Appeal No. 1996-3491
Application 08/213,347
Appellants address the
afterburning problem by strategically increasing the
concentration of oxygen present in the regenerator in areas in
which the oxygen is starved and carbon monoxide is
preferentially produced. Specifically, appellants increase
the presence of oxygen in the regenerator by directly
injecting oxygen into one of two air streams and thus increase
the oxygen concentration in an air stream that is injected
into the catalyst bed. Significantly, this increase in oxygen
concentration is effected in appellants’ process in response
to a temperature differential that results from the excess
heat produced by the “afterburning” combustion. Accordingly,
appellants’ claimed process recites the critical step of
“increasing oxygen concentration in one of the first and
second streams of air, when the )T has an absolute value that
is greater than a predetermined value, until the absolute
value of )T is less than or equal to the predetermined value
(appealed claim 1, emphasis added).”
THE REJECTION UNDER 35 U.S.C. § 112, SECOND PARAGRAPH
The examiner rejected claims 1-15 under 35 U.S.C. § 112,
second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to
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