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
Applicant’s election without traverse of Claims 16-21 in the reply filed on 4/24/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 22-30 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Examiner’s Note: although Claim 21 depends from claim 30, a withdrawn claim, this claim has been treated as dependent from claim 16 and has therefore been examined, as explained in the Claim Objections section of this instant Office action.
Claim Status
Claims 16-30 are pending, with claims 16-21 being examined, and claims 22-30 deemed withdrawn. Claims 1-15 are canceled.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) received on 9/13/2023, 9/26/2023, 10/2/2023, 1/21/2025, 1/6/2026, and 2/24/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 21 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding claim 21, the claim recites, “The reactor of claim 30”. However, claim 30 is drawn to a method. Further, claim 20 is drawn to a reactor, and provides sufficient antecedent basis for the limitation “the particles of the moving bed” present in claim 21. Therefore, claim 21 has been examined as dependent from claim 20, as it appears that “claim 30” as it appears in claim 21 is a typo of claim 20.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 16-21 are 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 16, the limitation “an at least tetragonal geometry” with regards to the reactor shaft is unclear, because it is unclear what the limitation “at least tetragonal” means. What constitutes more than tetragonal? Is it pentagonal, hexagonal, heptagonal, etc., or something else? Further clarification is needed. For purposes of compact prosecution, the above limitation has been examined as meaning that the reactor shaft has a tetragonal, rectangular, or square cross section, as described in Pg. 4 Ln. 4-Pg. 5 Ln. 6 of the instant Specification.
Claims 17-21 are rejected at least depending on a rejected claim.
Regarding claim 20, the limitation “at least intermittently closable feed openings and discharge openings” is unclear, because it is unclear what the limitation “at least intermittently closable” means. What constitutes more than intermittently closable? Is it permanently closable, or something else? Further clarification is needed.
Further regarding claim 20, the phrase “especially” renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitation(s) following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 16 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Claims 17-21 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include 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:
Appel et al. (US Pub. No. 2021/0051770; hereinafter Appel), Posselt et al. (US Pub. No. 2022/0234020; hereinafter Posselt; already of record on the IDS received 1/6/2026), Pevere et al. (US Pat. No. 2,799,640; hereinafter Pevere; already of record on the IDS received 9/13/2023), and Cordier et al. (Translation of EP Pub. No. 0240527; hereinafter Cordier) teach a reactor similar to that claimed. However, Appel, Posselt, Pevere, and Cordier do not teach or suggest, either alone or in combination with the prior art, a reactor shell and a reactor shaft disposed within the reactor shell, where the reactor shaft includes a tetragonal, rectangular, or square cross section, and where at least one electrode is disposed on each of two mutually opposite side walls of the reactor shaft.
Specifically, although Appel teaches an array of electrodes within a reactor (Appel; [0048], see Fig. 1a at electrodes 4, 5), Pevere teaches an array of electrodes within a reactor (Pevere; Col. 3 Lns. 22-54, see Fig. 1 at electrodes 13, 14), Posselt teaches a reactor comprising a shaft and electrodes (Posselt; [0017]-[0018], see Fig. 1), and Cordier teaches a furnace that is a shaft having a tetragonal cross-section, with electrodes located within the shaft (Cordier; Pg. 6 2nd Para., Pg. 10 2nd-4th Paras., see Claim 15, and Fig. 6 at enclosure 3 having a rectangular cross-section, having electrodes 74), none of the prior art, either alone or in combination, teach or suggest a reactor shell and a reactor shaft disposed within the reactor shell, where the reactor shaft includes a tetragonal, rectangular, or square cross section, and where at least one electrode is disposed on each of two mutually opposite side walls of the reactor shaft. Further, the inventors have persuasively demonstrated that the particular claimed configuration of the reactor shaft and electrodes has significance, as evidenced by Pg. 5 Lns. 1-6 of the instant Specification, which states that, “The tetragonal, especially rectangular, especially square, geometry of the reactor shaft and the correspondingly described arrangement of the electrodes enable the creation of an electrical potential field which is at least intermittently homogeneous in sections between the mutually opposite electrodes. In addition, this prevents any slippage from arising in respect of the streams of matter, and an associated reduction in conversion.”
Claims 17-21 would be allowable for depending on an allowable claim.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to John McGuirk whose telephone number is (571)272-1949. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-530pm.
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/JOHN MCGUIRK/ Examiner, Art Unit 1798
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