Appeal No. 1999-0700 Page 12
Application No. 08/590,580
and board making processes is cost prohibitive and raises concerns as to adverse effects on the
environment. Therefore, the objective of Kok's invention is to provide an economical process
and resultant product which permits the utilization of waste water sludge in an environmentally
safe manner (column 1, lines 16-27). With particular regard to claims 11, 12 and 19-23, the
resultant product is used in oil absorption applications or as animal litter material, for example
(column 1, lines 64-67). The sludge used as the starting material in Kok's process is fiber-
containing wet waste water "derived from a process in which fibers consisting wholly or
substantially of cellulose are produced, as is customary, in the manufacture of paper, pulp and
board" (column 2, lines 26-31). While Kok does disclose the use of waste water sludge
derived from a paper-making process generally, Kok does not specifically disclose the use of
"recycled fiber sludge" (i.e., waste water sludge derived from a plant that processes waste paper into
recycled fiber).
Lowe discloses the use of either primary process sludge (i.e., the waste material from the
manufacture of paper) or primary de-inked sludge (i.e., waste material from the manufacture of
recycled paper such as old newsprint or packaging materials) in a process for producing cat box filler.
In teaching that essentially the same method is used to treat both types of sludge to form an end product
(column 2, lines 22-24), Lowe recognizes the similarity between these two types of sludge in the
context of producing absorbent filler such as cat litter. The sludge is dewatered to a moisture content of
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