Appeal No. 2002-0249
Application No. 09/321,390
The dispositive question is, therefore, whether it would
have been obvious to employ the claimed open cell foam catalyst
bed as the catalyst bed of the autothermal reformer assembly
described in Clawson. On this record, we answer this question in
the affirmative.
We find that Clawson requires that its reforming catalytic
materials, such as noble metals, be deposited onto a support and
that the reforming zone resulting therefrom be sufficiently
porous. See page 16, line 23 to page 17, line 7; page 19, line
29 to page 20, line 7; and page 22, line 20 to page 23, line 2.
Although Clawson does not specifically mention using an open cell
foam support to form a reforming catalyst, we observe that it is
known in the art to focus on the shapes and/or configurations of
reforming catalysts to form an autothermal reforming assembly
having reduced size and weight as indicated supra.
We find that Narumiya teaches using an open cell foam
support together with a reforming catalytic material, such as a
noble metal catalyst layer, to reduce the weight and size of a
purification device. See column 2, lines 45-65, column 3, lines
15-46 and column 4, lines 27-49. We find that these open cell
foam catalysts also provide properties useful for and
advantageous to the reforming zone of the autothermal reformer
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