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
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species II, claims 4-15 in the reply filed on February 10, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 2-3 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed June 12, 2023 fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(3)(i) because it does not include a concise explanation of the relevance, as it is presently understood by the individual designated in 37 CFR 1.56(c) most knowledgeable about the content of the information, of each reference listed that is not in the English language. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered.
The translation (English documents) submitted for each of the Chinese references do not appear to coincide with the references. Documents CN 113591008 and CN 105184652. However, the English documents are CN112591008 and CN105194652.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 and 4-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1),(a)(2) as being anticipated by Foody, US 2018/0251372.
Foody, as to claims 1 and 14-15, discloses a system for controlling a carbon footprint of an industrial process comprising:
one or more computers comprising one or more processors and one or more non-transitory computer readable media, the one or more non-transitory computer readable media including program instructions stored thereon that wt1en executed cause the one or more computers to (data stored in computer-readable format, par 141 );
receive, by the one or more processors, raw material data comprising one or more of raw material location data, raw material type data, raw material blend data, and raw material property data for each of one or more raw materials;
("subjecting waste organic material to anaerobic digestion", par 25. "introducing a first amount of the biogas derived combustible fluid feedstock to apparatus for delivering a combustible fluid feedstock to fuel production facility", par 38);
monitor, by the one or more processors, one or more sensors configured to determine fuel source consumption data comprising an amount of one or more fuel sources required by one or more process steps in the industrial process ("arranging for a fuel production facility to receive combustible fluid feedstock to use in a process for making liquid transportation or heating fuel, wherein the process comprises combining renewable hydrogen derived from the combustible fluid feedstock with crude oil derived liquid hydrocarbons under conditions to hydrogenate the liquid hydrocarbons; (c) generating numerical information relating to the combustible fluid feedstock or crude biogas the information comprising information representing at least 3 parameters selected from: (i') the type of renewable fuel that it is; (ii') year in which the combustible fluid feedstock was produced; (iii') a registration number associated with the producer or importer of the combustible fluid feedstock;", par 37.);
determine, by the one or more processors, the amount of one or more fuel sources required by one or more process steps in the industrial process to process ead1 of Urn one or more raw materials ("(ii) collecting an amount of crude biogas using an apparatus;", par 37);
receive, by the one or more processors, fuel source data comprising fuel emissions data for the one or more fuel sources (type of fuel, see par 37. Emission during production, par 166);
execute, by the one or more processors, a carbon intensity analysis configured to output a carbon intensity value for at least one of the one or more process steps based on the fuel emissions data ("Under RFS and LCFS, fuels are characterized by their lifecycle G HG emissions'', par 166);
generate, by the one or more processors, a carbon intensity report comprising the carbon intensity value ("numerical information described herein or portion thereof is provided to a government regulatory agency, including the EPA", par 154. Provided information about a process is a report.); and
display, by the one or more processors, the carbon intensity report on one or more graphical user interfaces ("numerical information described herein or portion thereof is provided to a government regulatory agency, including the EPA, in connection with generating a RIN. In some embodiments of Um invention, the numerical information is also provided to a fuel production facility or to a purchaser of biogas derived combustible fluid feedstock. The numerical information described herein or portions thereof may be stored electronically in computer readable format", par 141. It is implied that submitted data is viewed by the EPA on some type of GUI if it is submitted in computer-readable format. Also "producers or importers of biogas used as transportation fuel, heating fuel or jet fuel as described in 40 C.F.R. § 80.1426(f)(10) and (11), st1all report all of the following: the total energy produced and supplied for use as a fuel, in units of energy (for example, MMBtu or MW) based on metering of gas volume or electricity; and the name and location of where the fuel is sold for such uses.", par 154);
wherein the fuel emissions data comprises an amount of CO2; emitted per measure unit of the one or more fuel sources ("Lifecycle GHG emissions evaluations generally consider GHG emissions of each: (a) the feedstock production and recovery (including if the carbon in the feedstock is of fossil origin (such as with oil or natural gas) or of atmospheric origin (such as with biomass))", par 166); and
wherein the carbon intensity value comprises an amount of CO2, emitted during the one or more process steps by the one or more fuel sources for an amount of each of the one or more raw materials ("Under RFS and LCFS, fuels are characterized by their lifecycle GHG emissions[ ... ] Lifecycle GHG emissions evaluations generally consider GHG emissions of each: (a) the feedstock production and recovery (including if the carbon in the feedstock is of fossil origin (such as with oil or natural gas) or of atmospheric origin (such as with biomass)), direct impacts like chemical inputs, energy inputs, and emissions from the collection and recovery operations, and indirect impacts like the impact of land use changes from incremental feedstock production; (b) feedstock transport (including energy inputs, and emissions from transport); ( c) fuel production (including chemical and energy inputs, emissions and byproducts from fuel production (including direct and indirect impacts)); and (d) transport and storage prior to use as a transport fuel (including chemical and energy inputs and emissions from transport and storage).", par 166)
As to claim 4, Foody discloses a blend of raw materials, par 51.
As to claim 5-7 and 9, Foody discloses Under RFS and LCFS, fuels are characterized by their lifecycle GHG emissions relative to baseline emissions values. For example, under RFS, advanced biofuels have the requirement that they have lifecycle GHG emissions that are at least 50 percent less than baseline lifecycle GHG emissions. To determine this measure, analyses are conducted to calculate the net GHG impact of the use of particular fuels, and are compared by reference to the use of gasoline per unit of fuel energy. Lifecycle GHG emissions evaluations generally consider GHG emissions of each: (a) the feedstock production and recovery (including if the carbon in the feedstock is of fossil origin (such as with oil or natural gas) or of atmospheric origin (such as with biomass)), direct impacts like chemical inputs, energy inputs, and emissions from the collection and recovery operations, and indirect impacts like the impact of land use changes from incremental feedstock production; (b) feedstock transport (including energy inputs, and emissions from transport); (c) fuel production (including chemical and energy inputs, emissions and byproducts from fuel production (including direct and indirect impacts)); and (d) transport and storage prior to use as a transport fuel (including chemical and energy inputs and emissions from transport and storage). (the use of blend analysis and historical data). (par 166).
As to claim 8, Foody discloses a footprint can be determined. (par 165).
As to claims 10-13, Foody discloses "carbon in the feedstock is of fossil origin (such as with oil or natural gas) or of atmospheric origin (such as with biomass))". (“green fuel source”; par 166). A blend of fossil and biofuel is disclosed in: "process comprises combining renewable t1ydrogen derived from the combustible fluid feedstock with crude oil derived liquid hydrocarbons under conditions to hydrogenate the liquid hydrocarbons;", par 37. The cost can be determined via determining a demand (par. 55).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. O'NIEN; Jay et al.; Cella; Charles Howard et al.; Cella; Charles Howard et al.; SAKAINO; Akira et al.; Katterbauer; Klemens et al.; Byrd; Ken et al.; SAKAINO; Akira et al.; Allen; Marcos; KAHN; Olivier Roger Ali et al.; Gruber; Patrick Richard et al.; Ohnemus; Peter et al.; and Dietrich; Brenda L. et al. disclose carbon dioxide monitoring systems and methods.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRIAN R GORDON whose telephone number is (571)272-1258. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 8-5:30pm; off every other Friday..
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/BRIAN R GORDON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1798
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