DETAILED ACTION
Application Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . This action is in response to Applicant’s submission dated 11/18/2025. Claim(s) 1 & 4–6 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 & 4–6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2004-116815 to Ebara et al (citations directed to the machine translation provided by Applicant) in view of US 5,669,317 to May et al.
With regard to claim 1, Ebara discloses a heat treatment system (¶ 0002) comprising: a pyrolysis furnace that pyrolyzes a raw material to produce a pyrolysis product (¶ 0007); and a co-current rotary kiln that heats an object to be heated using the pyrolysis product produced in the pyrolysis furnace (¶¶ 0007, 0010, 0025; Fig. 1).
Ebara fails to disclose a heat recovery device configured to recover heat of exhaust gas exhausted from the rotary kiln with vapor; an air preheater: a first duct configured to send the vapor from the heat recovery device to the air preheater, and a second duct configured to introduce combustion air to the air preheater to be heated by the vapor, and to introduce the heated combustion air from the air preheater into the pyrolysis furnace, wherein the pyrolysis furnace is configured to pyrolyze the raw material using the heated combustion air to produce the pyrolysis product. May teaches a heat recovery device (82) configured to recover heat of exhaust gas exhausted from a high-temperature reactor (32) with vapor (Fig. 3; Col. 8, lines 17–22); an air preheater (80) (Fig. 3; Col. 8, lines 17–22); a first duct configured to send the vapor from the heat recovery device (82) to the air preheater (80) (Fig. 3; Col. 8, lines 17–22), and a second duct configured to introduce combustion air to the air preheater to be heated by the vapor (Fig. 3; Col. 8, lines 17–30), and to introduce the heated combustion air from the air preheater into the pyrolysis furnace (8) (Fig. 3; Col. 8, lines 17–30), wherein the pyrolysis furnace (8) is configured to pyrolyze the raw material using the heated combustion air to produce the pyrolysis product (Fig. 3; Col. 5, lines 54–57, 61–64; Col. 8, lines 17–30). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the heat treatment system of Ebara with the heat recovery device of May because such a combination would have had the added benefit of a more thermally efficient process by reducing/eliminating the need for external heat to be applied to pyrolysis furnace.
With regard to claim 4, Ebara further discloses the object to be heated is waste (¶¶ 0006, 0014).
With regard to claim 5, Ebara further discloses the raw material includes a biomass raw material (¶ 0013).
With regard to claim 6, Ebara further discloses the pyrolysis product produced in the pyrolysis furnace is configured to be sent to the co-current rotary kiln without being heat-recovered (¶ 0025).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: see attached PTO-892. Applicant is encouraged to review the cited references prior to submitting a response to this office action.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID J LAUX whose telephone number is (571)270-7619. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30-5:30 M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Edelmira Bosques can be reached at (571) 270-5614. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DAVID J LAUX/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762
December 16, 2025
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