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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on December 18, 2023 was considered by the examiner.
The information disclosure statement filed March 5, 2025 fails to comply with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.98(a)(4) because it lacks the appropriate size fee assertion. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered as to the merits.
Specification
The disclosure is further objected to because of the following informalities:
[0019] refers to cooling the second solution as step (iv) but it is referred to as step (v) in [0003]
[0020] refers to collecting and drying the anhydrous sodium sulfate crystal as step (v) but it is referred to as step (vi) in [0003]
Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-8 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 1 recites the limitation “evenly mixing” in line 2. The term “evenly” in claim 1 may have multiple meanings in regards to mixing which renders the claim indefinite. It is unclear whether “evenly mixing” refers to creating a homogeneous solution or refers to adding even amounts of fly ash and water. The term “evenly” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
Claims 2-8 depend upon or otherwise require all of the limitations of claim 1 and are also similarly rejected.
Claim 4 recites the limitation “ionic type polyacrylamide” in line 2. The addition of the word “type” to an otherwise definite expression extends the scope of the expression so as to render it indefinite. Therefore, it is unclear what “type” is intended to convey in the phrase “ionic type.” Ex parte Attig, 7 USPQ2d 1092 (Bd. Pat. App. & Inter. 1986). See MPEP §2173.05 (b)(III).
Citation of Pertinent Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Liu, et. al. 2009 (CN 101602514 A), referred to as Liu from herein, discloses a method for obtaining high purity sodium sulfate from sodium sulfate ore comprising:
dissolving the sodium sulfate ore with water at 40˚C to 70˚C to obtain a first solution and adjusting pH value of the first solution to 9 to 11
adding a heavy metal capture agent (or flocculant) such as iron sulfate to the first solution to form a precipitate, and removing the precipitate to obtain a second solution
collecting and drying the anhydrous sodium sulfate crystal by putting the sodium sulfate in a dehydration vessel to remove moisture content and then sending that to a LLC-I type fluidized bed for cooling and separation.
Liu further discloses the collected sodium sulfate after performing the disclosed method having a total heavy metal content of 9.1 – 9.6 ppm.
Liu does not disclose obtaining sodium sulfate specifically from fly ash, heating the second solution to 60˚C to 80˚C, adding a precipitation promoter to the second solution to precipitate anhydrous sodium sulfate crystal, nor cooling the second solution and the anhydrous sodium sulfate crystal to 35˚C to 55˚C for precipitating more anhydrous sodium sulfate crystal.
Salmenoja, et. al. 2020 (US 2020/0181841 A1), referred to as Salmenoja from herein, discloses a method of obtaining decahydrate sodium sulfate, also known as Glauber’s salt. The method disclosed in Salmenoja includes evenly mixing water and fly ash. Salmenoja does not disclose any other steps similar to the method in the present invention.
Wang, et. al. 2009 (Effects of Water-Washing Pretreatment on Bioleaching of Heavy Metals from Municipal Solid Waste Incinerator Fly Ash, Journal of Hazardous Materials 2009, 162, 812 – 818), referred to as Wang from herein, discloses a method of removing heavy metal from fly ash, which includes washing fly ash before bioleaching to improve the extraction yield of heavy metals in fly ash. Wang only teaches of heavy metal removal and therefore does not teach of recovering any material, including sodium sulfate, from fly ash.
Hartley, et. al. 1908 (The Spontaneous Crystallisation of Sodium Sulphate Solutions, J. Chem. Soc. Trans. 1908, 93, 825 – 833), referred to as Hartley from herein, teaches the solubility of three forms of sodium sulfate, including anhydrous sodium sulfate. Hartley further discloses crystallizing anhydrous sodium sulfate at 60.7 ˚C after the addition of tetrahedral platinum as a precipitation promoter.
Hartley does not disclose a method of obtaining sodium sulfate from fly ash or the general extraction of sodium sulfate. Furthermore, while Hartley teaches of a general precipitation promoter, Hartley does not teach of a chemical precipitation promoter, such as a water-soluble carbonate, sulfate, nitrate, or combination thereof.
Mettler Toledo, 2021 (Supersaturation and Crystallization, Mettler Toledo, https://web.archive.org/web/20210615194935/https://www.mt.com/us/en/home/applications/L1_AutoChem_Applications/L2_Crystallization/Supersaturation_Application.html; obtained from WayBack Machine), referred to as Mettler Toledo from herein, teaches how supersaturation influences nucleation and crystal growth in crystallization. Mettler Toledo does not teach specifically obtaining or crystallizing sodium sulfate.
Xue, et. al. 2019 (CN 110451532 A), referred to as Xue from herein, teaches of a method for obtaining sodium sulfate from desulfurizing ash comprising of
mixing water and desulfurizing ash
adding a heavy metal capture agent (or clarifying agent) to form a precipitate and removing the precipitate
drying and collecting (or packaging) the sodium sulfate
Xue further teaches that 2:1 to 3:1 an ideal range for the mass ratio of leaching solvent to ash.
The method disclosed in Xue does not teach of removing a liquid and keeping a solid after mixing water and desulfurizing ash, adjusting the pH to 9 – 11 before adding the heavy metal capture agent, heating the solution to 60 – 80 ˚C, nor adding a precipitation promoter. While Xue discloses cooling the solution to 35 – 55 ˚C, the order of this cooling step differs from the method of the present invention. Furthermore, Xue does not disclose the composition of desulfurized ash before and after the disclosed treatment.
Yan, et. al. 2021 (Low-temperature Sintering Behavior of Fly Ash from Hazardous Waste Incinerator: Effect of Temperature and Oxygen on Ash Properties. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 2021, 9, 105261), referred to as Yan from herein, discloses the composition, including heavy metal content, of fly ash from a hazardous waste incinerator plant in Hangzhou China. Yan only teaches of heavy metal removal and therefore does not teach of recovering any material, including sodium sulfate, from fly ash.
Lin, 2021 (Mineral Transformation, Alkalinity Neutralization and Settling of a Long-Term Storage Bauxite Residue, Ph. D. Dissertation, Texas A&M University, 2021), referred to as Lin from herein, discloses the advantages of polyacrylamide, both ionic and non-ionic types, as a flocculant. Lin does not teach a method of obtaining sodium sulfate.
Conclusion
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/V.F.C./Examiner, Art Unit 1738
/MICHAEL FORREST/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1738
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