Appeal No. 2001-0697 Page 7
Application No. 09/125,033
allowing more NH3 to evolve from the unstable ammonium lactate, and leave
more lactate ions for reaction with the alcohol to form the ester.” Column 8, lines
23-36.
The record contains no evidence that the properties which are put forward
by Walkup as important to the success of the ammonia-using method—instability
of the lactate salt and stabilization of the bicarbonate salt by CO2 —would have
been expected in a similar process using, e.g., sodium hydroxide or calcium
hydroxide to maintain the pH of the fermentation medium. That is, there is no
evidence that sodium lactate or calcium lactate are unstable (like ammonium
lactate) nor is there evidence that CO2 stabilizes sodium bicarbonate or calcium
bicarbonate. Thus, there is no basis in the record to expect that substitution of a
sodium- or calcium -containing base for Walkup’s ammonia would provide the
same benefits observed by Walkup.
Therefore, the evidence does not support the examiner’s position that it
would have been obvious to “use a sodium or calcium base in neutralizing the
fermentation broth with the production of the sodium or calcium salt of the acid
present in said broth and to use said salt(s) in the esterification process taught by
Walkup.” Examiner’s Answer, pages 4-5. The examiner has pointed to nothing
else in the references that would have motivated the skilled artisan to combine a
sodium- or calcium -containing base with Walkup’s process. Since the cited
references would not have motivated those skilled in the art to modify the known
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