Fibrous raw materials or their mechanical treatment (pretreatment of the finely-divided materials before digesting D21C1/00; methods of beating or refining pulp D21D1/00; purification of the pulp suspension by mechanical means D21D5/00)

Filing statistics

CPC D21B 1/00 belongs to the parent subclass D21B, which recorded 7,074 patent applications worldwide between 2013 and 2023. Annual filings grew from 444 in 2013 to 501 in 2023 (+13%), peaking at 906 applications in 2018. The most active applicants in class D21 are VOITH PATENT (1,857 applications), STORA ENSO (1,552 applications) and KEMIRA (1,173 applications).

Source: EPO PATSTAT, worldwide filings

3 direct subcodes

Child Classifications

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D21B 1/02 Pretreatment of the raw materials by chemical or physical means (removal of bark B27L)
D21B 1/04 by dividing raw materials into small particles, e.g. fibres (breaking-up or cutting wood or the like by dry methods B27L; mechanical separation of fibres from plant material D01B1/00; hackling or heckling machines D01B5/00)
D21B 1/38 Conserving the finely-divided cellulosic material

Top Applicants

Top 10 applicants by patent filingsfor class D21, 2013–2023, worldwide · Source: EPO PATSTAT

VOITH PATENT DE 1,857
STORA ENSO FI 1,552
KEMIRA FI 1,173
KIMBERLY-CLARK CORPORATION US 1,107
VALMET TECHNOLOGIES FI 965
VALMET SE 943
P&G (PROCTER & GAMBLE COMPANY) US 941
OMYA INTERNATIONAL CH 821
UPM-KYMMENE CORPORATION FI 512
SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION JP 501