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 § 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.
Claims 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yeon et al (KR20200012563, English translation) in view of Hwan et al (KR20210072986, English translation).
‘563, paragraph 32, teaches 1) preparing an active carrier by supporting a mixture comprising a main catalyst precursor and a promoter precursor on a support; 2) drying the active carrier through multistage drying; 3) preparing a supported catalyst by heat treating the dried active support.
‘563, paragraph 38, teaches in order to uniformly support the main catalyst precursor and the cocatalyst precursor on a support, the main catalyst precursor and the cocatalyst precursor are added to a solvent.
‘563, paragraph 104, teaches the supported active material is heat-treated to prepare a supported catalyst.
‘563, paragraph 105, teaches when the heat treatment is performed, a supported catalyst in which the main catalyst and the promoter are present in the state of being coated on the surface and the pores of the support is prepared.
‘563, paragraph 107, teaches the heat treatment may be carried out at 600 to 800 ℃.
Heat treating at 600-800oC as taught by ‘563 reads on the step of sintering as claimed in claim 1 and 12.
Although ‘563 teaches a mixing step, ‘563 does not teach the mixing step performed under a pressure of 1.5 bar to 4.5 bar.
‘986, abstract, teaches a catalyst including a porous support and a catalyst metal, introducing the catalyst, a solvent, and an ionomer into a chamber, and infiltrating the ionomer into the pores of the support.
‘986 teaches the pressure applied to the contents of the chamber may be 2 bar to 200 bar.
‘986, paragraph 18, teaches the catalyst metal is bonded to the outer surface of the support and the inner surface of the pores of the support.
It 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 to mix the components ‘563 with a pressure of 2 bar to 200 bar as taught by ‘986 to ensure the catalyst metal is bonded to the outer surface of the support and the inner surface of the pores of the support.
Regarding claim 2, ‘986, paragraph 18, teaches the pressure applied to the contents of the chamber may be 2 bar to 200 bar.
Regarding claim 3, ‘563, paragraph 46, teaches the main catalyst may be at least one selected from the group consisting of cobalt, iron, nickel, manganese and chromium, of which cobalt is preferable.
Regarding claim 4, ‘563, paragraph 49, teaches the cocatalyst precursors are NH4VO3 , NaVO3 , V2O5, V(C5H7O2)3, (NH4) 6Mo7O24 , and (NH4) 6 Mo7O24·4H.
Regarding claim 5, ‘563, paragraph 51, teaches the mixture may include the main catalyst precursor and the cocatalyst precursor such that the molar ratio of the main catalyst and the cocatalyst is 40:1 to 3:1.
Regarding claim 6, ‘563, paragraph 42, teaches the support may include at least one selected from the group consisting of α-Al2O3 , γ-Al2O3, and AlO(OH) as an element that may affect the shape of the carbon nanotubes.
Regarding claim 7, ‘563, paragraph 164, teaches a catalyst specific surface area of 243, 250 and 252 m2/g.
Regarding claims 8-9, ‘563, paragraph 97, teaches vacuum drying under the vibration may be performed at 1 to 200 mbar.
Regarding claim 10, ‘563 teaches vacuum drying under the vibration may be carried out at 175-300oC.
Regarding claim 11, ‘563, paragraph 107, teaches the heat treatment may be carried out at 600 to 800 ℃, it is preferably carried out at 650 to 750 ℃.
The heat treatment may be performed for 1 to 12 hours, preferably 2 to 8 hours.
Regarding claim 12, ‘563, paragraph 117, teaches the supported catalyst may be introduced into a reactor. Subsequently, the gaseous carbonaceous compound or the gaseous carbonaceous compound and the reducing gas. Carbon nanotubes can be grown by chemical vapor phase synthesis through the decomposition of a carbon-based compound in a gaseous state by injecting a mixed gas of hydrogen or the like and a carrier gas (for example, nitrogen).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US20100158788 teaches a supported catalyst.
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/STEFANIE J COHEN/Examiner, Art Unit 1732 3/5/26
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