Geopolymer Patent Publications

The graph above shows the number of published geopolymer related patent applications and granted patents per year for the last 30 years. The methodology I used to obtain these numbers is described below. The numbers for 2023 were taken on April 8th 2024, so the 2023 full year is likely to be complete. Although geopolymers have been around for a long time (the term geopolymer was coined in the late 70’s by Professor Joseph Davidovits (Geopolymer Institute) there was relatively little patent activity until 2005/2006. (Note that patent applications are published 18 months after filing.) There has been a rapid increase in patent applications filed since the mid 2000’s, with a large proportion of the increased activity coming from the Chinese patent office. Most of the applications published by the Chinese patent office are from Chinese companies. Given the timing of the increase the major driver is probably the desire to reduce carbon dioxide emissions associated with the manufacture of Portland cement, by finding alternative materials. Geopolymers are one potential alternative, although the benefits are dependent on the formulation. The alkali silicate component has a high CO2 footprint and its concentration must be minimised. A discussion of the environmental considerations for geopolymer design is given by Davidovits in Materials Today China is by far the largest cement manufacturer, producing almost half of the world’s cement.