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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-14 in the reply filed on 13 Jul. 2026 is acknowledged.
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Parsi US 3,661,762 (hereafter Parsi)
Regarding claim 1, Parsi teaches an apparatus (Fig 1) for capturing carbon dioxide (acid gas 27, col 5 lines 55-65; where the acid gas is fully capable of being CO2 in accordance with MPEP 2114, 2115, 2173.05(g)) from an untreated gas stream (27), comprising:
an electrochemical unit (1) adapted for generating an inorganic acid (17) and a CO2-free inorganic solvent (25);
an absorber (26) in communication with the electrochemical unit, the absorber adapted for receiving the untreated gas stream (27) and the CO2-free inorganic solvent (25) and capturing the carbon dioxide in the untreated gas stream as a CO2-rich inorganic solvent (29); and
a mixing tank (18) in communication with the electrochemical unit and the absorber, the mixing tank adapted for mixing the inorganic acid (17), received from the electrochemical unit, with the CO2-rich inorganic solvent (29), received from the absorber, and releasing carbon dioxide by acid-base neutralization (col 5 lines 67-68).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-14 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.
Regarding claim 2, the closest prior art is Parsi US 3,661,762 and Henderson US 2013/0059365. Parsi teaches an apparatus for acid gas from an untreated gas stream comprising an electrochemical unit, an absorber, and a mixing tank in communication with the electrochemical unit and the absorber, the mixing tank adapted for mixing the inorganic acid, received from the electrochemical unit, with the CO2-rich inorganic solvent, received from the absorber, and releasing carbon dioxide by acid-base neutralization. Henderson teaches an apparatus for capturing CO2 comprising an electrochemical unit (128) which can alternatively be a nanofiltration unit, and a mixing tank (124). The prior art does not teach the nanofiltration unit between the absorber and the mixing tank as claimed.
Claims 3-14 depend upon claim 2.
Conclusion
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/STEPHEN HOBSON/Examiner, Art Unit 1776
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