Appeal No. 2004-1800
Application No. 10/100,522
reiterate the conflicting viewpoints advanced by the Examiner and Appellants
concerning the above-noted rejections, we refer to the Answer and the Brief.
Appellants’ invention relates to a method of forming a light olefin product by
the catalytic cracking of a hydrocarbon. The method comprises co-feeding along
with the hydrocarbon feed at least one oxygen containing hydrocarbon such as an
alcohol or ether. The scope of Appellants’ invention can be ascertained from claim
1 reproduced below:
1. In a method for forming a light olefin product by the catalytic cracking of
a hydrocarbon feed that contains at least in part heavy olefins using both a catalyst
system and reaction conditions effective for the formation of light olefins, the
improvement comprising, co-feeding along with said hydrocarbon feed to said
catalytic cracking a minor effective amount of at least one oxygen containing
hydrocarbon selected from the group comprising alcohols, ketones, ethers,
carboxylic acids, polyols, aldehydes, cyclic ethers, epoxides, and mixtures of two or
more thereof, whereby aromatics and/or heavier hydrocarbons in said light olefin
product are reduced in amount below what they would have been had the oxygen
containing compound not been employed.
In order for a claimed invention to be anticipated under 35 U.S.C. § 102, all
of the elements of the claim must be found in one reference. Scripps Clinic &
Research Found. v. Genentech Inc., 927 F.2d 1565, 1576, 18 USPQ2d 1001, 1010
(Fed. Cir. 1991).
The subject matter of the independent claim 1 requires co-feeding along with
the hydrocarbon feed at least one oxygen containing hydrocarbon such as an alcohol
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