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 § 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 (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 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) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over USP9834621 see abstract, Figure 1, col. 3 line 57 to col. 4 line 15 and Example 8. col. 8 line 62, and col. 10 lines 1-4 in view of USP3400053 see Figure 1 and col. 1 line 69 to col. 2 line 2 col. 4 line 41-48; col. 6 line 9, line 20, 30, 49-50, col. 7 line 34 and claims 1-10.
Claim 1 is directed to:
A method for purifying a reclaimed plastic comprising the steps of:
a) obtaining reclaimed plastic material wherein the reclaimed plastic material is comprised of post-consumer use plastics, post-industrial use plastics, or combinations thereof;
b) contacting the reclaimed plastic with a solvent having a boiling point of less than or equal to 70 degrees Celsius to form a reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture, wherein contacting the reclaimed plastic with solvent further comprises the steps of:
i) mixing the solvent with the reclaimed plastic material; and
ii) diffusing the solvent into the reclaimed plastic material;
c) extracting contaminants from the reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture wherein extracting contaminants further comprises the steps of
i) contacting the plastic-solvent mixture with an additional solvent;
ii) absorbing dissolved contaminants from the reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture into the additional solvent to create a contaminated solvent;
iii) producing a first stream comprised of a further reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture which proceeds to the step of separating undissolved contaminants from the further reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture; and iv) producing a second stream comprised of the contaminated solvent which proceeds to a solvent recovery and purification step;
d) dissolving the further reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture in a second additional solvent to produce a mixture of plastic-solvent solution and undissolved contaminants;
e) separating the undissolved contaminants from the further reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture by settling the further reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture in a vessel with a residence time of at least 5 minutes and filtering the further reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture through a filter media to create a second further reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture;
f) purifying the second further reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture with a solid absorbent media;
g) recovering the solvents from the second further reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture, wherein recovering the solvents from the second further reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture further comprises the steps of: i) decanting the second further reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture to remove a portion of the solvents from the second further reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture; and ii) devolatilizing the second further reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture to remove at least a portion of any remaining solvent from the second further reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture; and
h) recycling at least 97% of all the solvent used in the method through a solvent recovery and purification step, wherein the solvent recovery and purification step further comprises:
i) using a plurality of flash vessels to recycle the solvents and remove contaminants from the solvents recovered from the decanting, devolatilization, and extraction steps, wherein the solvent flash vessels operate at a temperature between 50 degrees and 200 degrees Celsius and a pressure between 0 to 200 psig to vaporize the solvents into a solvent vapor and separate the solvents from liquid and solid contaminants;
ii) using a plurality of heat exchangers to condense the solvent vapor to a solvent liquid for collection in a plurality of liquid collection vessels; and iii) using a plurality of pumps to pressurize and recycle the liquid solvent back into the method.
USP9834621 discloses a method for purifying reclaimed polypropylene , such as a polypropylene reclaimed from postconsumer use wherein, the method involves obtaining the reclaimed polypropylene and contacting it at an elevated temperature and pressure with a fluid solvent to produce an extracted reclaimed polypropylene . The extracted reclaimed polypropylene is dissolved in a solvent at an elevated temperature and pressure to produce a polypropylene solution , which is purified at an elevated temperature and pressure by contacting the polypropylene solution with solid media to produce a purer polypropylene solution. A purer polypropylene is then separated from the purer polypropylene solution. t. See abstract, Figure 1, col. 3 line 57 to col. 4 line 15 and Example 8.
USP9834621 does not disclose a method for the recovery of a solvent from a polymer stream by heating, flash evaporating, condensing and recycling the recovered solvent.
Note however, USP3400053 discloses a method for the recovery of a solvent from a polymer stream by heating, flash evaporating, separation, condensing and recycling the recovered solvent. See col. 1 line 3, 41, and col. 2 lines 34-58 and cols. 7 and 8.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of USP9834621 to incorporate the steps for the recovery of a solvent taught by USP3400053 because the steps for the recovery of a solvent from a polymer stream are well known in the art by a skilled artisan since such method would improve the recovery of the solvent and allowing it to be reused in the purification process.
Claim 2 is directed to a method for purifying a reclaimed plastic comprising: obtaining reclaimed plastic material wherein the reclaimed plastic material is comprised of post-consumer use plastics, post-industrial use plastics, or combinations thereof; contacting the reclaimed plastic with a solvent having a boiling point of less than or equal to 70 degrees Celsius to form a reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture, wherein the solvent absorbs a plurality of contaminants from the reclaimed plastic; recovering the solvent from the reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture; processing the reclaimed plastic to form a final plastic product having an opacity and yellowness index of less than 20; and recycling solvent extracted from the reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture through a solvent recovery and purification step to create a purified plastic.
USP9834621 disclose obtaining reclaimed polypropylene from post-consumer waste, contacting the polypropylene with a solvent having a boiling point of less than 70C to extract contaminants, dissolving and purifying the polymer with solid media, separating the purified polypropylene from the solvent and recovering and recycling the solvent. The reference also teaches that reclaimed polypropylene may contain pigments, dyes including basic Yellow 51, fillers, stabilizers and other additives. See abstract, Figure 1, cols 3 lines 57 to col. 4 line 65 and particularly col. 6 lines 44-65 and col. 7 lines 40-48 particularly col. 13 lines 45-67; col. 21, and Example 1.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to optimize the purification process to further reduce opacity and yellowness since the reference recognizes that the polypropylene contains pigments, dyes and other additives. The skilled artisan would have known that optimizing the degree of contaminate removal to achieve a desired characteristic would have been a routine optimization.
Claim 3 is directed to the method of purifying a reclaimed plastic of claim 2, wherein the step of contacting the reclaimed plastic with the solvent further comprises the steps of: mixing the solvent with the reclaimed plastic material; diffusing the solvent into the reclaimed plastic material; separating dissolved contaminants from the plastic-solvent mixture; removing the dissolved contaminants into a contaminated solvent stream to produce a further reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture; and dissolving the further reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture in an additional solvent.
USP9834621 discloses mixing solvent and reclaimed plastic, dissolving contaminants and separating the contaminated solvent and would have been obvious to the skilled artisan. See col. 5 lines 62-65, col. 6 lines 14-18, col. 7 lines 7-25, col. 8 line 21.
Claim 4 is directed to the method of purifying a reclaimed plastic of claim 3, wherein the step of dissolving the further reclaimed polymer-solvent mixture further comprises: separating undissolved contaminants from the further reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture to create a second further reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture; contacting the second further reclaimed plastic-solvent mixture with a solid media to remove additional contaminants leaving the purified plastic-solvent mixture; and providing a second stream comprised of contaminated solvent to a solvent recovery and purification step. See USP9834621 col. 8 line 62, and col. 10 lines 1-4.
Claim 5 is directed to the method of purifying a reclaimed plastic of claim 4, wherein the step of recovering the solvent further comprises the steps of: decanting the purified plastic solvent mixture to remove a portion of the solvent from the purified plastic-solvent mixture to create a second purified plastic-solvent mixture; and devolatilizing the second purified plastic-solvent mixture to remove at least a portion of any remaining solvent from the second purified plastic-solvent mixture. See USP9834621 Example 8.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention since devolatization was a well-known technique for removing residual solvent form polymer and decanting is a conventional separation step following solvent extraction.
Claim 6 is directed to the method of purifying a reclaimed plastic of claim 5, wherein the solvent recovery and purification step comprises: providing a plurality of flash vessels to recycle the solvents and remove the contaminants from the solvent recovered from the decanting, devolatilization, and diffusion steps, wherein the solvent flash vessels operate at a temperature between 50 degrees and 200 degrees Celsius and a pressure between 0 to 200 psig to vaporize the solvents into a solvent vapor and separate the solvents from liquid and solid contaminants; providing a plurality of heat exchangers to condense the solvent vapor to a recycled solvent liquid for collection in a plurality of liquid collection vessels; and providing a plurality of pumps to pressurize and recycle the solvent liquid back into the method.
USP9834621 discloses various temperatures and pressures in col. 5-6, 8-13 and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Claim 7 is directed to the method of purifying a reclaimed plastic of claim 2, wherein the solvent is a recycled solvent.
USP9834621 discloses various temperatures and pressures in col. 13 lines 6-31 and 33 and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Claim 8 is directed to the method of purifying a reclaimed plastic of claim 7, wherein the method comprises recycling more than 97% of all solvent used in the method. Note USP9834621 discloses in Example 3.
Claim 9 is directed to a system of recycling solvent used in connection with dissolution recycling, the system comprising: a dissolution recycling system for recycling reclaimed plastic; a plurality of solvent flash vessels to recover and vaporize contaminated solvent from the dissolution recycling system; wherein, the solvent flash vessels comprise: a high point outlet for vapor solvent and a low point inlet for vapor liquid; and a low point outlet for contaminants and a high point inlet for makeup solvent; a plurality of heat exchangers to condense the vaporized solvent to a purified liquid solvent; a plurality of liquid collection vessels to collect the purified liquid solvent; and a plurality of solvent pressurization pumps to recycle collected purified liquid solvent back into the dissolution recycling system.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide flash vessels, heat exchangers, collection vessels, pumps, and connecting conduits because these components were well known in chemical processing. See cols 4-6.
Claim 10 is directed to the system of recycling solvent of claim 9, wherein the plurality of solvent flash vessels operate at a temperature of between 50 degrees and 200 degrees Celsius and a pressure of between 0 and 200 psig.
See USP3400053 discloses the limitations in cols. 5-cols. 7. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ particular amounts and/or parameters as known in the art, since it is well-established that merely selecting proportions and ranges is not patentable absent a showing of criticality. In re Becket, 33 U.S.P.Q. 33 (C.C.P.A. 1937).
Claim 11 is directed to the system of recycling solvent of claim 9, wherein the plurality of solvent flash vessels vaporize the contaminated solvent and separate the solvent from liquid and solid contaminants.
Note USP3400053 Figure 1 wherein the reference shows separating solvent vapor (15) from the polymer stream during flash separation (6) as well as col. 6 line 70 Example.
Claim 12 is directed to the system of recycling solvent of claim 9, wherein the plurality of solvent flash vessels further comprise a heat jacket to maintain the temperature of the plurality of solvent flash vessels.
Note USP3400053 claims 1-10 and first Figure 1. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use a heat jacket because external heating of process vessels was well-known.
Claim 13 is directed to the system of recycling solvent of claim 9, wherein the high point outlet of the plurality of solvent flash vessels further comprises a filter to capture liquid and solid contaminants from the vaporized solvent.
See USP3400053 discloses Figure 1 section (6) and col. 1 line 69 to col. 2 line 2.
Claim 14 is directed to the system of recycling solvent of claim 9, wherein the plurality of liquid collection vessels operate at a temperature of -100 degrees to 50 degrees Celsius and a pressure of 0 to 150 psig.
See USP3400053 col. 5 line 15; col. 6 line 43; col. 7 line 25. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ particular amounts and/or parameters as known in the art, since it is well-established that merely selecting proportions and ranges is not patentable absent a showing of criticality. In re Becket, 33 U.S.P.Q. 33 (C.C.P.A. 1937). In re Russell, 439 F.2d 1228, 169 U.S.P.Q. 426 (C.C.P.A. 1971).
Claim 15 is directed to the system of recycling solvent of claim 10, wherein the plurality of liquid collection vessels is directed to the further comprise a heat jacket to maintain the temperature of the plurality of liquid collection vessels.
USP3400053 discloses collecting recovered solvent for reuse. See col. 5 line 15, col. 6 line 44.It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to maintain the collection vessel at a suitable operating temperature because the temperature controlling of process vessels was well-known by the skilled artisan.
Claim 16 is directed to a system for continuously purifying reclaimed polypropylene comprising: an extruder capable of converting solid recycled polypropylene material into a molten polypropylene; a pipe to carry the molten polypropylene, the pipe comprising at least one inlet to mix an initial amount of liquid solvent with the molten polypropylene; wherein the liquid solvent mixes with the molten polypropylene to form a molten polypropylene-solvent mixture and the liquid solvent absorbs contaminants from the molten polypropylene; a solvent extraction vessel comprising a first outlet and a second outlet to separate a first stream of recovered molten polypropylene from a second stream of the contaminated liquid solvent; a settling vessel comprising an outlet at the bottom of the settling vessel to remove undissolved contaminants from the recovered molten polypropylene to create a further recovered molten polypropylene; a decanter vessel to collect and decant the further recovered molten polypropylene, the decanter vessel comprising a first outlet for the purified molten polypropylene and a second outlet for recovered liquid solvent; a devolatization vessel to remove solvent vapor from the purified molten polypropylene, the devolatization vessel comprising a first outlet for solvent vapor and a second outlet for further purified molten polypropylene; at least one solvent flash vessel to vaporize solvent and separate liquid and solid contaminants; wherein the at least one solvent flash vessel comprises a high point outlet for vapor solvent and a low point inlet for liquid vapor; at least one condensation vessel to condense the vapor solvent into a liquid; at least one solvent pump to return an amount of liquid solvent to the system; and wherein the ratio of liquid solvent returned to the system is at least 90% of the solvent used.
In addition to the discussion for claim 1, Note USP9834621 discloses the use of an extruder in Example 1, decanting in Example 8, and a molten polymer in col. 8 lines 45 and 66. Note also USP3400053 discloses a method for the recovery of a solvent from a polymer stream by heating, flash evaporating, separation, condensing and recycling the recovered solvent. See col. 1 line 3, 41, and col. 2 lines 34-58 and cols. 7 and 8. USP3400053 does not disclose the same claimed number of flash vessels, heat exchangers, liquid collection vessels or pumps. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use multiple vessels, heat exchanges, collection vessels, and pumps because selecting the number of process components would have been a routine choice.
Claim 17 is directed to the system for continuously purifying reclaimed polypropylene of claim 16, further comprising at least one adsorbent vessel, the adsorbent vessel comprising a solid adsorbent media to remove contaminants from the recovered molten polypropylene.
See USP9834621 col. 3 lines 40-42. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the adsorbent media in a separate vessel as a matter of design choice.
Claim 18 is directed to the system for continuously purifying reclaimed polypropylene of claim 16, further comprising a recycling pump to maintain a desired pressure of solvent throughout the system. See USP3400053 col. 4 line 41-48; col. 6 line 9, line 20, 30 and 7 line 34.
Claim 19 is directed to the system for continuously purifying reclaimed polypropylene of claim 16, wherein the solvent vapor exits the first outlet of the devolatization vessel and proceeds to the at least one solvent flash vessel; and the further purified molten polypropylene exits the second outlet of the devolatization vessel for final processing.
USP3400053 discloses directing solvent vapor to solvent recovery while purified polymer continues for further processing. See col. 6 lines 49-50.
Claim 20 is directed to the system for continuously purifying reclaimed polypropylene of claim 16, wherein the solvent flash vessel further comprises: a heat jacket to maintain the temperature of the solvent flash vessel; and a pre-heater employed at the inlet of the solvent flash vessel to superheat the solvent to a temperature between 150 degrees and 400 degrees Celsius.
In addition to the discussions for claims 1 and 16, note USP3400053 discloses an overlapping temperature range of 300-700 for the latter part of the system. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ particular amounts and/or parameters as known in the art, since it is well-established that merely selecting proportions and ranges is not patentable absent a showing of criticality. In re Becket, 33 U.S.P.Q. 33 (C.C.P.A. 1937). In re Russell, 439 F.2d 1228, 169 U.S.P.Q. 426 (C.C.P.A. 1971).
In conclusion, in view of the above, there appears to be no significant difference between the reference(s) and that which is claimed by applicant(s). Any differences not specifically mentioned appear to be conventional. Consequently, the claimed invention cannot be deemed as unobvious and accordingly is unpatentable.
Information Disclosure Statement
Note that any future and/or present information disclosure statements must comply with 37 CFR § 1.98(b), which requires a list of the publications to include: the author (if any), title, relevant pages of the publication, date and place of publication to be submitted for consideration by the Office.
Improper Claim Dependency
Prior to allowance, any dependent claims should be rechecked for proper dependency if independent claims are cancelled.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TERRESSA M BOYKIN whose telephone number is (571)272-1069. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7-5:30.
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/Terressa Boykin/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1765
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