Appeal No. 1997-0793
Application 08/107,633
gas stream (12) that includes hydrocarbon gases and tar fumes
(col. 2, lines 1-6 and 23-32).
Step b: The carbonaceous material from the semi-coking
reactor is gasified in a combustion chamber (9) to which air
is added and a gas generator (18) to which steam is added
(col. 2, lines 6-11 and 33-55). There is no disclosure that
air must be excluded from the gas generator. Consequently,
the reference indicates that the method is open to the
presence of air which, as indicated by Reh (col. 1, lines 22-
24), was a known gasifying
agent for solid fuels. Reh teaches that use of oxygen from
air in the gasification of solid fuels has the benefit of
providing control of the gasification temperature and product
composition (col. 3, lines 7-14; col. 4, lines 22-23). Thus,
one of ordinary skill in the art would have been led by the
applied prior art to allow some air to be present to avoid the
expense of sealing the system against air, and further would
have been led to use air, if desired, to obtain the benefit
disclosed by Reh of the oxygen in the air. Both the
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