The Patent Analysis of the Light Naphtha Isomerization Technology

The technology monitoring using patent analysis method has been applied for light naphtha isomerization process in the present work. Patent analysis was used as a key tool to analyze the governing conditions in the light naphtha isomerization technical knowledge environment. The parameters which were studied as the effective criteria in this analysis include: patenting time trend, the technical aspects of the patents, top patent assignees, joint venture between assignees, citation statistics and familiar patents role in worldwide patent mapping. The results showed that the technical knowledge of this technology has became probably mature and it is predicted that patenting trend in this area will be continued with decreasing rate in future years. The patents were categorized in to five major groups based on their main technical concept including Process, Catalyst, Reactor, Separation and Feed preparation. The analysis showed that the innovations and technical developments were focused on process and catalyst of the technology, so these two concepts are the main subject of the research in this area. It was found that Exxon Mobil and UOP are the most pioneer players while Chevron, Universal Oil, Conoco Phillips, Shell and unio‎n Carbide are the other major players. The most valuable patent from technical view was published by unio‎n Carbide which is about the hydrocarbon conversion with zeolites and isomerization process using zeolite molecular sieves. The familiar patents analysis showed that the patent US4150060 was published in 31 countries which is for the UOP Company. It is observed that UOP and Shell and after them, Exxon Mobil and unio‎n Carbide are the major worldwide players in the technical knowledge of light naphtha isomerization by patenting their knowledge in more countries comparing to other players.