Zero Liquid Discharge Brine Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
Zero Liquid Discharge Brine Treatment Patents: Who Holds the Ground
30.1% concentration. The five most active filers together hold 202 of the 670 records in scope — a concentrated top tier over a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants. Filings rose from 64 in 2017 to a peak of 71 in 2021, then declined to 50 by 2024 — a 30% drop over that three-year window. 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the apparent tail-off should not be read as the field slowing.
- 1AQUAFORTUS TECH LTD53
- 2BRISA INT LLC51
- 3INNOVATOR ENERGY LLC33
- 4BATTELLE MEMORIAL INST33
- 5EASYMINING SWEDEN AB32
See the full zero liquid discharge brine treatment analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions about this landscape
Who are the leading patent holders in zero liquid discharge brine treatment?
The ranked assignee list contains 100 companies, with the top-ranked filer holding 53 records, fifth place holding 32 and tenth place holding 21. The top five combined account for 30.1% of all 670 records in scope, and the top ten extend that to 48.7%. That leaves a substantial long tail of assignees with only a handful of filings each, so leadership is concentrated but far from a single-company monopoly.
Is zero liquid discharge brine treatment patent activity growing or slowing?
Filing peaked at 71 records in 2021 and had eased to 50 by 2024, a 30% decline over that three-year window. Counts for 2025 and 2026 look lower still, but publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so those recent years are incomplete rather than proof of a further slowdown. Judged on complete years only, the field has cooled from its 2021 high without collapsing.
Which technical areas within zero liquid discharge are most heavily patented?
Core water and wastewater treatment (IPC class C02F) appears in 63.9% of the 670 records, and separation processes such as filtration (B01D) appear in 45.2%, making these the most heavily claimed mechanics. Salt- and mineral-recovery-adjacent classes like C01D, C01F and C01B carry a noticeably smaller share, and niche categories such as solid waste disposal (B09B) and specialised motor/energy-recovery classes (F03G) are the thinnest of all. Because records can carry multiple classes, these percentages overlap rather than sum to a total.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Zero Liquid Discharge Brine Treatment covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.