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
Claims 1–9 and 19–20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected method and apparatus, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on Aug. 27, 2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102(a)(1)
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.
The claims are rejected as follows:
Claims 10, 15–16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Coulaloglou et al., US 4,247,987 A (“Coulaloglou”).
Regarding claim 10:
Coulaloglou discloses a continuous adsorbent regeneration process (process of operating Coulaloglou’s separating unit as shown in Fig. 2, col. 2, ll. 27–30), the process comprising:
passing an adsorbent (Coulaloglou’s regenerated bed particles flow out of vessel 23 into mass flow hopper 29 and then transferred to adsorber vessel 1 via transfer pipe 35, Coulaloglou Fig. 2, col. 22, ll. 12–21) from a regeneration zone (Coulaloglou’s desorber 23, Fig. 2, col. 22, ll. 4–6) downward into an adsorption zone (Coulaloglou’s adsorption vessel 1, Coulaloglou Fig. 2, col. 22, ll. 11–13);
introducing a feed stream (Coulaloglou’s line 7, Fig. 2, col. 22, ll. 12–13) into the adsorption zone (1 of Coulaloglou, Fig. 2), the feed stream comprising a species (Coulaloglou discloses its feed stream 7 comprising is a naphtha feed, Fig. 2, col. 21, ll. 30);
adsorbing the species with the adsorbent by contacting the feed stream (7 of Coulaloglou) with the adsorbent (3a in vessel 1 of Coulaloglou, Fig. 2) under adsorbing conditions to provide a species lean stream (Coulaloglou’s line 11) and a species enriched adsorbent (absorbent in hopper 13, Coulaloglou Fig. 2, col. 22, ll. 1);
lifting the species enriched adsorbent upward to the regeneration zone (via Coulaloglou’s line 19, Fig. 2, col. 22, ll. 4–6) with a lifting gas (Coulaloglou’s lift/purge gas 17c, Fig. 2, col. 22, ll. 4–6); and,
desorbing the species from the species enriched adsorbent with a regeneration gas (Coulaloglou’s purge gas 31, Fig. 2, col. 22, ll. 6–9) to provide a regenerated adsorbent (Coulaloglou discloses regenerated bed particles transferred to adsorber vessel 1, Coulaloglou Fig. 2, col. 22, ll. 11–13) and a spent regeneration gas (Coulaloglou’s purge gas and straight chain hydrocarbon in line 27 is the claimed “spent regeneration gas”, Fig. 2, col. 22, ll. 16–19),
wherein the adsorbent comprises the regenerated adsorbent (Coulaloglou Fig. 2, col. 22, ll. 11–16), and,
wherein the regenerated adsorbent flows to the adsorption zone by gravity (as shown in Coulaloglou Fig. 2, where regenerated absorbent particles are recycled to adsorber 1 via mass flow hopper 29, which is designed to have a slope to allow proper flow of solids, indicating that gravity is in effect, col. 22, ll. 11–16).
Regarding claim 15:
Coulaloglou discloses the process of claim 10, wherein a flow of adsorbent through the adsorption zone is countercurrent to a flow of the feed stream through the adsorption zone ((feed stream 7 goes up in adsorption zone 1, and adsorbent goes down from desorber 23 to vessel 1, Coulaloglou Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 16:
Coulaloglou discloses the process of claim 10, wherein the feed stream (7 of Coulaloglou) flows radially through the adsorption zone (1 of Coulaloglou, because Coulaloglou’s feed stream 7 enters vessel 1 tangentially, which means the feed stream 7 enters the adsorption zone via a radial flow, Coulaloglou Fig. 2).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
The claims are rejected as follows:
Claims 11–14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Coulaloglou as applied to claim 10 as applied above, and in further view of Zheng et al., US 2020/0179866 A1 (“Zheng”).
Regarding claim 11:
Coulaloglou does not disclose the process of claim 10, further comprising:
determining a level of adsorbent in the regeneration zone, the adsorption zone, or both; and
controlling a flow of adsorbent based on one or more determined levels of adsorbent.
In the analogous art of gas separation utilizing adsorbent, Zheng discloses a controller 190 use the signal from the level detector 174 to adjust the flow rate of spent adsorbent, Zheng Fig. 1, [0027]. It would therefore have been obvious for one ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to include Zheng’s flow control mechanism based on level detector 174 to control the flow rate of adsorbent because such control mechanism is known in the art. Additionally, a person of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to control flow rate of adsorbent base don a level sensor to ensure smooth flow of adsorbent in the system.
Regarding claim 12:
Modified Coulaloglou discloses the process of claim 11, wherein controlling the flow of adsorbent based on one or more determined levels of adsorbent comprises:
operating a valve (Zheng discloses a spent adsorbent control valve 172 to open or close to maintain the liquid level, Zheng Fig. 1, [0027]).
Regarding claim 13:
Modified Coulaloglou does not explicitly disclose the process of claim 12, wherein the valve is disposed between the regeneration zone and the adsorption zone.
Coulaloglou discloses a solids flow diversion valve located in the upper tube 35 returning solids to the bed, and that the valve is essential in determining an accurate solids circulation rate, Coulaloglou col. 14, ll. 45–49. It would have been obvious to connect Coulaloglou’s solids flow diversion valve to Zheng’s controller 190 and level detector 174 to accurately control Coulaloglou’s adsorbent flow rate, because Zheng’s device is known for controlling adsorbent flow rate. With such modification, Coulaloglou as modified would have the valve (Coulaloglou’s solids flow diversion valve) located between the regeneration zone and the adsorption zone.
Regarding claim 14:
Modified Coulaloglou does not disclose the process of claim 12, wherein the valve is disposed between the adsorption zone and a surge vessel, the surge vessel disposed below the adsorption zone.
Coulaloglou discloses a valve in the standpipe 15, which is configured to control flow of solids, Coulaloglou col. 20, ll. 67–68. Coulaloglou also discloses a makeup sieve storage hopper situated between lines 15 and 19, Coulaloglou col. 22, ll. 39–42. It would therefore have been obvious for one ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to connect Zheng’s controller and level sensor with Coulaloglou’s valve located in line 15 to control flow of solids in Coulaloglou because Zheng’s control system is known in the art to control a flow rate. Such modification would render the valve (Coulaloglou’s valve in standpipe 15) between the adsorption zone 1 and surge vessel (Coulaloglou’s makeup sieve storage hopper), which is disposed below the adsorption zone 1.
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Coulaloglou.
Regarding claim 17:
Coulaloglou discloses the process of claim 10, wherein the lifting gas (17c, which is purge gas, and Coulaloglou discloses its purge gas could be hydrogen gas, ammonia, steam or hydrocarbon gases, Coulaloglou claim 18) comprises the spent regeneration gas (Coulaloglou’s line 27, which includes steam, col. 28, ll. 2–9). When Coulaloglou’s purge gas is selected to be steam, it comprises the spent regeneration gas of steam.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Coulaloglou as applied to claim 10 above, and in further view of Calafell et al., US 2016/0129389 A1 (“Calafell”).
Regarding claim 18:
Coulaloglou does not disclose the process of claim 10, wherein the regeneration gas (31 of Coulaloglou) comprises the species lean stream (11 of Coulaloglou).
In the analogous art of absorbing contaminants from a gas stream, Calafell discloses a moving bed adsorbent system 200, Calafell Fig. 2, [0047]. Calafell discloses a regeneration gas 224 may be a portion of a treated gas stream 218 (which is the claimed “species lean stream”), Calafell Fig. 2, [0049]. Calafell discloses its method provides a solution of more efficient utilizing and regenerating adsorbent particles, Calafell Fig. 2, [0012]. It would therefore have been obvious for one ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify Coulaloglou to use the species lean stream as the regeneration gas because such recycling technique is known in the art and it potentially provides a solution of more efficient utilizing and regenerating adsorbent particles as disclosed by Calafell.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QIANPING HE whose telephone number is (571)272-8385. The examiner can normally be reached on 7:30-5:00 M-F.
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/Qianping He/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1776
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