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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1-2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hillier et. al (US 2024/0109774 A1) in view of Reilly (US 2011/0041740 A1).
With respect to claim 1 Hillier discloses a circular economy polygeneration system comprising: an electrolyzer [reference character 800] operable to provide hydrogen [reference character 820] and oxygen [reference character 810] based on water; a hydrogen firing furnace [reference character 501] operable to burn hydrogen provided by the electrolyzer and produce a first flue gas [reference character 542] comprising water and nitrogen; an oxy-firing furnace [reference character 100] operable to burn a hydrocarbon fuel with oxygen provided by the electrolyzer to produce a second flue gas [reference character 142] comprising water and carbon dioxide; a first condenser [reference character 710] configured to produce nitrogen and a first stream of water [reference character 722] based on the first flue gas; a second condenser1 [reference character 200] configured to produce carbon dioxide, wherein the first stream of water is used by the electrolyzer to provide the hydrogen and oxygen [see Fig. 5]; and a carbon capture system2 [see paragraph 0038] operable to capture carbon dioxide produced by the second condenser.
Hillier does not disclose that the condenser produces a second stream of water based on the second flue gas and that the second stream of water is returned to and used by the electrolyzer
Reilly discloses a recuperative combustion system that includes a fossil fuel power plant [see Fig. 4] which receives oxygen from an electrolyzer [see Fig. 4] and discharges a flue gas to a “downstream section”, understood to be a downstream industrial process. Reilly further discloses that all of the water from the downstream section is returned to the electrolyzer [see Figs 4 and 1].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing date of the invention to modify the system taught by Hillier by returning the condensed water from the carbon capture unit to the electrolyzer, as taught by Reilly in order to provide an additional source of hydrogen for use in the hydrogen furnace or for sales to the global hydrogen market [see Fig. 2 of Reilly].
With respect to claim 2 Hillier does not disclose that an air separation unit (ASU) that provides oxygen to the oxy-firing furnace based on air, wherein the oxy-firing furnace burns pure oxygen.
Reilly discloses that the oxy-fuel power plant is provided with oxygen by an air separation unit [see Fig. 1 and reference character 1-5] and that the furnace burns pure oxygen (either from the ASU or the electrolyzer).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing date of the invention to modify the system taught by Hillier by including an air separation unit to supply oxygen to the oxy-firing furnace and to operate the furnace on pure oxygen, as taught by Reilly, in order to ensure that sufficient oxygen is available to the furnace regardless of methane or hydrocarbon flow rate and eliminate nitrogen oxides from the flue gas, resulting in a less complex carbon capture and sequestration process.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 13-20 are allowed.
Claims 3-12 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VIVEK K SHIRSAT whose telephone number is (571)272-3722. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00AM-5:20AM.
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/VIVEK K SHIRSAT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762
1 Hillier discloses “carbon dioxide condensation” [see paragraph 0037].
2 Hillier discloses “[i]n additional aspects, the CO2 product stream 210 can be sent to sequestration…” [paragraph 0038].
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