Archive
SYNTHETIC FUELS. Latest published applications 2015-2017. Coal-to-liquids
Summary
The technology for converting coal into liquid hydrocarbons has not been developed on a large scale due to high capital and operating costs and negative environmental impact. Today, production of liquid fuel from coal is concentrated in South Africa and China, and is planned in Indonesia and India. This is due to the abundance of coal resources in these regions with limited oil and gas reserves. In most cases, two-stage coal gasification technology is used to produce syngas consisting of a mixture of H2 and CO and the subsequent synthesis of high-molecular weight compounds through the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process. In South Africa, the Secunda plant has been successfully operating since the eighties. In China, the largest plants are located in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Xinjian province. However, the total global production of liquid synthetic fuels from coal is only a few hundred thousand barrels per day. Nevertheless, the final products obtained using Coal-to-Liquid technology have high environmental standards which, combined with the rich resource base, predetermines the gradual development of this sector in a number of countries and regions. Recent engineering solutions, in the form of patent applications primarily aimed at improving the efficiency of coal-to-liquid technologies, are likely to contribute to this development.
The present bulletin reviews patent applications registered by patent offices around the globe in 2015-2017 related to the subject of Coal-to-liquids in the field of synthetic fuels. General research methodology can be found on the Advanced Energy Technologies website. 1637 patent documents from 37 patent offices around the world are represented in the bulletin. In total, 549 applicants from 32 countries and 921 subgroups of the International Patent Classification are mentioned.
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), and data on the most frequently mentioned International Patent Classification divisions (sections, classes, subclasses, groups, and subgroups). The top three patent offices that registered the largest number of patent applications were CNIPA (CN), USPTO (US) and WIPO.
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.
A list of the top 10 applicants by the number of patent documents includes ENN Coal Gasification Mining Co. Ltd. (CN), Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij B.V. (NL), Shell Oil Company (US), General Electric (US), Sasol Technology (Pty) Ltd. (ZA), Air Liquide (FR), ENN Science & Technology Development Co Ltd (CN), Xinjiang Guoliheng Clean Energy Technology Co. Ltd (CN), Shenhua Group Co Ltd (CN) and Sabic Global Technologies B.V (NL). Data representing the share in the established intellectual property market, distribution of applications by problems, IPC sections, patent offices and technology indicators is provided in the form of tables and diagrams for them.
The bulletin contains lists of the top 10 prominent documents having the highest bibliographical rating, the most extensive coverage of IPC sections, and those not being part a of patent family.
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 registered patent applications.
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. A 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 synthetic fuels production technologies.
