DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-8 and 21-25 in the reply filed on 06/11/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 9-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 06/11/2026.
Claim Objections
Claims 2, 4, 5 and 7 are objected to because of the following informalities: “the CO2 capture material” should be changed to “the ionic CO2 capture material” for consistency. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 3 is objected to because of the following informalities: “the desorb” should be changed to “[[the]] desorb”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 5 is objected to because of the following informalities: “microwave wave” should be changed to “microwave [[wave]]”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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, 7 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chin USPA 2017/0036192 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Chin discloses a method of regenerating an ionic CO.sub.2 capture material saturated with CO.sub.2 (paragraphs 49-51), the method comprising: applying an electromagnetic field to the ionic CO.sub.2 capture material at a frequency and intensity effective for dielectric heating of the ionic CO.sub.2 capture material and desorption of captured CO.sub.2 (paragraphs 18 and 24; microwave is a form of electromagnetic field).
Regarding claim 2, Chin discloses that the CO.sub.2 capture material is an ionic liquid (paragraphs 49-51)
Regarding claim 3, Chin discloses that the ionic CO.sub.2 capture material is dielectrically heated to a temperature effective to the desorb CO.sub.2 without causing degradation of the CO.sub.2 capture material (paragraph 18: no degradation is implied).
Regarding claim 7, Chin discloses that the CO.sub.2 capture material includes a facilitated transport membrane that includes an ionic liquid (figure 1: metal oxide coating/shell allows for diffusion of gases into the ionic liquid, and is therefore considered a facilitated transport membrane).
Regarding claim 8, Chin discloses that the facilitated transport membrane includes a thin film composite membrane (paragraph 53) embedded with a functionalized ionic liquid and poly(ionic liquid) (paragraph 51: mixture thereof).
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 5 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chin USPA 2017/0036192 A1.
Chin is relied upon as above.
Regarding claim 5, Chin discloses various intensities and frequencies (paragraphs 44 and 63), but does not disclose wherein the electromagnetic field comprises microwave wave or radio frequency energy applied to the CO.sub.2 capture material at an intensity of up to about 60 watts and a frequency from about 100 kHz to about 2.45 GHz. Nevertheless, absent a proper showing of criticality or unexpected results, the intensity and frequency are considered to be general conditions that would have been routinely optimized by one having ordinary skill in the art in order to provide optimal regeneration. MPEP 2144.05.
Regarding claim 6, Chin discloses that the electromagnetic field is applied to the ionic CO.sub.2 capture material in air (paragraph 24), which is deemed to be substantially devoid of CO.sub.2. Furthermore, since air often has less than 20% relative humidity, and since it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to select a suitable regeneration atmosphere, as is well-known in the art, it would have been obvious to utilize an atmosphere with less than about 20% relative humidity. MPEP 2144.03 (A-E).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chin USPA 2017/0036192 A1 in view of Luebke USPN 8,383,026 B1.
Chin is relied upon as above.
Regarding claim 4, Chin does not disclose that the ionic liquid is an imidazolium and/or pyrrole based. Luebke discloses that imidazolium based ionic liquid is suitable for absorbing CO2 (see Luebke column 12, lines 42-54). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chin so that the ionic liquid is imidazolium based, as disclosed by Luebke, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 21-25 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 the method of claim 21 wherein the facilitated transport membrane includes a graphite reinforced permeable bicontinuous structured poly(ethersulfone) skin layer and poly(ethylene terephthalate) nonwoven substrate embedded with a mixture of a functionalized ionic liquid and poly(ionic liquid). This exact membrane and ionic liquid combination is not taught or made obvious by the prior art in a method of regenerating an ionic liquid utilizing an electromagnetic field.
Conclusion
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/CHRISTOPHER P JONES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1776
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