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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 05/13/2026 has been entered. Claim(s) 6-9 and 15-16 is/are pending in this application and examined herein. Claim(s) 6 is/are amended. Claim(s) 10-14 is/are cancelled. Claim(s) 15-16 is/are new.
The rejection(s) under 35 USC 112(a) to claim(s) 6-9 is/are withdrawn in view of the amendments to claim(s) 6.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 15 recites “a temperature of 90° C or higher” in line 2. As noted by Applicant, the instant specification discloses heating the first leachate to a temperature of 90 °C, however the instant specification does not disclose heating the first leachate to a temperature higher than 90 °C prior to adding the source of phosphate ions, and therefore does not describe the claimed invention in a manner understandable to a person of ordinary skill in the art in a way that shows that the inventor invented the claimed invention at the time of filing.
Claim 16 recites “wherein neutralizing the first leachate and/or the second leachate comprises adding the lithium-bearing slag as a neutralizing agent”. The instant specification discloses adding lithium-bearing slag to neutralize the first leachate (instant specification: pg. 6 lines 31-34), and broadly that the second leachate may be neutralized (instant specification: pg. 7 lines 2-3), however the instant specification does not disclose the neutralization of the second leachate to be performed with the lithium-bearing slag, and therefore does not describe the claimed invention in a manner understandable to a person of ordinary skill in the art in a way that shows that the inventor invented the claimed invention at the time of filing.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-9 are allowed.
Claim(s) 15-16 is/are free from the prior art, however are not in condition for allowance as they are rejected under 35 USC 112(a) as noted above.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The closest identified prior art of record is He et al. (WO 2014154152 A1), Furuya et al. (JPH 1197076 A, and Cao et al. (CN 105907983 A)).
Regarding claim 1, He teaches a process for recovering lithium comprising leaching the metallurgical composition by adding a sulfuric acid aqueous solution to the composition [0008, 0014]. He teaches obtaining a residue comprising insoluble compounds and a first leachate comprising lithium and aluminum [0032]. He teaches neutralizing the first leachate comprising lithium and aluminum to pH 3-9 by adding alkali [0021, 0032], which overlaps the claimed range.
He does not teach a process for recovering lithium from a metallurgical slag, leaching until a pH range of 1 to 2 is obtained, the first leachate comprising one or more of Ca and Si and 50% or more of the lithium and aluminum from the metallurgical composition, adding a source of phosphate ions to the first leachate, precipitating a residue comprising a second part of the aluminum from a second leachate and obtaining a third leachate comprising lithium, or separating a residue comprising a second part of the aluminum from a third leachate by filtration.
Furuya teaches a method for recovering lithium [0001], comprising a positive electrode made of an aluminum current collector and a positive electrode active material made of LiCoO2 [0019]. Furuya teaches in Example 6 leaching a battery electrode in sulfuric acid to obtain a leachate, after which the pH is increased using sodium hydroxide [0061-0064, 0069-0070]. Furuya teaches leaching with acid at a concentration of < 12 N [0038], and filtering to separate a residue comprising insoluble compounds and a first leachate [0061] comprising lithium and aluminum [0070, 0078], and bringing the pH closer to the neutral range [0041]. Furuya teaches adding a source of phosphate ions to the first leachate thereby precipitating a residue comprising a first part of the aluminum from the first leachate [0041], and obtaining a second leachate comprising lithium [0041].
Furuya does not teach recovering lithium from a metallurgical slag, leaching until a pH range of 1 to 2 is obtained, if the pH of the first leachate is less than 2 neutralizing the first leachate to a pH of 2 to 3, the first leachate comprising one or more of Ca and Si, a second leachate comprising aluminum, neutralizing the second leachate to a pH of 3 to 4, precipitating a residue comprising a second part of the aluminum from the second leachate and obtaining a third leachate comprising lithium, or separating the residue comprising the second part of the aluminum from the third leachate by filtration.
Cao teaches a process for recovering lithium from a metallurgical slag (title, [0002]), comprising providing a lithium- and aluminum-bearing metallurgical slag obtained from a smelting process for recycling lithium-ion batteries or their derived products [0002, 0023], wherein the metallurgical slag further comprises slag formers selected from one or more of Ca and Si [0023]. Cao teaches leaching the metallurgical slag by adding a sulfuric acid aqueous solution to the composition [0049-0050], to achieve a ratio of water to sulfuric acid of 15~25:0.5~1.25 (equivalent to pH 0.1059-0.7) [0033], thereby obtaining a first leachate comprising one or more of Ca and Si [0064]. Cao teaches neutralizing the first leachate to a pH of 4 to 6.5 [0035], which would comprise adjusting through the claimed pH range.
Cao does not teach leaching until a pH range of 1 to 2 is obtained, the leaching to produce a residue comprising insoluble compounds, the first leachate comprising 50% or more of the lithium and aluminum from the metallurgical slag, adding a source of phosphate ions to the first leachate which has a pH of 2 to 3 thereby precipitating a residue comprising a first part of the aluminum from the first leachate, and obtaining a second leachate comprising lithium and aluminum, if the pH of the second leachate is less than 3, neutralizing the second leachate to a pH of 3 to 4, precipitating a residue comprising a second part of the aluminum from the second leachate and obtaining a third leachate comprising lithium, or separating the residue comprising the second part of the aluminum from the third leachate by filtration.
Further, the slag of Cao could not be substituted into the process of He, as Cao teaches leaching of Si, Ca, Fe, and Mg into the leaching solution which would prevent He from producing the ternary cathode material with a specific composition of Li, Ni, Co, and Mn of He.
Based on the above discussion, the closest prior art, taken singularly or in combination, does not fairly suggest or render obvious a process for recovering lithium from a metallurgical slag as claimed. As the independent claim(s) is/are free from the art, claims 7-9 and 15-16 are also free from the art due at least to their dependency from claim(s) 6.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/Keith D. Hendricks/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1733
/NIKOLAS TAKUYA PULLEN/Examiner, Art Unit 1733
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