Appeal No. 1997-1593
Application No. 08/469,685
e) after recovering the product as recited in step (d),
purging said first one of the compartments with carrier gas;
f) just prior to the unreacted feed transfer of step (c),
switching the feed gas supply from the reaction zone inlet
port of said first one of the compartments to the reaction
zone inlet port of said next compartment in the series and
switching the carrier gas supply from the reaction zone inlet
port of said preceding compartment to the reaction zone inlet
port of said first compartment in the series, so that the feed
gas and the unreacted feed gas react in the reaction zone of
said next compartment to produce the mixture which includes
product and unreacted feed gas and so that the mixture is
passed to the upstream section of the separation zone of said
next compartment wherein product is separated from the
unreacted feed gas so as to effect a substantially
simultaneous reaction and separation, and so that the
unreacted feed gas exits the separation zone outlet port;
g) repeating the cycle of steps (c) through (f) in a
continuous manner so that the compartment in which the
reaction and separation occurs advances sequentially around
the series of compartments in the closed loop.
13. An apparatus for reacting a feed gas to produce a
reaction mixture, which includes a product and unreacted feed
gas, and for separating the product from the reaction mixture,
the apparatus comprising:
a plurality of compartments connected in series;
each compartment comprising a reaction zone which
includes a reaction zone inlet port connected to a feed gas
line, and a separation zone which includes at least one
separation zone outlet port, which zones allow substantially
simultaneous reaction of feed gas and separation of product
from the reaction mixture;
each separation zone outlet port connected to the
reaction zone inlet port of the next compartment downstream in
the series and the last compartment in the series connected to
the first compartment of the series to provide a closed loop;
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