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 .
Claims 1-18 are currently pending and have been considered below.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
Claims 1-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hung et al. (US20210028466) in view of Lin et al. (US 11552323).
Regarding Claim 1 and 9: Lin discloses a plant microbial fuel cell including a planting container containing a culture medium and a microbial community, a lant grown in the culture medium, a cathode disposed at the soil and water and an anode disposed around the roots (col. 1, lines 42-55; col. 2, lines 14-24). Lin does not disclose that the anode is a porous carbon material prepared from coffee grounds.
Hung teaches a microbial fuel cell including a cathode and an anode made of activated carbon prepared from waste coffee grounds as an electrode material (abstract, paragraph [0002], [0007]).
Lin and Hung are analogous prior art because both references are directed to microbial fuel cell systems utilizing conductive porous carbon electrode materials.
Before the effective filling date of the current invention, it would been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to substitute the Trapa natans husk biochar of Lin with the coffee grounds derived activated carbon materials taught by Hung because both materials are conductive porous biomass carbon electrode materials suitable for microbial fuel cell electrode and that substitution would have a predictable improved electrochemical performance while achieving waste recycling benefits. (See Hung’s Abstract)
Regarding Claims 3 and 10: Lin discloses all of the claim limitation as set forth above. Lin further discloses that the cathode and anode electrode structures include conductive plates, where the activated carbon and biochar materials are coated on the surfaces of the conductive plates to form electrochemical active electrodes (col. 4, lines 18-21).
Before the effective filling date of the current invention, it would been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to provide conductive plate with porous carbon electrode structures in the plant microbial fuel cell because doing so would be predictably improve conductivity and structural support of the electrode assembly.
Regarding Claim 12: Lin discloses all of the claim limitation as set forth above. Lin further discloses cathode and anode electrode utilizing conductive plates and carbon materials coated on conductive substrates (col. 5, lines 20-30). Lin does not disclose that the cathode comprises a conductive plate where the porous carbon material is prepared from coffee grounds and is coated on a surface of the conductive plate.
Hung teaches a cathode structure including conductive plates coated with activated carbon material where the active carbon material is prepared from waste coffee grounds (paragraph [0010], [0038]- [0039]).
Before the effective filling date of the current invention, it would been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to coat coffee grounds porous carbon material on a conductive plate for cathode structure of Lin because Hung teaches that coffee grounds activated carbon improves microbial adhesion and electron transfer efficiency. (See Hung [0007], [0019])
Regarding Claim 2, 4, 11 and 13: Lin discloses all of the claim limitation as set forth above. Lin further discloses conductive plate material including carbon cloth, graphite felt, carbon felt, graphite paper, carbon paper, graphite brus, carbon brush, stainless steel mesh and nickel foam for microbial fuel cell electrodes (col. 4, lines 18-25).
Before the effective filling date of the current invention, it would been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to utilize the conductive plate materials disclosed by Lin in the electrode structures of the plant microbial fuel cell because the conductive substrates were conventionally used in a microbial fuel cell electrode due to their conductivity and compatibility with porous carbon electrode materials.
Regarding Claims 5 and 14: Lin discloses all of the claim limitation as set forth above. Lin does not disclose a porous carbon material prepared with an activation weight ratio of the coffee grounds to the activator of 1:1 to 1:10 (col. 3, lines 50-53).
Hung teaches an activated carbon prepared from waste coffee grounds fabricated using pore forming agents, where the weight ratio of the waste coffee grounds and the pore forming agent is 1:1 to 1:10 including ratios of 1:5 (paragraph [0017], [0046]).
Before the effective filling date of the current invention, it would been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to select activation weight ratios in the disclosed range because varying the ratio between the material and the activator was known to directly affect the pore size distribution and the conductivity of the activated carbon materials used in the microbial fuel cell electrode.
Regarding Claims 6 and 15: Lin discloses all of the claim limitation as set forth above. Lin further discloses that the pore forming agent or activator include KOH, ZnCl2, or NaOH. (col. 3, 45-50)
Hung teaches activators including KOH, ZnCl, and NaOH. (paragraph [0016])
Before the effective filling date of the current invention, it would been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to utilize alkaline activation agents, including hydroxide and carbonate metal activators, because such agents are conventionally used to control the porosity and electrochemical property of the activated carbon material.
Regarding Claims 7 and 16: Lin discloses all of the claim limitation as set forth above. Lin further discloses that the biofuel cell includes a soil housed in a container, a plant planted in the soil and water added in the container to make a water surface higher than the soil. (col. 2, lines 13-19)
Before the effective filling date of the current invention, it would been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to utilize water, soil or combinations because such environmental support microbial growth, plant growth and electrochemical activity necessary for the plant microbial fuel cell.
Regarding Claim 8 and 17: Lin discloses all of the claim limitation as set forth above. Lin further discloses a plant microbial fuel cell including a plant planted in soil within a container (Fig. 1). Lin does not disclose specifically foliage plant.
Before the effective filling date of the current invention, it would been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to utilize foliage plants in the plant microbial fuel cell of Lin because the selection of a particular plant type for use in a plant microbial fuel cell is a matter of design depending on aesthetic considerations and environmental adaptability.
Regarding Claim 18: Lin discloses all of the claim limitation as set forth above. Lin further discloses that the microbial community include a single microbial system such an Escherichia coli, Shewanella putrefaciens or a diverse microbial system in wastewater sludge (col. 4, lines 8-11).
Hung similarly teaches a microbial community including E. coli, Shewanella putrefaciens and diverse microbial systems in wastewater sludge (paragraph [0038]).
Before the effective filling date of the current invention, it would been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to utilize microbial population such as Escherichia coli, Shewanella putrefaciens and a diverse microbial system in wastewater sludge microbial system in the plant microbial fuel cell of Lin because both Lin and Hung teach that such microbial communities are suitable for a microbial fuel cell operation and electron transfer generation (See Lin col. 4, lines 25-35; See Hung [0019])
Conclusion
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/NMRO/Examiner, Art Unit 1725
/NICOLE M. BUIE-HATCHER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1725
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