Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/042,334

METHOD FOR THE PRODUCTION OF BUTANOL USING A TITANIUM-BASED BIMETALLIC HETEROGENEOUS CATALYST

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Feb 21, 2023
Examiner
FIGUEROA, JOHN J
Art Unit
1763
Tech Center
1700 — Chemical & Materials Engineering
Assignee
Techcycling LLC
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
83%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 11m
To Grant
92%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 83% — above average
83%
Career Allow Rate
902 granted / 1087 resolved
+18.0% vs TC avg
Moderate +9% lift
Without
With
+8.7%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 11m
Avg Prosecution
24 currently pending
Career history
1111
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.6%
-39.4% vs TC avg
§103
36.6%
-3.4% vs TC avg
§102
31.9%
-8.1% vs TC avg
§112
13.8%
-26.2% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1087 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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. Priority Applicant’s claim of priority as a 35 U.S.C. §371 national stage entry of PCT/ US2021 /0 46511 f iled Aug . 18 , 2021, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Serial No. 16/997,481 filed Aug. 19 , 2020, is hereby acknowledged. Election/Restriction Applicant’s election, with traverse, of Group I (claims 1 -24 ) in the reply filed on September 18 , 2025, to the restriction requirement dated July 18 , 202 5 , is hereby acknowledged. The traversal is based on that the special technical feature is not obvious over the prior art. However, present independent claim 1 has been rejected in v iew of prior art as shown below. Accordingly, claims 1 -24 have been examined in the instant Office action , whereas claim s 25 -36 ha ve been withdrawn from consideration as drawn to a nonelected invention but remain pending with the present application. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 10 2 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. 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. Claim s 1-7, 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 10 2(a)(1) as anticipated by Idriss (US 20 1 7 / 0274364 A1 to Idriss et al. , published Sept. 28 , 201 7 ). Idriss discloses a photocatalyst , a process of making thereof, and a method for producing hydrogen and oxygen from water by photocatalytic electrolysis , wherein t he photocatalyst includes a photoactive material and metal / metal alloy material s, such as particles or alloys capable of having plasmon resonance properties deposited on the surface of the photoactive material , wherein the photoactive material includes a p-n junction formed by contact of a n-type semiconductor material, such as mixed phase titanium dioxide nano particles and a p-type semiconductor material, such as cobalt/copper oxide. Because it is a catalyst having both titanium dioxide and cobalt oxide (cobalt cations), it is this a heterogeneous/bimetallic catalyst (abstract; [0009]; [0010]; [0013]; [0041]; [0043]) . Example 1 depicts the production of a cobalt oxide-titanium oxide photocatalyst/substrate, particularly, [0055] and [0056]). Idriss discloses that t he plasmon resonance material can be metal or metal alloys can be obtained from a variety of forms (e.g., particles, rods, films, etc.) and sizes and can be prepared using co-precipitation or deposition-precipitation method s (includes absorption) , wherein t he metal particles can be used as conductive material for the excited electrons to ultimately reduce hydrogen ions to produce hydrogen gas , and wherein the metal particles can also enhance efficiency via resonance plasmonic excitation from visible light, enabling capture of a broader range of light energy . T he metal particles can be substantially pure particles of gold , p alladium or s ilver and/or can include binary / tertiary alloys containing gold, palladium or silver ([0048]). The p-type semiconductor material , cobalt or copper , can be in their reduced state (for example, cobalt oxide (Co II)) wherein t hese metals are in contact with the n-type material forms a p-n-junction ([0049]). Idriss also discloses that the photocatalyst comprises 0.1 to 5% of the nanoparticle material ([0017]; present claims 6 and 7) whereas the average crystal size of the titanium dioxide support dopped with cobalt ions is between ten and one hundred nanometers ([0026]). The nanoparticles in the mixed phase nanoparticles have a surface area of about 45 to 80 m 2 /g ([0045]). Thus, the instant claims are anticipated by Idriss . 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. Claim 8 i s rejected under 35 U.S.C. §10 3 as unpatentable over . Idriss was discussed above. Idriss does not disclose that choosing cobalt cations a “controlled geometry and low coordination ” as the cobalt cations for depositing on the titanium oxide support . However, it would have been within the purview of one skilled in the art at the time of the filing of the present application to select cobalt cations of any particular geometry/coordination to optimize the photocatalyst/plasmonic properties used in semiconductor materials . Thus, the resultant enhanced properties of the resultant photocatalyst/semiconductor materials can be arrived by routine optimization of this variable (low coordination and geometry) . See MPEP § 2144.05 II A . Thus, the instant claim is unpatentable over Idriss . Allowable Subject Matter Claims 11-24 have been examined and deemed allowable. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Idriss, the closes prior art, does not teach or suggest the manufacturing process recited in present independent claim 11 , wherein the process includes the step of forming the titanium dioxide support dopped with cobalt cations by mixing titanium dioxide with a cobalt salt Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Enter examiner's name" \* MERGEFORMAT JOHN J FIGUEROA whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)272-8916 . The examiner can normally be reached on FILLIN "Work schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT 8:30 am -6:00 pm . If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, JOSEPH DEL SOLE can be reached on 571-272-1 130 . The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /JOHN J FIGUEROA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 176 3 December 1 3 , 2025
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Feb 21, 2023
Application Filed
Dec 13, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
83%
Grant Probability
92%
With Interview (+8.7%)
2y 11m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1087 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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