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 .
Status of the Claims
The preliminary amendment filed on 04/29/2024 has been entered. Claims 1-24 have been canceled and claims 25-44 have been newly added. Thus claims 25-44 are currently pending and are under examination.
Claim Objections
Claims 25, 27-28, 34, 37-41 and 43 are objected to because of the following informalities: replace CO2, H2, O2 and NO2 with the acceptable chemical formula representation CO2, H2, O2 and NO2, respectively.
Claims 26, 29-33, 35, 42 and 44 are objected to as being dependent upon an objected base claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 34, 36, 39-41 and 43 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
A broad range or limitation together with a narrow range or limitation that falls within the broad range or limitation (in the same claim) may be considered indefinite if the resulting claim does not clearly set forth the metes and bounds of the patent protection desired. See MPEP § 2173.05(c). In the present instance, claims 34, 36 and 39-41 recite the broad recitation before the term “preferably”, and the claim also recites the narrower statement of the range/limitation after the term “preferably”. The claim(s) are considered indefinite because there is a question or doubt as to whether the feature introduced by such narrower language is (a) merely exemplary of the remainder of the claim, and therefore not required, or (b) a required feature of the claims.
Regarding claim 43, the limitation “to supply at least one of the H2 and O2 to the fuel generation system” renders the claim vague and indefinite. In view of claim 25, the fuel generation system encompasses different parts that include
the carbon generator,
the FT reactor system,
the CO generation system, and
one or more conduits arranged to supply H2 and carbon.
Thus, it is not clear what part of the fuel generation system the at least one of the H2 and O2 is supplied to.
Allowable Subject Matter
The subject matter of claims 25-44 is free of prior art. The closest prior art reference is International publication WO2017186482A1 (WO’482; original document and machine translation are attached herein).
WO’482 teaches a device in Fig. 1 (see below for machine translated drawing) and a method of generating fuel using the device, the device comprising a carbon generator and fuel generation system wherein:
the carbon generator is a metal, Fe2O3, reduction furnace 25 that is arranged to generate a first gas stream comprising CO2, that is a carbon source, and to supply the first gas stream to the fuel generation system 3 (Fig. 3 for details); and
the fuel generation system 3 is arranged to generate fuel in dependence on the first gas stream;
wherein the fuel generation system comprises:
a Fischer-Tropsch (FT) reactor system 3 arranged to generate and output the fuel and even though the reference is silent about the formation of tail gas as claimed, there is a prima facie case of anticipation for the tail gas to be formed as the reference teaches every limitation of the carbon generator and fuel generation system as claimed (see MPEP § 2112.01);
one or more supply conduits arranged to supply H2 (obtained from solid converter 2) to the FT reactor system 3 via line 10 after being mixed with CO to make syngas, wherein the carbon is sourced from both the first gas stream CO2 and the second gas stream via line 10,
such that at least some of the carbon received by the FT reactor system has not been output from a CO generation system, i.e. the carbon (CO) received by the FT reactor system in WO’482 is via line 10, which is not the CO generation system as claimed.
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However, the reference fails to teach the device comprising:
a CO generation system arranged to receive at least some of the tail gas, and to generate, in dependence on the received tail gas, a second gas stream that comprises CO, and
the input gasses to the FT reactor system comprise both CO and CO2 with a molar CO2/CO ratio that is at least 0.10.
Thus WO’482 fails to anticipate the claimed arrangement comprising a carbon generator and a fuel generation system.
Furthermore, there is nothing in WO’482 that would suggest a skilled artisan to modify the teachings of the reference to reasonably arrive at the claimed arrangement that comprises a CO generation system arranged to receive at least some of the tail gas, and to generate, in dependence on the received tail gas, a second gas stream that comprises CO, and the input gasses to the FT reactor system that comprises both CO and CO2 with a molar CO2/CO ratio that is at least 0.10. Accordingly, the claimed invention is rendered unobvious over WO’482.
Conclusion
Claims 34, 36, 39-41 and 43 are rejected and no claims are allowed.
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/MEDHANIT W BAHTA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1692
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