Appeal No. 2005-2465
Application 10/293,373
feed is subjected to delayed coking at 50 psig and 900° F, that is, 482°C, to yield more coke than
if the air blowing step is not used.
We find that the steps of the process of the British Petroleum Example reasonably appear
to fall within and satisfy each process step specified in appealed claim 1 with the exception of
step “b)” of “heating the oxidized reside feed to a temperature effective for coking said feed,”
which is a pre-heating step to prepare the oxidized reside feed for charging to the delayed coker
drum in step “c),” as pointed out by the examiner. We agree with the examiner that Hess
acknowledges preheating a feedstock before coking and that such step was known in the art as
we find substantial evidence to support the examiner’s position in the acknowledgement in Hess
that “[i]n the delayed coking process . . . the heavy oil feedstock is heated rapidly in a fired
heater or tubular furnace from which it flows directly to a large coking drum which is maintained
at conditions at which coking occurs” was known in the art (e.g., col. 2, ll. 39-45). Thus,
contrary to appellants’ arguments, we find that the use of the pre-heating step in a delayed
coking process was within the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the art, and this person
would thus have inferred that such a step is included in the delayed coking process of the British
Petroleum Example,3 or would have routinely modified the process of the Example to include
such a step. See B.F. Goodrich Co. v. Aircraft Braking Sys. Corp., 72 F.3d 1577, 1582, 37
USPQ2d 1314, 1318 (Fed. Cir. 1996) (“When obviousness is based on a particular prior art
reference, there must be a showing of a suggestion or motivation to modify the teachings of that
reference. [Citation omitted.] This suggestion or motivation need not be expressly stated.
[Citation omitted.]”). Indeed, appellants acknowledge that this process step is known as well
(specification, page 1, [0004]).
We recognize that British Petroleum is silent with respect to whether the amount of one
or more of asphaltenes, polars, and organically bound oxygen groups in the oxidized resid is
increased. We find in this respect that the process of the reference Example increased the
Conradson carbon reside value (see page 1, ll. 53-61), and thus, one of ordinary skill in the art
3 It is well settled that a reference stands for all of the specific teachings thereof as well as the
inferences one of ordinary skill in this art would have reasonably been expected to draw
therefrom, see In re Fritch, 972 F.2d 1260, 1264-65, 23 USPQ2d 1780, 1782-83 (Fed. Cir.
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