International trends in intellectual property on extraction methods and technological applications of coffee oil

This work aimed to present the current scenario of technological innovation involved in extraction and applications of coffee oil through patents listed in Derwent Innovations Index and INPI platform. Keywords combinations such as (i) «coffee oil» AND «extraction»; (ii) «coffee oil» AND «aroma» (iii) «coffee oil» AND «microencapsulation», (iv) «spent coffee grounds» AND «coffee oil» and (v) «coffee oil» AND «spray drying» were used as search terms on Derwent’s database, which resulted in 62 patents. Of those 62 patents, 80 % of them were classified as A23 – (food products and their processing, coffee aroma; coffee oil, etc.), 31% were granted in the years between 2014 and 2016, of which USA leads with 27.9% and 70 % of the patents. In both cases, the supercritical CO2 technique was applied to oil extraction. Nestec S.A., a subsidiary of NESTLE, at 14.5 %, holds the majority of active patents. Of the patents analyzed on the INPI platform (the same Keywords combinations are used, except in portuguese), the most uses of coffee oil were related to the production of instant coffee, pharmaceutical manipulations and polymer matrices. Pressing was the extraction method that represented 54 % of the 12 patents found. The main classification was C11B with 52 % of patents. Microencapsulation technique to preserve aroma and bioactive compounds has been used in some of patents. This topic proved to be promising in terms of commercial exploitation due to its efficiency in preserving compounds from vegetable oils. The national industry and the academic community must be attentive to the coffee sector that influences the Brazilian economy, observing opportunities for development and technological innovation.