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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claim 2 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 2, it appears that “rocks, ores” should read “rocks, or ores” (two occurrences; see claim 2 at lines 6 and 11).
Appropriate correction is required
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 2-3, 11 and 13-19 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.
Claim 2 recites the limitation “wherein the mineral waste material is waste concrete, especially recycled concrete paste” (see claim 2 at lines 1-2). The phrase "especially" renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitation(s) following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
For purposes of examination, Examiner treated limitation following “especially” as merely being an example rather than a required limitation, i.e., as not being part of the claimed invention. Clarification is requested.
Claim 2 recites the limitation “wherein the mineral waste material is waste concrete… burned or hydrated lime containing waste; and mixtures of two or more thereof including mixtures of two or more waste concretes… mine tailings from mining natural pozzolans, rocks, ores; and burned or hydrated lime containing wastes” (see claim 2 at lines 1-11). This language renders the scope of the claim indefinite as the singular “mineral waste material” seems to indicate that only at least one waste material is required but the use of “and” rather than “or” indicates that every listed material and every listed mixture are all simultaneously required by the claim.
For purposes of examination, Examiner treated claim 2 as though it recites “or mixtures of two or more thereof” and “or burned or hydrated lime containing wastes” rather than “and mixtures of two or more thereof” and “and burned or hydrated lime containing wastes”, i.e., as though only at least one of the recited waste materials is required rather than all of them. Clarification is requested.
Claim 11 recites the limitation “wherein the at least one additional material… improves the final properties of the dry, carbonated product…” (see claim 11 at lines 3-6). This language renders the scope of the claim indefinite as is not clear to what type of properties or how many properties “the final properties” refers, i.e., how many or what type of properties must be improved in order for a material to be considered to have “improved the final properties” as claimed; “improves the final properties” can also be subjective as no specific properties are recited and it cannot be determined what would or would not be considered an improvement as claimed.
Claim 11 recites the limitation “the composite cement or binder or building material made with it” (see claim 11 at lines 5-6). There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. No composite cement, binder, or building material is recited in claim 1, from which claim 11 depends. It is also not clear whether “it” refers to the at least one additional material or to the dry, carbonated product.
For purposes of examination, Examiner treated this limitation in claim 11 as though it recites “a composite cement or binder or building material made with the dry, carbonated product”. Clarification is requested.
Claim 13 recites the limitation “during hydrothermal treatment a water-solid weight ratio is equal to or larger than 0.1 and/or a temperature ranges from 25 to 400 °C and/or the pressure is endogenous” (see claim 13 at lines 2-5); it is not clear from this language what the weight ratio refers to as the claim does not say what it is a weight ratio of.
For purposes of examination, Examiner treated “a water-solid weight ratio” as meaning a weight ratio of water to the mineral waste material. Clarification is requested.
Claims 3 and 14-19 are included herein as each depends from a claim which is indefinite for reasons set forth above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 4-10, 12 and 20 are allowed.
Claims 2-3, 11 and 13-19 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art of record fails to teach nor would one of ordinary skill in the art have considered it obvious to include in the method for simultaneously drying and carbonating mineral waste the step of spraying a slurry into the hot gas in the spray dryer wherein a temperature of > 100 °C and a relative humidity of < 50% at the outlet is adjusted in the spray dryer as claimed.
The claims are allowable over the closest prior art, Schlotterbach (U.S. Pub. No. 2019/0135649-A1) (hereinafter, “SCHLOTTERBACH”) for the following reasons:
SCHLOTTERBACH discloses a method for simultaneously drying and carbonating a mineral waste material (see SCHLOTTERBACH at Abstract and paragraphs [0011]-[0017] and [0060], teaching a process for preparing amorphous calcium carbonate comprising providing calcium oxide containing material, which may be obtained from a calcium carbonate containing waste material, mixing it with water, separating dissolved calcium hydroxide from undissolved materials, and simultaneously drying and carbonating the solution of dissolved calcium hydroxide with gaseous CO2 in a spray dryer),
the mineral waste material comprising carbonatable calcium compounds and/or carbonatable magnesium compounds and/or silicate, aluminate, or silicate-aluminate phases able to be converted into silica gel, alumina gel or silica-alumina gel respectively by carbonation (see SCHLOTTERBACH at paragraphs [0011]-[0017] and [0060], teaching carbonatable calcium compounds)
in a spray dryer (see SCHLOTTERBACH at Abstract), wherein
a starting material slurry is provided comprising the mineral waste material in the form of particles with a D90 < 500 μm (see SCHLOTTERBACH at paragraph [0183], teaching forming a slurry of hydrated calcium oxide (“milk of lime”) and screening the slurry on a 100 μm screen to remove grit) and at least 30 wt.-% water (see SCHLOTTERBACH at paragraph [0030], teaching a solids content of 5 to 40 wt%, i.e., a water content of 60 to 95 wt%),
a hot gas is provided comprising at least 4 Vol.-% CO2 and fed into the spray dryer (see SCHLOTTERBACH at paragraphs [0034], [0071] and [0184], teaching that the drying/carbonating step is carried out at an inlet temperature of 50 to 400 °C and that the gas contains at least 20 vol% of CO2, e.g., 100 vol%),
the starting material slurry is transformed into evaporated water and a dry, carbonated product comprising calcium and/or magnesium carbonate and/or at least one of silica gel or alumina gel or silica-alumina gel, and the dry, carbonated product is separated from the gas and evaporated water (see SCHLOTTERBACH at Abstract and paragraphs [0048] and [0183], teaching drying/carbonation to remove the water and form amorphous calcium carbonate powder).
However, SCHLOTTERBACH does not disclose or suggest:
that the starting material slurry is sprayed into the hot gas in the spray dryer (see SCHLOTTERBACH at paragraphs [0011]-[0017] and [0183], teaching that the slurry is filtered and then a solution of dissolved calcium hydroxide, not a slurry, is fed to the spray dryer for simultaneous drying and carbonation);
that a temperature of > 100 °C at the outlet is adjusted in the spray dryer (see SCHLOTTERBACH at paragraph [0184], teaching that CaCO3 synthesis is controlled by adjusting the spray dryer outlet temperature within 85 to 90 °C); or
that a relative humidity of < 50 % at the outlet is adjusted in the spray dryer (SCHLOTTERBACH is silent regarding relative humidity).
Therefore, it is clear that SCHLOTTERBACH, either alone or in combination, does not disclose or suggest the claimed invention. The prior art as a whole fails to disclose or suggest the claimed subject matter.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SARAH CATHERINE CASE whose telephone number is (703)756-5406. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 7:00 am - 5:00 pm EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amber Orlando can be reached on (571) 270-3149. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/S.C.C./Examiner, Art Unit 1731
/ANTHONY J GREEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1731
Prosecution Insights