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 .
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 3 and 14 – 20 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.
Claim 3 recites the limitation "the adsorber trim fluid". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 14 recites the limitation "the trim adsorber" in the tenth line of the claim. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. The examiner believes “the trim adsorber” should be --the trim bed--. Claims 15 – 18 depend from claim 14 and are also rejected.
Similarly, claim 19 recites the limitation "the trim adsorber" in the fifth line of the claim. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. The examiner believes “the trim adsorber” should be --the trim bed--. Claim 20 depends from claim 19 and is also rejected.
Claim 19 also recites “the head” in the seventh line of the claim, which lacks antecedent basis.
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.
(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, 2, 4 – 11, and 14 – 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0178159 to Siedler et al. (hereinafter referred to as Siedler).
In regard to claim 1, Siedler discloses a process of treating a feed in an adsorption separation zone having at least two adsorbent beds (105, 110) and a trim bed (115). As shown in figure 5, the process includes a step of displacing feed from a first adsorbent bed (105) to a trim bed (115) by feeding a desorbent from a second adsorbent bed (110) to the first adsorbent bed while displacing desorbent from the trim bed (115). As shown in figure 8, the process can further include discontinuing the first adsorbent bed displacement, and passing a trim displacement fluid (170) to the trim bed (115) to displace feed from the trim bed.
In regard to claim 2, shown in figure 7, a feed from the second desorbent inlet (170) can be considered an adsorber trim fluid, as broadly recited in the claim, that is passed to the first adsorbent bed to recover remaining feed therein. In the step of claim 8, feeding adsorber trim fluid to the first adsorbent bed is discontinued before the trim displacement fluid from the second desorbent inlet (170) is passed to the trim bed (115).
In regard to claims 4 and 8, as discussed in paragraph [0026], the second desorbent, which is provided as the trim displacement fluid (170), can be benzene, which can be considered a “heavy” aromatic.
In regard to claims 5 and 7, as shown in figure 10, the displacement of feed from the trim bed (115) using the trim displacement fluid (170) can be discontinued. The flow from the first desorbent inlet (140) is passed through the first adsorbent bed (105) to the trim bed (115). The outflow from the first adsorbent bed can be considered an adsorber trim fluid, as broadly recited in the claim. This fluid can displace spent trim displacement fluid from the trim bed while withdrawing spent trim displacement fluid from the trim bed through the desorbent outlet (165).
In regard to claim 6, as shown in figures 7 and 8, feed that is displaced from the trim bed (115) is combined with feed from the feed stream (120) that is feeding the second adsorbent bed (110).
In regard to claim 9, as shown in figures 5 – 11, the feed stream (120) is further passed through the second adsorbent bed (110) to adsorb material from the feed stream onto the second adsorbent bed.
In regard to claims 10 and 11, as further shown in figure 5, the dashed line can be considered to represent desorbent displaced from the second adsorbent bed (110) to the first adsorbent bed (105), which passes through the first adsorbent bed displacing feed from the first adsorbent bed to the trim bed (115). The spent desorbent is then withdrawn from the trim bed (115) out of the outlet (135).
In regard to claim 14, Siedler discloses a process of treating a feed in an adsorption separation zone having at least two adsorbent beds (105, 110) and a trim bed (115). As shown in figures 2 – 4, the process includes passing a feed stream (120) through the first adsorbent bed (105) to absorb material from the feed stream onto the first adsorbent bed. As shown in figure 5, the feed (120) can be discontinued from passing to the fist adsorbent bed (105), and the feed can be passed through the second adsorbent bed (110) to adsorb material form the feed stream onto the second adsorbent bed (110). As further shown in figure 5, the dashed line can be considered to represent desorbent displaced from the second adsorbent bed (110) to the first adsorbent bed (105), which passes through the first adsorbent bed displacing feed from the first adsorbent bed to the trim bed (115). The spent desorbent is then withdrawn from the trim bed (115) out of the outlet (135). As shown in figure 6, the process further includes discontinuing displacing feed from the first adsorbent bed (105). As shown in figure 7, a feed from the second desorbent inlet (170) can be considered an adsorber trim fluid, as broadly recited in the claim, that is passed to the first adsorbent bed to recover remaining feed therein. The flow from the first adsorbent bed (110) in figure 7 can be considered a trim displacement fluid that is passed to the trim bed (115) to displace feed from the trim bed. Alternately, in the step of figure 8, the feed from the second desorbent inlet (170) can be considered a trim displacement fluid that is passed to the trim bed (115) to displace feed from the trim bed.
In regard to claim 15, as shown in figure 10, the displacement of feed from the trim bed (115) using the trim displacement fluid (170) can be discontinued. The flow from the first desorbent inlet (140) is passed through the first adsorbent bed (105) to the trim bed (115). The outflow from the first adsorbent bed can be considered an adsorber trim fluid, as broadly recited in the claim. This fluid can perform a trim displacement of the trim bed while withdrawing spent trim displacement fluid from the trim bed through the desorbent outlet (165). As shown in figure 4, the method returns a step where the trim displacement of the trim bed with the adsorber trim fluid is discontinued.
In regard to claim 16, as shown in figures 7 and 8, feed that is displaced from the trim bed (115) is combined with feed from the feed stream (120) that is feeding the second adsorbent bed (110).
In regard to claim 17, as shown in figure 10, the flow from the first desorbent inlet (140) is passed through the first adsorbent bed (105) to the trim bed (115). The outflow from the first adsorbent bed can be considered an adsorber trim fluid, as broadly recited in the claim. This fluid can perform a trim displacement of the trim bed.
In regard to claim 18, as shown in figures 10 and 11, the process can further include a step of passing a desorbent stream through the first desorbent inlet (140) to the first adsorbent bed (105) and the trim bed (115) to remove adsorbed material from the first adsorbent bed (105) and the trim bed (115) to regenerate the first adsorbent bed and the trim bed and withdrawing the spent desorbent stream from the trim bed through the desorbent outlet (165).
In regard to claim 19, Siedler discloses a process of treating a feed in an adsorption separation zone having at least two adsorbent beds (105, 110) and a trim bed (115). As shown in figure 5, the process includes a step of displacing feed from a first adsorbent bed (105) to a trim bed (115) by feeding feed to a second adsorbent bed (110) to displace desorbent from the second adsorbent bed to the first adsorbent bed while withdrawing a spent desorbent from the trim bed (115) through the outlet (135). ). As shown in figure 6, the process further includes discontinuing displacing feed from the first adsorbent bed (105). As shown in figure 7, a feed from the second desorbent inlet (170) can be considered an adsorber trim fluid, as broadly recited in the claim, that is passed to the first adsorbent bed to recover remaining feed therein. The flow from the first adsorbent bed (110) in figure 7 can be considered a trim displacement fluid that is passed to the trim bed (115) to displace feed from the trim bed. Alternately, in the step of figure 8, the feed from the second desorbent inlet (170) can be considered a trim displacement fluid that is passed to the trim bed (115) to displace feed from the trim bed.
In regard to claim 20, as shown in figures 7 and 8, feed that is displaced from the trim bed (115) is combined with feed from the feed stream (120) that is feeding the second adsorbent bed (110).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 12 and 13 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Robert Clemente whose telephone number is (571)272-1476. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/ROBERT CLEMENTE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1773