Appeal 2007-1822
Application 10/482,191
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
The subject matter of the claimed invention is a process of preparing
partial oxidation and/or ammoxidation products of olefins, utilizing
paraffinic hydrocarbons as the starting material. Such products are
“important intermediates, for example for the preparation of polymers.”
(Specification (hereafter “Spec.” 1.)
Prior art methods have proposed avoiding the separation of the
paraffinic hydrocarbons from the olefinic intermediates to avoid the high
cost of separation. (Spec. 3-5.) According to the Specification, this is
possible because “paraffinic hydrocarbons are generally substantially inert
with respect to partial oxidations and/or partial ammoxidations of olefinic
hydrocarbons” (Spec. 4.)
However, the formation of olefinic intermediates from paraffinic
hydrocarbons “is as a rule always associated with the production of carbon
deposits, which have to be removed from time to time.” (Id.) “In order to
avoid the necessity of also stopping the partial oxidation and/or
ammoxidation in such nonoperating phases, the dehydrogenation and/or
deoxyhydrogenation is usually carried out using at least two . . . reactors . . .
whose nonoperating phases are staggered in time.” (Id. at 4-5.)
Appellants’ claimed process offers another solution involving a “small
loop” to keep the process running: Conceptually speaking, while the
hydrogenation and/or oxydehydrogenation reactor is shut down for cleaning,
the oxidation and/or ammoxidation reactor is fed olefin and recycled
paraffinic hydrocarbon from a source other than the dehydrogenation and/or
oxydehydrogenation reactor. (Spec. 5-6; claim 1.)
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