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 October 29th, 2025 has been entered. Claims 1-6 remain pending in the application. Applicant’s amendments to the drawings have overcome each and every objection previously set forth in the Non-Final Office Action mailed August 11th, 2025. The Examiner thanks Applicant for the clarification regarding Section II of the drawings.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Applicant Arguments/Remarks, filed October 29th, 2025, with respect to the rejection of claims 1-6 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Publication No. US 2019/0060779 A1 to Andrian et al. (hereinafter referred to as Andrian) in view of Chinese Patent Publication No. CN 208115448 U to Wang et al. (hereinafter referred to as Wang) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made in view of Andrian, and further in view of U.S. Patent Publication No. US 2020/0368674 A1 to Tanaka et al. (hereinafter referred to as Tanaka).
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.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Andrian (US 2019/0060779 A1), and further in view of Tanaka (US 2020/0368674 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Andrian teaches a method for reclaiming one or more amine agents (¶0006 “In certain embodiments, the disclosed technology includes a method for reclaiming one or more amine agents”) the method comprising: controlling a temperature of a fluid in a reclaimer vessel (¶0006 “In certain embodiments, the disclosed technology includes a method for reclaiming one or more amine agents, the method comprising: controlling temperature of a fluid in a vessel”), wherein the fluid comprises one or more degradation products that have been formed from reaction of one or more amine agents with one or more acid gas components (¶0006 “wherein the fluid comprises one or more degradation products that have been formed from reaction of the one or more amine agents with one or more gases (e.g., one or more acid gases”) and the vapor output stream comprises one or more amine agents (¶0040 “Water and amine agent vapors form due to the elevated temperature and exit vessel 108 through outlet 110.”). Andrian does not teach wherein the temperature of the fluid in the reclaimer vessel is controlled by allowing a fixed amount of water vapor output stream to exit the reclaimer vessel while allowing pressure within the reclaimer vessel to vary.
However, Tanaka teaches an acid gas removal apparatus with a reclaimer (¶0002 “The present invention relates to an acid gas removal apparatus including a reclaiming device”), wherein the temperature of the reclaimer vessel is controlled by allowed a fixed volume of a vapor output stream to exit the reclaimer vessel (¶0020 “regulation of the pressure with the reclaimer control device is performed by regulating a throttle valve installed in the recovered vapor discharge pipe.”) while allowing pressure within the reclaimer vessel to vary (¶0017 “the reclaimer control device performs pressure control of regulating the pressure in the reclaimer such that a reference temperature is maintained”).
Andrian and Tanaka are considered analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of acid gas removal and sorbent regeneration. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method as taught by Andrian to further include the reclaimer control device as taught by Tanaka in order to control the temperature within the reclaimer vessel while allowing for the pressure to vary to ensure a specific concentration of the vapor output stream is met (in the case of Andrian, the vapor output stream contains amine agents). While efficient recovery of the amine agents is beneficial from an energy perspective, adjusting the concentration of the vapor output can also ensure that the recovered amine agent is within a specific concentration for the purpose of resale or recycling, increasing the cost effectiveness of the system as well.
Regarding claim 2, Andrian and Tanaka teach the method as applied to claim 1 above. Andrian further teaches wherein at least one of the one or more degradation products of the fluid is bis(hydroxyetyhlethoxy)-urea (BHEEU) (¶0006 “wherein the fluid comprises one or more degradation products” ; ¶0025 “As used herein, the term “degradation product” refers to chemical species that form from reaction with an amine agent. It will be appreciated that degradation products as a term of art includes, for example, both products of a reaction of an amine agent and another species during gas sweetening (e.g., BHEEU)”).
Regarding claim 3, Andrian and Tanka teach the method as applied to claim 1 above. Andrian further teaches wherein the one or more amine agents are selected from the group consisting of: diglycolamine (DGA), 2-2-aminoethoxyethanol, monoethanolamine (MEA), diethanolamine (DEA), diisopropanolamine (DIPA), triethanolamine (TEA), methyldiethanolamine (MDEA), 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP), piperazine (PZ), and combinations thereof (¶0021 “In certain embodiments of systems and methods disclosed herein, the one or more amine agents comprises at least one of diglycolamine (DGA), monoethanolamine (MEA), diethanolamine (DEA), diisopropanolamine (DIPA), triethanolamine (TEA), methyldiethanolamine (MDEA), 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP), and piperazine (PZ).”).
Regarding claim 4, Andrian and Tanaka teach the method as applied to claim 1 above. Andrian further teaches wherein the one or more acid gas components are selected from the group consisting of: carbon dioxide (CO2), carbonyl sulfide (COS), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), carbon disulfide (CS2), and combinations thereof (¶0006 “wherein the fluid comprises one or more degradation products that have been formed from reaction of the one or more amine agents with one or more gases (e.g., one or more acid gases (e.g., wherein the one or more acid gases comprises at least one of CO2, COS, CO, H2S, and CS2)).”).
Regarding claim 5, Andrian and Tanaka teach the method as applied to claim 4 above. Andrian further teaches wherein the vapor output stream further comprises carbon dioxide (CO2) (; ¶0047 “Systems and methods disclosed herein are used to covert degradation products reversibly formed from one or more amine agents into reclaimed, useable amine agent. Degradation products are formed from reaction of an amine agent with one or more acid gases. For example, the one or more gases may comprise at least one of CO2, COS, CO, H2S, and CS2.” ; when the acid gas used is CO2, it will be a part of the degradation products and will therefore be present in the vapor output stream).
Regarding claim 6, Andrian and Tanaka teach the method as applied to claim 1 above. Andrian further teaches wherein the temperature of the fluid is maintained between about 355⁰F to about 365⁰F (¶0021 “the temperature of the fluid is decreased, increased, or both, during the period of time, in order to maintain the temperature within between about 355⁰F and about 365⁰F.”).
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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/RACHEL MARIE SLAUGOVSKY/Examiner, Art Unit 1776
/Jennifer Dieterle/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1776