Appeal No. 1997-4285 Page 14
Application No. 08/420,852
added to the wastewater in the clarifier 40 as required by
claim 9 but is added to the wastewater in mixer reactor 22.
Thus, step (a) of claim 9 is not taught by Pahmeier.
It is our view that claim 1 requires that steps (a), (b),
(c) and (d) be performed in a reactor/settling tank. We reach
this conclusion based upon
(1) step (a) reciting placing wastewater into a
reactor/settling tank;
(2) step (b) reciting additively mixing a water purifying
composition and an oxidant into the wastewater to yield a
mixture;
(3) step (c) reciting neutralizing the pH of the mixture to
7.5-9.4; and
(4) step (d) reciting allowing the mixture to stand until the
purifying composition forms a sludge at the bottom of the tank
leaving an essentially heavy metal and oil free supernatant.
While Pahmeier's clarifier 40 is a tank in which steps (a),
(c) and (d) are performed, step (b) is not performed in
Pahmeier's clarifier 40. In that regard, Pahmeier's oxidizing
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