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BIOENERGY. Latest published applications 2017-2019. Biomass Gasification

Information:
BIOENERGY. Latest published applications 2017-2019. Biomass Gasification
Energy Sector:
Bioenergy
Date:
December 2020
Publisher:
EnerTechUp GmbH
Document Type:
PDF
Size:
1.7 Mb
Number of pages:
47
Research Type:
Patent Bulletin
Research code:
030517190102

Summary

The use of environmentally-friendly types of energy has led to an increased interest of modern society in various methods of renewable energy production, such as biomass gasification. Biomass is a renewable feedstock which can be converted into gaseous products, called syngas. The process of gasification is best described as incomplete combustion, involving the burning of biomass in a reduced amount of air, which results in a product consisting of CO, CO2, H, CH4, or N, together with pollutants such as ash and tar. Currently, there are several types of gasifiers used for biomass gasification. Some of the most common are counter-current fixed bed, where a fixed bed of carbonaceous fuel is treated using steam, oxygen or air which flows through it in counter-current configuration; co-current fixed bed, which employs a gasification agent gas that flows in a co-current configuration with the fuel; fluidized bed, where fuel undergoes fluidisation in oxygen and steam or air; or entrained flow, where feedstock is gasified with oxygen or air in a co-current flow. A great variety of different biomass and waste-derived feedstocks are suitable for this process, including wood chips, waste wood, agricultural wastes, switch grass, and crop-related residues. This, however, can also cause problems because various feedstock needs various gasifier types and plant sizes. Different feedstock can also have different heating values and moisture content. During gasification, tar formation is one of the biggest issues which cause, for example, equipment blocking, poor quality gas output and increased maintenance. Environmental issues surrounding biomass gasification include the emission of toxic gases, such as CO, Six, NOx. The applications presented in this bulletin try to solve some of the aforementioned issues.
The present bulletin reviews patent applications registered by patent offices around the globe in 2017-2019 in the field related to biomass gasification. General research methodology can be found on the Advanced Energy Technologies website. 965 patent documents from 39 patent offices around the world are represented in the bulletin. In total, 410 applicants from 34 countries and 752 subgroups of the International Patent Classification are mentioned.

Key Highlights

The bulletin contains statistical data on the distribution of patent documents by years, by patent offices and by applicant countries, applicant-related data (residents and non-residents), data on the most frequently mentioned International Patent Classification divisions (sections, classes, subclasses, groups, and subgroups). The top three patent offices that registered the largest number of patent applications were CNIPA (CN), USPTO (US) and WIPO.
Based on the analysis of each of the patent applications, internal characteristics of unified indicators (technical problems, types of inventive solutions, belonging to one or other technological segment) were found, which allowed specific features for each of the indicators for the entire array of documents to be defined, for instance, to define the leading problems or technical solution types that were disclosed by the inventors the most. Document lists are provided for the ten most popular groups of patent documents with identical unified indicators, including their ID numbers and applicant names.
Data is provided for each of the top 10 applicants, leading in terms of the number of published patent documents among the ones examined in the bulletin, illustrating their share in the established intellectual property market, distribution of applications by problems, IPC sections, patent offices and technology indicators. The patenting leaders in the examined period of time include: Johnson Matthey Plc (GB), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (FR), Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd. (JP), Wuhan Kaidi Engineering Technology Research General Institute Co., Ltd. (CN), Haldor Topsoe A/S (DK), China Petroleum & Chemical Company (CN), Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij B.V. (NL), ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions AG (DE), VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (FI), Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (US).
The prominent documents pages contain the top 10 patent applications with the highest bibliographical rating, the most extensive coverage of IPC sections, and those not being a part of patent family.
A list of all of the documents reviewed, arranged by the top 10 groups of patent documents with identical unified indicators and by patent offices with the indication of the ID numbers of the registered patent applications are provided in the conclusive part of the bulletin.

Who needs this bulletin?

The statistics bulletin under examination serves as one of the variants to monitor advanced technical achievements in the specified industrial sector. The statistical data, rating evaluations and carefully selected patent documents provided in the bulletin can be of interest for inventors, students and educators, engineers, as well as for businessmen and investors, who in one way or another are concerned with the problems of the development of biomass gasification technologies.