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 Objections
Claim 9 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 9, line 2 recites “2-pressrue” and should recite “2-pressure”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-4, 6, 9-10, 13 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Nagafuchi et al. (US 2022/0136416) in view of Nigro (US 2009/0301099).
Regarding claim 1, Nagafuchi discloses a power production facility (Figure 1) comprising:
a gas turbine engine (Figure 1, 1) configured to combust a fuel (paragraph 8) in a combustion process to produce exhaust gas (flows through L1) that can be used to produce rotational shaft power (paragraph 30) for generating electricity (via generator G);
a steam system (2) configured to produce steam (paragraph 31, steam flows through L4)) from water (paragraph 38 describes the water flowing in L5) with heat from the exhaust gas (heat from exhaust gas in L1); and
an emissions capture system (3) configured to:
receive the exhaust gas (via valve V3) to remove pollutants (carbon dioxide recovery device 3 removes carbon dioxide);
receive at least some of the steam (from L4) from the steam system to provide heat to the emissions capture system (paragraph 38); and
provide at least some of the water to the steam system (via L5).
Nagafuchi is silent on provide steam for injection into the combustion process; wherein the steam system comprises a low-pressure stage and a high-pressure stage; and wherein the steam for the emissions capture system is drawn from the low-pressure stage and the steam for the gas turbine engine is drawn from the high-pressure stage.
Nigro teaches provide steam (Figure 1, line 63) for injection into the combustion process (5); wherein the steam system comprises a low-pressure stage (Annotated figure 1) and a high-pressure stage (Annotated figure 1); and wherein the steam for the emissions capture system (29) is drawn from the low-pressure stage (along line 65) and the steam for the gas turbine engine is drawn from the high-pressure stage (along line 63).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Nagafuchi’s invention to include provide steam for injection into the combustion process; wherein the steam system comprises a low-pressure stage and a high-pressure stage; and wherein the steam for the emissions capture system is drawn from the low-pressure stage and the steam for the gas turbine engine is drawn from the high-pressure stage in order to minimize the amount of nitrous oxides in the flue gas and augment the power produced by the gas turbine as suggested and taught by Nigro in paragraph 54.
Regarding claim 2, Nagafuchi in view of Nigro teach the invention as claimed and described above. Nagafuchi further teaches wherein the emissions capture system comprises a CO2 capture unit that removes CO2 from the exhaust gas (paragraph 32).
Regarding claim 3, Nagafuchi in view of Nigro teach the invention as claimed and described above. Nagafuchi further teaches wherein the CO2 capture unit comprises a monoethanolamine gas treating unit (paragraph 32 describes the absorption tower 31 of the carbon dioxide recovery unit using monoethanolamine).
Regarding claim 4, Nagafuchi in view of Nigro teach the invention as claimed and described above. Nigro further teaches wherein the emissions capture system comprises a gas cooler (31) configured to receive the exhaust gas (in line 19), the gas cooler configured to condense the steam (intended use, the steam in 19 condenses when cooled sufficiently) within the exhaust gas (gas from 19).
Regarding claim 6, Nagafuchi in view of Nigro teach the invention as claimed and described above. Nagafuchi further teaches wherein the steam system further comprises a deaerator (Figure 2, 61) configured to receive the water (paragraph 40) from the steam system and emissions capture system (Figure 2 shows the steam L4 from the steam system goes through the emissions capture system 3 and exits to deaerator 61).
Regarding claim 9, Nagafuchi in view of Nigro teach the invention as claimed and described above. Nigro further teaches wherein the low-pressure stage and the high-pressure stage of the steam system comprise a 2-pressrue stage heat recovery steam generator (27).
Regarding claim 10, Nagafuchi in view of Nigro teach the invention as claimed and described above. Nigro further teaches wherein the steam system further comprises:
a high-pressure steam line (63) connecting the steam system (27) to the gas turbine engine (7); and
a first low-pressure steam line (65) connecting the steam system (27) to the emissions capture system (29).
Regarding claim 13, Nagafuchi in view of Nigro teach the invention as claimed and described above. Nagafuchi further teaches a pump (Figure 2, 62) to provide the water from the deaerator to the steam system (Figure 2 shows the pump 62 receives the water from condenser 61 and provides it to the steam system).
Regarding claim 21, Nagafuchi in view of Nigro teach the invention as claimed and described above. Nigro further teaches wherein the low-pressure stage and the high-pressure stage of the steam system comprise at least a portion of a heat recovery steam generator (27) having two or more stages (Figure 1 shows at least two stages).
Claims 5 and 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Nagafuchi et al. (US 2022/0136416) in view of Nigro (US 2009/0301099), and further in view of Deng (US 2022/0397057).
Regarding claim 5, Nagafuchi in view of Nigro teach all the essential features of the invention as claimed and described above except further comprising a water extraction line to send at least a portion of the water condensed by the gas cooler to an external consumer of the water, wherein the external consumer of water comprises an electrolyzer.
Deng teaches further comprising a water extraction line (Figure 1, labeled H2O after flowing through 50) to send at least a portion of the water condensed by the gas cooler (50) to an external consumer of the water (16), wherein the external consumer of water comprises an electrolyzer (16 is an electrolyzer).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Nagafuchi in view of Nigro’s invention to include further comprising a water extraction line to send at least a portion of the water condensed by the gas cooler to an external consumer of the water, wherein the external consumer of water comprises an electrolyzer in order to reduce emissions while improving efficiency of the system as suggested and taught by Deng in paragraph 5.
Regarding claim 11, Nagafuchi in view of Nigro teach the all the essential features of the invention as claimed and described above except a letdown line connecting the high-pressure steam line to the first low pressure steam line; and
a pressure and temperature control element in the letdown line to reduce a pressure and temperature of the steam.
Deng teaches a letdown line (Annotated figure 1, shown by arrows) connecting the high-pressure steam line to the first low pressure steam line (Figure 1 shows the letdown line connects the high pressure steam line in the HP section to the low pressure steam line in the IP section); and
a pressure and temperature control element (Annotated figure 1 shows a valve) in the letdown line to reduce a pressure and temperature of the steam (intended use, a valve affects the pressure, and thus the temperature, of the flow through it).
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Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Nagafuchi in view of Nigro’s invention to include a letdown line connecting the high-pressure steam line to the first low pressure steam line; and
a pressure and temperature control element in the letdown line to reduce a pressure and temperature of the steam in order to improve efficiency of the system.
Regarding claim 12, Nagafuchi in view of Nigro and Deng teach the invention as claimed and described above. Nigro further teaches further comprising a second low-pressure steam line (Figure 1, dashed lines) connecting the first low-pressure steam line and the deaerator (Figure 1, labeled DEAERATOR) to provide low-pressure steam to the deaerator (Figure 1).
Conclusion
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/KATHERYN A MALATEK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3741