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
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 1-2, 13-14, and 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hamad (Patent/Publication Number US 2013/0298761).
Regarding claim 1, Hamad discloses an apparatus for reducing greenhouse gas emission in a vessel (ICE) (Figure 2) comprising: an absorbent liquid (42, 44, 50) circulation supplying unit for providing and circulating absorbent liquid that absorbs CO2 (e.g. See Paragraphs [0053] Representative embodiments of the invention are schematically illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5. An overview of an absorption process is shown in FIG. 4. The hot exhaust gas stream 20 passes though heat recovery (HR) unit 30 that operates at temperatures in the range of from 300 oC-650 oC to convert some of the waste heat into electrical or mechanical energy. The cooled exhaust gas stream then passes to a heat exchanger in the regeneration unit 40 where it provides low temperature heat that is needed to desorb the CO2 and thereby regenerate the liquid absorbent 42 that is saturated with CO2) (e.g. See Paragraphs [0054-0056]); an exhaust gas cooling unit (30, 32, 40) for cooling exhaust gas emitted from a vessel engine (e.g. See Paragraphs [0054-0056]); an absorption tower comprising a CO₂ removing unit (50) that reacts the cooled exhaust gas with the absorbent liquid and changes CO₂ into an aqueous carbonate solution so as to collect CO₂ (e.g. See Paragraphs [0054, 0058, 0103-0104, 0133]); an absorbent liquid regenerating unit that reacts the aqueous carbonate solution with a regenerative reactant, regenerates the absorbent liquid, and produces sediments (e.g. See Paragraphs [0054, 0058, 0103-0104, 0133]); and an outboard emission unit for separating sediment to be emitted to the outside of a vessel by seawater (e.g. See Paragraphs [0133] In the chemical process of CO2 capture and regeneration, the hot exhaust gas stream 20 from a vehicle's ICE passes through a first heat recovery unit 30 that operates at relatively high temperature, e.g., 300 oC-650 oC, to convert some of the waste heat into electrical or mechanical energy. The moderately cooled exhaust gas stream 22 is then passed to the regeneration unit 40 where solid sorbent 42 is heated and regenerated by reaction (2) above, in heat exchange using heat from the exhaust gas stream 22. The exhaust gas stream and sorbent are not in direct contact with each other in the regeneration unit 40. The liquid sorbent 44 discharged from regeneration unit 40 is passed to heat recovery unit 34 to lower the temperature of the sorbent to a predetermined value for contact and reaction with the CO2. …. Exhaust gas stream 26 exiting HR device 36 is brought into contact with liquid sorbent in the chemical absorption unit 50 where CO2 contained in the exhaust gas is absorbed by the liquid in accordance with reaction (1). Solid sorbent with the captured CO2 that is formed in the adsorption unit 50 is separated from the exhaust gas using an appropriate unit such as a cyclone or a filter in unit operation 51, and recycled through the regeneration unit 40 to produce fresh liquid sorbent. The remaining exhaust gas stream 52 containing a reduced amount of CO2 is released to the atmosphere.) (e.g. See Paragraphs [0054, 0058, 0103-0104, 0133]).
Regarding claim 2, Hamad further discloses wherein the outboard emission unit further performs a separating process between sediment and absorbent liquid, an emission process of sediment by using seawater, and a cleaning process by using freshwater (e.g. See Paragraphs [0133] …. Exhaust gas stream 26 exiting HR device 36 is brought into contact with liquid sorbent in the chemical absorption unit 50 where CO2 contained in the exhaust gas is absorbed by the liquid in accordance with reaction (1). Solid sorbent with the captured CO2 that is formed in the adsorption unit 50 is separated from the exhaust gas using an appropriate unit such as a cyclone or a filter in unit operation 51, and recycled through the regeneration unit 40 to produce fresh liquid sorbent. The remaining exhaust gas stream 52 containing a reduced amount of CO2 is released to the atmosphere.) (e.g. See Paragraphs [0054, 0058, 0103-0104, 0133]).
Regarding claim 13, Hamad further discloses wherein the exhaust gas cooling unit cools exhaust gas by reacting exhaust gas emitted from the vessel engine with freshwater (e.g. See Paragraphs [0056] The cooled exhaust gas stream 26 containing CO.sub.2 is contacted with the cool absorbing coolant which absorbs most of the CO.sub.2, and the remaining exhaust gases reduced in CO.sub.2 content are discharged into the atmosphere. The cool absorbing coolant is now sent to the engine block where it is heated by the combustion of the fuel in the cylinders. The hot absorbing coolant has less capacity for CO.sub.2 and as soon as the pressure is reduced, most of the CO.sub.2 is released as gas and is separated from the liquid coolant in separator 120. .....) (e.g. See Paragraphs [0053-0057, 0103, 0133]).
Regarding claim 14, Hamad further discloses wherein the exhaust gas cooling unit cools exhaust gas by circulating freshwater provided from an on-board cooling system in a heat exchange pipe that covers an exhaust gas discharge pipe (e.g. See Paragraphs [0053-0057, 0133]).
Regarding claim 26, Hamad further discloses wherein the exhaust gas cooling unit branches at least a part of exhaust gas emitted from the vessel engine to be cooled and the CO₂ removing unit reacts the cooled exhaust gas with the absorbent liquid to change CO₂ into an aqueous carbonate solution so that CO2 is collected (e.g. See Paragraphs [0054, 0058, 0103-0104, 0133]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-12, 16-18, 23, and 25 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; and also to overcome the claim objections set forth in this Office action, such as to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 101, 112 2nd paragraph, and double patenting.
Since allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant is encouraged to submit Final Formal Drawings (If Needed) in response to this Office action. The early submission of formal drawings will permit the Office to review the drawings for acceptability and to resolve any informalities remaining therein before the application is passed to issue. This will avoid possible delays in the issue process.
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure and consists of seven patents:
Jenkins et al. (Pat./Pub. No. US 2016/0332113), Kaneeda et al. (Pat./Pub. No. US 2017/0306825), Voice et al. (Pat./Pub. No. US 2023/0127859), Zielinski et al. (Pat./Pub. No. US 2014/0044632), Tsangaris et al. (Pat./Pub. No. US 2008/0210089), Scappatura et al. (Pat./Pub. No. US 6240725), and Nam et al. (Pat./Pub. No. US 2023/0372867), all discloses an exhaust gas purification for use with a combustion engine.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Primary Examiner Binh Tran whose telephone number is (571) 272-4865. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisors, Mark Laurenzi, can be reached on (571) 270-7878. The fax phone numbers for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned are (571) 273-8300 for regular communications and for After Final communications.
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Binh Q. Tran
/BINH Q TRAN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3748
September 19, 2026
