Appeal No. 2000-1808
Application No. 07/855,016
In rejecting all of the appealed claims under Section 103,
the examiner relies only on the disclosure of Wortel to establish
obviousness of the catalyst used in the claimed process. Thus,
the dispositive question is whether Wortel would have suggested
the claimed catalyst within the meaning of 35 U.S.C. § 103. On
this record, we answer this question in the negative.
Wortel teaches using disc shape zeolite particles having the
claimed amounts of K2O, SiO2, A12O3 and an aspect ratio of less
than 0.5 as hydrocarbon reforming catalysts. See column 10,
lines 25-45. These disc shape zeolite particles have a size of
0.5 to 1 micron. See columns 17 and 18, Table 3, Example 16.
Although Wortel teaches that small quantities of other metal
cations and salt forming anions can be present, it teaches that
their presence promotes the formation of crystalline
contaminants, such as erionite. See column 10, line 60 to column
11, line 12. Wortel not only does not specifically teach adding
a divalent cation to its disc shape zeolite particles, but also
does not recognize the advantages of using the same, i.e., the
claimed advantage of forming flatter basal planes and the
unclaimed advantage of reducing the formation of crystalline
contaminants.
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