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
The applicant’s election without traverse filed 1/20/26 is acknowledged, and the restriction is hereby made final.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 – 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)(a)(2) as being anticipated by Jahnke, US20190148753A1.
Regarding claim 1, Jahnke teaches a system [0002], comprising:
a digestion system configured to convert a digestate into a fuel gas (hydrogen generation system)[0019]; and
a fuel cell power system (fuel cell)[0020] configured to convert the fuel gas into power (generate electrical power)[0019] and heat (waste heat from cells)[0035], and to provide the heat to the digestion system (waste heat from cells to reformer)[0035].
Regarding claim 2, Jahnke teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the fuel gas comprises hydrogen (H2) (hydrogen)[0027].
Regarding claim 3, Jahnke teaches the system of claim 2, wherein the fuel cell power system comprises: fuel cells (cells (204))[0039];
a condenser configured to remove water from fuel exhaust output from the fuel cells to generate recycled fuel (condenser)[0051][0055];
a recycling conduit (recycle path (426))[ configured to receive the fuel exhaust from the fuel cells and transfer the fuel exhaust to the condenser; and
a recycle blower (recycle blower (425)) configured to pressurize the recycled fuel output [fig. 4] from the condenser.
Regarding claim 4, Jahnke teaches the system of claim 3, wherein the fuel cell power system further comprises a heat exchanger (450) configured to transfer heat from the fuel exhaust to a fluid provided to the digestion system (waste heat provided to reformer)[0035][0041].
Regarding claim 5, Jahnke teaches the system of claim 4, wherein the fluid comprises pressurized water or oil (water heat exchanger)[0017].
Regarding claim 6, Jahnke teaches the system of claim 4, wherein the digestion system comprises at least one reformer (reformer (430)), and wherein the fluid is configured to heat the at least one reformer [0041].
Claims 7 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 by Jahnke, US20190148753A1, as applied to claim 6 above, and further in view of Galloway, US20240425761A1
Regarding claim 7, Jahnke teaches the system of claim 6.
Jahnke does not teach wherein the digestion system further comprises a syngas cleanup module and a water-gas-shift module.
Galloway teaches a system comprising a digestion system [0002] and a fuel cell power system [0004] wherein the digestion system further comprises a syngas cleanup module [0068] and a water-gas-shift module [0073]. Syngas cleanup prevents deactivation of the catalyst and increases the purity of the fuel stream [0068][0081] and water gas shift modules are commonly used in hydrogen production. Then, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the cleanup module and shift module of Galloway into the digestion system of Jahnke to increase purity of the fuel.
Regarding claim 8, combined Jahnke teaches the system of claim 7.
Further, Galloway teaches wherein the digestion system further comprises a pressure-swing adsorption module [0063].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PATRICK M GREENE whose telephone number is (571)270-1340. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Miriam Stagg can be reached at (571)270-5256. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PATRICK MARSHALL GREENE/Examiner, Art Unit 1724
/STEWART A FRASER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1724
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