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 .
This Office action is in response to the amendment filed September 24, 2025 in which claims 1-17, 19 and 23-25 were canceled; claims 18, 20-22 and 26 were amended and claims 28-30 were added.
The Double Patenting rejection is withdrawn in view of the amendment of the claims. The rejection of the claims under 35 USC 112 is withdrawn in view of the amendment of the claims. The rejections of the claims under 35 USC 103 over Brock and Budarin are withdrawn in view of the amendment of the claims. The rejection of the claims under 35 USC 103 over Retsina is maintained as set forth below.
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.
Claims 18, 20-22 and 26-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Retsina (US 20130295628)
Retsina teaches processes to convert biomass into energy-dense biomass for combustion, alone or in combination with another solid fuel. In some variations, biomass is extracted to produce an extract liquor containing hemicellulosic oligomers and cellulose-rich solids; hemicellulosic oligomers are removed; and the cellulose-rich solids are torrefied to produce energy-dense biomass (see abstract).
Biomass includes, for example, plant and plant-derived material, vegetation, agricultural waste, forestry waste, wood waste, paper waste, animal-derived waste, poultry-derived waste, and municipal solid waste. In various embodiments of the invention utilizing biomass, the biomass feedstock may include one or more materials selected from: softwood chips, hardwood chips, timber harvesting residues, tree branches, tree stumps, knots, leaves, bark, sawdust, off-spec paper pulp, cellulose, corn, corn stover, wheat straw, rice straw, sugarcane, sugarcane bagasse, switchgrass, miscanthus, animal manure, municipal garbage, municipal sewage, commercial waste, grape pumice, almond shells, pecan shells, coconut shells, coffee grounds, grass pellets, hay pellets, wood pellets, cardboard, paper, carbohydrates, plastic, and cloth (see para 0058).
The process starts as biomass is received or reduced to approximately 1/4'' thickness. In a first step of the process, the biomass chips are fed to a pressurized extraction vessel. The chips may be steamed or water-washed to remove dirt and entrained air. The chips are immersed with aqueous liquor or saturated vapor and heated to a temperature between about 100 C to about 250 C (see para 0061). The aqueous liquor may contain acidifying compounds, such as (but not limited to) sulfuric acid, sulfurous acid, sulfur dioxide, acetic acid, formic acid, or oxalic acid, or combinations thereof. The acid may be present at a concentration that ranges from 0.01% to 4% (see para 0062). This step would hydrolyze the biomass. The biomass may be dried and hydrolyzed again. The heating value of material is in the range of about 10,000 to about 12,000 Btu/lb (see para 0065, 0069). Retsina teaches that the solids may be dried to a desired final moisture (see para 0072)
Retsina prepares the biomass for combustion. This step may include refining, milling, fluidizing, compacting, torrefying, carbonizing, and/or pelletizing the extracted biomass. The biomass may be fed to a boiler in the form of fine powder, loose fiber, pellets, briquettes (without any external binders), extrudates, or any other suitable form (see para 0073; 0119).
The degree of torrefaction of biomass particles depends on several factors, including the level of heat applied, the length of time the heat is applied, and surrounding gas conditions (particularly with respect to oxygen level) (see para 0077). The energy-dense biomass will generally have higher energy density compared to a process that does not extract hemicellulosic sugars from the feedstock prior to combustion. Depleting the biomass of both hemicellulose and cellulose enriches the remaining material in lignin, which has a higher energy density than hemicellulose or cellulose (see para 0074). There are many variations of process configurations that incorporate the principles of hydrotorrefaction coupled with the biomass-hydrolysis principles set forth in Retsina (see para 0112). This would include simultaneously heating the hydrolyzed biomass to form the torrefied briquette. Also, the hydrotorrefied solids can be pelletized, with or without added binder. Components that are present may serve as a binder --including lignin, furans, resins, and humic acids (see para 0111). Retsina meets the limitations of the claims other than the differences that are set forth below.
Retsina does not exemplify the torrefied hydrolyzed biomass wherein hydrolyzing promotes selective hydrolysis for xylose and decreases moisture content in the hydrolyzed biomass compared to the biomass. However, she provides all of the necessary steps to make the product and one skilled in the art would have a reasonable expectation that the product of Retsina would promote selective hydrolysis for xylose and decrease moisture content in the hydrolyzed biomass compared to the biomass. Furthermore, Retsina teaches that the biomass includes forestry waste, wood waste, and that the biomass feedstock may include one or more materials selected from: softwood chips, hardwood chips, timber harvesting residues, tree branches, tree stumps, knots, leaves, bark, and sawdust (see para 0058). Retsina teaches that her process hydrolyzes the hemicellulose into fermentable sugars. This teaching suggests that xylose, which is a wood sugar would be one of the hydrolysis products and would be present in a major amount, absent evidence to the contrary.
Retsina does not specifically teach that the biomass has a FTIR profile comprising one or more reduced oxygen functionalities as compared to biomass not subjected to acid hydrolysis. However, it would be reasonable to expect that Retsina meets these limitations because she subjects the biomass of her invention to a similar hydrolysis process.
Response to Arguments
1. Applicant's arguments have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that Retsina does not teach an increased concentration of xylose or selective hydrolysis for xylose. Retsina also does not teach reduced ash from combustion.
Retsina teaches that the biomass may be wood and wood products and that the hemicellulose of the woody material is hydrolyed. It is well known that xylose is produced by hydrolyzing hemicellulose, a major component of woody material. Applicant has not shown that the process disclosed in Retsina does not produce xylose.
With respect to the reduced ash from combustion, the examiner maintains that since Retsina teaches a similar process and torrefied biomass that it would be reasonable to expect that there would be reduced ash from combustion, absent evidence to the contrary.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/CEPHIA D TOOMER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1771 18615726/20251109
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