Nanocellulose Patents Trends: A Comprehensive Review on Patents on Cellulose Nanocrystals, Microfibrillated and Bacterial Cellulose

Abstract

Cellulose nanoparticles (i.e. cellulose elements having at least one dimension in the 1-100 nm range) have received increasing attention during the last decade. This is not only evident in academic articles, but it is also manifested by the increasing number of nanocellulose patents that are published every year. In the current review, nanocellulose patents are reviewed using specific software which provides valuable information on the annual number of patents that have been published throughout the years, main patent owners, most prolific inventors, and patents on the field that have received more citations. Patent statistics on rod-like cellulose nanoparticles extracted from plants by acid hydrolysis (nanocrystals), mechanical treatment leading to microfibrillated cellulose (MFC), and microbially produced nanofibrils (bacterial cellulose, BC) are analyzed in detail. The aim of the current review is to provide researchers with patent information which may help them in visualizing the evolution of nanocellulose technology, both as a whole and also divided among the different nanosized particles that are currently the subject of outstanding scientific attention. Then, patents are not only analyzed by their content, but also by global statistics which will reveal the moment at which different cellulose nanoparticles technologies achieved a breakthrough, the relative interest received by different nanocellulose particles throughout the years, the companies that have been most interested in this technology, the most prolific inventors, and the patents that have had more influence in further developments. It is expected that the results showing the explosion that nanocellulose technology is experiencing in current days will still bring more research on the topic and contribute to the expansion of nanocellulosics applications.