Appeal No. 1998-1579
Application No. 08/388,532
the ASO from adversely affecting the catalyst activity and the
quality of the alkylation product (col. 1, lines 33-55).
Eastman discloses a method wherein an alkylation product is
separated from a sulfone catalyst component/ASO mixture and
then the sulfone and ASO are separated by extraction using
water such that an ASO phase and a sulfone/water phase are
formed (col. 2, lines 29-36; col. 9, lines 35-60).
The examiner argues that Eastman discloses “the
contacting of a hydrocarbon mixture with sulfolane [a
sulfone], water phase, and a sulfolane containing hydrogen
fluoride catalyst in column 12, lines 60-66” (answer, page 3).
This portion of Eastman, however, discloses obtaining a
sulfolane/water mixture by concentrating the sulfolane in the
sulfolane/water phase from an ASO/sulfolane separation, and
using it as part of the alkylation catalyst. This portion of
the reference does not indicate that the water extracts
sulfolane from the alkylation product.
The examiner argues that because ASO and paraffin
hydrocarbon alkylation products both are hydrocarbons, one of
ordinary skill in the art would have expected that since water
is effective for separating ASO from sulfones, it also would
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