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SYNTHETIC FUELS. Latest granted patents 2014-2016. Syngas production cycle
Summary
Synthesis gas or syngas, which is predominantly a mixture of H2 and CO, can be obtained from virtually any hydrocarbon or organic material, including natural gas, coal, biomass, or municipal waste. For the production of syngas, the feedstock is subjected to high-temperature methods of exposure, leading to the decomposition of complex molecules of organic substances to a mixture of elemental hydrogen and carbon monoxide. At the next stage, methanol and a number of its derivatives can be synthesized from them, which have a wide range of applications, primarily in the chemical industry. Fischer-Tropsch processes can produce high quality synthetic fuels. Syngas methanization provides syngas production as a substitute for natural gas. The leading players in this market are the English-Dutch Shell, South African Sasol, Canadian Methanex Corporation, Danish Haldor Topsoe, Japanese Toyo Technology Corporation, American Air Products, Lurgi Chemic GmbH, Linde plc, Air Liquide, and other companies.
A selection of patents related to synthetic fuels and syngas production cycle 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 Advanced Energy Technologies website. The present bulletin includes 1661 patents, prepared by applicants from 30 countries and registered in 29 patent offices. The patent documents mention 1057 applicants and 966 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 (USA), CNIPA (China) and JPO (Japan).
For each of the patent documents selected for the examination in the present bulletin the characteristics of unified indicators were preliminary defined, they include: technical problems, types of inventive solutions employed, belonging to one or other technological segment. This allows the internal content for each of the indicators in the aggregate array of documents to be visualized, for instance, to define the sequence and proportional correlation of technical problems the inventive solutions disclosed in the texts aim to solve. A list of the top 10 groups consisting of patent documents with identical unified indicators contains ID numbers and applicant names of respective documents; the groups are sorted by the number of patent documents.
A list of the top 10 applicants by the number of patent documents includes General Electric (US), Wuhan Kaidi Engineering Technology Research General Institute Co., Ltd. (CN), Thyssenkrupp Uhde Gmbh (DE), Johnson Matthey Plc (GB), Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij B.V. (NL), Haldor Topsoe A/S (DK), Uhde GmbH (DE), Lummus Technology Inc. (US), Greatpoint Energy Inc (US), IFP (École Nationale Supérieure du Pétrole et des Moteurs) (FR). Data representing the share in the established intellectual property market, distribution of patent by problems, IPC sections, patent offices 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.
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 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 synthetic fuels and syngas production cycle.
