Appeal No. 1997-0159
Application 08/172,579
b) directing said feed into the molten metal bath at a rate which causes the
concentration of carbon in the molten metal bath to be lower than the saturation limit for carbon
of said bath at the operating conditions of said molten metal bath, whereby the hydrocarbon
component of the feed can exhibit cleavage of at least one carbon-carbon bond of the
hydrocarbon component of said feed; and
c) establishing and maintaining conditions in said molten metal bath to cause cleavage
of at least one carbon-carbon bond of the hydrocarbon component to produce unsaturated
organic compounds, as products of said cleavage.
The sole reference now relied upon by the examiner is:
Nagel 5,191,154 Mar. 2, 1993
The appealed claims stand finally rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over
Nagel. See the Examiner's Answer at page 3 and the final rejection entered on May 1, 1995
as Paper No. 10.
We reverse.
The subject matter on appeal relates to a method for reforming hydrocarbons into
shorter-chain unsaturated organic compounds, such as ethylene. Reforming of hydrocarbons
is a defined process which involves the decomposition or cracking of hydrocarbon gases or
low-octane petroleum fractions by heat and pressure either with or without a catalyst. See The
Condensed Chemical Dictionary, 10th Edition, edited by Hawley, copyright 1981 at pages 886
and 887, copy attached. Appellants' claimed reforming method involves the steps of providing
a molten metal bath of an elemental metal which is capable of causing cleavage of at least one
carbon-carbon bond of hydrocarbon component of a hydrocarbon-containing feed. The feed is
directed into the molten metal bath at a rate which causes the concentration of carbon in the
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