 2024 at 34 records. Note that 2025 and 2026 figures will rise as publication catches up with filing, since publication typically lags filing by around 18 months.
The assignee ranking lists 45 companies, with the leader holding 20 records. Concentration is high: the top five assignees together hold 54.5% of all 143 records in scope, and the top ten hold 70.6%. That means a small group of companies controls most of the documented claim space, even though dozens of smaller filers appear in the long tail.
It is growing. Annual filings rose from 16 in 2021 to 34 in 2024, a +113% increase over that three-year span and the highest count recorded in the dataset. Any apparent decline in 2025-2026 is a data artefact of publication lag rather than a genuine slowdown, so it should not be read as the field cooling off.
Non-metallic and inorganic compound synthesis (IPC class C01B) is the largest single category, appearing in 33.6% of the 143 records, followed by hydrocarbon oil refining (C10G) at 27.3%. Electrolytic production (C25B, 18.2%) and catalysis (B01J, 14.0%) are also well represented, reflecting the hydrogen-generation and catalyst-chemistry side of the process. Because records often carry multiple IPC classes, these percentages add up to more than 100%.
The technology composition data shows fuels and firelighters claims (C10L) at just 10.5% of records and gas purification (C10K) at 11.2%, both notably lighter than the core synthesis and refining classes. Combined with the fact that only ten companies hold 70.6% of all records, a new entrant working on downstream fuel formulation, blending logistics, or gas-cleanup steps may find less-crowded prior art than in the core Fischer-Tropsch or electrolysis chemistry. Any such assessment should still be paired with a targeted freedom-to-operate search against the leading assignees before filing.
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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.