Archive
BIOENERGY. Latest granted patents 2014-2016. Pyrolysis & Torrefaction
Summary
Pyrolysis and torrefaction are thermal processes for processing biomass in an oxygen-free environment in order to improve its initial quality or produce new useful products. For example, when pressed pellets are treated using torrefaction or low-temperature pyrolysis, they become torrefied pellets, a more energy-saturated heating fuel that can easily be transported. Fast pyrolysis allows for thermal decomposition of the initial organic material within seconds to form more valuable products, such as charcoal and pyrolysis oil. The latest patented engineering solutions in this field focus, inter alia, on overcoming several of the existing problems, including, for example, optimising the process of the pre-treatment of feedstock, reducing energy consumption, increasing the energy efficiency of control systems and process management.
A selection of patents related to pyrolysis and torrefaction and published by patent offices around the globe in 2014-2016 is provided for review in the present bulletin. General research methodology can be found at the Advanced Energy Technologies webiste. The present bulletin includes 510 patents, prepared by applicants from 28 countries and registered in 29 patent offices. The patent documents mention 438 applicants and 582 IPC subgroups.
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), CIPO (CA).
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.
The following information can be found for the top 10 applicants: breakdown of patents 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: Xyleco Inc. (US), UOP LLC (US), KiOR Inc (US), Gas Technology Institute (US), ENSYN Group, Inc. (US), Metso Power Oy (FI), Brandvold Timothy (US), Beijing Forestry University (CN), Bioendev AB (SE), Eni S.p.A. (IT).
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 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 pyrolysis and torrefaction production methods.
