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 Interpretation
With respect to claim 1, Examiner construes “plastic oil stream” to mean a liquid fraction obtained via the pyrolysis of waste plastics (see Applicant’s specification, paragraph [0006]).
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement filed 25 January 2024 fails to comply with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97, 1.98 and MPEP § 609 because the only U.S. Patent document cited therein has an incorrect patent number, date, and name listed – i.e. the date and name listed is not consistent with the patent number listed. It has been placed in the application file, but the noted reference has not been considered as to the merits. Applicant is advised that the date of any re-submission of any item of information contained in this information disclosure statement or the submission of any missing element(s) will be the date of submission for purposes of determining compliance with the requirements based on the time of filing the statement, including all certification requirements for statements under 37 CFR 1.97(e). See MPEP § 609.05(a).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
With respect to claim 20, the claim recites the limitation “the liquid fraction.” There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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.
Claims 1-3, 5-7, and 13-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Weiss (US 2023/0287283) as evidenced by Bourane (A. Bourane et al., An Overview of Organic Liquid Phase Hydrogen Carriers, 41 Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 23075-23091 (2016)).
With respect to claims 1-3, 5-7, and 13-18, Weiss discloses a method comprising: (a) passing a plastic-derived pyrolysis oil stream and hydrogen to a hydrogenation unit to produce a hydrotreated effluent, the effluent comprising a liquid fraction, unreacted hydrogen, and byproducts (see Weiss, Abstract; and paragraph [0052]); (b) passing the hydrotreated effluent to a separator to isolate the liquid fraction (see Weiss, Abstract); (c) passing the byproduct residual stream to a reclamation unit to recover unreacted hydrogen (see Weiss, paragraphs [0135]-[0136]); and (d) passing the recovered hydrogen stream to the hydrogenation unit (see Weiss, paragraph [0137]). The plastic-derived pyrolysis oil stream may be passed to a pretreatment unit (e.g., a filtration unit) to remove impurities (see Weiss, paragraphs [0053]-[0056]). A naphtha fraction may be passed as a second hydrogenation stream to the hydrogenation unit (see Weiss, paragraph [0218]), such fraction known to comprise aromatic constituents (see Bourane, page 23088, right column, fifth paragraph). The hydrogenation unit may be a hydrotreatment unit operated at a temperature between 250°C and 430°C (see Weiss, paragraph [0085]), pressure between 1.0 and 10.0 MPa (see Weiss, paragraph [0085]), and LHSV of 0.1 h-1 to 10 h-1 (see Weiss, paragraph [0085]) in the presence of a hydrotreating catalyst such as one comprising cobalt, molybdenum, or tungsten on an alumina support (see Weiss, paragraphs [0088]-[0090]). The separation unit may comprise a distillation unit or extraction unit (see Weiss, paragraph [0134] and [0154]). The recovered byproducts may be further separated into additional value added streams (see Weiss, paragraph [0159]).
Weiss does not explicitly disclose wherein the liquid fraction of the hydrotreated effluent comprises liquid organic hydrogen carriers.
However, Weiss discloses wherein the liquid fraction of the hydrotreated effluent may be naphtha (see Weiss, paragraph [0159), such fraction being known to comprise liquid organic hydrogen carriers (see Bourane, Abstract; and page 23088, right column, fifth paragraph).
Thus, claims 1-3, 5-7, and 13-18 are anticipated by Weiss as evidenced by Bourane.
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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Weiss (US 2023/0287283) in view of Bourane (A. Bourane et al., An Overview of Organic Liquid Phase Hydrogen Carriers, 41 Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 23075-23091 (2016)).
With respect to claim 4, see discussion supra at paragraph 8. Weiss explains that oils obtained from the pyrolysis of plastic waste comprises many impurities including sulfur, oxygen, nitrogen, and chlorine compounds that are incompatible with downstream processes such as hydrogenation (see Weiss, paragraph [0004]). Thus, the person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to modify the method of Weiss to incorporate removal of such impurity species prior to hydrogenation.
Claims 9-12 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Weiss (US 2023/0287283) in view of Bourane (A. Bourane et al., An Overview of Organic Liquid Phase Hydrogen Carriers, 41 Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 23075-23091 (2016)) and Rao (P. C. Rao et al., Methylbenzene Naphthalene: Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier for Facile Hydrogen Storage and Release, 11 ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 12656-12666 (2023)).
With respect to claims 9-12 and 20, see discussion supra at paragraph 8. Rao explains that the concept of LOHC is an attractive means to transport hydrogen due to the reversibility of hydrogen charging (hydrogenation) and discharging (dehydrogenation), safe storage without energy losses, and transportation over long distances (e.g., greater than 1 km or 100 km) using existing energy transport logistics (e.g., trucks) (see Rao, Abstract; and page 12656, right column, first paragraph). Weiss discloses the use of naphtha reformers (see Weiss, paragraph [0040]).
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Weiss (US 2023/0287283) in view of Bourane (A. Bourane et al., An Overview of Organic Liquid Phase Hydrogen Carriers, 41 Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 23075-23091 (2016)) and Wingfield (US 4,515,659).
With respect to claim 19, see discussion supra at paragraph 8. Weiss discloses wherein the plastics pyrolysis may be catalytic pyrolysis (see Weiss, paragraph [0052]), such a method known to occur at temperatures in the range of 400°C to 650°C (see Wingfield, column 2, lines 61-64).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 8 is 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant’s disclosure: Allinson (US 2022/0109175); Bitting (WO 2024/030740 A1); and Jorschick (H. Jorschick et al., Hydrogenation of Aromatic and Heteroaromatic Compounds – A Key Process for Future Logistics of Green Hydrogen Using Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier Systems, 5 Sustainable Energy Fuels 1311-1346 (2021)). The references disclose either the pyrolytic processing of waste plastic or LOHC systems (see respective Abstract for each cited reference).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Randy Boyer whose telephone number is (571) 272-7113. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday from 10:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M. (EST).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Prem C. Singh, can be reached at (571) 272-6381. The fax number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Randy Boyer/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1771