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 .
Priority
This application is a divisional of U.S. Application No. 16/652,318, filed March 30, 2020, which was a §371 U.S. National Stage of International Application No. PCT/US18/52394, filed September 24, 2018 having Atty. Docket No. 121-82-PCT, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/565,873, filed September 29, 2017, titled "METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCTION OF HYDROGEN" the content of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Terrien et al (EP 2682364).
With respect to claim 1, Terrien discloses a gas processing system for producing a purified hydrogen gas stream, the gas processing system comprising:
a processing unit (21) configured to increase a hydrogen (H2) to carbon monoxide (CO) ratio in a feed gas to produce an enhanced gas (see page 3 lines 45-55, paragraph 0013 and 0016);
a first separation unit configured to remove a substantial portion of nitrogen gas (N2) from the enhanced gas to produce a denitrogenated gas (see paragraph 0020);
a second separation unit configured to remove a substantial portion of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the denitrogenated gas to produce a purified H2 gas stream, the second separation unit also producing a tail gas containing the removed CO2 (see paragraph 0033); and a recycling system for routing at least a portion of the tail gas to the enhanced gas at a point upstream of the first separation unit (see paragraph 0048 and 0065-0066).
With respect to claim 2, Terrien discloses the limitation of claim 1. Terrien further discloses wherein the processing unit comprises a water-gas shift unit, and configured to shift the feed gas to produce H2 and CO2 (see paragraph 0021).
With respect to claim 8, Terrien discloses the limitation of claim 1. Terrien further discloses wherein the gas processing system is configured to recover an amount of H2 present in the enhanced gas and recovered in the purified H2 gas stream selected from the group consisting of: greater than about 80 percent; greater than about 90 percent (see paragraph 0035).
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.
Claim(s) 6-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Terrien as applied to claim 1 above.
With respect to claim 6, Terrien discloses the limitation of claim 1. Terrien further discloses recycling tail gas (see paragraph 0048 and 0065-0066).
Terrien does disclose recycling up to 100 of percent of the tail gas, as claimed.
However, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the concentration of the tail gas recycle stream, through routine experimentation, as differences in concentration or temperature will not support the patentability of subject matter encompassed by the prior art unless there is evidence indicating such concentration or temperature is critical. "[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation." In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955) .
With respect to claim 7, Terrien discloses the limitation of claim 1. Terrein further discloses wherein the gas processing system is configured to produce the purified H2 gas stream with a mole fraction of H2 greater than about 90 percent (see paragraph 0035).
Terrien does not disclose wherein the gas processing system is configured to produce the purified H2 gas stream with a mole fraction of H2 greater than about 99 percent as claimed.
However, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the concentration of the purified hydrogen stream, through routine experimentation, as differences in concentration or temperature will not support the patentability of subject matter encompassed by the prior art unless there is evidence indicating such concentration or temperature is critical. "[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation." In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5 are 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
With respect to claims 3-5, the closest prior art Terrien discloses the utilization of the claimed selective membranes and pressure swing adsorption (PSA) in the prior (see paragraph 0004).
However, Terrien does not suggest to one with ordinary skill in the art to modify he system with specific claimed configuration, wherein the first separation unit comprises a H2 selective membrane and the second separation unit comprises the PSA unit as claimed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUAN C VALENCIA whose telephone number is (571)270-7709. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10am - 6pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Prem C Singh can be reached at 571 272-6381. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JUAN C VALENCIA/ Examiner, Art Unit 1771
/Randy Boyer/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1771
Prosecution Insights