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 18/932241 application originally filed October 30, 2024.
Amended claims 1-14 and 21-26, filed August 18, 2025, are pending and have fully considered. Claims 15-20 have been canceled. Claims 10-14 and 21-26 are withdrawn from consideration due to being drawn to a nonelected invention.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-9 in the reply filed on August 18, 2025 is acknowledged.
Claims 10-14 and 21-26 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on August 18, 2025. It is to be noted, newly submitted claims 21-26 are directed to an invention that is independent or distinct from the invention originally claimed for the following reasons, due to claims 21-26 are directed to a distinct invention of the method of using the drag reducing composition, which belongs in now withdrawn Group II of the restriction. Accordingly, claims 21-26 are withdrawn from consideration as being directed to a non-elected invention. See 37 CFR 1.142(b) and MPEP § 821.03.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3 and 6-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bucher et al. (US 2014/0039229) hereinafter “Bucher” in view of Dai et al. (CN 113896820 A) hereinafter cited under English Translation “Dai”.
Regarding Claims 1-3, 6 and 9
Bucher discloses in the abstract, a drag reducing composition and method of use wherein the drag reducing composition comprises a polyolefin, drag reducing polymer, a carrier or suspending medium, and a polycarboxylate dispersion agent.
Bucher discloses in paragraph 0008, polymers which are used to prepare the finely divided polymer particles used in the drag reducing compositions are obtained by polymerizing or copolymerizing mono-olefins containing from about 2 to about 30 carbon atoms. More usually, the mono-olefins, which are preferably alpha olefins, used in the preparation of the friction-reducing polymers used in the drag reducing compositions contain from about 4 to about 20 carbon atoms.
Bucher discloses in paragraph 0035, the hydrocarbon fluids in which friction loss may be reduced by addition of the drag reducing compositions of the present invention include such materials as crude oils, gas oils, diesel oils, fuel oils, refined liquid hydrocarbon stream, asphaltic oils, and the like, varying from materials with relatively low viscosity, pure materials to high viscosity hydrocarbon containing fractions.
Bucher discloses in paragraph 0036, the amount of a polyolefin friction reducing agent required to produce the desired drag reduction will vary depending upon the physical properties and composition of the hydrocarbon fluid.
It is to be noted, Bucher discloses the addition of olefin monomers to a drag reducing composition but fails to specifically teach the addition of magnetic nanoparticles.
However, it is known in the art to disperse magnetic nanoparticles in an olefin monomer mixture for a drag reducing composition in order to improve the molecular chain of the poly-olefin and the olefin mixture aiding in the improvement of dispersion of the drag reducing composition, as taught by Dai.
Dai discloses in the abstract, a drag reducer for oil field pipeline transportation, in particular to a recyclable oil product pipeline transportation magnetic nano drag reducer.
Dai discloses on page 5, the drag reducer is nano Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles with a multi-layer composite structure and organic amine groups covered on the surface are taken as a reinforcing agent, wherein the nano Fe3O4 endowing the particles with a magnetic response function, wherein the organic amine group covered on the surface can realize reversible conversion when the pH value changes, and endowing the particles with a pH value response function; the reinforcing agent is used for participating in the process of synthesizing the poly-alpha-olefin by using the olefin monomer mixture, the magnetic nanoparticles are introduced to be fully wrapped by the poly-alpha-olefin molecular chain, the rigidity of the organic molecular chain can be effectively improved, and the extension of the organic molecular chain is promoted; secondly, when the drag reducer is used on site, the drag reducer can play a good drag reduction role after being added into an oil product, and the prepared polyolefin bulk solid containing magnetic nanoparticles has a low dispersion speed in the oil product; the magnetic nanoparticles with pH value responsiveness are used as the reinforcing agent and are fully wrapped by the poly-alpha-olefin molecular chain to prepare the polyolefin bulk solid containing the magnetic nanoparticles to construct the composite drag reducer, and compared with the composite drag reducer constructed by using common particles as the reinforcing agent, the composite drag reducer has more advantages.
It is to be noted, Dai discloses the nanoparticles are present in the mixture in an amount of 0.5 to 3 parts. Therefore, it would have been expected by one of ordinary skill in the art that the size range of the nanoparticles would overlap the claimed size range of the nanoparticles due to the size of the nanoparticles will vary depending upon the concentration amount of the nanoparticles to the process of polymerization of the olefins, as taught by Dai.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to disperse the magnetic nanoparticles of Dai in the olefin monomer mixture for a drag reducing composition of Bucher. The motivation to do so is to improve the molecular chain of the poly-olefin and the mixture aiding in the improvement of dispersion of the drag reducing composition.
Regarding Claims 7-8
Bucher discloses in paragraph 0008, polymers which are used to prepare the finely divided polymer particles used in the drag reducing compositions are obtained by polymerizing or copolymerizing mono-olefins containing from about 2 to about 30 carbon atoms. More usually, the mono-olefins, which are preferably alpha olefins, used in the preparation of the friction-reducing polymers used in the drag reducing compositions contain from about 4 to about 20 carbon atoms.
Bucher further discloses in paragraph 0027, the terms “carrier” or “suspending medium” mean a liquid, primarily aqueous in nature, in which the polymeric component is insoluble but which can contain water soluble compounds such as alcohols, glycols, etc.
Claim(s) 4-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bucher et al. (US 2014/0039229) hereinafter “Bucher” in view of Dai et al. (CN 113896820 A) hereinafter cited under English Translation “Dai” and further in view of Jovancicevic et al. (US 2002/0183214) hereinafter “Jovancicevic”.
Regarding Claims 4-5
Bucher modified by Dai discloses the drag reducing composition of independent claim 1 of the present invention but fails to further disclose the claimed magnetic particle is a fatty acid, as claimed in claims 4 and 5 of the present invention.
However, it is known in the art to add fatty acid drag reducing agents to hydrocarbon fluids in order to reduce drag that can rapidly develop in a flowing hydrocarbon emulsion, as taught by Jovancicevic.
Jovancicevic discloses in paragraph 0011, a method of reducing drag of a fluid involving first providing a fluid, and then adding to the fluid an amount of an additive effective to reduce the drag of the fluid. The additive is a fatty acid, an alkoxylated derivative of a fatty acid, an organic or inorganic salt of a fatty acid or an alkoxylated derivative thereof, or an ester of a fatty acid or an alkoxylated derivative thereof, and mixtures thereof.
Jovancicevic discloses in paragraph 0014, the drag reducing additives have the basic chemical structures of fatty acids, namely a hydrocarbon moiety having one or more carboxylic acid groups (—COOH). In one non-limiting embodiment, the number of carbon atoms in the carboxylic acid range from about 4 to about 100, preferably from about 8 to about 64 carbon atoms. In one non-limiting embodiment, linear and branched saturated and unsaturated carboxylic acids are included as additives. Such fatty acids may have a carbon number range of from 4 to 34, preferably from 8 to 20. Specific examples of such fatty acids include, but are not necessarily limited to, oleic acid, linoleic acid, stearic acid, palmitic acid, and the like.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to disperse the fatty acids of Jovancicevic in the olefin monomer mixture for a drag reducing composition of Bucher. The motivation to do so is to improve reduce drag that can rapidly develop in a flowing hydrocarbon emulsion that contains olefins.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Sun et al. (US 10,683,412) discloses in the abstract, a drag reducing suspension capable of dissolving in cold hydrocarbon fluids at usage level. In one embodiment, the drag reducing composition comprises a drag reducing polymer, a partitioning agent comprises a one or more of a coal-tar resin, a C5 aliphatic petroleum resin, a C9 aromatic petroleum resin, C5/C9 aliphatic/aromatic petroleum resin, a cycloaliphatic diene-based petroleum resin, a pure monomer resin, a terpene resin, a terpene phenol resin, a styrenated terpene resin, a rosin resin, a rosin resin derivative, one or more of an alkylphenol resin, a modified alkylphenol resin, and fully or partially hydrogenated form thereof, and suspending fluid medium.
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.
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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.
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/Latosha Hines/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1771