PROSPECTIVE STUDY OF PRODUCTS AND PROCESSES BASED ON CARBOHYDRATE HYDROLYSIS

Resumo

Carbohydrates are complex macromolecules, essential for life and present in all living organisms. They are the most abundant organic molecules in nature and can be present from the simplest forms, monosaccharides, and oligosaccharides, to the most complex forms, polysaccharides. The hydrolysis of these polymers is a technique used for many years to generate products that are used in the food, cosmetics, and biofuels industry. The objective was to carry out a prospective study on carbohydrate hydrolysis to ascertain the number of process and product patents in the database by the Instituto Nacional de Propriedade Industrial (INPI) and the European Patent Office (EPO). It was observed that the INPI has fewer patent filings (5) than EPO (209). Also, the country with the highest number of patents filed on carbohydrate hydrolysis was China (42), and the areas with the highest number of deposits were the “Chemistry and Metallurgy” and “Agriculture”, with patent filings initiated in 1930 with a peak of production in the last decade. Therefore, the technological prospecting of patents in the area of carbohydrate hydrolysis has been growing over the years because of the increase in the use of simple carbohydrates by society.