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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6-11, 13, 15 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zheng et al. “A closed-loop process for recycling LiNixCoyMn(1-x-y)O2 from mixed cathode materials…”
Regarding claims 1, 2, 8, 9 and 13, the reference teaches regeneration of a cathode material by utilizing valuable metals from spent lithium ion batteries (Abstract). The reference teaches that the spent batteries include valuable components containing Li, Ni, Co and Mn (Pg. #43, left column, 2nd para). These are considered as the active materials of the claim. The reference uses acid leaching to target active cathode materials (Pg. #45, left column, last para.) This is considered as step (a) of providing the leachate. The reference then teaches elemental analysis of the leachate which identifies the amounts of the components in Table 1 (Pg. #46, left column, last para). This is considered as the identifying step (b) of claim 1. Further the reference teaches adjusting the molar ratio of Ni, Mn and Co in the leachate solution after removal of impurities to precipitate active metals (Pg. #47, right column, first para). This considered as step (c) of the claim. Next the reference teaches raising the pH to coprecipitate the active cathode material (Pg. #47 , right column, first and second paras). The reference also shows the target amounts of impurities such as Fe, Cu and Zn (See Table 3 on Pg. #48). The reference shows in Table 3 that the measured values for the impurities were less than the standard values. This is considered to read on coprecipitation with minimum amount of ionic impurities to obtain the cathode material having the desired active material target ratio.
Regarding claims 3, 4 and 16, the reference teaches adding salts (sulfate) of the active metals to adjust the amounts of Ni, Mn and Co (See Pg. 47, left column, last para).
Regarding claim 6, the reference uses NaOH to raise the pH (Pg. #44, left column, first para).
Regarding claim 7, the reference teaches LiNixCoyMn(1-x-y)O2 (Abstract).
Regarding claims 10, 11 and 15, the reference teaches that after coprecipitation, Na and Li are removed from the leachate and the remaining leachate is recycled back to the leaching step (See Fig. 2). This liquid will be expected to have a small amount of active materials since 100% precipitation of these materials would not be expected in the previous step.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wei et al. “Synthesis of LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2 from mixed cathode materials of spent lithium-ion batteries”.
Regarding claims 1, 8 and 13, Wei et al. discloses (Abstract) a method of regenerating an NMC cathode material comprising the steps of (figure 8):
- leaching spent batteries;
- analyzing the leachate (section 2.4, Synthesis and characterization of ternary cathode precursor; See supplemental document for Wei table 2S);
- adjusting the composition Ni, Mn, Co (section 2.4, Synthesis and characterization of ternary cathode precursor);
- raising the pH to coprecipitate an NMC precursor.
Wei discloses (section 2.4, Synthesis and characterization of ternary cathode precursor; See supplemental document for Wei table 2S) the presence of Al, Cu, Fe. The adjustment of the Ni, Mn, Co composition is performed by adding sulfates. The pH during coprecipitation is raised above 7.8 by adding NaOH (section 3.5 Mechanism of the synthesis of ternary cathode precursor). The resulting precursor is a hydroxide. After coprecipitation (figure 8), the liquid is first used to recover Li and then fed back into the system.
Regarding claims 3 and 4, the reference teaches using sulfate salts of the active metals to adjust the concentration (See Pg. 2, right column, last para. section 2.4).
Regarding claim 6, the reference use NaOH to raise the pH (Pg. 3, left column, first para).
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.
Claim(s) 5 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zheng et al. “A closed-loop process for recycling LiNixCoyMn(1-x-y)O2 from mixed cathode materials…”.
Regarding claim 5, the reference teaches raising the pH to 10.2 (Pg. #47, right column, first para).
A prima facie case of obviousness exists where the claimed ranges or amounts do not overlap with the prior art but are merely close (MPEP §2144.05 I.).
Regarding claim 14, The reference teaches adding active metal salts and then removing the impurities of Fe, Cu and Zn. The reference does not teach first removing the impurities and then adjusting the active metal amounts by adding the respective precursor salts.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary level of skill in the art to add the precursor salts after removing the impurities. Changing the sequence of adding ingredients is considered obvious (MPEP §2144.04 II. B).
Claim(s) 5 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wei et al. “Synthesis of LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2 from mixed cathode materials of spent lithium-ion batteries”.
Regarding claims 5 and 12, the reference teaches the precipitation pH is 7.8 (Pg., #5, left column, last para).
A prima facie case of obviousness exists where the claimed ranges or amounts do not overlap with the prior art but are merely close (MPEP §2144.05 I.).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SYED TAHA IQBAL whose telephone number is (571)270-5857. The examiner can normally be reached M-F; 7-5.
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/SYED T IQBAL/ Examiner, Art Unit 1736
/ANTHONY J ZIMMER/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1736