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 § 102/103
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 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.
Claims 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Shi et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0166899 (hereinafter referred to as Shi).
Regarding claims 1, 3-6 and 10, Shi discloses a process for converting biomass to liquid hydrocarbons, comprising: feeding biomass into a reactor, such as a fluidized bed reactor; heating the biomass in the presence of an aluminosilicate zeolite catalyst, such as, ZSM-5 with a molar ratio of silica to alumina of 100 or less; and wherein the aluminosilicate zeolite catalyst further comprises at least 0.2 wt% Fe wherein the Fe is not derived from biomass or reactor walls, or wherein the aluminosilicate zeolite catalyst has been manufactured to contain at least 0.2 wt% Fe or pretreated to contain at least 0.2 wt% Fe derived from iron oxide and can further include zinc oxide and phosphorus oxides wherein the oxides elements can be from 0.1% by weight to 30% by weight, or at least 1.0%; and converting the biomass to a gaseous product stream comprising p-xylene (as recited in claims 1, 3-5 and 10) (see Claims 1, 11 and 13-14 of Shi and Para. [0047] and [0054]-[0055]).
Regarding claims 2 and 11, Shi discloses biomass may be converted, for example, to liquid fuel (e.g., biofuel or biodiesel) or to other fluid hydrocarbon products. Biomass may include trees, as well as, other vegetation; agricultural products and agricultural waste, energy crops, algae and other marine plants, metabolic wastes, and cellulosic urban waste (as recited in claim 2) (Para. [0022]).
Regarding claims 7-9, Shi discloses that the zeolite catalyst may contain binders and fillers in addition to the zeolite. Typical binders or fillers include amorphous materials such as alumina, silica, silica-alumina, titania, aluminum phosphate, kaolin, attapulgite clay and various types of clays. Preferred zeolite catalysts comprise at least 25 wt% zeolite in the catalyst particle (Para. [0056]-[0059] and [0115]-[0116] and see Catalyst Examples).
Regarding claim 12, Shi discloses in the illustrative embodiment of figure 1, the products formed during the reaction of the reactants exit the reactor via a product stream 30. In addition to the reaction products, the product stream may, in some cases, comprise unreacted reactant(s), fluidization fluid, char, ash, and/or catalyst. In one set of embodiments, the desired reaction products, for example, liquid aromatic hydrocarbons, olefin hydrocarbons, gaseous products, etc., may be recovered from an effluent stream of the reactor.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102/103
Claims 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Song et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0282631 (hereinafter referred to as Song).
Regarding claims 1-12, Song discloses a process for producing aromatics, p-xylene and terephthalic acid. The process for producing aromatics comprises a step of contacting an oxygen-containing raw material, which is derived from biomass, with an aromatization catalyst, under aromatization reaction conditions, to produce aromatics. The process for producing aromatics has an advantage of high yield of carbon as aromatics, wherein the process includes the steps of taking 35 g of ZSM-5 having a ratio of Si:Al of 25 mixed with 35 g of an auxiliary of γ-alumina, 2.7 g of sesbania powder was added, and mixed homogeneously. Then, 48 g of an aqueous solution of nitric acid comprising 5.5 wt % of nitric acid was added, mixed and kneaded for shaping, and extruded as a strip. The catalyst precursor obtained was dried at a temperature of 120 degree Celsius for 8 h, calcined at a temperature of 500 degree Celsius for 2 h, then was immersed with equal-volume of Zn(NO.sub.3).sub.2 in an addition amount of Zn of 1%, and was dried and calcined to provide a molecular sieve catalyst.
600 g of corn stover was weighed and placed into a pressured reactor, 7000 g of water was added, and a 5 mol/L of sulphuric acid solution having 7 wt % of water was further added. The temperature was increased to 200 °C for reaction for 45 minutes, cooled, and the cooled reaction liquor was filtrated to provide a filter cake and a filtrate, which filtrate was a hydrolysate of cellulose. After reaction, the reaction resultant was analyzed using a mass spectra, which showed that the main product was levulinic acid at an output of 240g (see Abstract and Para. [0011], [0075]-[0076] and [0223]-[0224]).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102/103
Claims 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Joensen et al., International Publication No. WO/2022/223583 (for citation purposes US Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0182794 is being used - hereinafter referred to as Joensen).
Regarding claims 1-12, Joensen discloses a process for producing a gasoline product from an oxygenate feed stream comprising the steps of: conducting the oxygenate feed stream to an oxygenate-to-gasoline reactor, suitably a methanol-to-gasoline (MTG) reactor, under the presence of a fixed bed of catalyst active for converting oxygenates in the oxygenate feed stream to a raw gasoline stream comprising C3-C4 paraffins and C5+ hydrocarbons; separating from the raw gasoline stream a gasoline product stream comprising the C5+ hydrocarbons and a stream comprising C3-C4 paraffins; conducting the entire stream comprising C3-C4 paraffins or a portion thereof to an upgrading reactor under the presence of a catalyst active for converting the C3-C4 paraffins into an aromatic stream such as an aromatic stream comprising benzene, toluene and xylene (BTX); and combining the entire aromatic stream or a portion thereof with the oxygenate feed stream.
The amount of aromatic compounds in the entire aromatic stream comprising BTX with respect to the oxygenate feed stream, e.g. methanol feed stream, entering the MTG reactor, yet prior to any mixing with a recycle stream in the MTG loop, is less than 4 wt%. The amount of a benzene-rich stream with respect to the oxygenate feed stream entering the MTG reactor, yet prior to any mixing with a recycle stream, is 0.5-1.5 wt % of the methanol feed. This amount comes on top of the inherent amount of aromatics present in e.g. methanol, often about 1-2 wt % which results from incomplete separation upstream in the product separator, e.g. high-pressure separator of the MTG loop (see Abstract and Para. [0032] and [0037]).
The catalyst in the MTG reactor is a zeolitic catalyst having an MFI framework such as ZSM-5, for instance ZSM-5 in its hydrogen form (HZSM-5) or a Zn-modified ZSM-5, with 0.1 to 10 wt% Zinc, and optionally further comprising 1-5 wt % of a phosphorous compound, such as 3 wt% P. Also, the zeolitic catalyst has a silica to alumina ratio of between 50 and 300 and the MTG reactor has arranged along its length a fixed bed or a plurality of successive fixed beds comprising the catalyst. A stream rich in toluene and optionally xylene (T/X-rich stream), as well as a stream rich in paraffins, isoparaffins and olefins (P/I/O-rich stream) optionally also comprising unconverted LPG lower hydrocarbons and C5+ hydrocarbons, are separated from the aromatic stream comprising BTX, and: [0050] at least one of the T/X-rich stream or a portion thereof and the P/I/O-rich stream or a portion thereof, is added to the raw gasoline stream, suitably prior to conducting the raw gasoline stream to the de-ethanizer; and/or [0051] the P/I/O-rich stream or a portion thereof is added to the MTG reactor (Para. [0039], [0049] and [0056]-[0057]).
Conclusion
There were unused X references from the ISR report. The examiner is of the position that the prior art cited adequately reads on the claims as instantly recited.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VISHAL V VASISTH whose telephone number is (571)270-3716. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-4:30 and 7:00-10:00p.
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/VISHAL V VASISTH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1771
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