Archive
BIOENERGY. Latest published applications 2015-2017. Methods of control and diagnostics
Summary
It has become increasingly clear that biofuels can be a viable source of renewable energy in contrast to the finite nature of fossil fuels. Collectively, biofuels include any energy-enriched chemicals generated directly through biological processes or derived from the chemical conversion of biomass. Biomass can include non-food crops, photosynthetic bacteria, micro- and macroalgae, waste and vascular land plants. There are, however, several problems involved in the sustainable production of biofuels. Some of these issues hail from technical barriers due to the lack of standards on bioenergy systems and equipment, especially where the feedstock is diverse concerning e.g. purity and the size. Appropriate pre-treatment required to prevent biodegradation and loss of heating value not only increases the production cost but also in equipment’s investment. Accordingly, efficient control and diagnostics systems are indispensable to increase the efficiency of biomass production processes. The applications presented in this bulletin are aimed at solving some of the above-mentioned problems.
A selection of patent applications related to methods of control and diagnostics in biofuel production and published by patent offices around the globe in 2015-2017 is provided for review in the present bulletin. General research methodology can be found at the Advanced Energy Technologies website. The present review includes 628 patent applications, prepared by the applicants from 37 countries of the world and registered in 38 patent offices. 360 applicants and 522 IPC subgroups are mentioned in the patent documents.
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 applications during the period of time under revision was registered by the patent office of China.
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.
The following information can be found for the top 10 applicants: breakdown of applications by problems, IPC sections, patent offices, technological indicators, as well as the estimation of their share in the established intellectual property market. The 10 leading applicants by the number of patent documents were: Ineos Bio SA (CH), Mustang Sampling LLC (US), Licella Pty Ltd (AU), Canfor Pulp Ltd (CA), Trans Biodiesel Ltd (IL), PHG Energy LLC (US), Salonen Petteri (FI), Stichting Energieonderzoek Centrum Nederland (NL), Agricam AB (SE), Endress+Hauser Flowtec Ag (CH).
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.
The patent bulletin also includes a list of all of the documents reviewed, arranged by patent offices and indicated by the ID numbers of the granted patents (registered patent applications).
Who needs this bulletin?
The proposed patent statistics bulletin allows the existing trends in the intellectual property market of the specified industrial sector to be timely traced, as well as the possibility of acquiring a carefully selected list of patent documents fully corresponding to the specified subject. The bulletin can be useful for inventors, engineers, scientific workers, and business representatives, who are focused on the development of control and diagnostics technologies.
