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 .
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 1–3, 5, 7–10, 12–15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Doong et al., US 2011/0315010 A1 (“Doong”).
Regarding claim 1:
Doong discloses a recovery system (Doong’s system as shown in Fig. 2, [0015]) for acidic gas (Doong discloses carbon dioxide, [0014]), comprising:
an adsorption device (Doong’s TSA unit 12, Fig. 2, [0015]) having an adsorbent (Doong’s TSA 12 comprising adsorbent, Fig. 2, [0015]) that, in a state of having adsorbed acidic gas, comes into contact with regeneration gas (Doong’s regeneration stream 16, Fig. 2, [0015]) to desorb the acidic gas (Doong discloses its regeneration stream 16 is to remove adsorbed carbon dioxide, Fig. 1, [0014]), and configured to release desorption gas including the regeneration gas and the acidic gas (the regeneration gas 16 leaving TSA unit 12 contains carbon dioxide, Doong, Fig. 2, [0015]); and
a membrane separation device (Doong’s second membrane unit 24, Fig. 2, [0015]) having a separation membrane (Doong Fig. 2, [0015]) configured to separate the desorption gas into first gas having a higher content of the acidic gas than the desorption gas (Doong’s stream 28 contains removed carbon dioxide, Doong Fig. 2, [0015], and therefore reads on the claimed “first gas”) and second gas having a lower content of the acidic gas than the desorption gas (Doong’s stream 26 has a lower carbon dioxide composition compared to the desorption gas because carbon dioxide is removed from stream 28).
Regarding claim 2:
Doong discloses the recovery system according to claim 1, wherein the adsorption device (12 of Doong) has a regeneration zone through which the regeneration gas passes (area in Doong’s device 12 where gas stream 16 passes, Fig. 2, [0015]), and in the regeneration zone, the adsorbent comes into contact with the regeneration gas to desorb the acidic gas (Doong discloses that the regeneration stream 16 is to remove the adsorbed carbon dioxide from the adsorbent, Fig 2, [0015], the process of removing adsorbed carbon dioxide is a process of using regeneration gas to desorb the acid gas of carbon dioxide).
Regarding claim 3:
Doong discloses the recovery system according to claim 2, wherein the adsorption device (12 of Doong) further has an adsorption zone through which the second gas passes (where Doong’s stream 26 passing through TSA 12, Fig 2, [0015]), and in the adsorption zone, the adsorbent comes into contact with the second gas to adsorb the acidic gas included in the second gas (Doong Fig. 2, [0015]).
Regarding claim 5:
Doong discloses the recovery system according to claim 1, wherein the adsorption device has a first housing portion in which the adsorbent is housed and a second housing portion in which an additional adsorbent is housed (portion of Doong’s TSA unit 12 housing adsorbents where a mixture of stream 10 and 26 passes is the claimed “first housing portion” and portion of Doong’s TSA unit 12 housing adsorbents where stream 16 passes is the claimed “second housing portion”).
Regarding claim 7:
Doong discloses the recovery system according to claim 1, further comprising a desorption gas feed path connected to the adsorption device and the membrane separation device and configured to send the desorption gas from the adsorption device to the membrane separation device (following Doong’s arrow starting from stream 16, passing through TSA unit 12, and then entering membrane unit 24, Doong Fig. 2, [0015]).
Regarding claim 8:
Doong discloses the recovery system according to claim 7, further comprising a dehumidifier placed on the desorption gas feed path and configured to decrease a content of water in the desorption gas (Doong discloses water can be removed by membrane unit and TS unit, the device responsible for water removal is the claimed dehumidifier, Doong [0017]).
Regarding claim 9:
Doong discloses the recovery system according to claim 7, further comprising: a regeneration gas feed path connected to the adsorption device (from where Doong’s stream 26 joins to stream 10 and through Doong’s TSA unit 12, Doong Fig. 2) and configured to supply the regeneration gas to the adsorption device (as shown in Doong Fig. 2); and a recycling path (where label 26 points, Doong Fig. 2) connected to the regeneration gas feed path and the desorption gas feed path and configured to send a part of the desorption gas from the desorption gas feed path to the regeneration gas feed path (as shown in Doong Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 10:
Doong discloses the recovery system according to claim 1, further comprising a second gas feed path connected to the adsorption device and the membrane separation device (path between Doong’s membrane 24 and TSA unit 12, comprising stream 26 and merged stream of 10 and 26 upstream of TSA unit 12, Doong Fig. 2, [0015]) and configured to send the second gas from the membrane separation device to the adsorption device (see Doong Fig. 2, [0015]).
Regarding claim 12:
Doong discloses the recovery system according to claim 10, further comprising a raw material gas feed path (from Doong’s feed stream 2 passing membrane 4 and to stream 10, Doong Fig. 2, [0015]) connected to the second gas feed path and configured to send raw material gas including acidic gas to the second gas feed path (as clearly shown in Doong Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 13:
Doong discloses the recovery system according to claim 1, wherein the regeneration gas is combustion gas generated by combustion of a target (Doong’s regeneration gas is part of fully treated natural gas, which is combustion gas, Doong Fig. 2, [0015]; the limitation of “generated by combustion of a target” does not patentably limit the claim because it is not part of the claimed recovery system).
Regarding claim 14:
Doong discloses a recovery method for acidic gas (processing of using Doong’s system in Fig. 2), comprising:
bringing an adsorbent (adsorbent in Doong’s TSA unit 12) having adsorbed acidic gas (Doong discloses as carbon dioxide, Doong Fig. 2, [0015]) into contact with regeneration gas (Doong’s stream 16, Fig. 2, [0015]) to desorb the acidic gas from the adsorbent (following arrow starting from label 16, passing through Doong’s TSA unit 12); and
separating desorption gas including the regeneration gas and the acidic gas by a separation membrane (Doong’s membrane unit 24, Fig. 2 [0015]) into first gas (Doong’s stream 28) having a higher content of the acidic gas than the desorption gas (see Doong Fig. 2, [0015]) and second gas (Dong’s stream 26, Dong Fig. 2, [0015]) having a lower content of the acidic gas than the desorption gas.
Regarding claim 15:
Doong discloses the recovery method according to claim 14, further comprising bringing the second gas (26 of Doong) into contact with the adsorbent (inside Doong’s TSA unit 12) to cause the adsorbent to adsorb the acidic gas included in the second gas (through a path starting from stream 26, entering TSA unit 12, Doong Fig. 2, [0015]).
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
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.
The claims are rejected as follows:
Claims 4, 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Doong in view of Okano et al., US 2016/0271556 A1 (“Okano”).
Regarding claim 4:
Doong does not disclose the recovery system according to claim 3, wherein the adsorption device has a movement mechanism that moves the adsorbent alternately in the regeneration zone and the adsorption zone.
In the analogous art of acid gas collection systems by TSA method, Okano discloses an adsorption device (Fig. 2 of Okano, [0099]), with a regeneration zone (5 of Okano, Fig. 2, [0099]) and adsorption zone (4 of Okano, Fig. 2, [0099]). Okano discloses a movement mechanism (Okano’s rotor drive motor 2, Fig. 2, [0088]) that moves the adsorbent alternately in the regeneration zone 5 and the adsorption zone 4, Okano Fig. 2, [0088]. Okano discloses improvement in recovery concentration and improvement in a recovery rate is achieved simultaneously, Okano [0113]. It would therefore have been obvious for one ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to use Okano’s adsorption device in Doong for the benefits disclosed above.
Regarding claim 6:
Doong does not disclose the recovery system according to claim 5, further comprising a switching mechanism configured to switch between a first operation in which the regeneration gas is sent to the first housing portion and the second gas is sent to the second housing portion and a second operation in which the second gas is sent to the first housing portion and the regeneration gas is sent to the second housing portion.
However, as discussed in claim 4, it would have been obvious for one ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to use Okano’s adsorption device in Doong for achieving improvement in recovery concentration and in a recovery rate is simultaneously. With such modification, modified Doong would have a switching mechanism (Okano’s rotor drive motor 2) rotating Okano’s adsorption honeycomb rotor 1 between a first operation and a second operation as claimed.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Doong.
Regarding claim 11:
While Doong does not explicitly disclose the recovery system according to claim 10, further comprising a heat exchanger placed on the second gas feed path and configured to cool the second gas, Doong discloses the resulting partially purified natural gas feed stream inline 10 is preferably cooled to below about degree C, Doong [0015]. It would therefore have been obvious for one ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to include a heat exchanger in the second gas feed path to cool stream 10 before it enters TSA unit 12.
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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