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 .
Specification
The specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 1-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Davis (US 5,231,797-appears on PTO-1449) in view of Swensen (US 20150184099-appears on PTO-1449).
Davis teaches moisture laden caked coal fine (wet-cake) by mixing a water immiscible substance, such as oil, with the caked coal to form granules (see abstract).
The finely ground coal fines have 5-60 % free moisture and Davis teaches that the coal meets stringent environmental regulations regarding ash and sulfur content (see col. 1, lines 19-23). The wet coal is essentially a wet, sticky lumped mass of coal particles of less than about 28 mesh (see col. 1, lines 33-35; col. 3, lines 40-44; col. 4, lines 10-24). Davis teaches that the process of his invention can be varied by the selection of the coal type, particle size and other interactive parameters known to those skilled in the art (see col. 3, lines 14-19).
Example 5 uses anthracite coal whose mean volume diameter is 12.7 microns wherein 98% of the particles are less than 44 microns. This teaching encompasses particles that are smaller than 20 microns. Davis teaches that the granules may be thermally dried (see col. 5, lines 30-31). Davis meets the limitations of the claims other than the differences set forth below.
Davis does not specifically teach at least about 99% by volume of the particles are no greater than about 20 microns or a maximum average particle size of at most around 10 microns. However, no unobviousness is seen in this difference because Davis teaches that the process of his invention can be varied by the selection of the coal type, particle size and other interactive parameters known to those skilled in the art.
Davis does not specifically teach that the particulate material is obtained by froth flotation and followed by mechanical and/or thermal dewatering to generate the wet-cake having a water content of less than 50%m. Davis also does not specifically teach pelletizing the coal. However, Swensen teaches these differences.
Swensen teaches a method of removing water from fine coal particles to form a coal particle filter cake (see abstract). Swensen teaches that there are three general dewatering processes: gravity dewatering, such as settling; mechanical dewatering, such as filtration or vibration assisted vacuum dewatering (his process); and thermal dewatering, such as heating (see paragraphs 0009- 0010). The filter cake will have a water content less than 25% by weight (see para 0015). The process preferably operates to produce a coal particle filter cake that has a water content suitable for extrusion to form discrete, non-tacky pellets (see para 0019). The coal particles are obtained in the coal-froth obtained from flotation separation of fine coal particles (see paragraph 0014).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to obtain the particulate material by a process comprising froth flotation followed by mechanical and/or thermal dewatering because Swensen teaches that this process is well known, routine and conventional.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to extrude the coal particles of Davis because Swensen teaches that fine coal particles such as those of Davis may be extruded to form non-tacky pellets.
Davis does not specifically teach the mineral or sulfur content of the coal when the particle size is 20 microns or less. However, no unobviousness is seen in this difference because the skilled artisan would recognize the benefits of using coal containing little to no mineral or sulfur and one would recognize the importance of following the government regulations regarding these environmental hazards. Also, Davis provides motivation to meet this limitation because he teaches that the coal type may be varied to obtain an optimum coal product. The skilled artisan desiring a low ash/mineral, low sulfur wet-cake would recognize that coals of low mineral matter/sulfur content may be utilized to obtain this objective.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 2,693,878 to Driessen teaches a froth flotation separation of coal.
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/CEPHIA D TOOMER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1771 19173449/20260408
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