Description

Liquid biofuels are widely promoted as renewable, lower-emission alternatives to fossil fuels. Yet despite their promise, this sector faces a critical constraint: a long-term decline in the productivity of innovation. This decline—measured by a decreasing number of patents per inventor—suggests that generating technological breakthroughs is becoming more difficult, expensive, and uncertain. As innovation becomes more resource-intensive, the feasibility of replacing petroleum with liquid biofuels grows more tenuous. This is especially problematic given the pre-existing technical disadvantages of biofuels, including their relatively low energy return on energy investment (EROEI) and energy density compared to fossil fuels. Our findings show that the innovation system supporting biofuel development is not scaling efficiently. Instead, it is approaching or may have already passed a point of diminishing returns.

Author ORCID Identifier

0009-0004-4146-7894

Document Type

Dataset

DCMI Type

Dataset

File Format

.xlsx

Viewing Instructions

Special software required to use data: The Researcher used SPSS, but in this format, any statistical analysis program would work.

Publication Date

11-5-2025

Publisher

Utah State University

Methodology

To obtain the information necessary for this database, source data were extracted using a similar method employed in Lobo and Stumsky (2008) from the USPTO. The information gathered included title, authorship, patent number, technology codes, date patent was requested, and date patent was granted. The data were gathered using a keyword search of terms and patent codes, as described below. This search returned over 33,000 patents from 1976 to 2020. For the 5,806 retained patents, we collected data on several key attributes: the number of listed inventors, the number of days of pendency, whether the patent description mentioned algae, whether the invention related to diesel, ethanol, or jet fuel production, and whether it was associated with vehicle innovations for alternative fuel use.

Referenced by

Arnold, Michelle M. & Christopher L. Lant (In preparation) “Increasing Complexity Leads to Declining Productivity of Innovation in the Algal Biofuel Industry”

Language

eng

Code Lists

APPDATE = The date the patent application was filed

GDATE = Date patent was granted

Days = Days between APPDATE and GDATE

Disciplines

Natural Resources and Conservation | Oil, Gas, and Energy

License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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Additional Files

README_Arnold_ch4.txt (3 kB)

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