DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-10 in the reply filed on 05/26/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 11-15 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected method, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 05/26/2026.
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.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim KR 10-2020-0129648 [translation] in view of Lummus KR 10-1523570 [translation].
Regarding claim 1, Kim discloses an apparatus for capturing carbon dioxide in flue gas, comprising: a first compressor configured to compress a first compressor feed gas including flue gas (figures: compressor 203, 303; page 3, 5th paragraph); a first capture separation membrane (figures: membrane 206, 306) configured to separate a first capture separation membrane feed gas including the gas compressed by the first compressor into a first capture separation membrane permeate gas and a first capture separation membrane residual gas (page 6, 4th paragraph); a second compressor configured to compress a second compressor feed gas including the first capture separation membrane permeate gas (figures: compressor 210, 310); a liquefaction heat exchanger configured to cool down the gas compressed by the second compressor (figures: heat exchanger 211, 311; liquefaction could occur in the heat exchanger); a separation tower configured to separate the gas cooled by the liquefaction heat exchanger into a high purity carbon dioxide liquid and a carbon dioxide containing gas (distillation column 212, 312; page 9, 2nd paragraph).
Kim does not disclose a first recovery separation membrane configured to separate the carbon dioxide containing gas into a first recovery separation membrane permeate gas and a first recovery separation membrane residual gas, and circulate the first recovery separation membrane permeate gas to the first compressor, the first capture separation membrane or the second compressor. Lummus discloses that additional carbon dioxide may be recovered by passing a vapor faction in a flow line through a membrane unit, where CO2 permeate may then be recovered and recycled to a compression system (claim 1; figure 1; final paragraph of page 4). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kim to include a first recovery separation membrane configured to separate the carbon dioxide containing gas into a first recovery separation membrane permeate gas and a first recovery separation membrane residual gas, and circulate the first recovery separation membrane permeate gas to the first compressor, the first capture separation membrane or the second compressor, as disclosed by Lummus, to allow for additional CO2 capture.
Regarding claim 2, Kim discloses a second capture separation membrane configured to separate a second capture separation membrane feed gas including the first capture separation membrane permeate gas into a second capture separation membrane permeate gas and a second capture separation membrane residual gas, wherein only the second capture separation membrane permeate gas in the first capture separation membrane permeate gas is compressed by the second compressor (figures: membrane 321; claim 3; page 12, final paragraph).
Regarding claim 3, Kim discloses that a temperature of the gas fed into the first recovery separation membrane is −40 to 0° C (page 13; 3rd paragraph).
Regarding claim 4, Kim discloses that the first recovery separation membrane is made of at least one of polysulfone (PSF) or polyimide (PI) (page 7, 3rd paragraph).
Regarding claim 5, Kim discloses that before feeding the gas compressed by the first compressor into the first capture separation membrane, a first heat exchanger network configured to cool down by heat exchange with at least one of the first capture separation membrane permeate gas, the first capture separation membrane residual gas, the carbon dioxide containing gas, the first recovery separation membrane permeate gas or the first recovery separation membrane residual gas (figures 2 and 3; heat exchanger 205, 305; page 5, 3rd paragraph).
Regarding claim 6, Kim discloses that before feeding at least one capture separation membrane feed gas of the gas compressed by the first compressor or the first capture separation membrane permeate gas into the separation membrane, a heat exchanger network configured to cool down by heat exchange with at least one of the first capture separation membrane permeate gas, the first capture separation membrane residual gas, the second capture separation membrane permeate gas, the second capture separation membrane residual gas, the carbon dioxide containing gas, the first recovery separation membrane permeate gas or the first recovery separation membrane residual gas (figures: heat exchangers 305 and 320).
Claims 8 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim KR 10-2020-0129648 [translation], in view of Lummus KR 10-1523570 [translation], in further view of Enis USPA 2009/0205364 A1.
Kim in view of Lummus is relied upon as above.
Regarding claim 8, Kim does not disclose a dry ice production unit including a chamber in which the high purity carbon dioxide liquid is received and converted to dry ice and an outlet through which a residual carbon dioxide gas not having been converted to the dry ice exits. Enis discloses a similar apparatus where CO2 is converted to dry ice in a chamber to allow for easy transport and storage of the CO2 and an outlet through which a residual carbon dioxide gas not having been converted to the dry ice exits (paragraph 30; figure 4). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kim in view of Lummus to include a chamber in which the high purity carbon dioxide liquid is received and converted to dry ice and an outlet through which a residual carbon dioxide gas not having been converted to the dry ice exits, as disclosed by Enis, for the purpose of allowing the capture CO2 to be easily stored and transported.
Regarding claim 8, in the case where Kim is modified by Enis, it would have been obvious to circulate the residual CO2 to the first capture separation membrane, in order to capture the residual CO2, since Kim generally discloses such circulation (see figures).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7 and 10 are 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art fails to disclose or make obvious claims 7 and 10. In particular, the prior art fails to disclose or make obvious these claims having the claimed configuration of membranes and heat exchangers.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER P JONES whose telephone number is (571)270-7383. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-6PM EST M-F.
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/CHRISTOPHER P JONES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1776
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