Appeal 2007-0620
Application 10/323,626
divided into at least two sections with partitions and the heating media are
independently circulated in the partitioned sections” (id. col. 6, l. 58, to col.
7, l. 2). “The partitions may be directly fixed to the tubular reactors by
welding, although a gap may be left between each partition and the tubular
reaction to an extent that the heating media can be substantially
independently circulated” (id. col. 7, ll. 2-6). “The heating medium in the
jacket is preferably flowed from the bottom to the top of the jacket so that
the medium has no cavitation therein” (id. col. 7, ll. 6-8). Iwanaga
exemplifies the use of “a fixed bed reactor . . . consisted of a nickel tubular
reactor . . . equipped with a jacket” (id. col. 7, ll. 52-56).
We find Smith would have disclosed to one of ordinary skill in this art
a reaction apparatus for, inter alia, exothermic chemical reactions, in which
an inert diluent, thermally stable recycle reactant, or product is utilized to
heat or cool the reaction stream (Smith, e.g., col. 1, l. 23, to col. 2, l. 3, and
col. 2, ll. 9-26). The reactor illustrated in Smith’s Fig. 1 has reactor shell 1
with reactant stream inlet and product stream outlet 2,3 and a reaction
chamber containing parallel reaction tubes 4 extending longitudinally
between supporting plates 5,6 which are secured to the wall of shell 1,
wherein reactor tubes 4 can be filled with a catalyst (id. col. 2, ll. 34-44,
and col. 4, ll. 57-62). The space between plates 5,6 and the reactor wall
forms heat exchange chamber 7 with inlet and outlet 8,9 for heat exchange
medium circulation (id. col. 2, ll. 34-44). In chamber 7, a series of
alternating, horizontal baffles 10, perpendicular to reaction tubes 4, form a
series of zones providing flow of the heat exchange medium transversely
McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1973).
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