DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1-16 are pending in the instant application.
Priority
This application, filed September 11, 2023, claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/405,186 filed September 9, 2022.
Information Disclosure Statements
Applicants’ Information Disclosure Statements, filed on 05/06/2024 and 02/02/2024, have been considered. Please refer to Applicant’s copies of the PTO-1449 submitted herewith.
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-16 are under examination on the merits.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Specifically, claim 3 depends on claim 1 and defines the method for optimizing operation of a rotating packed bed desorber or regenerator system with the limitation “further comprising operating at a temperature above a saturation temperature while avoiding excess degradation in the solvent”. However, the claimed method contains at least 4 operating steps: collecting condensed water, repressurizing the collected condensed water, reheating the collected condensed water, and injecting the generated steam to the rotating packed bed desorber. It is not clear which operating step claim 3 refers to for the required temperature above a saturation temperature while avoiding excess degradation in the solvent. Therefore, claim 3 is indefinite.
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 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 of this title, 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
Claims 1-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al., Separation and Purification Technology, (2021), v.269, p.118714(1-10) in view of US9,901,846 (“the `846 patent”) to Zhou et al., and Moullec et al., Int. J. Greenhouse Gas Control, (2011), v.5, p.727-740.
Applicant’s claim 1 is drawn to a method for optimizing operation of a rotating packed bed desorber or regenerator system wherein a rich solvent is input and CO2 product and lean solvent are output, the method comprising: collecting condensed water from a regeneration section of a rotating packed bed desorber system; repressurizing the collected condensed water; reheating the collected condensed water to generate steam; and injecting the generated steam to the rotating packed bed desorber or regenerator as stripping vapors while heating the rich solvent.
Applicant’s claim 11 is drawn to a system for optimizing operation of a rotating packed bed desorber or regenerator wherein a rich solvent is input and CO2 product and lean solvent are output, the system comprising: a knockout separator collecting condensed water from a regeneration section of the rotating packed bed desorber or regenerator; a pressure pump configured to repressurize collected condensed water; a steam generator positioned downstream of the pressure pump, the steam generator configured to reheat the collected condensed water to generate steam; and an injector configured to inject the generated steam to the rotating packed bed desorber or regenerator as stripping vapors while heating the rich solvent.
Determination of the scope and content of the prior art (MPEP §2141.01)
Wang et al. discloses a method a method for CO2 capture by non-aqueous blend in a rotating packed bed desorber through absorption and desorption, wherein the non-aqueous blend is a mixture of 2-amono-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP), 2-(2-aminoethylamino)ethanol (AEEA), and N-methyl pyrrolidone (NMP) tri-solvent, adopting the direct steam stripping (DSS) technique (see Abstract at p.118714-1), wherein the DSS technique is illustrated in Fig. 1
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. Scheme of Fig. 1 discloses a method for optimizing operation of a rotating packed bed desorber or regenerator system wherein a rich solvent is input and CO2 product and lean solvent are output, the method comprising: collecting condensed water from a regeneration section of a rotating packed bed desorber system (after “Cooler” and “Separator” of Fig. 1) ; reheating the collected condensed water to generate steam (through “Economizer-Partial Re-vaporization”, “Heat-Exchanger”, and “Preheater”); and injecting the generated steam to the rotating packed bed desorber or regenerator (introducing the steam into “Stripper”) as stripping vapors while heating the rich solvent. Wang et al. discloses Scheme diagram of desorption experiment in Fig. 3
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. In addition, Wang et al. discloses water vapor is generated by the reboiler to strip the CO2 in the adsorbent (i.e., rich solvent). Then, the mixed gas of water vapor and CO2 flows out from the top of the tower, and flows back into the tower after condensation and separation (see left column at p.118714-2).
The `846 patent (see Abstract) discloses a process for removing carbon dioxide from a carbon dioxide-loaded solvent uses two stages of flash apparatus, and is further illustrated in FIG. 1
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and detail description of each unit of the process can be found (col. 2, lns. 66 to col. 4, lns. 52).
Ascertainment of the difference between the prior art and the claims (MPEP §2141.02)
The difference between the instantly claimed method/system and the method/system disclosed by Wang et al. is that the prior art does not teach a method/system comprises repressurizing the collected condensed water.
Finding of prima facie obviousness--rational and motivation (MPEP §2142-2413)
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art through routine
experimentation to have a step of repressurizing the collected condensed water before the
step of reheating the collected condensed water to generate steam, in order to reduce the
energy required to vaporize the collected condensed water to steam, since increasing the
pressure will reduce the amount of heat required for vaporization. Furthermore, the `846 patent teaches “the second treated solvent stream 130, with the condensed water stream 128 added to it, becomes stream 131 and can then be transferred using solvent pump 132 to form stream 133 for reuse in a carbon dioxide absorption process (see col. 4, lns. 5-12), which suggests repressurizing the collected condensed water. In addition, Moullec et al. teaches flowsheet modification for an effective MEA based post-combustion CO2 capture integration process with steam bleeding and stripper at 2 bars, wherein the step of repressurizing the collected condensed water before the step of reheating the collected condensed water to generate steam is suggested in Fig. 2 at p.729.
In terms of claim 2 further comprising operating at a pressure for the steam injection between 10-100psig, Wang further discloses the method of claim 1 comprising operating at a
Pressure for the steam injection between 10-100psig (see table 3, operating pressure of the desorber is 1 bar, which is about 14.5 psig).
In terms of claim 3 further comprising operating at a temperature above a saturation temperature while avoiding excess degradation in the solvent, Wang (p.2, col. 1, para 2) discloses "In DSS, the stripping steam is heated to overheated and then directly injected into
the desorption tower to strip the CO2 from the rich absorbent". Wang does not disclose avoiding excess degradation in the solvent. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill
in the art through routine experimentation to adjust the operating temperature to avoid degrading the solvent, in order to optimize the amount of solvent regenerated and to reduce energy consumption by using the mixed solvent of AMP-AEEA-NMP (see Abstract). In addition, the `846 patent teaches the first temperature is suitably at least about 125° C, or at least about 135° C, or at least about 145° C, and a second temperature that is lower than the first temperature (see col. 3, lns. 6-9 and 37-38), which is a temperature above a saturation temperature while avoiding excess degradation in the solvent.
In terms of claim 4 further comprising separating CO2 product from lean solvent in two output streams, see Wang discloses Fig. 1, separator separates CO2 from the recirculated condensed water. Wang does not disclose that the method further comprises separating
CO2 product from lean solvent in two output streams. However, it would have been obvious to one skill in the art through routine experimentation to have a separating step, separating CO2 product from lean solvent in two output streams, in order to ensure that the CO2 product is pure CO2 and to ensure that the lean solvent does not have any CO2 entrained within it. In addition, the `846 patent teaches separating CO2 product from lean solvent in two output streams
(see CO2 stream 114 and CO2 stream 126 of Fig. 1).
In terms of claim 5 further comprising using two or more separators to separate CO2 product from the rich solvent, Wang (Fig. 1) discloses separator separates CO2 from the
recirculated collected condensed water. Wang discloses that lean solvent is also an output
of the desorber. Wang does not disclose that the method further comprises separating CO2 product from lean solvent using two or more separators. However, it would have been obvious
to one of ordinary skill in the art through routine experimentation to use two or more separators to separate CO2 product from the lean solvent, in order to ensure that the CO2 product is pure CO2 and to ensure that the lean solvent does not have any CO2 entrained within it. In addition, the `846 patent teaches separating CO2 product from lean solvent in two output streams
(see CO2 stream 114 and CO2 stream 126 of Fig. 1).
In terms of claim 6 wherein the condensed water from the regeneration section is collected in a knockout separator, Wang (Fig. 1) discloses condensed water is collected in gas liquid separator, which is a knockout separator. In addition, the `846 patent teaches the condensed water from the regeneration section is collected in condenser 112, and condenser 124 of Fig. 1, which are both knockout separators.
In terms of claim 7 wherein the repressurizing of the condensed water occurs prior to the reheating of the condensed water, Wang does not disclose that the repressurizing of the condensed water occurs prior to the reheating of the condensed water. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art through routine experimentation to have a step of repressurizing the collected condensed water before the step of reheating the collected condensed water to generate steam, in order to reduce the energy required to vaporize the collected condensed water to steam, since increasing the pressure will reduce the amount of heat required for vaporization. Furthermore, the `846 patent teaches “the second treated solvent stream 130, with the condensed water stream 128 added to it, becomes stream 131 and can then be transferred using solvent pump 132 to form stream 133 for reuse in a carbon dioxide absorption process (see col. 4, lns. 5-12), which suggests repressurizing the collected condensed water. In addition, Moullec et al. teaches flowsheet modification for an effective MEA based post-combustion CO2 capture integration process with steam bleeding and stripper at 2 bars, wherein the step of repressurizing the collected condensed water before the step of reheating the collected condensed water to generate steam is suggested by the disclosure in Fig. 2 at p.729 of Moullec et al.
In terms of claim 8 further comprising providing separate output streams from the rotating packed bed desorber to a solvent regeneration heater and a stripper condenser, respectively, Wang discloses providing separate output streams from the rotating packed bed desorber to a lean solvent tank and a stripper condenser, respectively (see Fig. 1), collected water and CO2 go to a condenser (see Fig. 3), lean solvent stream goes to lean solvent tank. In addition, the `846 patent teaches two-phrase separate output streams from the rotating packed bed desorber to a solvent regeneration heater and a stripper condenser through line 110 and line 122 of Fig. 1.
In terms of claim 9 wherein the condensed water is collected at an operating pressure of 1-10 psig, Wang does not disclose what the pressure the condensed water is collected at. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art through routine experimentation to adjust the pressure at which the condensed water is collected at, for example 1-10 psig, in order to optimize the separation of the condensed water and the CO2 in the subsequent separator.
In terms of claim 10 wherein the rich solvent is loaded with CO2 up to 11 wt%, Wang discloses the rich solvent is prepared by introducing CO2 into solution with a total amine concentration of 3.6 mol/L having CO2 inlet concentration is 14% (see table 2), which can lead to a rich solvent loaded with CO2 up to 11 wt%. In addition, the `846 patent (see Abstract and col. 3, lns. 11-16) teaches a process for removing carbon dioxide from a carbon dioxide-loaded solvent uses two stages of flash apparatus wherein the first carbon dioxide content (prior to any carbon dioxide removal) in a range of about 1-12% by weight, suitably at least about 8% by weight, and can be higher or lower depending on the specific solvent and the specific application.
In terms of claim 11, Wang discloses of a system for optimizing operation of a rotating packed bed desorber or regenerator (abstract: "In this work... [a] tri-solvent blend is used as a novel non-aqueous absorbent for CO2 capture process in rotating packed bed (RPB) reactor,
which is employed to intensify the mass transfer in both absorption and desorption process. [f]or desorption process, this study adopted the direct steam stripping (DSS) technique to reduce energy consumption") wherein a rich solvent is Input and CO2 product and lean solvent are output (see fig. 1, rich solvent is Inlet to stripper, outlet is lean solvent and CO2 product), the system comprising: a knockout separator collecting condensed water from a regeneration section of the rotating packed bed desorber or regenerator (page 2 col 1 para 2: "…the steam from the stripper is condensed and separated from the CO2. The condensation of the steam and re-vaporization of the condensed water from the separator can be carried out in an economizer"; see fig. 1, condensed water is collected in gas liquid separator, i.e., a knockout separator); a steam generator, the steam generator configured to reheat the collected condensed water to generate steam (page 2 col 1 para 2 to col 2 para 1: "The condensed water can be re-vaporized by utilizing the heat released in condensation process, thereby recovering most of the latent heat effectively"; see Fig. 1); and an injector configured to inject the generated steam to the rotating packed bed desorber or regenerator as stripping vapors while heating the rich solvent (page 2 col 1 para 2: "In DSS, the stripping steam is heated to overheated and then directly injected into the desorption tower to strip the CO2 from the rich absorbent"; see Fig. 1, steam is
reheated and injected into desorber as stripping vapor, since steam is overheated, it will heat the rich solvent/absorbent). Wang does not disclose that the system comprises a pressure pump configured to repressurize collected condensed water upstream of the steam generator. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art through routine experimentation to have the system comprise a pressure pump to repressurize collected condensed water, in order to reduce the energy required to vaporize the collected condensed water to steam, since increasing the pressure will reduce the amount of heat required for vaporization. In addition, the `846 patent (see Abstract) discloses a process for removing carbon dioxide from a carbon dioxide-loaded solvent uses two stages of flash apparatus, and is further illustrated in FIG. 1 and detail description of each unit of the process can be found (col. 2, lns. 66 to col. 4, lns. 52). Said system teaches and suggests the difference between claim 11 and Wang, see the articulation in the rejection of claims 1-10 above.
In terms of claim 12, Wang discloses of the system comprising: a preheater configured to heat the rich solvent prior to injection into the rotating packed bed desorber or regenerator (page 3 col 2 para 3: "The rich solvent is pumped to the preheater through a peristaltic pump and heated to the required Inlet temperature"; see Fig. 1).
In terms of claim 13, Wang discloses the system comprising: at least one additional separator positioned downstream of the rotating packed bed desorber or regenerator configured to separate CO2 product from collected water in two output streams. (see Fig. 1, separator separates CO2 from the recirculated collected condensed water). Wang discloses that lean solvent is also an output of the desorber (see Fig. 1). Wang does not disclose that the separator separates CO2 from the lean solvent. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art through routine experimentation to have an additional separator to separate CO2 product from the lean solvent, in order to ensure that the CO2 product is pure CO2 and to ensure that the lean solvent does not have any CO2 entrained within it.
In terms of claim 14, Wang discloses the system comprising: an output stream from the rotating packed bed desorber or regenerator connected with respect to a lean solvent tank (see Fig. 1, see Fig. 3, lean solvent stream goes to lean solvent tank). Wang does not disclose that the lean solvent output stream connected to a solvent regeneration heater. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art through routine experimentation to have the lean solvent output stream be connected a solvent regeneration heater in order to heat or cool the lean solvent to a suitable temperature for storage in the solvent tank or for downstream processing.
In terms of claim 15, Wang discloses the system comprising: an output stream from the rotating packed bed desorber or regenerator connected with respect to a stripper condenser (see Fig. 1, collected water and CO2 go to a condenser).
In terms of claim 16, Wang discloses the system comprising: a stripper condenser providing a stream of CO2 product and lean solvent to the knockout separator (page 2 col 1 para 2: “...the steam from the stripper is condensed and separated from the CO2. The condensation of the steam and re-vaporization of the condensed water from the separator can be carried out in an economizer"; see Fig. 1). Wang does not disclose that the system further comprises a two-phase separator condenser which also provides a stream of CO2 product and lean solvent to the knockout separator. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art through routine experimentation to have the system comprise an additional condenser, a two-phase condenser, which provides an additional stream of CO2 product and lean solvent to the knockout separator, in order to optimize regeneration of the lean solvent, and since such a stream could comprise two phases, i.e., a gas CO2 phase and a liquid water phase.
Conclusions
Claims 1-16 are rejected.
Telephone Inquiry
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Yong L. Chu, whose telephone number is (571)272-5759. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:30am-5:00pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amber R. Orlando can be reached on 571-270-3149. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
/YONG L CHU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1731