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 .
Restriction to one of the following inventions is required under 35 U.S.C. 121:
I. Claims 1-12, 21 and 22, drawn to a method for producing hydrogen, classified in B01J8/1809.
II. Claims 13-20 and 23, drawn to an apparatus for producing hydrogen, classified in C10J3/482.
The inventions are independent or distinct, each from the other because:
Inventions I and II are related as process and apparatus for its practice. The inventions are distinct if it can be shown that either: (1) the process as claimed can be practiced by another and materially different apparatus or by hand, or (2) the apparatus as claimed can be used to practice another and materially different process. (MPEP § 806.05(e)). In this case the apparatus as claimed can be used to practice another and materially different process such as NOx treatment or hazardous material treatment.
Restriction for examination purposes as indicated is proper because all the inventions listed in this action are independent or distinct for the reasons given above and there would be a serious search and/or examination burden if restriction were not required because one or more of the following reasons apply:
The above noted inventions designated by Groups I and II have acquired a separate status in the art as evidenced by their different classification, they have acquired a separate status in the art due to their recognized divergent subject matter, and a completed search of both inventions would necessitate different fields of search. For at least these reasons, a concerted search of both groups of inventions would impose an undue burden upon the office.
Applicant is advised that the reply to this requirement to be complete must include (i) an election of an invention to be examined even though the requirement may be traversed (37 CFR 1.143) and (ii) identification of the claims encompassing the elected invention.
The election of an invention may be made with or without traverse. To reserve a right to petition, the election must be made with traverse. If the reply does not distinctly and specifically point out supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election shall be treated as an election without traverse. Traversal must be presented at the time of election in order to be considered timely. Failure to timely traverse the requirement will result in the loss of right to petition under 37 CFR 1.144. If claims are added after the election, applicant must indicate which of these claims are readable upon the elected invention.
Should applicant traverse on the ground that the inventions are not patentably distinct, applicant should submit evidence or identify such evidence now of record showing the inventions to be obvious variants or clearly admit on the record that this is the case. In either instance, if the examiner finds one of the inventions unpatentable over the prior art, the evidence or admission may be used in a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) of the other invention.
During a telephone conversation with Nina Horan on 11/07/2025 a provisional election was made without traverse to prosecute the invention of Group I, claims 1-12, 21 and 22. Affirmation of this election must be made by applicant in replying to this Office action. Claims 13, 14, 16-20 and 23 withdrawn from further consideration by the examiner, 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a non-elected invention.
Applicant is reminded that upon the cancelation of claims to a non-elected invention, the inventorship must be corrected in compliance with 37 CFR 1.48(a) if one or more of the currently named inventors is no longer an inventor of at least one claim remaining in the application. A request to correct inventorship under 37 CFR 1.48(a) must be accompanied by an application data sheet in accordance with 37 CFR 1.76 that identifies each inventor by his or her legal name and by the processing fee required under 37 CFR 1.17(i).
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(s) 1-5 and 9-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2016/203264.
As per claim 1, WO’3264 discloses a method for producing hydrogen (a process for producing hydrogen; page 3, line 10) comprising: a) contacting a plastic with a catalyst and a gas feed (mixing the at least one organic compound (plastic) with the catalyst, and purging the composition with the inert gas or mixture of inert gases prior to exposing the composition to the electromagnetic radiation; page 46; lines 5-6; page 55, lines 21-22, 25-26); and b) applying a microwave to heat the catalyst to a first temperature, the first temperature being in a range from about 500°C to about 2000°C; thereby producing hydrogen (exposing a solid or liquid composition to electromagnetic radiation (microwave) at a temperature of from -150° C. to 2,000° C, wherein electromagnetic heating provides a method of fast, selective heating of dielectric and magnetic materials (catalyst), thereby producing hydrogen; page 3, line 11; page 59, line 5; page 63, lines 15-16). The reference teaches using a fluidized bed for the contact (page 56, line 31).
The temperature range of the catalyst during the hydrogen production process is overlapping with the claimed range. Overlapping ranges are considered obvious (MPEP§2144.05 I)
As per claim 2, WO’3264 further discloses wherein the microwave is applied at a frequency in a range of about 100 MHz to about 8 GHz (the electromagnetic radiation is microwave radiation having a frequency of from about 900 MHz to about 4 GHz; page 69, line 5).
As per claim 3, WO’3264 further discloses wherein the microwave is applied continuously (the electromagnetic radiation employed is continuous microwave radiation; page 67, lines 5-7).
As per claim 4, WO’3264 further discloses wherein the plastic is processed for a time in a range of 30 seconds to 10 minutes (the process (producing hydrogen by treating plastic) is completed in about 30 second to about 1 O minutes; page 62, lines 6-8).
As per claim 5, WO’3264 further discloses wherein the plastic is selected from the group consisting of polypropylene "PP", polycarbonate "PC", polystyrene "PS", polyethylene "PE" (hydrocarbon polymer comprises polyethylene, polypropylene; page 46, lines 7-8), polyvinyl chloride "PVC", acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene "ABS", polyethylene terephthalate "PET", nylon, and polyamide, and combinations thereof.
As per claim 9, WO’3264 further discloses wherein the gas feed comprises a gas selected from the group consisting of nitrogen, argon, and combinations thereof (an inert gas or a mixture of inert gases (gas feed) comprising argon; page 55, lines 19-20).
As per claim 10, WO’3264 further discloses wherein step a) comprises contacting the plastic with a porous media (mixing the at least one organic compound (plastic) with the catalyst, further comprising host material comprising silica gel, zeolite; page 51, lines 2-3; lines 5-6; page 55, 25-26).
As per claim 11, WO’3264 further discloses wherein the porous media comprises a material selected from the group consisting of silica, alumina, zeolite (porous media comprises silica gel, zeolite; page 51, lines 2-3), and dolomite, and combinations thereof.
As per claim 12, WO’3264 further discloses method further comprising step c) removing hydrogen produced in step b) (collecting hydrogen gas; page 66, lines 30-33).
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4-12, 21 and 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiao et al. US 20210214517, in view of Katz US 3304249.
Regarding claim 1, Xiao discloses a method for producing hydrogen (a process for producing hydrogen; paragraph [0041]) comprising: a) contacting a plastic with a catalyst and a gas feed (intimately mixing the catalyst and the one or more thermoplastic and thermosetting polymers (plastic) forming a solid composition, and purging the solid composition with an inert gas or mixture of inert gases (gas feed); paragraphs [0041], [0068], [0133]); and b) applying a microwave to heat the catalyst to a first temperature, the first temperature being in a range from about 500°C to about 2000°c; thereby producing hydrogen (exposing the solid composition to electromagnetic radiation (microwave) at a temperature of from -150° C to 2,000° C, wherein electromagnetic heating provides a method of fast, selective heating of dielectric and magnetic materials (catalyst), thereby producing hydrogen; paragraphs [0041], [0073], [0159]).
The difference between the invention of Xiao and that of claim 1 is that claim 1 requires using a fluidized bed reactor.
Katz et al. teaches that a fluidized bed is beneficial for increasing contact surface area between a fluid and solids and provides excellent mass and heat transfer (Col. 1, lines 16-37).
At the time of filing it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary level of skill in the art to use a fluidized bed to perform the contacting steps of the plastics with the gas feed in the process of Xiao. One would be motivated to do so due the benefits of a fluidized bed as cited by Katz.
As per claim 2, Xiao further discloses wherein the microwave is applied at a frequency in a range of about 100 MHz to about 8 GHz (the electromagnetic radiation is microwave radiation having a frequency of from about 900 MHz to about 4 GHz; paragraph [0148]).
As per claim 4, Xiao further discloses wherein the plastic is processed for a time in a range of 30 seconds to 10 minutes (the process (producing hydrogen by treating plastic) is completed in about 1 second to about 10 minutes; paragraph [0075]).
As per claim 5, Xiao further discloses wherein the plastic is selected from the group consisting of polypropylene "PP", polycarbonate "PC", polystyrene "PS", polyethylene "PE", polyvinyl chloride "PVC", acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene "ABS", polyethylene terephthalate "PET" (thermoplastic polymer is selected from the group consisting of polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinylchloride (PVC), polyamideimide, polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polytetrafluoroethylene, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), natural rubber (NR), and polycarbonate (PC), polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polyurethanes (PU); paragraph (0128]), nylon, and polyamide, and combinations thereof.
As per claim 6, Xiao discloses wherein the plastic is mixed plastic waste (the solid composition is prepared to simulate the mixed plastic waste; paragraph [0025]).
As per claim 7, Xiao further discloses wherein the catalyst comprises an oxide of a metal selected from the group consisting of Ni, Co, Fe (the catalyst comprises elemental iron (Fe) or an oxide thereof; paragraph [0041]), Cu, Ce, Zr, Al, Si, Mg, Mn, Ti, V, Cr, Zr, Nb, and W, and combinations thereof.
As per claim 8, Xiao further discloses wherein the catalyst comprises magnetite (catalyst comprises Fe3O4; paragraph [0083]).
As per claim 9, Xiao further discloses wherein the gas feed comprises a gas selected from the group consisting of nitrogen, argon, and combinations thereof (an inert gas or a mixture of inert gases (gas feed) comprising nitrogen, argon; paragraph [0067]).
As per claim 10, Xiao further discloses wherein step a) comprises contacting the plastic with a porous media (intimately mixing the catalyst and the one or more thermoplastic and thermosetting polymers (plastic) forming a solid composition, wherein catalyst further comprises alumina (porous media); paragraphs [0041 ], [0068], [0133]).
As per claim 11, Xiao further discloses wherein the porous media comprises a material selected from the group consisting of silica, alumina (porous media comprises alumina; paragraph [011 OJ), zeolite, and dolomite, and combinations thereof.
As per claim 12, Xiao discloses method further comprising step c) removing hydrogen produced in step b) (removing hydrogen gas, generated in accordance with the process through outlet in the reactor; paragraph [0163]).
Regarding claims 21 and 22, the Xiao et al. reference teaches that hydrocarbons and CO2 are present during contact (See Table 1 and Para [0171]).
Relevant Art
US20170327435 teaches a gasifying furnace with waste material. The material includes waste plastic which is fired a fluidized bed to produce hydrogen (Para [0029]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SYED TAHA IQBAL whose telephone number is (571)270-5857. The examiner can normally be reached M-F; 7-5.
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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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/SYED T IQBAL/Examiner, Art Unit 1736
/ANTHONY J ZIMMER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1736