Archive
BIOENERGY. Latest granted patents 2014-2016. Biomass gasification
Summary
Gasification of biomass for the production of synthesis gas (syngas) and other valuable products, such as hydrogen and motor oil, has experienced rapid growth in many countries, especially Finland, Germany and the US. Possibly the most important companies in this field are Lahti Kymijärvi and Vaskiluodon Voima in Finland, with a maximum power capacity of 160 and 100 MWth, respectively. Several major companies can also be found in the Netherlands, Sweden and a few other countries. Despite the controversy concerning the ecological benefits of this technology, gasification of biomass allows for effective use of various waste products (agriculture or forest residues, solid municipal waste, etc.) that are an important renewable energy resource. However, large-scale development of this process has yet to receive due attention. This is due in part to the multitude of difficult technical problems which scientists have not yet been able to solve for good and which greatly reduce the competitiveness of this technology.
The present bulletin reviews patents granted by patent offices around the globe in 2014-2016 in the field related to biomass. General research methodology can be found at Advanced Energy Technologies. 612 patent documents from 26 patent offices around the world are represented in the bulletin. In total, 488 applicants from 27 countries and 518 subgroups of the International Patent Classification are mentioned.
Key Highlights
Statistical information presented in the bulletin includes distribution of patent documents by years, by patent offices and by applicant countries, applicant-related data (residents and non-residents), and data on the most frequently mentioned International Patent Classification divisions (sections, classes, subclasses, groups, and subgroups). The largest number of patents during the period of time under revision was granted by the patent office of the USA.
Based on the analysis of each of the patents, 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.
A list of the top 10 applicants by the number of patents includes Wuhan Kaidi Engineering Technology Research General Institute Co., Ltd. (CN), ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company (US), General Electric (US), Sunshine Kaidi New Energy Group Co. Ltd (CN), Greatpoint Energy Inc (US), Sundrop Fuels Inc (US), Cortus AB (SE), Nalco Company (US), Tetzlaff Karl-Heinz (DE), RES USA LLC (US). Data representing the share in the established intellectual property market, distribution of patents by problems, IPC sections, patent offices and technology indicators is provided in the form of tables and diagrams for them.
The prominent documents pages contain the top 10 patents with the highest bibliographical rating, the most extensive coverage of IPC sections, and the shortest patent pending time.
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 granted patents 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 biomass production technologies.
