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 .
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.
Priority
3. This application is a 371 of PCT/GB2022/051218 05/13/2022.
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application UNITED KINGDOM 2106951.3 05/14/2021 filed on 11/06/23.
Information Disclosure Statement
4. The information disclosure statement (IDS), filed on 11/06/23 and 02/06/24 have been considered. Please refer to Applicant's copy of the 1449 submitted herewith.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-4, 6-9, 11-12, 15-16 and species optional divalent cation Mg2+, Al3+ trivalent cation, and Q as acetone in the reply filed on 07/06/26 is acknowledged.
Claims 1-4, 6-9, 11-12, 15-17, 19, 21-25 are pending. Claims 17, 19, 21-25 are directed to non-elected invention. Accordingly, claims 17, 19, 21-25 are withdrawn from further consideration by the examiner, 37 C.F.R. §1.142(b), as being drawn to a non-elected invention. Claims 1-4, 6-9, 11-12, 15-16 are examined in this Office action.
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.
Claims 1-4, 6-9, 11-12, 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by O’Hare (WO 2019/086905; for convenience patent family US 2020/0317829 applied).
Regarding claims 1, 3-4, O'Hare discloses a process for preparing a catalyst support, the process comprising the steps of: a) providing a layered double hydroxide (LDH), wherein LDH comprises a first metal cation M selected from Mg.sup.2+, Zη.sup.2+ and Ni.sup.2+ and a second metal cation M′ that is Al.sup.3+; b) thermally treating the layered double hydroxide to a temperature of 100 to 500 °C (fall into claimed range of 100-600 °C); and c) contacting the thermally treated layered double hydroxide with an organoaluminium compound (para [0007]-[0014], [0048]-[0051], [0075], [0253]-[0263]), meeting the requirement of claims 1, 3, 4.
Regarding claim 2, O'Hare discloses LDH has composition according to formula:
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cation M and M’ are Ni and Al (Ni/Al), respectively (para [0051], [0055]-[0067]), fall into the claim 2 range of Ni²⁺ accounts for at least 30 mol% of all monovalent and divalent metal cations present within the layered double hydroxide provided in step a).
Regarding claim 6, O'Hare discloses oxyanion such as carbonate, bicarbonate, , borate, nitrate, phosphate, sulphate and bisulphate (para [0052]).
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Regarding claims 7-9, 11-12, O'Hare discloses LDH has composition according to formula:
cation M and M’ are Ni and Al (Ni/Al), respectively, wherein the solvent is organic solvent such as acetone or ethanol, and oxyanion such as carbonate (para [0051]-[0052], [0055]-[0067], [0074]), read on claimed features when w=1.
Regarding claim 15, O'Hare discloses thermally treating the layered double hydroxide at a temperature of 150-250 °C (para [0254]), fall into claimed range of 150-450 °C.
Regarding claim 16, O'Hare discloses 30-50 wt % of methylaluminoxane (para [0265]), fall into claimed range of 10 to 70 wt%.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KUMAR R BHUSHAN whose telephone number is (313)446-4807. The examiner can normally be reached 9.00 AM to 5.50 PM (EST).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, RANDY P GULAKOWSKI can be reached at (571)272-1302. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KUMAR R BHUSHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1766
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