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 .
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 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2021/097091 A1 in view of Hickey, for the reasons given in the last Office Action.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s argument, that the carbon dioxide in Hickey is obtained from an external source and is derived from a biogas stream which is separate from the liquid stream from a digester, is not convincing. Hickey discloses in Paragraph [0019] that air stripping of the digestate liquid generates a stripper gas containing ammonia and carbon dioxide, and that a scrubber scrubs the stripper gas with a scrubbing solution in a scrubber. Contact of the stripper gas with the carbon dioxide rich steam produces a scrubber effluent that contains ammonium bicarbonate, which scrubber liquid may be chilled to reduce the solubility of ammonium bicarbonate and foster conditions for precipitation of ammonium bicarbonate particles that can then provide an ammonium bicarbonate product. Hickey further discloses in Paragraph [0019] that all of the carbon dioxide used in the process can consist essentially of carbon dioxide generated during the anaerobic digestion process. Although Hickey states that the scrubber may contain additional carbon dioxide originating from the biogas upgrading process, this step does not appear to be essential to the process. In any event, applicant’s claims do not exclude additional carbon dioxide originating from the biogas upgrading process in the scrubber.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 WAYNE A LANGEL whose telephone number is (571) 272-1353. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday from 8:15 am to 4:15 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anthony Zimmer can be reached at 571-270-3591. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/WAYNE A LANGEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1736