Appeal No. 2006-0601
Application No. 10/430,030
gasifier 22” (column 5, lines 18-19). We do not perceive and the
appellant does not explain how conduit 48 would be capable of
transferring heat without also necessarily transferring at least
some exhaust from the combustor to the gasifier. Analogously,
Sacks unambiguously discloses transferring solid heat-
transferring particles from combustion zone 11 to gasification
zone 12 (e.g., see the paragraph bridging columns 1 and 2),
and there is no perceptible way such transfer could take
place without also necessarily transferring some exhaust
along with the heat-transfer particles.
It is, of course, technically possible to transfer heat
from one piece of equipment to another without also transferring
gas, such as via an indirect heat transfer technique.
Significantly, such indirect heat transfer techniques are
disclosed by both Horgan (e.g., see waste heat boiler 30
disposed within fluidized bed combustor 20) and Sacks (e.g., see
patentee’s indirect heat exchange techniques using
pebbles in figures 1, 3 and 4). It is appropriate to emphasize
that the disclosure of heat transfer from combustor to
gasifier in both Horgan and Sacks is not associated with
the indirect heat transfer disclosures of these references.
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