Appeal No. 1996-0270
Application 08/118,128
decontamination in a slurry which contains a small amount of
soil and a large amount of water.
As for whether one of ordinary skill in the art would
have reasonably expected Sun’s method to be effective when
applied to a slurry containing soil contaminated with 2,4-D,
rather than to an aqueous solution of 2,4-D as in Sun’s tests,
we note the following.
Sun teaches that a promising method for decomposing 2,4-
D, which was demonstrated using an aqueous solution of 2,4-D,
is oxidation by use of hydrogen peroxide and Fe (page 322). 3+
Sun also teaches that one of the two proposed mechanisms
proposed for the oxidation using hydrogen peroxide and Fe , 3+
i.e., the classical radical mechanism, involves the Fenton
reaction (page 326). Appellant acknowledges that Fenton-type3
systems were known in the art to be effective for oxidizing
soil contaminants in soil suspensions (specification, page 3,
lines 8-20). 4
3 The other disclosed mechanism involves formation of
high-valent iron-oxo specides originating from either Fe(II)
or FE(III) (page 326).
4 It is axiomatic that our consideration of the prior art
must, of necessity, include consideration of the admitted
6
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