DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on 12/23/2025 has been entered. Claim(s) 14-22 is/are pending in the application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 14-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Janikowski et al. ("Super-ferritic stainless steels-the cost-effective answer for heat transfer tubing." NACE CORROSION. NACE, 2008.) in view of Ofei et al. (US20220251032A1)
Regarding Claims 14-16, Janikowski teaches examples of ferritic steel with 26-29% Cr (reading on claims 15-16), and 2.5 or less% Ni (See 544600, S44627, S44660, S44700, S44735, S44800 in Table 1) for use in desalination and water recovery tubing and other heat transfer applications (Abstract); but does not teach that the steel is used in a high-pressure synthesis section for producing urea. However, Ofei teaches a method of urea synthesis with ferritic steel (abstract) where the steel may have 22-35% Cr and 0.5% or less of Ni [0016], as the ferritic steel provides excellent corrosion resistance in high pressure conditions [0032-033]; therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to use the ferritic steel of Janikowski in a high-pressure synthesis section for the purpose of producing urea.
Regarding Claims 17, the urea synthesis pressure is at least 100 bar [0088] and the temperature is around 200 C [0122]
Regarding Claims 18-19, the prior art is silent regarding the transition temperature of the steel, however, since the prior art steels are substantially identical to the claimed steel, one of ordinary skill in the art would expect the steel transition temperature to be in a similar range to that claimed (and still under the operating temperature) (See MPEP 2112.01(I))
Regarding Claims 20-21, the urea reactor is considered to be a tube sheet of the reactor (See Claim 7)
Regarding Claim 22, there is no added passivation air (or oxygen) [0033]
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 14 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any combination of references applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/RICARDO D MORALES/Examiner, Art Unit 1738