Archive
BIOENERGY. Latest granted patents 2016-2018. Raw material preparation and feed
Summary
Experience has proved that bioenergy production from biomass and biodegradable waste is the most reliable and promising solution in today’s renewable energy market. Before energy crops or organic wastes can be converted to biofuels, typically some form of pre-treatment is required, by physical (mechanical), chemical, thermochemical or biochemical methods. This usually includes processes for energy densification of the feedstock, fractionation through steam explosion to convert feedstocks into three discrete fractions of lignin, cellulose and hemicelluloses, use of ionic liquids or the Organosolv process to solubilise lignin and hemicellulose. Pre-treatment of the feed is a particularly important step, as malfunctions in the fuel feed and handling equipment can cause major biomass gasification upsets. Accordingly, material handling systems, such as belt feeders, screw feeders, hydraulic walking floor feeders or pneumatic feeders, are often very susceptible to malfunctions. Therefore, one precondition for the development of feeding and handling equipment for solid fuels and wastes is good knowledge of the characteristics and flowability of bulk materials in order to avoid or better deal with problematic situations arising from cohesive feedstock, spontaneous heating or low densities. The patented inventions, for the most part, offer solutions that help overcome these problems.
A selection of patents related to pre-treatment of feedstock and feeding systems in biomass production and published by patent offices around the globe in 2016-2018 is provided for review in the present bulletin. General research methodology can be found at the Advanced Energy Technologies website. The patent bulletin includes 1278 patent documents. The patents were granted in 36 patent offices around the world. 839 applicants from 45 countries participated in the development of the inventions. 1134 subgroups of the International Patent Classification were encountered in the patent documents.
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 granted the largest number of patents were USPTO (US), CNIPA (CN) and EPO.
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 Xyleco Inc. (US), Terravia Holdings Inc (US), DSM IP Assets B.V. (NL), Solazyme, Inc. (US), IFP (École Nationale Supérieure du Pétrole et des Moteurs) (FR), Eni S.p.A. (FR), Steeper Energy Aps (DK), Corbion Biotech, Inc. (US), Inbicon A/S (DK), Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies Support (FR). 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 top prominent documents section includes three lists of the top 10 patents having the highest bibliographical rating, the largest number of IPC sections, and the shortest patent pending time.
The conclusive part of the bulletin represents the lists 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.
Who needs this bulletin?
The data provided in the proposed bulletin is a timely reflection of the transformations that take place in the intellectual property sector of the industrial direction concerned. Thoroughly edited selection of patent documents can become a good complement to your library of available technical solutions. The bulletin is targeted at inventors, engineers, researchers, managers and business administrators involved in the development of methods of control and diagnostics for bio-fuel production.
