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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-19, 21-22, 24-25 and 38-39 filed on 11/21/2023 are currently pending.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-18 in the reply filed on 07/13/2026 is acknowledged. Applicant did not indicate that claims 38-39, listed with Group I in the restriction/election requirement, are also elected. Thus, claims 1-18 and 38-39 are under examination.
Claims 19, 21-22 and 24-25 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claim Objections
Claim 39 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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, 6-15, 16, 18 and 38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Thode (Thode, K. C. Patent number US7,169,946; cited in IDS 06/26/2025) as evidenced by Calgon Carbon (“PWA Acid Washed Powdered Activated Carbon” 2013).
Regarding claims 1-3 and 6-7, Thode teaches a method of processing a crude fatty acid stream comprising short chain fatty acids and impurities, the method comprising mixing the crude fatty acid stream with 1% by weight activated carbon as an adsorbent for 2 hours to produce a fatty acid product stream comprising C-12/C-18 fatty acids and an amount of impurities that is less than the amount of impurities in the crude fatty acid stream.
Regarding claim 8, the impurities include coloring components.
Regarding claims 9 and 15, Thode is silent that the coloring components include quiniodoline, amines, nitriles, metal complexes, or combinations thereof (claim 9) and that the oxidative components include quinone, amines, metal complexes, amino-components, or combinations thereof (claim 15). However, since the crude fatty acid stream of Thode derives from the same palm kernel oil and/or coconut oil as the instant disclosure, there is a prima facie case of anticipation for the crude fatty acid stream in the reference to comprise coloring components that include quiniodoline, amines, nitriles, metal complexes, or combinations thereof and for the oxidative components to include quinone, amines, metal complexes, amino-components, or combinations thereof. See MPEP § 2112.01.
Regarding claim 10, the crude fatty acid stream of Thode is derived from palm kernel oil and/or coconut oil (columns 5 and 17).
Regarding claim 11, the crude fatty acid stream of Thode comprises 95 to 99 wt. % fatty acids (col. 2). The reference is silent that the fatty acids are free, however, since the crude fatty acid in the reference derives from the same palm kernel oil and/or coconut oil as the instant disclosure, the 95 to 99 wt. % fatty acids are anticipated to be free fatty acids. See MPEP § 2112.01.
Regarding claim 12, Thode is silent that the fatty acid product stream comprises less than 5 ppm metal complexes, however since the reference teaches every claimed limitation in processing the crude fatty acid stream, there is a prima facie case of anticipation for the fatty acid product stream of Thode to comprise less than 5 ppm metal complexes. See MPEP § 2112.01.
Regarding claim 13, Thode teaches the crude unsaturated and saturated fatty acids too dark in color and may have too intense an odor for commercial application and that the crude unsaturated fatty acid is especially dark as compared to the saturated fatty acid, largely because the unsaturated bonds are more susceptible to chemical attack including oxidation (col. 12). Thode teaches that the adsorption agent adsorbs color and odor from the passing feed material (col. 9) and thus the bleaching adsorbent would remove the unsaturated fatty acid as the oxidative component would necessarily be removed and the oxidative stability of the crude fatty acid stream would be improved.
Regarding claim 14, the limitation “the heat stability” is not given patentable weight as the limitation is recited in claim 13 as an alternative improvement to the oxidative stability. As set forth above, Thode teaches the other improvement recited by claim 13, i.e. a method configured to improve the oxidative stability of the crude fatty acid.
Regarding claim 16, the mixing step in Thode is conducted at a temperature of 180° F (about 82° C) (col. 11).
Regarding claim 18, Thode teaches that the experiments reported were performed using PWA pulverized activated carbon from Calgon Carbon Corporation (Pittsburgh, Pa., USA) but the reference is silent that the activated carbon is acidified activated carbon. However as evidenced by Calgon Carbon, PAW activated carbon is acidified activated carbon.
Regarding claim 38, the claimed “activated carbon” is a generic term and is interpreted to encompass any type of activated carbon, including the acidified activated carbon. Thus, the combination of activated carbon and acidified activated carbon can be interpreted as just encompassing acidified activated carbon and Thode’s acidified activated carbon reads on the claim.
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.
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.
Claims 4-5 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thode (Thode, K. C. Patent number US7,169,946; cited in IDS 06/26/2025) as evidenced by Calgon Carbon (“PWA Acid Washed Powdered Activated Carbon” 2013).
The teachings of Thode have been set forth above.
Regarding claims 4-5, as discussed earlier, Thode uses PWA pulverized activated carbon from Calgon Carbon Corporation. As evidenced by Calgon Carbon, PWA activated carbon has a surface area with an Iodine number of 900 mg/g. In view of MPEP § 2144.05, a prima facie case of obviousness exists where the claimed ranges or amounts do not overlap with the prior art but are merely close. Thus, absent any showing of unexpected results or criticality, the claimed surface area with an Iodine number of 1000-2000 mg/g or 1500 to 1700 mg/g is obvious over the surface area of Thode.
Regarding claim 17, as indicated above, Thode teaches that the mixing is conducted for a time period of 2 hrs, but fails to teach mixing for a range of 30 to 60 minutes. However, shortening the time period of mixing to 30-60 minutes, a skilled artisan would still have a reasonable expectation of success in processing the crude fatty acid to some extent to obtain a fatty acid product stream comprising short chain fatty acids and an amount of impurities that is less than the amount of impurities in the crude fatty acid stream. Obviousness does not require absolute predictability, but at least some degree of predictability is required. See MPEP § 2143.02.
It would thus have been prima facie obvious to a skilled artisan before the effective filing date of the instant invention to conduct a method of processing a crude fatty acid stream comprising short chain fatty acids and impurities, the method comprising mixing the crude fatty acid stream with an adsorbent for 1 minute to 10 hours to produce a fatty acid product stream comprising short chain fatty acids and an amount of impurities that is less than the amount of impurities in the crude fatty acid stream, wherein the activated carbon has a surface area with an Iodine number in a range of 1000 to 2000 mg/g and wherein the mixing is conducted for a time period in a range of 30 to 60 minutes in view of the teachings of Thode.
Allowable Subject Matter
The subject matter of claim 39 is free of prior art. The closest prior art reference Thode (Thode, K. C. Patent number US7,169,946; cited in IDS 06/26/2025) and its teachings have been set forth above. Thode’s activated carbon is acidified as evidenced by Calgon Carbon, but fails to teach that the pH of the acidified activated carbon is in a range from 2.0 to 4.0. Furthermore, there is no motivation to modify the acidified activated carbon of Thode to reasonably arrive at the instantly claimed acidified activated carbon with a pH range of 2.0 to 4.0.
Conclusion
Claims 1-18 and 38 are rejected and no claims are allowed.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MEDHANIT W BAHTA whose telephone number is (571)270-7658. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-5pm.
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/MEDHANIT W BAHTA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1692
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