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 Objections
Claims 12 and 22 are objected to because of the following informalities: in claim 12, the phrase “said graywater tank” at the end of the claims should have been deleted with the rest of the phrase after the comma; and in claim 22, the phrase “a pair of gates coupled to said infeed hopper an inert gas supply coupled to said airlock” should include an “and” between the phrases “infeed hopper” and “an inert gas supply.” Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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) 1-14, 16-20 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2025/0038290 A1 to Juttner in view of US 2024/0238800 A1 to Biederman in further view of US 2010/0012149 A1 to Arimura in further view of US 2024/0250236 A1 to Pan.
Regarding claim 1, Juttner teaches a system for processing a material stream to be recycled into constituents (Abstract), the system comprising:
a primary shredder 22 (Fig. 1; Para. [0093]);
a shredder-granulator 32 (Fig. 2; Paras. [0096]-[0097]; the stream S2 from the auger 26 is received by the first parting apparatus 32 that further comminutes and treats the material in the stream);
a black mass separator 34 coupled to said shredder-granulator 32 (Fig. 2; Paras. [0097]-[0098]; the solid components are passed to the centrifuge which dewaters the stream, i.e., dries the stream, and produces a solid component including the black mass components);
a fluid distribution system W, said fluid distribution system comprising: a fluid reservoir 28 coupled to said primary shredder 22 (Figs. 1-3; Para. [0093]; the system includes a circuit of water being circulated with some of that water being contained within one or more of the collection containers 28, including the large box container 28 shown in Fig. 1 that functions as a reservoir);
a graywater tank 28 coupled to said primary shredder 22 (Fig. 1; Para. [0093]; the container 28 under the mixing tank 24 receives greywater from the primary shredder);
a chemical mixing tank 24 coupled to said graywater tank 28 (Fig. 1; Paras. [0093]-[0094]; as shown in Fig. 1, the fluid circuit W receives fluid from all of the containers 28 which is then provided to the shredder 22 which then provides the fluid and comminuted material to the mixer 24);
a separator conveyor 26 coupled to said chemical mixing tank 24, said separator conveyor 26 coupled to a solid material discharge and a liquid material discharge (Fig. 1; Paras. [0093], [0095] and [0149]; the auger 26 receives the fluid and comminuting mixture, i.e., the slurry, from mixing tank 24 and the auger dewaters the mixture, i.e., separates the water from the slurry into solid and liquid discharges);
said fluid reservoir 28 coupled to said separator conveyor 26 (Fig. 1; Paras. [0093]);
a conveyor coupled to said separator conveyor 26 (Fig. 2; Para. [0097]; the solid component from the separator conveyor 26 includes the solid components of the shredded battery, which would include black mass as this is part of the components of the battery, which is received by a parting apparatus 32 that includes a pump, i.e., a conveyor, configured to move the components to additional separators).
Juttner fails to explicitly teach a material separator comprising at least one of a density separator and a magnetic separator, said material separator coupled to said primary shredder; a shredder-granulator comprising a plurality of rotary shear blades; and the chemical mixing tank coupled to a chemical source of flocculant.
Biederman teaches a system for processing a material stream to be recycled into constituents (Abstract), the system comprising:
a primary shredder 102 receiving said material stream (Fig. 1; Para. [0076]);
a material separator 124 comprising at least one of a density separator and a magnetic separator (Fig. 1; Paras. [0089] and [0090]; the separator 124 functions as a density separator as the lighter materials remain on the surface and the heavier materials sink, as discussed in Para. [0090]);
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system of Juttner to include a material separator after the primary shredder as taught by Biederman so that the material being shredded may be divided into the constituent parts for further treatment that is better suited to each particular material. It is noted that modifying the system of Juttner to include the material separator after the primary shredder results in the shredder-granulator being coupled to and receiving said material stream from said material separator as the shredder-granulator of Juttner receives the processed stream from the primary shredder and auger for further processing.
Arimura teaches a system for processing a stream of batteries to be recycled into constituent parts (Abstract) including a chemical mixing tank that is coupled to a chemical source of flocculant (Para. [0050]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system of Juttner to include the chemical mixing tank receiving a flocculant as taught by Arimura so that the shredded components may be treated with chemicals to better prepare them for separation and recovery of materials, such as turning the electrode material into the state of a floc (Arimura, Para. [0050]).
Pan teaches a system for processing a stream of batteries to be recycled into constituent parts (Abstract) including a shredder-granulator 24 comprising a plurality of rotary shear blades (Fig. 2; Paras. [0026] and [0038]-[0039]; the agitation device 24 includes blades 24a that delaminate the shredded battery parts to separate the cathode sheet, anode current collector and anode materials from each other).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to substitute the shredder-granulator in the battery recycling system of Juttner with the shredder-granulator of Pan as those components and their functions were well known in the art and a person of ordinary skill in the art could have substituted each of these known elements for another with the predictable result of reducing the size of the battery material while separating the components for further processing.
Regarding claim 2, modified Juttner teaches the system according to claim 1 (Figs. 1-3).
Juttner fails to explicitly teach the system further comprising a second primary shredder positioned between said primary shredder and material separator, said second primary shredder coupled to said primary shredder and coupled to said material separator.
Biederman teaches a system for processing a material stream to be recycled into constituents (Abstract), the system comprising:
a second primary shredder 120 positioned between said primary shredder 102 and material separator 124, said second primary shredder coupled to said primary shredder 102 and coupled to said material separator 124 (Fig. 1; Paras. [0084]-[0085] and [0087]-[0089]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system of Juttner to include a second primary shredder before the material separator as taught by Biederman so that the material entering the separator may be properly sized to ensure the separated constituent parts can be properly filtered and separated.
Regarding claim 3, modified Juttner teaches the system according to claim 2 (Figs. 1-3).
Juttner fails to explicitly teach the system further comprising a first dewatering auger positioned between said primary shredder and said second primary shredder, said dewatering auger coupled to a solid component discharge and coupled to a fluid component discharge. Modified Juttner includes the second shredder setup of Biederman, which teaches the pre-wash apparatus 114 positioned between said primary shredder 102 and said second primary shredder 120 (Fig. 1; Paras. [0082]-[0083]), the pre-wash apparatus 114 passing a solid component of said material stream downstream (Para. [0082]-[0083]; the pre-wash apparatus includes a solid/liquid separator and the “remaining solid plastic material and metal material… can exit the pre-wash apparatus 114”), and separating a fluid component of said material stream (Paras. [0082]-[0083]; Fig. 1; the apparatus includes a solid/liquid separator device, which would generate a fluid component of the stream), however Biderman is silent regarding how the solid material is conveyed once it exits the pre-wash apparatus to go to the second shredder. Juttner teaches passing material between components via a dewatering auger 26 that delivers the solid materials to the next apparatus (Fig. 1; Para. [0095]). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify provide a dewatering auger to deliver the solid material to the second shredder as taught by Juttner so that the solid material that needs to be shredded further may be provided to the second shredder while the fluid is recovered for reuse in the system, which would result in providing a dewatering auger coupled to a solid component discharge and coupled to a fluid component discharge since the solid component discharge is going to the second shredder.
Regarding claim 4, modified Juttner teaches system according to claim 3, the system further comprising a fluid coupling K1 between said dewatering auger and said graywater tank 28, said graywater tank 28 coupled to said fluid component discharge (Figs. 1-3; Para. [0093]; Juttner teaches that collecting containers 28 connected to a fluid coupling K1 are positioned throughout the system to collect the fluid from components).
Regarding claim 5, modified Juttner teaches a system according to claim 2 (Figs. 1-3), said fluid reservoir 28 coupled to said second primary shredder 120 (Juttner, Figs. 1-2; Paras. [0093] and [0166]; Biederman, Para. [0087]; modified Juttner includes the second shredder 120 of Biederman, which teaches that a fluid is sprayed into the shredder in Para. [0087], and Juttner teaches that the fluid supplied to the components, including the shredders, are provided by fluid circuits connected to the fluid reservoir 28).
Regarding claim 6, modified Juttner teaches the system according to claim 5 (Figs. 1-3), the system further comprising a second auger positioned between said second primary shredder 102 and said material separator 124 (Biederman, Fig. 1; Paras. [0089]-[0090]; the material form the second shredder 120 is conveyed to the separator 124 via a device, i.e., an auger).
Modified Juttner fails to explicitly teach the second auger is a dewatering auger said second auger coupled to a second solid component discharge and coupled to a second fluid component discharge. However, Juttner teaches passing material between components via a dewatering auger 26 that separates solid materials from the fluid component (Fig. 1; Para. [0095]). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the conveyor between the second shredder and the separator to be a dewatering auger as taught by Juttner so that the material that needs to be separated may be provided to the separator while the fluid is recovered for reuse in the system, and such a dewatering auger is coupled to a second solid component discharge and coupled to a second fluid component discharge because the solid material is separated from the fluid.
Regarding claim 7, modified Juttner teaches the system according to claim 6 (Figs. 1-2), the system further comprising a fluid coupling K1 between said second dewatering auger and said graywater tank 28, said graywater tank 28 coupled to said fluid component discharge (Figs. 1-3; Para. [0093]; Juttner teaches collecting contains 28 are positioned throughout the system to receive fluid from the components to be held in the reservoir and reused by the components).
Regarding claim 8, modified Juttner teaches the system according to claim 1 (Figs. 1-3), wherein said material separator 124 comprises a wet density separator coupled to said fluid reservoir 28 by a wet density separator discharge (Biederman, Fig. 1; Para. [0090]; modified Juttner includes the separator 124 of Biederman, which is a wet density separator as described in Para. [0090], and Juttner teaches in Paras. [0093] and [0166] that the fluid in the system is supplied from the reservoir 28 for reuse throughout the system, i.e., the fluid is supplied to the reservoirs 28 to which it is coupled).
Regarding claim 9, modified Juttner teaches the system according to claim 8 (Figs. 1-3), the system further comprising a fluid coupling between said wet density separator 124 and said graywater tank 28, said graywater tank 28coupled to said wet density separator discharge (Figs. 1-3; Paras. [0093] and [0166]; Juttner teaches that the components handling fluid are each connected to the collecting containers 28 to pass the fluid on to the containers to be reused in the system).
Regarding claim 10, modified Juttner teaches the system according to claim 1 (Figs. 1-3), wherein said material separator comprises: a magnetic separator, said magnetic separator coupled to a ferrous discharge and a non-ferrous material discharge (Biederman, Para. [0092]; Biederman teaches that the separator may include a magnetic separator that discharges ferrous and non-ferrous components separated from each other); a repository coupled to said ferrous discharge (Biederman, Figs. 2a-b; Biederman shows that the separator includes a repository, i.e., the bottom of the container 1180, that receives the ferrous material to be passed on to the next stage of processing); and wherein said non-ferrous material discharge is coupled to said shredder-granulator (Figs. 1-2; in modified Juttner, the non-ferrous materials from the separator are passed to the shredder-granulator 32 for further processing).
Regarding claim 11, modified Juttner teaches the system according claim 10 (Figs. 1-3), the system further comprising a third dewatering auger 1178 coupled to said shredder-granulator 32 (Biederman, Figs. 2A-B; Para. [0096]; modified Juttner includes the separator of Biederman, which includes a conveyor 1178 to remove plastic material, i.e., non-ferrous, from the surface of the fluid in the separator and convey only the material away to be further processed, i.e., a dewatering auger, and it is noted that the next step for processing in modified Juttner would be the shredder-granulator).
Regarding claim 12, modified Juttner teaches the system according to claim 11 (Figs. 1-3), the system further comprising a fluid coupling between said third dewatering auger 1178 and said graywater tank 28, said graywater tank 28 (Figs. 1-3; Paras. [0093] and [0166]; Juttner teaches that the components handling fluid are each connected to the collecting containers 28 to pass the fluid on to the containers to be reused in the system).
Regarding claim 13, modified Juttner teaches the system according to claim 1 (Figs. 1-3), said fluid reservoir 28 coupled to and providing fluid to said shredder-granulator 32 (Figs. 1-2; Para. [0097]; the shredder-granulator is filled with process water W, which is the water received from the reservoirs 28 via the circuits K1, K2, K3).
Regarding claim 14, modified Juttner teaches the system according to claim 13 (Figs. 1-3).
Juttner fails to explicitly teach the system further comprising at least one of a fourth dewatering auger and a heated drying auger coupled between said shredder-granulator and said black mass separator. Juttner teaches a pump for conveying material from the shredder-granulator 32 to a black mass separator 34 where the material is dewatered (Paras. [0097]-[0098]), however Juttner is silent regarding the structure of the pump. Juttner teaches that a dewatering auger 26 may be used to convey material between components (Para. [0095]). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the pump from the shredder-granulator in Juttner to be a dewatering auger so that the material being passed on to the separator to assist with the dewatering process and only pass the desirable components to the separator.
Regarding claim 16, modified Juttner teaches the system according to claim 1 (Figs. 1-3), wherein said liquid material discharge is coupled to said fluid reservoir 28 (Fig. 1; Paras. [0093] and [0095]).
Regarding claim 17, modified Juttner teaches the system according to claim 16 (Figs. 1-3), the system further comprising at least one settling tank 28 positioned between said separator conveyor 26 and said fluid reservoir 28 (Fig. 1 shows the main reservoir 28, i.e., the box that receives the water from the collecting container under the conveyor 26, and a collecting container 28 between the conveyor 26 and the main reservoir).
Regarding claim 18, modified Juttner teaches the system according to claim 17 (Figs. 1-3), wherein said at least one of said settling tank 28 is coupled to a storage container 30 (Fig. 1; Para. [0093]; the stream including solids is passed to the black mass separator 30 which includes stages such as sieves and filters and the housing of the device 30 is interpreted as a storage container).
Regarding claim 19, modified Juttner teaches the system according to claim 1 (Figs. 1-3), said system further comprising a divider 114 positioned between said primary shredder 22 and said material separator 124, said divider 114 comprising a first divider discharge and a second divider discharge (Biederman, Fig. 1; Para. [0083]; modified Juttner includes the separator configuration of Biederman, which includes a pre-wash apparatus 114 that screens out material that are sent for further processing or sent to the separator, i.e., two streams for processing).
Regarding claim 20, modified Juttner teaches the system according to claim 1 (Figs. 1-3), the system further comprising: a material receiver; an infeed hopper coupled to said material receiver and said primary shredder (Fig. 1; Para. [0093]; Fig. 1 shows the shredder 22 includes an angled top surface that leads to walls directing the material stream Z to the shredder tools, and the angled top and walls are interpreted as an infeed hopper and material receiver).
Regarding claim 24, modified Juttner teaches the system according to claim 1 (Figs. 1-3), said solid material discharge is coupled to a dryer 34 (Fig. 2; Paras. [0097]-[0098]; the solid components are passed to the centrifuge which dewaters the stream, i.e., dries the stream, and produces a solid component including the black mass components).
Claims 21-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Juttner in view of Biederman in further view of Arimura in further view of Pan in further view of US 2023/0115052 A1 to Bobbili.
Regarding claim 21, modified Juttner teaches the system according to claim 20 (Figs. 1-3).
Juttner fails to explicitly teach the system further comprising an airlock between said infeed hopper and said primary shredder.
Bobbili teaches a system for recycling batteries (Abstract) including a hopper 2, a primary shredder 5 and gates 3 forming an airlock between the hopper 2 and the primary shredder 5 (Fig. 2; Para. [0040]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the hopper and shredder of Juttner to include the gates and airlock as taught by Bobbili so that the material may be delivered to the shredder in a controlled manner thus preventing any overload of the system.
Regarding claim 22, modified Juttner teaches the system according to claim 21 (Figs. 1-3), said airlock further comprising a pair of gates 3 coupled to said infeed hopper and an inert gas supply coupled to said airlock (Bobbili, Fig. 2; Para. [0040]; modified Juttner includes the airlock of Bobbili, which includes gates 3 and a gas supply means to control the environment of the hopper).
Regarding claim 23, modified Juttner teaches the system according to claim 22 (Figs. 1-3), said inert gas comprising nitrogen (Bobbili, Fig. 2; Para. [0040]; modified Juttner includes the airlock of Bobbili, which includes gates 3 and a gas supply means to supply nitrogen).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s amendments and remarks with respect to the rejections under 35 USC 112 have been fully considered and are persuasive. These rejections have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s amendments and remarks with respect to the rejections under 35 USC 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of the previously cited reference Arimura and newly discovered reference Pan, as discussed above.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 MATTHEW STEPHENS whose telephone number is (571)272-6722. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 930-630.
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/MATTHEW STEPHENS/Examiner, Art Unit 3725
/Christopher L Templeton/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3725