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SYNTHETIC FUELS. Latest granted patents 2016-2018. Fischer-Tropsch synthesis
Summary
Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) continues to be at the centre of scientific interest as an alternative for the production of clean transportation fuels and other hydrocarbon products. The process consists of heterogeneous catalytic conversion of syngas (a mixture of H2 and CO) usually derived from natural resources, such as coal, natural gas or biomass. Many different combinations of (metal) catalysts, operating conditions, and reactor designs have been developed over time to optimise the process. Industrial F-T plants usually employ fixed-bed-, fluidized-bed-, or slurry bubble-column-type reactor technology. The fuels produced industrially by F-T synthesis can be divided into two types: the first type is received through high-temperature F-T (HTFT) synthesis with the help of Fe-based catalysts operated at 320°C or higher temperatures. The second type is the product from low-temperature F–T (LTFT) synthesis also using mainly Fe- and Co-based catalysts at temperatures around 170°C to 270°C. Scientific discourse concerning FT synthesis mostly pertains to optimising the selectivity of the polymerization process, improving the surface structure of the active catalysts, and the problem of catalyst deactivation. The patents cited in this bulletin try to present solutions to some of the aforementioned problems.
A selection of patents related to Fischer-Tropsch synthesis 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 on the Advanced Energy Technologies website. The present bulletin includes 948 patents, prepared by applicants from 25 countries and registered in 22 patent offices. The patent documents mention 398 applicants and 694 IPC subgroups.
Key Highlights
The bulletin provides general statistical figures, including the overall 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 most popular patent offices among the applicants were: USPTO (US), CNIPA (CN), EPO, CIPO (CA), IP Australia (AU), JPO (JP), EAPO, INPI (BR), Rospatent (RU), CIPC (ZA).
From the analysis of texts of patents presented in this bulletin, detailed information is extracted for each of the unified indicators, which include: technical problems, types of inventive solutions employed, belonging of a patent document to one or other technological segment. The results of the statistical processing of this data for the entire array of the patents examined are summarized in the correspondingly-named diagrams and tables. In addition to that, a list of the top 10 groups of patent documents with identical unified indicators is provided, where the groups are sorted by the number of patent documents and include ID numbers and applicant names of the documents.
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: JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation (JP), Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) (JP), Cosmo Oil Co., Ltd (JP), INPEX Corporation (JP), Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., Ltd. (JP), Sasol Technology (Pty) Ltd (ZA), Nippon Steel & Sumikin Engineering Co Ltd (JP), ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company (US), Eni S.p.A. (IT), Sinopec China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (CN).
The bulletin contains lists of the top 10 prominent patents having the highest bibliographical rating, the most extensive coverage of IPC sections, the shortest patent pending time.
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.
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 Fischer-Tropsch synthesis technologies.
