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 .
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamamoto et al. (JP-2007077221 A) in view of Zhao et al. (CN-213596190U) and Ma et al. (CN-109603433A).
Regarding Claim 1, Yamamoto et al. reference discloses a method of producing a low-odor emulsion, the method comprising:
charging an aqueous polymer emulsion into a treatment vessel (Page 3, Paragraph [0004 – the emulsion is charged in the container), in which pressure can be reduced (Page 3, Paragraph [0012] – the pressure of the gas phase part of the heat treatment container can be reduced to 7 to 85 Kpa to defoam the emulsion), and supplying pressurized water vapor into the treatment vessel (Page 3, Paragraph [0002] – provide a pressurized steam blowing port), while maintaining the inside of the treatment vessel in a state where water is boiled by bringing temperature of the aqueous polymer emulsion into a range of 50*C to 90*C and pressure in the treatment vessel into 12 KPa to 57 Kpa (Page 3, Paragraph [0004] – 40 to 95oC and 7 to 85 KPa); and
discharging water vapor in a gas phase part in the treatment vessel and a volatile organic compound volatilized from the aqueous polymer emulsion to outside of a system (Page 3, Paragraph [0016]). Yamamoto et al. reference discloses that pressurized water vapor is blown into the emulsion.
However, Yamamoto et al. does not disclose a supply passage wherein a ratio of an inner diameter of the treatment vessel to an opening diameter of a supply opening for supplying the pressurized water vapor from the supply passage into the treatment vessel is from 30 to 3000 for the Zhao et al. reference discloses a steam method de-polypropylene VOC device, relating to polypropylene production technology field, comprising a shell, a material inlet, a material outlet, an air outlet; a plurality of material distributing component and a plurality of steam distributing component; the material inlet and the air outlet are set on the shell upper end the material outlet is set at the lower end of the shell (Abstract and Figures 1-2, numerals 1 – shell, 2 - material inlet; 3 - air outlet; 4 - material outlet; 5 - distributing plate; 6 - steam distributor; 7- steam supply pipe; 8 - steam supplying hole; 9 -steam inlet; 10 - porous plate; 11 - first through hole; 12 - second through hole ). However, Zhao et al. does not disclose the ratio of an inner diameter of the treatment vessel to an opening diameter of a supply opening for supplying the pressurized water vapor from the supply passage into the treatment vessel is from 30 to 3000 for the inner diameter of the treatment vessel relative to 1 for the opening diameter of the supply opening. Ma et al. reference discloses a polymer dispersion of continuous VOC removing device, the device main body comprises a tubular structure, the top unit and the vacuum exhaust system connection, expanded pipe is tubular structure, connected with the discharge port in the tube inclined downwards arranged with gas-assisted atomizing nozzle; combining the dispersion with a certain proportion mixed gas is formed by nozzle spraying downwards spraying device, the dispersion component under the action of gravity to enter the lower expansion structure, and timely discharged, VOC components with the atomization steam enters the exhaust system reaches the purpose of removing VOC component in dispersion (Abstract and Figures 1 and 2, numerals 2 – gas assisted nozzle and 8-2 – gas injection opening) wherein the gas-assisted atomizing nozzle are arranged in single row or multiple rows of staggered arrangement, preferably two rows of staggered arrangement, preferably two rows of nozzles are oppositely distributed in 90-180 degrees and preferably, each column usually has a 5-25 gas-assisted atomizing nozzle, the diameter of the polymer dispersion injection opening may be 2-20mm, the inside diameter of annular gas injection opening and the outer diameter can be respectively 5-20mm, and 15-28mm. Furthermore, the distance between any two nozzles are distributed is greater than or equal to 2 times distance (the distance is the maximum distance between the liquid is completely evaporated before it can reach) and the distance of the adjacent two nozzles of each row are generally 0.3-1.0m (Figures 1-2 and Claim 5). Therefore, if the gas injection opening is 15mm and the distance between the two nozzle of each row is 1.0m, the ratio of the inner diameter of the treatment vessel to an opening diameter of a supply opening is at least 67. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use supply passage and hole as taught by Yamamoto et al. with the ratio of an inner diameter of the treatment vessel to an opening diameter of a supply opening as taught by Ma et al., since Hwang et al. states at Abstract that such a modification would increase processing efficiency by heat due to the steam supplied to the reactor is uniformly supplied to the waste in the reactor within a short time and Ma et al. states at Abstract that such a modification would realize continuous efficient VOC removing polymer dispersion.
Regarding Claim 2, Yamamoto et al., Zhao et al. and Ma et al. references disclose the method according to claim 1, wherein a proportion of an amount of the aqueous polymer emulsion to a total amount of the pressurized water vapor supplied into the treatment vessel is from 5 to 100 parts by mass of the pressurized water vapor per 100 parts by mass of the aqueous polymer emulsion (Yamamoto et al. – Page 4, Paragraph [0003]).
Regarding Claim 3, Yamamoto et al., Zhao et al. and Ma et al. references disclose the method according to claim 1, wherein a concentration of the volatile organic compound in the low-odor emulsion is 300 ppm or less (Yamamoto et al. – Page 4, Paragraph [0006] ).
Regarding Claim 4, Yamamoto et al., Zhao et al. and Ma et al. references disclose the method according to claim 1 except for the pressurized water vapor is supplied, while maintaining pH of the aqueous polymer emulsion in a range of 5 to 10. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to maintain the pH of the aqueous polymer emulsion in the claimed range, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Regarding Claim 5, Yamamoto et al., Zhao et al. and Ma et al. references disclose the method according to claim 1 except for the ratio of the inner diameter of the treatment vessel to the opening diameter of the supply opening is from 350 to 3000 for the inner diameter of the treatment vessel relative to 1 for the opening diameter of the supply opening. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the claimed ratio of the inner diameter of the treatment vessel to the opening diameter of the supply opening, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Regarding Claim 6, Yamamoto et al., Zhao et al. and Ma et al. references disclose the method according to claim 1, wherein the treatment vessel is equipped with an agitator inside (Yamamoto et al. – Page 3, Paragraph [0002] – stirrer). However, Yamamoto et al., Hwang et al. and Ma et al. do not disclose that the supply opening is positioned in the vicinity of a stirring blade in the agitator. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the stirrer near the supply opening since it was known in the art to have the stirrer near the inlet of the reactants.
Regarding Claim 7, Yamamoto et al., Zhao et al. and Ma et al. references disclose the method according to claim 1, wherein a concentration of the volatile organic compound in the low-odor emulsion is 100 ppm or less (Yamamoto et al. – Page 4, Paragraph [0006]).
Regarding Claim 8, Yamamoto et al., Hwang et al. and Ma et al. references disclose the method according to claim 1, wherein an alcohol concentration in the low-odor emulsion is 100 ppm or less (Yamamoto et al. – Page 4, Paragraph [0006] and Table 2).
Regarding Claim 9, Yamamoto et al., Zhao et al. and Ma et al. references disclose the method according to claim 1, wherein the supply opening is constituted by an opening portion of a pipe (Zhao et al. – Figure 1, numeral 8) and an opening diameter corresponding to the pipe diameter of the pipe (Zhao et al. - Figure 2, numerals 10 – porous plate, 11/12- first and second through holes).
Regarding Claim 10, Yamamoto et al., Zhao et al. and Ma et al. references disclose the method according to claim 1, wherein a porous member comprising a large number of holes is positioned in the supply passage, and each hole of the porous member corresponds to the supply opening (Zhao et al. – Figure 1, numerals 6- steam distributor, 7 – steam supply pipe and Figure 2, numerals 11 and 12 – steam supply hole, 10- porous plate, 11 – first through hole and 12 – second through hole).
Regarding Claim 11, Yamamoto et al. reference discloses a method of producing a low-odor emulsion, the method comprising:
charging an aqueous polymer emulsion into the treatment vessel (Page 3, Paragraph [0004 – the emulsion is charged in the container);
supplying pressurized water vapor into the treatment vessel (Page 3, Paragraph [0002] – provide a pressurized steam blowing port), while maintaining the inside of the treatment vessel in a state where water is boiled by bringing temperature of the aqueous polymer emulsion into a range of 50oC to 90oC and pressure in the treatment vessel into 12 KPa to 57 KPa (Page 3, Paragraph [0004] – 40 to 95oC and 7 to 85 KPa) ; and
discharging water vapor in a gas phase part in the treatment vessel and a volatile organic compound volatilized from the aqueous polymer emulsion to outside of a system (Page 3, Paragraph [0016]).
Yamamoto et al. reference discloses that pressurized water vapor is blown into the emulsion.
However, Yamamoto et al. does not disclose the step of preparing a supply pipe comprising a supply passage therein an opening comprising an opening diameter; preparing a treatment vessel comprising an inner diameter 30 to 3000 times larger than the opening diameter of the supply pipe;
connecting the supply pipe to the treatment vessel such that the supply passage of the supply pipe and an inside of the treatment vessel are communicated with each other; and supplying pressurized water vapor into the treatment vessel through a supply passage.
Zhao et al. reference discloses a steam method de-polypropylene VOC device, relating to polypropylene production technology field, comprising a shell, a material inlet, a material outlet, an air outlet; a plurality of material distributing component and a plurality of steam distributing component; the material inlet and the air outlet are set on the shell upper end the material outlet is set at the lower end of the shell (Abstract and Figures 1-2, numerals 1 – shell, 2 - material inlet; 3 - air outlet; 4 - material outlet; 5 - distributing plate; 6 - steam distributor; 7- steam supply pipe; 8 - steam supplying hole; 9 -steam inlet; 10 - porous plate; 11 - first through hole; 12 - second through hole ). However, Zhao et al. does not disclose the ratio of an inner diameter of the treatment vessel to an opening diameter of a supply opening for supplying the pressurized water vapor from the supply passage into the treatment vessel is from 30 to 3000 for the inner diameter of the treatment vessel relative to 1 for the opening diameter of the supply opening. Ma et al. reference discloses a polymer dispersion of continuous VOC removing device, the device main body comprises a tubular structure, the top unit and the vacuum exhaust system connection, expanded pipe is tubular structure, connected with the discharge port in the tube inclined downwards arranged with gas-assisted atomizing nozzle; combining the dispersion with a certain proportion mixed gas is formed by nozzle spraying downwards spraying device, the dispersion component under the action of gravity to enter the lower expansion structure, and timely discharged, VOC components with the atomization steam enters the exhaust system reaches the purpose of removing VOC component in dispersion (Abstract and Figures 1 and 2, numerals 2 – gas assisted nozzle and 8-2 – gas injection opening) wherein the gas-assisted atomizing nozzle are arranged in single row or multiple rows of staggered arrangement, preferably two rows of staggered arrangement, preferably two rows of nozzles are oppositely distributed in 90-180 degrees and preferably, each column usually has a 5-25 gas-assisted atomizing nozzle, the diameter of the polymer dispersion injection opening may be 2-20mm, the inside diameter of annular gas injection opening and the outer diameter can be respectively 5-20mm, and 15-28mm. Furthermore, the distance between any two nozzles are distributed is greater than or equal to 2 times distance (the distance is the maximum distance between the liquid is completely evaporated before it can reach) and the distance of the adjacent two nozzles of each row are generally 0.3-1.0m. Therefore, if the gas injection opening is 15mm and the distance between the two nozzle of each row is 1.0m, the ratio of the inner diameter of the treatment vessel to an opening diameter of a supply opening is at least 67. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use supply passage and hole as taught by Yamamoto et al. with the ratio of an inner diameter of the treatment vessel to an opening diameter of a supply opening as taught by Ma et al., since Hwang et al. states at Abstract that such a modification would increase processing efficiency by heat due to the steam supplied to the reactor is uniformly supplied to the waste in the reactor within a short time and Ma et al. states at Abstract that such a modification would realize continuous efficient VOC removing polymer dispersion.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Hwang et al. (WO2015/002361 A1) reference discloses a reactor for processing organic waste includes a steam supply pipe installed in a reaction vessel such that steam supplied from an external steam supply device can be supplied into the inside of the reaction vessel. The steam supply pipe has a plurality of steam supply holes so as to supply the steam supplied from the steam supply device to the waste in the reaction vessel through the holes. An organic waste processing apparatus comprising the reactor having the configuration above is provided. Heat due to the steam supplied to the reactor is uniformly supplied to the waste in the reactor within a short time, and thereby increasing processing efficiency (Abstract and Figures 1-5).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUY-TRAM NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-3167. The examiner can normally be reached M-W, 7:00am - 3pm, EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Claire X Wang can be reached at 571-270-1051. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HUY TRAM NGUYEN/ Examiner, Art Unit 1774
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