DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-17 were filed with the application on 03/19/2025.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/30/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-5, 8, 10-14, 16, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WO 2024/017986 (“Horisont”).
With regard to claim 1, Horisont discloses a method for controlling the operating pressure of a liquid carbon dioxide receiving facility (120; method inherent in apparatus disclosed for Fig 3), comprising: unloading liquid carbon dioxide (LC02) from a transport vessel (“from ship” in Fig 3) to the liquid carbon dioxide receiving facility (120); storing the liquid carbon dioxide (LCO2) in a temporary storage (10; page 3, line 17) at the liquid carbon dioxide receiving facility (120) (see Fig 3), wherein the temporary storage (10) comprises a carbon dioxide liquid phase and a carbon dioxide vapor phase (page 5, lines 4-11), wherein the addition of the liquid carbon dioxide increases the level of the liquid phase within the temporary storage (10) (inherently adding more liquid CO2 increases the level of liquid CO2 in the storage tank 10); pumping (via pump 15) the liquid carbon dioxide from the temporary storage (10) to permanent geologic storage (“permanent CO2 storage reservoir 1” page 5, line 8) or external use, wherein the removal of liquid carbon dioxide decreases the level of the liquid phase within the temporary storage (inherently removing liquid CO2 from storage tank 10 lowers the level of liquid CO2 in the storage tank 10); and managing pressure in the temporary storage (10) using at least some of the carbon dioxide liquid phase (page 7, lines 20-29; using resprayed liquid CO2 to control pressure (“for reducing pressure”).
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With regard to claim 2, Horisont discloses the pressure in the temporary storage (10) increases due to boil- off gas generation due to heat ingress (page 7, lines 5-8).
With regard to claim 3, Horisont discloses that the pressure in the temporary storage (10) increases due to the increase in the level of the liquid phase within the temporary storage (inherently an increase in liquid level will increase the pressure from the liquid).
With regard to claim 4, Horisont discloses that the pressure in the temporary storage (10) decreases due to the decrease in the level of the liquid phase within the temporary storage (inherently, a decrease in liquid level will decrease the pressure from the liquid).
With regard to claim 5, Horisont discloses that at least a portion of the liquid carbon dioxide is subcooled (“subcooling” page 7, line 20), and wherein the pressure of the temporary storage (10) is reduced during the storing step by the addition of the subcooled liquid carbon dioxide to the temporary storage (10) (subcooled and resprayed liquid carbon dioxide is introduced into storage tank 10 to control/reduce pressure – page 7, lines 20-29).
With regard to claim 8, Horisont discloses that the managing pressure step further comprises vaporizing at least some of the carbon dioxide liquid phase at a rate sufficient to increase the pressure of the temporary storage (page 7, lines 5-9; “creating an increased pressure within the tank”).
With regard to claim 10, Horisont discloses spraying at least some of the subcooled liquid carbon dioxide as liquid droplets directly in the temporary storage (10) to condense a portion of the carbon dioxide vapor phase and reduce the pressure of the temporary storage (“subcooling and respraying … for reducing pressure” page 7, lines 20-29).
With regard to claim 11, Horisont discloses adding at least some of the subcooled liquid carbon dioxide (page 1, lines 22-23) below the liquid level of the carbon dioxide liquid phase and condensing carbon dioxide vapor phase on the surface of the vapor-liquid interface thereby indirectly reducing the pressure of the temporary storage (as shown in Fig 3, input line from “FROM SHIP” is inside storage 10 lower than 40 and about lower than tank pump).
With regard to claim 12, Horisont discloses that the subcooled liquid carbon dioxide is provided by unloading a transport vessel (“FROM SHIP”; page 1, lines 22-23) containing carbon dioxide as either a subcooled or saturated liquid that can be pumped to a pressure that exceeds the bubble point of transported fluid at the pressure of the temporary storage (capable of meeting the “can be” pumped via pump at 16 to achieve high pressure toward 1; see page 5, lines 23-28 and lines 4-8).
With regard to claim 13, Horisont discloses that the subcooled liquid carbon dioxide is provided by recirculating the subcooled liquid carbon dioxide back to temporary storage (10) (page 7, lines 20-29).
With regard to claim 14, Horisont discloses wherein pressure control for the temporary storage (10) regulates the amount of subcooled liquid carbon dioxide added to the temporary storage (subcooled liquid is resprayed to reduce pressure – i.e., control pressure by regulating amount of liquid resprayed; page 7, lines 20-29).
With regard to claim 16, Horisont discloses that the temporary storage (10) is selected from one or more horizontal vessels, vertical vessels, spheres, or a combination thereof (horizontal vessel 10 shown in Fig 3).
With regard to claim 17, Horisont discloses that the liquid carbon dioxide is transported to the receiving facility (120) using transport vessels selected from one or more of trucks, railcars, barges, ocean-going ships, pipelines, or a combination thereof (ship, see Fig 3 and page 7, line 2).
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Alternatively, claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO2024017986 (“Horisont”) in view of U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2015/0315949 (“Jansson”).
With regard to claim 14, Horisont discloses pressure control for the temporary storage (10) regulates the amount of subcooled liquid carbon dioxide added to the temporary storage (subcooled liquid is resprayed to reduce pressure – i.e., control pressure by regulating amount of liquid resprayed; page 7, lines 20-29).
If it is successfully argued that Horisont is not considered to show that the pressure control is regulated, then the following alternative rejection is offered.
Jansson discloses storing a liquified fuel in a temporary storage (12) and controlling pressure of the liquified fuel to regulate the pressure via a control unit (54) (para [0035]).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the system of Horisont so that the pressure is controlled via a control unit, such as taught by Jansson, in order to control the pressure and output to a desired amount (see paras [0035] and [0039]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6, 7, 9, and 15 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2005/0132722 discloses transporting carbon dioxide from a transport vessel (10) to a temporary storage (14/23) and then to an external use (pipeline 16) with pressure control.
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/JESSICA CAHILL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3753
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