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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/ultrafiltration-membrane-fouling-control-patent-landscape-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-08-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Water & Environmental TechnologiesUltrafiltration Membrane Fouling Control Patents
A data-backed view of ultrafiltration membrane fouling control patents: filing trends since 2015, the concentration among leading assignees, technology composition across IPC classes, and where claim space remains open.
287
Published Records
21%
Top-5 Share of All Records
+60%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
CN
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth = 2021 (5 records) → 2024 (8); 2024 is the last year we treat as complete. Top-5 share = the 5 largest assignees ÷ all 287 records in scope (CR5), not the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··6 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Field Overview
What this landscape covers
Ultrafiltration membrane fouling control spans the physical, chemical and biological methods used to keep membrane flux from declining during water and wastewater treatment. This dataset draws on 287 published records filed between 2015 and 2026, filtered to documents that combine ultrafiltration membrane terminology with fouling, flux decline or fouling-resistance language, and classified under the core separation and water-treatment IPC groups. The scope includes membrane cleaning regimes, module design changes, coating chemistries and a smaller cluster of biologically active anti-fouling approaches.
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent one to two years in any trend line will look thinner than the underlying filing activity actually was. Family counts, rather than raw document counts, are used throughout so that continuation filings and multi-jurisdiction duplicates do not inflate any single assignee's position.
Filing activity, 2017–2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Ultrafiltration Membrane Fouling Control Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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The Numbers
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 287-record dataset: how filing activity has moved year over year, and how records distribute across the IPC subclasses that define the technical approaches in scope.
A resumed climb after the 2019 peak
Filings peaked at 28 in 2019, eased through the early 2020s, and have since risen again — from 5 in 2021 to 8 in 2024, a 60% increase over that span. Treat 2025 and 2026 figures as provisional; the publication lag means they will fill in over the next reporting cycles rather than signalling a slowdown.
Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in. Growth rates on this page therefore end at 2024; running them to the last bar would understate the field.
Separation hardware dominates; biological routes are a minority
B01D (separation processes) appears on 89.5% of the 287 records and C02F (water and wastewater treatment) on 47.4%, confirming that most filing activity addresses physical and chemical fouling control rather than biological mechanisms. Polymer-chemistry classes (C08F, C08J, C08L) and fibre-feature class D01F each sit in the low single digits, and C12N — microorganisms and genetic engineering — covers only 2.8% of records, marking it as the thinnest-claimed adjacent branch in scope.
Shares are the percentage of the 287 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Ultrafiltration Membrane Fouling Control Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
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Key patents shaping this space
Representative Filing
Fresh water generation method and fresh water generation device (Toray Industries)
TORAY INDUSTRIES, INC.
The filing addresses oxidative degradation of a downstream semipermeable membrane and rising bio-fouling in a microfiltration/ultrafiltration stage by temporarily halting filtration and running a counter-pressure clean with chlorine-agent water fed from the module's secondary side, avoiding the cost of continuous chemical dosing.Abstract condensed from the original filing for readability.
View full filingMost-cited records in scope
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5403479A | In situ cleaning system for fouled membranes | 274 |
| 2 | US6221247B1 | Dioxole coated membrane module for ultrafiltration or microfiltration of aqueous suspensions | 115 |
| 3 | US5468390A | Low fouling ultrafiltration and microfiltration aryl polysulfone | 112 |
| 4 | US4740308A | Membrane cleaning process | 100 |
| 5 | GB2395946A | Extracting sodium chloride from seawater, using nanofiltration | 97 |
| 6 | US20160303518A1 | Nanocomposite ultrafiltration membrane containing graphene oxide or reduced graphene oxide and preparation me… | 66 |
| 7 | US3996131A | Precoat for permeability separation systems | 51 |
| 8 | JP2015157278A | Hollow fiber membrane for ultrafiltration | 43 |
| 9 | CN103394294A | 一种表面负载TiO2薄膜的高性能PVDF复合超滤膜的制备方法 | 41 |
| 10 | US4412922A | Positive-charged ultrafiltration membrane for the separation of cathodic/electrodeposition-paint compositions | 34 |
Ranked by citation count within the searched corpus. Older filings accumulate more citations by virtue of time in the literature, so treat this as a signal of influence on subsequent filings rather than of current commercial relevance.
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.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Ultrafiltration Membrane Fouling Control Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the data means for filing strategy
Four read-outs from the concentration, trend and citation figures above, framed for teams deciding where to file or partner next.
Concentration
21.3%
top 5 share of 287 records
A leader with room beneath it
The leading assignee holds 20 records against a fifth-place figure of 8 and a tenth-place figure of 6 — a real gap at the top, but the top 10 combined still account for only 31.7% of all 287 records. That leaves most of the field to a long tail of smaller and single-filing entrants rather than a locked oligopoly.
Assignee ranking, 100 companies
Momentum
+60%
filings, 2021 to 2024
Renewed filing activity after the 2019 peak
Annual filings fell back from the 2019 peak of 28 before climbing again — 5 in 2021 to 8 in 2024. That three-year rebound is the clearest recent signal in the trend line; 2025–2026 figures are still filling in under the publication lag and should not be read as a fall-off.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Technology mix
89.5%
records tagged B01D
Hardware and process claims dominate
Separation-process claims under B01D outweigh every other subclass, with water-treatment class C02F the only other subclass above the tens-of-percent range. Polymer-chemistry and fibre-feature classes each sit under 5%, and biological approaches under C12N sit at just 2.8% — the thinnest-claimed branch identified in this scope.
IPC composition, 287 records
Geography
76
China filings
Filing activity is led by China, with the US and South Korea next
China accounts for the largest share of receiving-office filings at 76, ahead of the United States at 50 and South Korea at 33. Europe, India and the WIPO/PCT route each sit closer together at 21, 18 and 18, pointing to a genuinely multi-jurisdiction filing pattern rather than a single dominant market.
Receiving offices
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Where filers are pairing up
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| KENNY CONOR | ATTENBOROUGH ANTHONY | 6 |
| KENNY CONOR | ALTMANN THOMAS | 6 |
| Tiangong University (Tianjin Polytechnic University) | Tongji University | 3 |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | PIERACCI JOHN | 1 |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | CRIVELLO JAMES V | 1 |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | BELFORT GEORGES | 1 |
| Toray Industries, Inc. | MAEDA TOMOHIRO | 1 |
| US Filter Wastewater Group, Inc. | MULLETTE DANIEL | 1 |
Co-assignee activity is limited — 10 pairs total — and the strongest links (Kenny/Attenborough, Kenny/Altmann, and a Tianjin Polytechnic–Tongji University pairing) suggest small, stable research collaborations rather than broad industry consortia.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Ultrafiltration Membrane Fouling Control Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Next Steps
Where to take this analysis
The figures above set the boundaries of the field. Turning them into a filing or partnering decision means going deeper on the specific claims and branches that matter to your work.
Map the white space branches
Biological and genetic anti-fouling approaches cover under 3% of records in this scope, well behind the hardware-dominant majority. Confirm whether that gap reflects an unclaimed opportunity or a technical dead-end before committing R&D budget.
Explore white space in EurekaCheck freedom-to-operate against the most-cited filings
The most-cited records in this dataset date back decades and still shape claim language in newer filings. A design-around review against those claims is a faster first step than a full landscape before committing to a specific cleaning or coating approach.
Run a claim comparison in EurekaWatch the long tail, not just the leader
With the top 10 assignees holding under a third of all records, most of the competitive risk and opportunity in this field sits outside the obvious leaders. Track the smaller filers building around specific chemistries rather than assuming the field leader sets the pace.
Track emerging filers in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Ultrafiltration Membrane Fouling Control Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
The assignee ranking in this dataset covers 100 companies across 287 records, with the leader holding 20 records and the fifth-placed assignee holding 8. The top 5 combined account for 21.3% of all 287 records, and the top 10 combined account for 31.7% — a real lead at the top but not a locked-up field. Most of the remaining records belong to a long tail of smaller filers, which means competitive monitoring needs to extend well beyond the handful of largest assignees.
Filings peaked at 28 in 2019 and eased afterward, but the more recent complete-year data shows a rebound: from 5 filings in 2021 to 8 in 2024, a 60% increase over that span. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so they should not be read as evidence of a slowdown. On the numbers available, the trend into the mid-2020s is one of renewed activity rather than decline.
Separation-process claims under IPC class B01D appear on 89.5% of the 287 records in scope, and water/wastewater treatment claims under C02F appear on 47.4% — together confirming that most patent activity addresses physical and chemical fouling mechanisms and cleaning regimes. Polymer-chemistry classes (C08F, C08J, C08L) and fibre-feature class D01F each cover under 5% of records. Biological approaches, classified under C12N, cover only 2.8%, making biologically active anti-fouling one of the least-claimed branches identified here.
China leads with 76 filings recorded at its receiving office, ahead of the United States at 50 and South Korea at 33. Europe (EPO), India and the WIPO/PCT route each sit closer together at 21, 18 and 18 respectively. The spread across six separate receiving offices indicates that this is a genuinely multi-jurisdiction filing pattern rather than one dominated by a single national office.
A high citation count inside a searched corpus like this one is a signal of influence on later filings, not a signal that the underlying technology is still the commercial state of the art. The most-cited records here date back to the 1980s and 1990s and accumulated citations partly because they have simply been in the literature longer. They remain useful as a starting point for checking claim language that later filings may still reference, but freedom-to-operate work should extend to recent filings as well.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Ultrafiltration Membrane Fouling Control Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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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.