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 .
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims1-8 in the reply filed on 05/11/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 9-16 have withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 05/11/2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1 and 3-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (CN112186287A; translation provided EPO 06/2026) in view of Liu et al. (CN107666022A; translation provided EPO 06/2026).
Regarding claim 1, Chen et al. teaches recovery of waste lithium ion battery cathode materials, and particularly relates to a ball mill spray regeneration method for waste lithium ion battery nickel cobalt lithium manganate cathode materials which meets the limitation of regeneration method of a waste ternary cathode material (lines 10-20). Chen et al. teaches dip the positive electrode sheet into the NaOH solution with a concentration of 3mol/L to peel off the aluminum foil, wash more than 3 times to remove residual aluminum, etc. and the positive electrode material and the cathode material was obtained by suction filtration, calcined at 650℃ in air for 10 hours, and ground through a 200-mesh sieve to obtain waste lithium ion Battery NCM cathode powder which meets the limitation of drying, crushing, and sieving a waste ternary cathode material to obtain a cathode powder; adding the cathode powder to an alkali liquid, reacting, stirring, washing, and filtering to obtain a filter residue drying the filter residue (lines 60-70). Chen et al. teaches detect the content of each element in the NCM anode powder of the waste lithium ion battery, and mix the NCM anode powder, lithium salt, nickel salt, cobalt salt, manganese salt, binder, and ionic liquid into the planetary ball mill for ball milling to obtain a suspension which meets the limitation of testing the content of nickel, cobalt, manganese, aluminum, and lithium in the mixture, adding a nickel source, a cobalt source, a manganese source, a lithium source and polyethylene glycol, ball milling a resulting mixture, and adding water to obtain a suspension (lines 65-90). Chen et al. teaches Step (3) Spray drying parameter setting: air flow rate 30-50 m3/h, inlet air temperature 180-240°C, outlet air temperature 140-160°C, suction speed 600-700mL/h and Step (4) Roasting conditions: In an oxygen atmosphere, the temperature is increased to 450-500°C for 5h, and then the temperature is increased to 800-850°C for 12h which meets the limitation of spray granulating the suspension to obtain a ternary precursor; and (6) performing a two-stage calcination to the ternary precursor to obtain a regenerated ternary cathode material (lines 70-105).
Liu et al. teaches method for recovering lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese from waste ternary cathode material (lines 1-10). Liu et al. teaches leaching efficiency by adding a reducing agent, and then separates lithium nickel cobalt manganese by chemical precipitation and solvent extraction (lines 40-60). Liu et al. teaches waste ternary positive electrode material is used as a raw material, a carbon reducing agent is added, and the mixed ingredients are subjected to calcination and reduction under a protective atmosphere and at a temperature of 500-700 ˚ C which meets the limitation of mixing it with carbonized pitch, and performing reducing calcination to obtain a mixture of nickel oxide, manganese oxide, cobalt oxide, and lithium carbonate (lines 65-90). Liu et al. teaches the carbon reducing agent is added in an amount of 5 to 30% of the mass of the waste ternary positive electrode material wherein the carbon reducing agent is coke, and the coke carbon content is greater than or equal to 85% which meets the limitation of a mass ratio of the filter residue to the carbonized pitch is 1: (0.7-1.0) (lines 82-90). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to use a carbon reducing agent for the regeneration method of a waste ternary cathode material taught by Chen et al. because carbon reducing agent increases the leaching efficiency. Additionally, one of ordinary skill in the art would optimize through routine experimentation the amount of carbon to achieve optimal leaching efficiency.
Regarding claim 3, Chen et al. teaches 60-80℃ Sodium hydroxide solution with a concentration of 0.5-1.5mol/L which meets the limitation of wherein in step (2), the alkali liquid is a sodium hydroxide solution, and the temperature of the sodium hydroxide solution is 50 ˚C-70 ˚C the concentration of the sodium hydroxide solution is 1-5 mol/L (lines 60-70).
Regarding claim 4, Chen et al. teaches lithium acetate (lines 75-85).
Regarding claim 5 Chen et al. teaches the nickel salt is nickel acetate, the cobalt salt is cobalt acetate, and the manganese salt is manganese acetate (lines 75-85).
Regarding claim 6, Chen et al. teaches the ball-to-material ratio is set: 10:1; the milling time is 10h; the milling speed: 400r/min (lines 165-175). One of ordinary skill in the art could determine through routine experimentation the optimal time and speed to mill the material based on the ball to material ratio.
Regarding claim 7, Chen et al. teaches spray dry, set the spray drying parameters: air flow 40m3/h, inlet air temperature 200°C, outlet air temperature 150°C, suction speed 650mL/h, and collect powder (lines 170-175). One of ordinary skill in the art could determine through routine experimentation the optimal spray drying parameters to obtain the desired powder.
Regarding claim 8, Chen et al. teaches Place the obtained powder in a tube furnace, in an oxygen atmosphere, heat up to 450°C at a heating rate of 3°C/min and calcinate for 5 hours, and then heat up to 850°C at the same heating rate for 12 hours to obtain regenerated nickel, cobalt and manganese Lithium oxide cathode material which meets a broad and reasonable interpretation of the specific steps of the two-stage calcination are: subjecting the ternary precursor to a first stage calcination, raising the temperature, and then performing a second stage calcination; the first stage calcination is carried out at a temperature of 400°C-500°C for 5-8h; the second stage calcination is carried out at a temperature of 700 ˚C- 900 °C for 10-20h (lines 170-180).
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. in view of Liu et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Zheng et al. (Lithium Nickel Cobalt Manganese Oxide Recovery via Spray Pyrolysis Directly from the Leachate of Spent Cathode Scraps; ACS Appl. Energy Mater.; 2, 6952−6959; 2019).
Chen et al in view of Liu et al. teaches a method of recycling spent battery electrodes. Chen et al. teaches the cathode material was obtained by suction filtration but does not teach heat drying (lines 65-70).
Zheng et al. teaches a facile and green closed-cycle process was proposed to recycle spent NCM materials (page 6953, paragraph 2). Zheng et al. teaches after soaking, in order to remove organic impurities such as acetylene black and binder (PVDF), the black residue was dried in a vacuum drying furnace for 24 h at 80°C (page 6953, paragraph 5). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of at the time of filing to heat dry the cathode material taught by Chen et al. in view of Liu et al. to ensure the desired dryness. Furthermore, one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing could determine through routine experimentation the optimal temperature and time to dry the recovered material in order to optimize the leaching step.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GUINEVER S GREGORIO whose telephone number is (571)270-5827. The examiner can normally be reached M-W 11 am - 9 pm.
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, Coris Fung can be reached at 571-270-5713. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/GUINEVER S GREGORIO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1732 06/16/2026
Prosecution Insights