Fritz Pierre

Patent Trials and Appeals Board

Jun 17, 2020

2020000159 (P.T.A.B. Jun. 17, 2020)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450
www.uspto.gov
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
15/348,533 11/10/2016 Fritz Pierre JR. 2015EM396 8130
34477 7590 06/17/2020
ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company
22777 Springwoods Village Parkway
(EMHC-N1.4A.607)
Spring, TX 77389
EXAMINER
KING, BRIAN M
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
3763
NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE
06/17/2020 ELECTRONIC
Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.
The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication.
Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the
following e-mail address(es):
urc-mail-formalities@exxonmobil.com
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
____________

BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
____________

Ex parte FRITZ PIERRE JR.

Appeal 2020-000159
Application 15/348,533
Technology Center 3700
____________

Before BIBHU R. MOHANTY, CYNTHIA L. MURPHY, and
KENNETH G. SCHOPFER, Administrative Patent Judges.

SCHOPFER, Administrative Patent Judge.

DECISION ON APPEAL
Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 134(a), Appellant1 appeals from the
Examiner’s decision to reject claims 1–3, 14–16, 18–22, 24, and 26–28. We
have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
We AFFIRM.

1 We use the word “Appellant” to refer to “applicant” as defined in 37
C.F.R. § 1.42. Appellant identifies the real party in interest as ExxonMobil
Upstream Research Company. Appeal Br. 4.
Appeal 2020-000159
Application 15/348,533

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BACKGROUND
The Specification discloses that “[t]he invention relates to the
liquefaction of natural gas to form liquefied natural gas (LNG), and more
specifically, to the production of LNG in remote or sensitive areas where the
construction and/or maintenance of capital facilities, and/or the
environmental impact of a conventional LNG plant may be detrimental.”
Spec. ¶ 3.
CLAIMS
Claims 1, 21, and 28 are the independent claims on appeal. Claim 1 is
illustrative of the appealed claims and recites:
1. A method of producing liquefied natural gas (LNG), the
method comprising:
providing a natural gas stream from a supply of natural
gas;
compressing the natural gas stream in at least two serially
arranged compressors to a pressure of at least 2,000 psia to form
a compressed natural gas stream;
cooling the compressed natural gas stream in at least one
heat exchanger that exchanges heat with an ambient environment
to form a cooled compressed natural gas stream, wherein the at
least one heat exchanger is an air cooled heat exchanger or a
water cooled heat exchanger;
expanding, in at least one work producing natural gas
expander, the cooled compressed natural gas stream to a pressure
that is less than 3000 psia and no greater than the pressure to
which the at least two serially arranged compressors compress
the natural gas stream, to thereby form a chilled natural gas
stream; and
liquefying the chilled natural gas stream in one or more
liquefaction trains, wherein the liquefaction trains comprise one
or more closed refrigeration loops.
Appeal Br. 15.
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Application 15/348,533

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REJECTIONS
1. The Examiner rejects claims 1–3, 14–16, 18, 21, 24, and 26–28 under
35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over Paradowski2 in view of Vandor,3
Whitesell,4 and Minta.5
2. The Examiner rejects claims 19, 20, and 27 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
unpatentable over Paradowski in view of Vandor, Whitesell, Minta, and
Isaacson.6
DISCUSSION
With respect to claim 1, the Examiner finds that Paradowski discloses
a method of producing liquefied natural gas by providing a natural gas
stream from a supply; cooling the stream to form a cooled natural gas
stream, expanding the cooled stream to a pressure that is less than 3000 psia
to form a chilled gas stream; and liquefying the gas stream in a liquefaction
train including gone or more refrigeration loops. Final Act. 5 (citing
Paradowski Fig. 5, ¶¶ 75, 159). The Examiner acknowledges that
Paradowski does not teach first compressing the natural gas stream in
serially arranged compressors and cooling the gas stream with at least one
heat exchanger that exchanges heat with the ambient environment. Id. at 5–
7. The Examiner determines that it would have been obvious to modify
Paradowski based on Vander, Whitesell, and Minta to include these features.
Id. at 6–7. Further, in response to Appellant’s arguments, the Examiner

2 Paradowski et al., US 2010/0126214 A1, pub. May 27, 2010.
3 Vandor, US 2012/0036888 A1, pub. Feb. 16, 2012.
4 Whitesell, US 2006/0213222 A1, pub. Sept. 28, 2006.
5 Minta, US 2010/0107684 A1, pub. May 6, 2010.
6 Isaacson et al., US 2015/0253072 A1, pub. Sept. 10, 2015.
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Application 15/348,533

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makes clear that the proposed modification to Paradowski is related to
compressing and cooling the natural gas stream to an initial pressure and
temperature suitable for input into Paradowski’s system. See Ans. 18–22.
Further, the Examiner also finds that “Paradowski only teaches components
which are relevant to operation, but not for example, how the feed gas
stream arrives in the system.” Id. at 19. Thus, the Examiner explains that
the proposed combination including Vander, Whitesell, and Minta shows
“how the [natural gas] stream would arrive to the point of the heat exchanger
. . . of Paradowski” and that it would have been obvious to include “an
ambient heat exchanger and compression to provide the stream at the proper
pressure and temperature for further cooling and liquefaction.” Id. at 21.
Appellant first asserts that Paradowski’s first refrigerant cycle does
not include “exchanging heat with an ambient environment, and in such a
process [as Paradowski’s] there would be no reason to do so.” Appeal Br.
11. Appellant also asserts that Paradowski’s compressor and heat exchanger
are situated after the gas stream and that adding a compressor and heat
exchanger “would likely warm the gas stream in an ambient air cooler at this
position.” Id. These assertions do not persuade us of error in the rejection.
As noted above, the Examiner makes clear that the rejection proposes to
modify Paradowski with a suitable means for preparing the gas stream
before it is input into Paradowski’s system and does not propose to add any
compressor or heat exchanger after Paradowski’s expander.
Next, Appellant asserts that Paradowski’s system shown in Figure 5
“is a self-contained liquefaction system that relies on a first refrigerant cycle
26 to chill a gas stream to a cryogenic temperature.” Id. at 12. Appellant
argues that “[n]othing in Paradowski suggests that cooling to an ambient
Appeal 2020-000159
Application 15/348,533

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temperature prior to a first refrigerant cycle 26 would be desirable” and that
“Paradowski teaches away from such a suggestion, as the first refrigerant
cycle 26 of Paradowski cools the gas stream directly to a cryogenic
temperature.” Id. We are not persuaded. As noted by the Examiner,
Paradowski indicates that certain temperature and pressure ranges for the
feed stream are required for the feed stream in the system of Figure 1. See
Ans. 18 (citing Paradowski ¶ 93). We agree with the Examiner that this at
least suggests the same or similar requirements are necessary for the gas
stream fed into the system of Figure 5, the system relied upon by the
Examiner in the rejection. Id. Further, we are also not persuaded that
Paradowski teaches a self-contained system that cannot be modified as the
Examiner has proposed. One of ordinary skill in the art would understand
that certain systems may be required in order to prepare the input gas stream
as indicated. For the same reasons, we disagree that Paradowski teaches
away from the proposed modification. That Paradowski may or may not
teach cooling to a cryogenic temperature does not appear to provide any
teaching away from the requirement that the gas stream must be provided to
the system at appropriate conditions.
Finally, Appellant indicates that the proposed modification of
Paradowski would require a re-design of the entire process described in
Paradowski. As indicated above, the Examiner does not propose to modify
the process of Paradowski and only proposes that it would have been
obvious to provide additional steps and equipment to modify the gas stream
for suitable input into Paradowski’s system.
Based on the foregoing, Appellant has not established any error in the
rejection of claim 1. Accordingly, we sustain the rejection of claim 1.
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Appellant relies on the same arguments regarding all claims, and thus, we
also sustain the rejections of independent claims 21 and 28 as well as claims
2, 3, 14–16, 18–20, 22, 24, 26, and 27.
CONCLUSION
We AFFIRM the rejections of claims 1–3, 14–16, 18–22, 24, and 26–
28.
In summary:
Claims
Rejected
35 U.S.C. § Basis Affirmed Reversed
1–3, 14–16,
18, 21, 24,
26–28
103 Paradowski,
Vandor,
Whitesell,
Minta
1–3, 14–16,
18, 21, 24,
26–28

19, 20, 27 103 Paradowski,
Vandor,
Whitesell,
Minta, Isaacson
19, 20, 27
Overall
Outcome
1–3, 14–16,
18–22, 24,
26–28

No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with
this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136 (a). See 37 C.F.R.
§ 1.136 (a)(l)(iv).

AFFIRMED