Appeal No. 1996-4171
Application 07/762,298
Appealed claims 1, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11 and 15-18 stand
rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over
Eccles.
Appealed claims 2, 3, 5 and 12-14 stand rejected under 35
U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Eccles in view of
Purolite.
We cannot sustain the stated rejections.
BACKGROUND
The subject matter on appeal relates to a method for
selectively removing heavy metal ions such as uranium ions
from an aqueous waste stream containing complexing anions to
reduce the level of heavy metal ion concentration in the waste
stream to less than 1 ppm (appealed claim 1) and preferably
less than 0.1 ppm (appealed claims 10 and 18). These “sub-ppm
levels” are achieved by contacting the waste stream with an
ion exchange resin containing amino-phosphonic functional
groups that are used to capture the heavy metals from the
and considered by the examiner on December 9, 1991. A
publication date has not been associated with this reference.
In view of our disposition of the issues raised by the
examiner’s rejections in this appeal, it is not necessary for
us to return the application to the examiner to determine the
publication date of the reference.
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