Current patent portfolio and industrialization status on multi-functional utilization of tobacco outside China

To help researchers in China accurately grasp the status and main directions of foreign patents in the field of tobacco multi-functional utilization, a total of 629 patents filed from 1980 to 2022 were statistically analyzed. The results showed that: 1) The number of patent applications increased significantly from 2007 to 2015, reflecting the rapid development of technological research and industrialization, after which the number decreased significantly. Foreign companies, especially international tobacco companies, were the main source of patent applications in this field. The largest number of patents was filed by U.S. companies. 2) Foreign tobacco multi-functional utilization technologies were mainly concentrated in the fields of raw chemical materials, additives, pharmaceuticals and bioreactors. The largest number of patents was in the field of raw material preparation, which included the direct extraction of endogenous compounds and the preparation of reaction products. 3) In terms of industrialization applications, nicotine and tobacco flavors were the key directions of tobacco waste utilization. As a bioreactor, efficient expression of vaccines and antibodies was the key direction.