Appeal No. 2002-0404
Application No. 08/859,143
from the system through line 20 and most of the volatiles are
recycled to reactor 10 through line 21; sending a small portion
of the butyl acrylate reaction product from line 15 to a butanol
recovery unit 27 through line 23, where the volatiles are sent
back to reactor 10 through line 28 and the residues are removed
via line 30; recycling a portion of the highly volatiles of the
finishing distillation tower to line 15 and sending the
remainder to the butanol recovery unit through line 26; and
recycling the residues of the finishing distillation tower to
reactor 10. (Column 1, line 59 to column 2, line 65.)
Erpenbach is cited for its teaching of a high purity
(99.9%) butyl acrylate product free from butyl ether. (Answer,
pages 6-7.) We note, however, that the examiner fails to
explain how the teachings of Erpenbach should be combined with
the teachings of Dougherty.
With regard to the process claims, the examiner
characterizes the difference between the invention recited in
the appealed claims and Dougherty as follows (answer, page 4):
The difference between the applicants [sic] claimed
invention and the Dougherty et al. reference is that
the reference uses a finishing distillation tower,
instead of a splitter distillation column in
conjunction with an acrylate distillation column, to
carry out the separation of the overhead fraction from
the acrylate product/residues and in turn the residues
from the acrylate product (see reference drawing).
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