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 Rejections - 35 USC § 102 and 103 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. 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. Claim(s) 1- 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by , or in the alternative, under 35 USC 103 as obvious over, Miyake et al (US 2018/0339925). At the outset, Miyake teaches applicant’s claimed apparatus of claim 4 in figures 1 and 3-6. As can be clearly seen, these figures are identical to the figures 1-5 of applicant’s disclosure. The remaining elements in claim 4 only recite the operational parameters, which are not patentable in an apparatus claim , but taught in the abstract and claims . Claims 1 is anticipated by the abstract and claim 1 of Miyake. While the reference is silent on the readily degrading and slowly degrading organic matter, these are inherently present in the wastewater stream. Applicant also has the sludge retention time optimized as 5-25 days in [0037] in the semi batch reactor, like what is in the reference. Nonetheless, the claimed invention is also an optimization of the process to obtain the best sludge removal, as taught by Miyake , Id . Claim 2 recites the composition of wastewater fed into the system, which is not a patentable invention unless otherwise shown. Composition of wastewater depends on its source, surroundings and weather conditions it has be e n exposed to. Claim 3: wastewater outlet higher than the wastewater inlet: see figures 4 and 5. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT KRISHNAN S MENON whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)272-1143 . The examiner can normally be reached FILLIN "Work Schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT Flexible, but generally Monday-Friday: 8:00AM-4:30PM . Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, FILLIN "SPE Name?" \* MERGEFORMAT Prem C Singh can be reached at FILLIN "SPE Phone?" \* MERGEFORMAT 571-272-6381 . The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /KRISHNAN S MENON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1777