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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-9, in the reply filed on March 5, 2026, is acknowledged.
Accordingly, claims 10-20 are withdrawn from further consideration because they are drawn to a non-elected invention.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 5, 7 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Haq et al. (US 2020/0056086) [hereinafter Haq].
With respect to claim 1, Haq discloses an oil recovery formulation (see paragraphs 0052-0053), having: a treatment agent comprising a material having an oxidized surface functionality, wherein the material is selected from the group consisting of pyrolyzed carbon, activated carbon, and combinations thereof (see paragraph 0053); and a carrier fluid (see paragraph 0053).
With respect to claim 2, Haq discloses wherein the carrier fluid is an aqueous fluid (see paragraph 0053).
With respect to claim 5, Haq discloses wherein the treatment agent is derived from at least one component of a date tree (see paragraphs 0054-0058).
With respect to claim 7, Haq discloses wherein the treatment agent is configured to adsorb one or more compounds from a water-based fluid (see paragraph 0132).
With respect to claim 9, Haq discloses from about 1 to about 20 wt. % (weight percent) of the treatment agent based on the total weight of the carrier fluid (see paragraph 0062).
Claim(s) 1-3 and 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Gay (US 5,021,164).
With respect to claim 1, Gay discloses a process to reduce aromatic hydrocarbons from aqueous solutions (see abstract), having: a treatment agent comprising a material having an oxidized surface functionality, wherein the material is selected from the group consisting of pyrolyzed carbon, activated carbon, and combinations thereof (see col. 1, lines 58-60); and a carrier fluid (see col. 2, lines 3-9).
With respect to claim 2, Gay discloses wherein the carrier fluid is an aqueous fluid (see col. 2, lines 3-9).
With respect to claim 3, Gay discloses wherein the treatment agent has a surface area ranging from about 600 m2/g to about 1500 m2/g (see col. 1, lines 17-18).
With respect to claim 7, Gay discloses wherein the treatment agent is configured to adsorb one or more compounds from a water-based fluid (see abstract).
With respect to claim 8, Gay discloses wherein the one or more compounds are organic compounds selected from the group consisting of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, o-xylene, m-xylene, p-xylene, methyl tert-butyl ether, and combinations thereof (see col. 2, lines 33-56).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gay (US 5,021,164).
With respect to claim 4, Gay lacks wherein the treatment agent has a density in a range of about 1.0 g/cc to about 1.8 g/cc. However, Gay teaches that any commercially available activated carbon can be employed in the novel process of the present invention (see col. 1, lines 56-57). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the treatment agent disclosed by Gay having a density in a range of about 1.0 g/cc to about 1.8 g/cc, as claimed by applicant, since one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize to choose a desired activated carbon having a desired density, according to a desired application, since Gay teaches that any commercially available activated carbon may be used (see col. 1, lines 56-57).
Claim(s) 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Haq (US 2020/0056086).
With respect to claim 6, Haq teaches wherein the at least one component of the date tree comprises a fibrous component (see paragraphs 0054-0058). Haq lacks an average diameter in the range of about 50 nm to about 0.1 μm and an average length of about 0.5 mm to about 4.0 mm. However, Haq teaches that date leaves may be pulverized into particles having an average size of less than 50 µm (see paragraph 0058). The particles may be in the form of microparticles having an average particle size of 2-20 µm and the microparticles are composed of nanostructured subparticles having an average particle size of 50 to 500 nm (see paragraph 0069). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the fibrous component disclosed by Haq having the specific claimed size, i.e., average diameter in the range of about 50 nm to about 0.1 μm and an average length of about 0.5 mm to about 4.0 mm, since one of ordinary skill would recognize to choose a desired size according to a desired application.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MADELINE GONZALEZ whose telephone number is (571)272-5502. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Benjamin Lebron can be reached at 571-272-0475. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MADELINE GONZALEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1773