Appeal No. 2005-0440
Application No. 09/994,075
line 66 to column 2, line 4.) While Eckert’s disclosure focuses
on “a peroxide-based delignifying and bleaching solution” at a
pH between about 1 and about 7 (column 1, lines 16-19; column 3,
lines 56-58), the reference teaches that the bleaching agent is
added to a slurry of the pulp.
Evans discloses a method of deinking recycled fibers by
disintegrating waste paper in an alkaline aqueous solution
containing sodium sulfite and sodium carbonate to produce a
fibrous slurry having a pH of at least about 7.5, separating the
ink from the fibers, and removing the ink from the slurry.
(Column 1, lines 47-52.) According to Evans, the disclosed
process “advantageously provides the alkalinity needed to
separate the ink without embrittling or darkening the fibers.”
(Column 1, lines 52-54.) Evans further states that the addition
of a combination of the sodium sulfite and sodium carbonate into
the pulp slurry eliminates or greatly reduces the need for
“additional bleaching.” (Column 2, lines 47-50; column 3, lines
34-51.)
We agree with the examiner that the teachings of WO ’308
and Eckert or Evans, taken together, would have led one of
ordinary skill in the art to add sodium sulfite or a combination
of sodium sulfite and sodium carbonate into the pulp slurry of
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