A Study on the Trend of Technology for the Treatment of Oil from Oilsands by Patent Analysis

As a kind of an energy source to replace petroleum, the importance of oilsands is being emphasized as time goes on. In this paper, the trend of technology for the treatment of oil from oilsands was scrutinized using the patent analysis. The patents analyzed here were limited to them issued from 1973 to 2009. The technology trend of oil treatment of oilsands was analyzed by classifying each patent based on the year of publication, the country, the type of technology, and the major applicant of the patent.