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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I; claims / species of 1, 3-6, and 10 in the reply filed on 04/28/2026 is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The listing of references in the specification is not a proper information disclosure statement. 37 CFR 1.98(b) requires a list of all patents, publications, or other information submitted for consideration by the Office, and MPEP § 609.04(a) states, "the list may not be incorporated into the specification but must be submitted in a separate paper." Therefore, unless the references have been cited by the examiner on form PTO-892, they have not been considered.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they do not include the following reference sign(s) mentioned in the description: 52: f, g, h; 56: a, b, c, d, e. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they do not include the following reference sign(s) mentioned in the description: 52; 56; 58: a, b, c, d, e. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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, and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being anticipated by Kerfoot (US 2008/0237141) (“Kerfoot” herein)
(Claims contain only selected species)
Claim 1.
Kerfoot discloses a method, comprising:
receiving one or more oilfield brine feedstocks from one or more producing wells
producing hydrocarbons from a subterranean formation; [0061-0063]
determining whether respective concentrations of the one or more oilfield brine
feedstocks are below a threshold; [0119-0123]
in response to determining that the respective concentrations of the one or more oilfield brine feedstocks are below the threshold, causing at least a portion of the one or more oilfield brine feedstocks to be used in one or more hydraulic fracturing operations; [0061-0063] and
in response to determining that the respective concentrations of the one or more oilfield brine feedstocks are above the threshold, processing at least the portion of the one or more oilfield brine feedstocks to produce desalinated water and a salt slurry suspension. [0063, 0065-0071]
Claim 2.
Kerfoot discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising detecting, using one or more sensors, one or more respective properties of the one or more oilfield brine feedstocks, wherein the respective concentrations of the one or more oilfield brine feedstocks are determined based on the one or more respective properties. [0119-0123]
Claim 3.
Kerfoot discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising detecting, using one or more sensors,
one or more respective properties of at least the portion of the one or more oilfield brine
feedstocks to be processed to produce the desalinated water and the salt slurry suspension. [0063, 0065-0071]
Claim 4.
Kerfoot discloses the method of claim 3, wherein the one or more respective properties comprise a composition, a concentration, a viscosity, a salinity, or a density, or a combination thereof, of at least the portion of the one or more oilfield brine feedstocks. [0063, 0080]
Claim 5.
Kerfoot discloses the method of claim 4, wherein the one or more oilfield brine feedstocks comprise two or more oilfield brine feedstocks, and wherein the method comprises blending
respective portions of the two or more oilfield brine feedstocks based on the one or more respective properties before producing the desalinated water and the salt slurry suspension. [0063, 0080]
Claim 10.
Kerfoot discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising
providing the desalinated water for surface use, surface discharge, or both, after processing at least the portion of the one or more oilfield brine feedstocks to produce the desalinated water and the salt slurry suspension in response to determining that the respective concentrations of the one or more oilfield brine feedstocks are above the threshold. [0063, 0065-0071, 0119-0123]
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 is 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. Svarczkopf (US 9,027,646 B2) Fracturing Fluid Water Reuse System And Method teaches Methods of processing a fluid recovered from an oil or gas extraction operation for reuse in a hydraulic fracturing fluid are described. The methods include providing an amount of a produced fluid composition containing iron and suspended solids and controlling at least one of the conductivity, iron content, oxidative strength, and pH of the composition, such that Fenton's reagent is formed in situ, Soane (US 9,067,807 B2) Treatment Of Wastewater teaches The present invention provides systems, methods and devices for removing contaminants from an aqueous stream. In embodiments, these systems and methods may be applied to particular applications, for example removal of contaminants in aqueous streams associated with the petroleum industry, and Booth (US 9,662,594 B2) Systems And Methods For Treating Fractionated Water teaches One embodiment of a method of water treatment comprising straining fractionated water to remove particles larger than one micron in diameter, decanting the strained fractionated water to remove surfactants and oil, evaporating the decanted water to provide concentrated brine and water vapor, and condensing the water vapor.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SILVANA C RUNYAN whose telephone number is (571)270-5415. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-4:30.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Doug Hutton can be reached at 571-272-4137. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SILVANA C RUNYAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3674 05/20/2026
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