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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is based on the 18/855895 application originally filed October 10, 2024.
Amended claims 1-14, filed July 29, 2026, are pending and have been fully considered. Claim 15 has been canceled.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Group I claims 1-14 in the reply filed on July 29, 2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
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 1-14 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, claim 1 recites the broad recitation “X” is an integer ranging from ≥ 1, and the claim also recites ≤ N-1 which is the narrower statement of the range/limitation. In the present instance, claim 9 recites the broad recitation increased by an amount of ≥ 0.5℃, and the claim also recites < 3.0℃ which is the narrower statement of the range/limitation. 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.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-14 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 present invention is allowable over the prior art references listed on PTO-892, applied prior art and Information Disclosure Statement fails to teach and/or suggest a process for butane hydrogenolysis for producing one or more desired hydrogenolysis products, comprising:
a) providing a reactor system comprising a plurality of 'N' reactors arranged in a series, wherein 'N' is an integer ≤10; wherein the first reactor of the series is denoted as Ri, the last reactor of the series is denoted as RN, the penultimate reactor of the series is denoted as RN-1 and the remaining reactors are denoted serially from 2 to (N-2);
b) introducing a feed stream comprising a butane feed and hydrogen feed, in a 'X' reactor denoted as Rx, and producing a (X)th hydrogenolysis product stream under conditions of butane hydrogenolysis; wherein the (X)th hydrogenolysis product stream comprises an unreacted butane feed, hydrogenolysis products, and unreacted hydrogen;
i. wherein Rx is any one of the reactors arranged in the series from reactor R1 to reactor RN-1;
ii. wherein 'X' is an integer ranging from > 1 and ≤ N-1, wherein when ‘X’ =1, the feed stream introduced in the first reactor R1 is an initial feed stream being introduced into the reactor system;
c) introducing at least a portion of the (X)th hydrogenolysis product stream to an immediate subsequent reactor, a (X+1) reactor denoted as Rx+1, and producing a (X+1)th hydrogenolysis product stream under conditions of butane hydrogenolysis; wherein the (X+1)th hydrogenolysis product stream comprises an unreacted butane feed, hydrogenolysis products, and unreacted hydrogen;
i. wherein the reactor Rx+1 is an immediately subsequent reactor to the reactor Rx;
d) provided if N is > 2, repeating the process steps of b) and c) for a further N-2 times until a Nth hydrogenolysis product stream is produced in the RN reactor; wherein the Nth hydrogenolysis product stream comprises unreacted butane, hydrogenolysis products, and unreacted hydrogen, provided that a feed stream introduced in the reactor Rx+1 comprises at least a portion of the (X)th hydrogenolysis product stream that is produced in the immediately preceding reactor Rx,
i. provided if 'N' is 2, a second hydrogenolysis product stream produced by a second reactor R2 is the Nth hydrogenolysis product stream;
e) recovering at least a portion of the hydrogenolysis products from the Nth hydrogenolysis product stream and obtaining one or more desired hydrogenolysis products; wherein each of the reactors in series from R1 to RN comprises:
i. a reactor vessel; and
ii. a catalyst bed disposed in the reactor vessel, wherein the catalyst bed comprises: a butane hydrogenolysis catalyst, wherein the butane hydrogenolysis catalyst is loaded at a catalyst loading (CL); wherein each reactor from R2 to RN has a catalyst loading (CL) that is ≥ 5% and ≤ 150% higher than the catalyst loading of the immediately preceding reactor;
iii. wherein the process is performed such that each reactor from R2 to RN has a reactor temperature rise of ≥ 1 0C and ≤ 50 0C higher than the reactor temperature rise of the immediately preceding reactor; wherein the one or more desired hydrogenolysis products are selected from ethane, propane, methane and mixtures thereof, as presently claimed in independent claim 1 of the present invention.
The prior art references: Fickel et al. (WO 2020/061010 A1); Franck et al. (US 4,140,621) and Dasari et al. (WO 2020/061012 A1) various methods for selective hydrogenolysis from a butane feed to produce a hydrogenolysis product stream. However, the prior art fails to teach and/or suggest a selective hydrogenolysis process with the claimed reactor(s) conditions.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LATOSHA D HINES whose telephone number is (571)270-5551. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM.
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, Prem Singh can be reached at 571-272-6381. 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.
/Latosha Hines/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1771
Prosecution Insights