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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 9-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected group of inventions, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on June 26, 2025.
Claims 9-12 were erroneously indicated as belonging to Group I in the restriction and are properly grouped with the method claims in Group III. Therefore, claims 9-12 are withdrawn from further consideration as being drawn to non-elected Group III.
Applicant’s election without traverse of group I in the reply filed on June 26,2025 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 5 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 5, the phrase "for example" renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitation(s) following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
Regarding, claim 7, the instant claim requires an “applicable oxygen concentration”. The subject of application or what it would refer to is not defined, if the oxygen concentration refers to absorbed oxygen, oxygen in that catalyst, or another concentration of oxygen. Due to this, the claim is considered indefinite. For the purpose of examination, the oxygen concentration will be interpreted as the amount of oxygen in the test gas applied to the sorbent to measure absorption and desorption in the product.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1- 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Augustine (US 2010209323 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Augustine discloses a DeNOx sorbent material that comprises a Titania-Zirconia support (Augustine [0057]), and a manganese catalyst component (Augustine [0061]). While the prior art is silent on the absorbance properties of the sorbent at and above the set temperature point, the composition presented in the prior art is the same as the composition in the instant claim. The sorbent in the prior art would contain properties inherent to the product in the instant claim. Therefore, this disclosure fulfills the limitations set in the instant claim requiring a Nitrogen Oxide sorbent material to comprise of a manganese catalyst; and, a support material, which would be able to adsorb/absorb and release captured NOx at and above a set point temperature.
Regarding claim 2, Augustine discloses a DeNOx sorbent material that comprises a Titania-Zirconia support (Augustine [0057]), and a manganese catalyst component (Augustine [0061]). While the prior art is silent on the absorbance properties at a set temperature point, the composition presented in the prior art is the same as the composition in the instant claim. Since, the instant claim define a property of the sorbent, the prior art’s disclosure fulfills the limitation set in the instant claim which states that the property of a material would stop absorbing and start desorbing at 350°C.
Regarding claim 3, Augustine discloses a DeNOx sorbent material that comprises a manganese catalyst component (Augustine [0061]), bases added into the synthesis process to promote deposition on the support material (Augustine [0121]), as well as other additives such as titania zirconia (Augustine [0110]) and carbonate salts (Augustine [0122]) . This disclosure fulfills the limitations set in the instant claim requiring the manganese catalyst to comprise a promoter, an Mn-based compound, and other additives.
Regarding claim 4, Augustine discloses a promoter from various embodiments including hydroxides, alkali metals, and alkali earth compounds (Augustine[0121]). This disclosure fulfills the limitations set in the instant claim requiring the promoter to be an alkali and/or alkaline earth metal compounds selected from Group IA and Group IIA, consisting hydroxides, carbonates, bicarbonates, nitrates, nitrites of lithium, sodium, potassium, cesium and mixtures thereof.
Regarding claim 5, Augustine discloses a DeNOx sorbent material that comprises a Titania-Zirconia support (Augustine [0057]). This disclosure fulfills the limitations set in the instant claim requiring the support material is one chosen from a group consisting of inorganic oxides including transition metal oxides (such as TiO2), main-group metal oxides (such as MgO), rare earth metal oxides (such as CeO2) and etc., zeolites, large surface area carbon-based materials or a mixture of any two or more thereof, e.g. ceria-zirconia or ceria-zirconia-alumina.
Regarding claim 6, Augustine discloses the additional additives in the form of titania (Augustine [0110]), a transition metal oxide. This disclosure fulfills the limitations set in the instant claim requiring the additives to be chosen from platinum group metals and/or transition metal oxides.
Regarding claim 7, Augustine discloses the a DeNOx sorbent material that comprises a Titania-Zirconia support (Augustine [0057]), and a manganese catalyst component (Augustine [0061]). While the prior art does refer to the oxygen concentration in a stream to test the NOx sorbent containing 12% vol. oxygen (Augustine [0152]), the limitation is considered to be met since the composition and structure of the catalyst are the same. Therefore, because the composition and structure are the same , the product would behave in the same way when exposed to the atmosphere defined in the instant claim.
Regarding claim 8, Augustine discloses that promoter in the form of iron (II) sulfate (Augustine[0126]). In the prior art, Augustine discloses a catalyst that is 1.5% wt. of Fe to the total weight of the catalyst (Augustine [Table 2]). Therefore, this disclosure fulfills the limitations set in the instant claim requiring the manganese catalyst to further comprise of 1% to 50% of promoter based on a total weight of the manganese catalyst.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANNETTE H PHAN whose telephone number is (703)756-4520. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-6:30 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anthony Zimmer can be reached at 5712703591. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANNETTE PHAN/Examiner, Art Unit 1736
/ANTHONY J ZIMMER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1736