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 Objections
Claim 8 objected to because of the following informalities: "wherein after the carbon black slag powder are mixed" should read as "wherein after the carbon black slag powder is mixed". Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-18 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 1, the claim recites “mixing a carbon black slag powder, a porous alumina with a polar solution”. It is unclear the order in which reactants are added, if the carbon black and alumina are added together, and then a polar solution is added, or if the alumina is first mixed with a polar solution and the carbon black slag powder is added to the alumina and polar solution mixture. The claim recites “then mixing a magnetic powder with a crosslinking agent”. It is unclear if the magnetic powder and crosslinking agent are mixed separately and then added to the carbon black slag powder, porous alumina and polar solution, or if the magnetic powder and then the crosslinking are added to the mixture of the carbon black slag powder, porous alumina, and polar solution.
Regarding claim 2, the claim recites “adjusting the pH of the solution again to 5.8-9.6”. The pH of the solution was previously adjusted to 3.1-3.4, and the claim reads as the pH adjusted a twice to the range of 5.8-9.6. The claim recites “still standing”, it is unclear what this means. Appropriate correction and clarification are required.
Regarding claim 4, the claim recites “dissolving a sulfate in an acid solution, adding oxalic acid and/or oxalate solution to the solution”. It is unclear what “the solution” is. Appropriate correction and clarification are required.
Regarding claim 7, the claim recites “wherein the ratio of the mass of the carbon black slag powder, to the mass of the porous alumina and to the volume of the polar solution”. The ratio is indefinite since the units of mass and volume are not provided. Appropriate correction and clarification are required.
Claims 2-18 are rejected for depending from claim 1, without resolving the ambiguity.
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, 5-7, and 10-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoichi et al. (JP S57135721A) (reference made to the machine translation) in view of Kraft (GB 1577930A).
Regarding claim 1 Yoichi et al. (JP S57135721A) teaches a porous alumina adsorbent (paragraph [0002]), lines 5 and 15), mixed with carbon black (paragraph [0002], line 26), with an alcohol or water (paragraph [0002], line 12 and 26) (corresponding to a polar solvent), molding (paragraph [0002], line 27), and calcining (paragraph [0002], line 67). Additionally, other molding aids as needed are added (paragraph [0002], line 56), preferred additives include basic nitrogen compounds such as aliphatic amines, aromatic amines (paragraph [0002], line 63), (corresponding to the crosslinking agent). The resulting mixture is extruded through die holes using an extrusion molding machine, and can be matured in a sealed container, the alumina molded products formed during these methods are dried and calcined to become porous active alumina molded products, during the firing stage the alumina becomes activated alumina, and the support acquires catalytic properties (paragraph [0002], lines 64-69) (corresponding to injecting the mixture into a forming mold for treatment, molding, and stripping off, and then performing an activation treatment). Yoichi et al. teaches that there are no particular restrictions on the types of carbon black that can be used, and lists possible commercial carbon black materials such as furnace blacks (paragraph [0002], lines 42-44). Yoichi et al. does not teach adding a magnetic powder to the alumina and carbon black mixture.
Kraft (GB 1577930A) teaches an adsorbent material that may comprise of carbon and alumina and a matrix material with a crosslinked hydrophilic polymer and ferromagnetic particles (page 2 lines 30-35, 40-45). Additionally, the ferromagnetic particles are in a polar solvent (page 2, line 60). Kraft teaches a method for making the adsorbent material comprising of mixing the adsorbent particle and magnetic particles with and a cross-linking agent (claim 11).
Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have combined the teachings of Yoichi et al. of the alumina adsorbent with carbon black with the teaching of Kraft to achieve a magnetic alumina adsorbent with carbon black. Kraft teaches the benefit of having a magnetic adsorbent, by using an external magnetic field to recover the adsorbent (page 6, lines 12-13).
Regarding claim 5, Yoichi et al. teaches the solvent as water or an alcohol (paragraph [0002], line 12 and 26), in which phenol, n-butanol, butanol, propanol, ethanol are species of. Yoichi et al. also teaches acetic acid as a solution (paragraph [0002], line 130).
Regarding claim 6, Yoichi et al. teaches preferred additives include basic nitrogen compounds such as aliphatic amines, aromatic amines (paragraph [0002], line 63), in which vinyl amines and m-phenylenediamine are species of.
Regarding claim 7, Yoichi et al. teaches 225 g of alumina, 67.5 g of carbon black, and 225 g of acetic acid (paragraph [0002] line 130). The ratio of the weights corresponds to 54:180:180 which meets the ratio of the instant claims.
Regarding claims 10-18, the product by process limitations are noted by the examiner. Yoichi et al. in view of Kraft teach a magnetic aluminum-based adsorbent. The disclosed product of and the instantly claimed product appear to be essentially the same, comprised of the same components and used in the same manner. In the event any differences can be shown for the product of the product-by-process claims 10-18 as opposed to the product taught by Yoichi et al. in view of Kraft, such differences would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art as a routine modification of the product in the absence of a showing of unexpected results. See In re Thorpe, 227 USPQ 964 (Fed. Cir. 1985).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoichi et al. (JP S57135721A) (reference made to the machine translation) in view of Kraft (GB 1577930A) as applied to claims 1, 5-7, 10-18 above, and further in view of Haijun et al. (CN109536724A) (reference made to the machine translation).
Regarding claim 4 Yoichi et al. does not teach a preparation method for a sulfate obtained from leaching of battery powder in order to obtain a magnetic powder. Kraft teaches a large number of substances available to invest the composite adsorbent material with the desired magnetic properties, with such examples as magnetite, gamma iron oxide, and soft or hard ferrites (page 2, line 41).
However, Haijun et al. (CN109536724A) does teach the extraction of Ni and Co from the leached battery powder in order to prepare a magnetic powder. Haijun et al. teaches a method for cobalt and nickel purification based on waste battery metal recycling process, in which a solution of nickel sulfate and cobalt sulfate (correspond to a sulfate), is dissolved in sulfuric acid (paragraph [0012]). Next, ammonium oxalate (corresponding to an oxalate solution) is added to precipitate the cobalt and nickel (paragraph [0016]). The mixture of cobalt oxalate and nickel oxalate precipitates are then calcinated to obtain cobalt oxide and nickel oxide powders (paragraph [0017]). While not explicitly stated it is the position of the examiner than the mixture of the cobalt oxide and nickel oxide would be magnetic due to the inherent nature of the chemical properties of cobalt oxide and nickel oxide which are both paramagnetic. When the examiner has reason to believe that the functional language asserted to be critical for establishing novelty in claimed subject matter may in fact be an inherent characteristic of the prior art, the burden of proof is shifted to Applicants to prove that the subject matter shown in the prior art does not possess the characteristics relied upon. In re Fitzgerald et al. 205 USPQ 594.
Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have combined the teachings of Yoichi et al. and Kraft of the magnetic powder for the alumina adsorbent with recycled Ni and Co that is taught by Haijun et al. Kraft teaches synthesizing an alumina adsorbent with desired magnetic properties, and soft iron ferrites, in which a soft iron ferrite contains iron oxide and other metal oxides such as nickel. Therefore, it would have been obvious to use the diamagnetic Ni and Co that is taught by Haijun et al. as the source for the magnetic powder that is taught by Kraft.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-3 and 8-9 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Regarding claims 2-3, Yoichi et al. does not comment on the preparation of the porous alumina. Suehiro et al. (JP2018030771A) (references made to machine translation) teaches a first raw material preparation step by adjusting the pH of a liquid containing dissolved aluminum salt to precipitate aluminum hydroxide (paragraph [0023]), in which the aluminum hydroxide is dispersed in a mixture of water, or an organic solvent that is compatible with water (paragraph [0025]). Water soluble aluminum salts can be used without any particular limitations, with examples including aluminum chloride, aluminum nitrate, aluminum sulfate, aluminum lactate, aluminum acetate, aluminum oxalate, aluminum phosphate, and well as aluminum secondary butylates and aluminum isopropylates (paragraph [0027]). When preparing the solution from an aluminum salt the pH can be adjusted to approximately 4 to 11 using an alkali such as ammonia (paragraph [0028]). A second raw material solution is made, in which a carboxylic acid is adsorbed onto aluminum hydroxide (paragraph [0029]). Examples of the carboxylic acid include oxalic and citric acid (corresponding to an anti-hydration agent of at least one of an oxalate and a citrate) (paragraph [0032]), and stirring in the citric acid (paragraph [0059]) The particle formation can be carried out with a spray pyrolysis method, in addition heating furnaces can be used (paragraph [0037], [0040]), after spray pyrolysis, portion of material was further calcined (paragraph [0063]).
Suehiro et al. does not teach adjust the pH to 3.1-3.4, washing the solution, or using a meta-aluminate which was obtained from adding acid to leach battery powder and adding alkali and carbonate during the wet process of recycling waste batteries.
Regarding claim 8 and 9, Yoichi et al. teaches mixing the carbon black and alumina with water, transferring to a kneader, and kneading. The kneaded material is extruded using an extruder through a die hole of a desired size. The molded product can be aged in a closed container if desired. The alumina molded bodies are dried and fired, and become porous activated alumina molded bodies. In order to obtain the activated alumina, compact of the invention, Yoichi et al. teaches burning off the carbon black in the firing step, and the temperature is approximately 200 °C or higher (paragraph [0002] lines 60-77). Yoichi et al. does not teach a first molding tank and a plurality of second molding tanks being symmetrically arranged, or the use of said molding tanks. Additionally, the activation temperature and hot acid is not taught.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HANNAH E KETCHAM whose telephone number is (571)270-0742. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-5pm.
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/H.E.K./ Examiner, Art Unit 1742 /CHRISTINA A JOHNSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1742
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