Appeal 2007-0620
Application 10/323,626
Claims 1, 17, and 33, as they stand of record,1 illustrate Appellants’
invention of a process for preparing chlorine by gas-phase oxidation of
hydrogen chloride by means of a gas stream comprising molecular oxygen in
the presence of a fixed-bed catalyst, and are representative of the claims on
appeal:
1. A process for preparing chlorine by gas-phase oxidation of
hydrogen chloride by means of a gas stream comprising molecular oxygen in
the presence of a fixed-bed catalyst, which is carried out in a reactor having
a bundle of parallel catalyst tubes which are aligned in the longitudinal
direction of the reactor and are fixed at their ends into tube plates, with a cap
at each end of the reactor and with one or more deflection plates which are
arranged perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the reactor in the
intermediate space between the catalyst tubes and leave passages located
alternately on opposite sides of the reactor free next to the interior wall of
the reactor, with the catalyst tubes being charged with the fixed-bed catalyst,
the hydrogen chloride and the gas stream comprising molecular oxygen
being passed from one end to the reactor via a cap through the catalyst tubes
and the gaseous reaction mixture being taken off from the opposite end of
the reactor via the second cap and a liquid heat transfer medium being
passed through the intermediate space around the catalyst tubes in a defined,
virtually purely transverse flow of the liquid heat transfer medium against
the catalyst tubes.
17. A process as claimed in claim 1 carried out in a reactor in which
gaps of from 0.1 to 0.4 mm are present between the catalyst tubes and the
deflection plates.
33. A process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reactor includes at
least two reaction zones which are separated in a largely liquid-tight manner
by means of dividing plates.
The Examiner relies on the evidence in these references:
1 Claim 17 as copied in the Claim Appendix (Br. 12) erroneously contains
the phrase “only in perpendicular direction to the catalyst tubes” which was
2
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: September 9, 2013