Appeal No: 1997-1820
Application No: 08/313,941
less than about 200 ppm sulfur (Paper 32 at 4). Miller does
not appear to teach acid washing of the carbon support as
required by claim 24.
Richardson teaches that catalysts may be poisoned by
sulfur and phosphorus in certain forms. Richardson teaches
that sulfide ions (SH ) and phosphine ions (PH ) are toxic to2 3
catalysts while sulfate ions (SO ) and phosphate ions (PO )2- 3-
4 4
are not.
Goleva teaches acid washing of the carbon catalyst to
increase its ability to catalyze a particular
dehydrochlorination reaction. The examiner offers no evidence
that hydrogenation reactions and dehydrochlorination reactions
require similar catalytic conditions.
Hassler teaches that, generally, activated carbon
contains sulfur in a concentration of "traces to over 2
percent" and phosphates in a concentration of "from zero to
over 3 percent." Hassler states that "(l)ittle or no
information is available on other phosphorous compounds that
may be present in carbon" (Hassler at 344).
The examiner takes the position that, given the teachings
of the prior art, it would have been obvious to wash the
catalyst of Miller with acid. According to the examiner, such
-8-
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