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
Claims 12-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 10/23/2025.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 1 and 2-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent 8,443,625 to Prosser et al. (Prosser).
In reference to claim 1, Prosser teaches a process for xenon (Xe) and/or krypton (Kr) recovery (FIG. 1), comprising superheating (in 30, FIG. 1) a first portion of a purge stream (22, FIG. 1) to form a superheated vapor (42, FIG. 1); feeding the superheated vapor (42, FIG. 1) to a bottom of the purge column (46, FIG. 1); feeding a second portion of the purge stream (40, FIG. 1) or a purge column liquid feed to a top of a purge column or adjacent the top of the purge column (48, FIG. 1); and outputting a Xe and/or Kr recovery feed stream (65, FIG. 1) from the purge column for feeding to an Xe and/or Kr recovery system (67, FIG. 1).
In reference to claim 3, Prosser teaches the process as explained in the rejection of claim 1 above, and Prosser additionally teaches outputting a purge vapor stream (106, FIG. 1) from the purge column (46, FIG. 1).
In reference to claim 4, Prosser teaches the process as explained in the rejection of claim 1 above, and Prosser additionally teaches wherein an Xe content of the Xe and/or Kr recovery feed stream is between 50 parts per million by volume (ppmv) Xe and 500 ppmv Xe (see table in col 16, at 67).
In reference to claim 5, Prosser teaches the process as explained in the rejection of claim 1 above, and Prosser additionally teaches wherein the superheating of the first portion of the
purge stream is performed to superheat the first portion to a temperature that is between -
110°C and - -130°C to form the superheated vapor (see table in col 16; at 42).
In reference to claim 6, Prosser teaches the process as explained in the rejection of claim 1 above, and Prosser additionally teaches operating the purge column at a pressure of between 6 bar absolute (bara) and 15 bara (see table at 14; col 16).
In reference to claim 7, Prosser teaches the process as explained in the rejection of claim 1 above, and Prosser additionally teaches wherein the feeding the second portion of the purge stream (40, FIG. 1) or the purge column liquid feed to the top of the purge column (48, FIG. 1) or adjacent the top of the purge column comprises splitting the purge stream to form the first portion of the purge stream and the second portion of the purge stream; and feeding the second portion of the purge stream to the top of the purge column or adjacent the top of the purge column (FIG. 1).
In reference to claim 8, Prosser teaches the process as explained in the rejection of claim 1 above, and Prosser additionally teaches wherein a Kr content of the Xe and/or Kr recovery
feed stream is between 100 parts per million by volume (ppmv) Kr and 3,100 ppmv Kr (table, col 16).
In reference to claim 9, Prosser teaches the process as explained in the rejection of claim 1 above, and Prosser additionally teaches wherein the superheating of the first portion of the
purge stream to form the superheated vapor (42, FIG. 1) is performed via a heater (30, FIG. 1) that is external to the purge column (46, FIG. 1).
In reference to 10, Prosser teaches the process as explained in the rejection of claim 9 above, and Prosser additionally teaches wherein the heater is a heat exchanger (30, FIG. 1) and a heating medium of the heat exchanger is ambient air or a process stream output from an air separation unit (ASU) (126, FIG. 1).
In reference to claim 11, Prosser teaches the process as explained in the rejection of claim 1 above, and Prosser additionally teaches recovering an Xe product stream and/or a Kr product stream from the Xe and/or Kr recovery feed stream via the Xe and/or Kr recovery system (67, FIG. 1; col 16, lines 1-4).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
See attached PTO-892 for relevant prior art.
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/FILIP ZEC/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763
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