DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
The amendment to claim 22 has been acknowledged. The rejection of claim 22 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) is therefore WITHDRAWN.
Applicant argues that Van Willigenburg employs a fired furnace, that Labrecque concerns a different electrically heated reforming reactor, that a skilled artisan would not combine those different technologies, and that Colonial neither teaches the claimed electrical heating nor the claimed safety device (Remarks filed July 13, 2026, pp. 7-9). These arguments have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejections have been withdrawn, but the claims are rejected using different references below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 17-18, 22, and 24-31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bellet (US 2006/0116543 A1) further in view of Eder (US 2017/0130887 A1), further in view of Park (KR 2011-0109211 A) (See translated document attached) and further in view of Carter (WO 2020/150244 A1).
With respect to claim 17, Bellet teaches the claimed plant for producing reaction products.
Claim 17 requires "a plant (110) for producing reaction products." Bellet teaches a hydrocarbon steam-cracking apparatus that produces olefins, diolefins, and light alkanes (Bellet [0001]-[0002] and claim 15).
Claim 17 further requires "at least one preheater (114)" and "at least one raw material supply (118) which is adapted for supplying at least one raw material to the preheater (114), wherein the preheater (114) is adapted for preheating the raw material to a predetermined temperature." Bellet teaches transport and heat-exchange line 12 carrying a hydrocarbon-and-steam feed through preheater chamber 14, where hot exhaust gas preheats the feed before cracking (Bellet [0023]-[0025], [0044], and [0050]; Fig. 1).
Claim 17 further requires "at least one electrically heatable reactor (122), wherein the electrically heatable reactor (122) is an electrically operated reactor, wherein the electrically heatable reactor (122) is adapted for heating a fluid present in the reactor (122) using electric current." Bellet teaches an electrical heater apparatus containing electrically heated cracking tube 6 through which the preheated hydrocarbon-and-steam fluid flows. Bellet expressly teaches Joule-effect heating using a conductive resistance-element tube connected to a voltage source and induction heating using an electrically powered coil (Bellet [0025]-[0029], claims 11-12 and 15; Fig. 1).
Claim 17 further requires "wherein the electrically heatable reactor (122) is adapted for at least partially converting the preheated raw material into reaction products and byproducts." Bellet teaches that the preheated mixture flows through the electrically heated tubes and is thermally cracked to form olefins, including ethylene and propylene, together with diolefins and light-alkane byproducts such as methane (Bellet [0002], [0025], and [0050]).
Claim 17 further requires "at least one heat integration apparatus (132) which is adapted for at least partially supplying the byproducts to the preheater (114), wherein the preheater (114) is adapted for at least partially utilizing energy required for preheating the raw material from the byproducts." Bellet teaches recovery line 5 carrying cracked light hydrocarbons, particularly methane, to the gas turbine and/or post-combustion chamber as fuel. The resulting hot combustion gas passes through preheater chamber 14 and supplies heat to the raw-material feed (Bellet [0011], [0044]-[0045], and [0050]; Fig. 1).
Claim 17 further requires "at least one safety device (182) which is adapted for allowing a return stream of the raw material from the electrically heatable tube system of the reactor (122) to the preheater (114)." Bellet does not teach "at least one safety device (182) which is adapted for allowing a return stream of the raw material from the electrically heatable tube system of the reactor (122) to the preheater (114)." Park teaches a pressure-responsive safety device installed on a pyrolysis-reactor exhaust pipe. Its first safety valve opens in response to reactor pressure, its second valve coordinates opening and closing to prevent leakage, and the device discharges hydrocarbon-containing reactor material to prevent explosion and fire (Park [0034]-[0040] and claim 1). Park does not teach "at least one safety device (182) which is adapted for allowing a return stream of the raw material from the electrically heatable tube system of the reactor (122) to the preheater (114)." However, Carter teaches separating hydrocarbon streams from cracked gas and recycling C2-C4 saturated hydrocarbon streams to the pyrolysis furnaces (Carter [0062], [0071], and [0073]). Bellet further teaches that the cracking feed reaches its electrically heated cracking tubes through upstream preheater chamber 14 and transport line 12 (Bellet [0023]-[0025] and [0050]; Fig. 1).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to provide Bellet's electrically heated cracking-tube system with Park's pressure-responsive safety-valve assembly and to direct the safely discharged hydrocarbon stream into Bellet's existing upstream furnace-feed path through the preheater by modifying with Carter, because Park teaches automatically discharging reactor material to control pressure and prevent explosion or fire, while Carter teaches that recovered C2-C4 hydrocarbon streams remain useful cracking feed and are recycled to pyrolysis furnaces (Park [0034]-[0040]; Carter [0073]).
Claim 17 further requires "wherein the electrically heatable reactor (122) is heatable by electric current" and "wherein the electrically heatable reactor (122) is electrically heatable through the use of a multi-phase alternating current and/or a 1-phase alternating current and/or a direct current and/or radiation and/or induction." Bellet teaches electrically powered induction heating and, alternatively, Joule-effect heating of the cracking tube using applied electrical voltage (Bellet [0025]-[0029], claims 10-12). Eder additionally teaches directly heating fluid-carrying conductive pipelines by polyphase, specifically three-phase, alternating current using phase-shifted voltage sources (Eder [0035] and claims 1 and 3).
It would have been obvious to employ Eder's three-phase direct electrical heating arrangement for Bellet's electrically conductive cracking tubes because Eder teaches applying polyphase current directly to fluid-carrying pipelines to generate Joulean heat in the pipeline wall, thereby providing controlled direct heating of the flowing fluid (Eder, [0035] and claim 1). This substitutes one known electrical tube-heating arrangement for Bellet's disclosed Joule-heated tube while preserving the same fluid-heating and cracking function. A reasonable expectation of success exists because both references heat fluid flowing through electrically conductive pipelines by resistance heating.
Regarding claim 18, Bellet teaches the subject matter of claim 17 as discussed above.
Claim 18 further requires "at least one raw material integration apparatus (144) which is adapted for supplying raw material not converted by the electrically heatable reactor (122) to the preheater (114)." The combination as applied to claim 17 does not teach "at least one raw material integration apparatus (144) which is adapted for supplying raw material not converted by the electrically heatable reactor (122) to the preheater (114)." However, Carter teaches separating cracked-gas streams and recycling C2, C3, and C4 saturated hydrocarbon streams to the pyrolysis reaction section, whose furnace includes a convection section that preheats feed before the reactor tubes (Carter [0071] and [0073]).
It would have been obvious to provide modified Bellet with Carter's separation-and-recycle conduit because Carter teaches that separated saturated hydrocarbons remain usable cracking feedstocks and may be recycled to the pyrolysis furnaces, thereby recovering unconverted or recyclable hydrocarbons and increasing feed utilization instead of discarding them. The recycled stream would predictably enter Bellet's existing upstream feed/preheater path before electrical cracking
Regarding claim 22, Bellet teaches the subject matter of claim 17 as discussed above.
Claim 22 further requires "wherein the electrically heatable reactor (122) is adapted for heating the raw material to a temperature in the range from 200° C. to 1700° C." Bellet teaches an inlet temperature of 400-700° C. and an outlet or maximum cracking temperature of 700-900° C. (Bellet [0034]). These disclosed temperatures fall within the claimed range.
Regarding claim 24, Bellet teaches the subject matter of claim 17 as discussed above.
Claim 24 further requires "at least one process steam supply (120) which is adapted for supplying at least one process steam to the preheater (114), wherein the electrically heatable reactor (122) is adapted for converting the raw material into a cracked gas in the presence of the process steam, wherein the preheater (114) is adapted for at least partially utilizing energy required for preheating the raw material from the byproducts." Bellet teaches supplying a mixture of hydrocarbons and process steam through preheater chamber 14 and then through electrically heated cracking tube 6, and teaches using recovered cracked hydrocarbons as fuel for producing the hot gas that heats the preheater (Bellet [0001], [0011], [0025], [0044]-[0045], and [0050]).
Regarding claim 25, Bellet teaches the subject matter of claim 17 as discussed above.
Claim 25 further requires "wherein the raw material supply (118) is adapted for supplying the at least one raw material to the preheater (114), wherein the raw material comprises at least one element selected from the group consisting of: methane, ethane, propane, butane, naphtha, ethylbenzene, gas oil, condensates, bioliquids, biogases, pyrolysis oils, waste oils and liquids from renewable raw materials." Bellet does not teach "wherein the raw material supply (118) is adapted for supplying the at least one raw material to the preheater (114), wherein the raw material comprises at least one element selected from the group consisting of: methane, ethane, propane, butane, naphtha, ethylbenzene, gas oil, condensates, bioliquids, biogases, pyrolysis oils, waste oils and liquids from renewable raw materials." However, Carter teaches a cracking feed comprising, among other alternatives, naphtha, ethane, propane, butane, condensate, and gas oil (Carter [0067]).
It would have been obvious to select Carter's expressly disclosed naphtha, ethane, propane, butane, condensate, or gas-oil feed for Bellet's steam cracker because these are known steam-cracking feedstocks used to produce light olefins, thereby operating Bellet's plant with a conventional feed suited to its disclosed purpose.
Regarding claim 26, Bellet teaches the subject matter of claim 17 as discussed above.
Claim 26 further requires "wherein the electrically heatable reactor (122) is adapted for at least partially converting the preheated raw material into reaction products, wherein the reaction product comprises at least one element selected from the group consisting of: acetylene, ethylene, propylene, butene, butadiene, benzene, styrene, synthesis gas." Bellet teaches electrically cracking the preheated feed to produce olefins, expressly including ethylene and propylene (Bellet [0002] and [0050]).
Regarding claim 27, Bellet teaches the subject matter of claim 17 as discussed above.
Claim 27 further requires "wherein the electrically heatable reactor (122) is adapted for at least partially converting the preheated raw material into byproducts, wherein the byproduct comprises at least one element selected from the group consisting of: hydrogen, methane, ethane, propane." Bellet further teaches that electrically cracking the hydrocarbon feed produces light alkanes, expressly including methane, and separates methane through line 19 (Bellet [0002] and [0050]).
Regarding claim 28, Bellet teaches the subject matter of claim 17 as discussed above.
Claim 28 further requires "wherein the plant (110) is selected from the group consisting of: a plant for performing at least one endothermic reaction, a plant for heating, a plant for preheating, a steam cracker, a steam reformer, an apparatus for alkane dehydrogenation, a reformer, an apparatus for dry reforming, an apparatus for styrene production, an apparatus for ethylbenzene dehydrogenation, an apparatus for cracking ureas, isocyanates, melamine, a cracker, a catalytic cracker, an apparatus for dehydrogenation." Bellet teaches a steam-cracking plant (Bellet [0001] and claim 15).
Regarding claim 29, modified Bellet teaches the subject matter of claim 17 as discussed above.
Claim 29 further requires "wherein the plant (110) comprises a plurality of electrically heatable reactors (122) and/or wherein the plant (110) additionally comprises at least one reactor having an integrated convection zone." Bellet teaches a plurality of induction heater tubes 6 connected in parallel, each tube receiving and electrically heating the reacting hydrocarbon-and-steam fluid (Bellet [0026] and [0051]; claim 15). Under the broadest reasonable interpretation, each electrically heated reaction tube is an electrically heatable tubular reactor.
Regarding claim 30, modified Bellet teaches the subject matter of claim 17 as discussed above.
Claim 30 further requires "wherein the plant (110) comprises at least one steam system (148)." Bellet teaches a water-feed network passing through preheater chamber 14 to generate steam and a steam line that recovers and superheats the steam (Bellet [0048]-[0049]).
Claim 31 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as unpatentable over Bellet (US 2006/0116543 A1), Eder (US 2017/0130887 A1), Park (KR 2011-0109211 A), and further in view of Carter (WO 2020/150244 A1) as applied to claim 17 above, and further in view of Van Willigenburg (WO 2018/065919 A1).
Regarding claim 31, modified Bellet teaches the subject matter of claim 30 as discussed above.
Claim 31 further requires "at least one steam drum (150), wherein the steam system (148) is adapted for preheating boiler feed water in the preheater (114) and introducing it into the steam drum (150)." Modified Bellet does not teach "at least one steam drum (150), wherein the steam system (148) is adapted for preheating boiler feed water in the preheater (114) and introducing it into the steam drum (150)." However, Van Willigenburg teaches preheating boiler feed water and supplying it to a steam drum in a steam-cracking plant (Van Willigenburg [0053]-[0054]).
Claim 31 further requires "at least one heat exchanger (136) which is adapted for terminating chemical reactions of reaction products and/or byproducts that are in progress." Van Willigenburg further teaches a transfer-line heat exchanger that rapidly cools cracked gas leaving the fired tubular reactor, thereby terminating secondary cracking reactions (Van Willigenburg [0056]).
Claim 31 further requires "at least one connection between the steam drum (150) and the heat exchanger (136) such that the boiler feed water from the steam drum (150) can be introduced into the heat exchanger (136), wherein the heat exchanger (136) is adapted for returning the boiler feed water and saturated steam to the steam drum (150)." Van Willigenburg further teaches circulating boiler feed water from the steam drum through the transfer-line exchanger and returning the resulting water/steam mixture to the steam drum (Van Willigenburg [0054]-[0056]).
Claim 31 further requires "at least one connection between the steam drum (150) and the preheater (114) such that saturated steam from the steam drum (150) can be passed into the preheater (114), wherein the preheater is adapted for superheating the saturated steam at least for a short time." Van Willigenburg teaches steam from the steam drum being superheated in convection-bank heat exchangers using furnace flue gas (Van Willigenburg [0054]-[0056]).
It would have been obvious to incorporate Van Willigenburg's steam drum, transfer-line exchanger, circulation connections, and convection-section steam superheater into modified Bellet because both references concern steam-cracking plants, and Van Willigenburg teaches that this arrangement rapidly cools reactive cracked gas while recovering its heat as useful high-pressure steam. The predictable result is reaction termination together with improved energy recovery. A reasonable expectation of success exists because Bellet already teaches boiler-feed-water heating, steam generation, cracked-product heat recovery, and steam superheating (Bellet [0048]-[0049]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 19 and 23 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Bellet (US 2006/0116543 A1), Eder (US 2017/0130887 A1), Park (KR 2011-0109211 A), Carter (WO 2020/150244 A1), Van Willigenburg (WO 2018/065919 A1) are considered closest prior art available to the claims.
Claim 19 additionally requires one ventilation apparatus both to supply ambient air to the preheater and to cool a power supply for the electrically heatable reactor. Bellet nor other prior art does explicitly teach that Nakaji's reactor-gas cooling blower performs either power-supply cooling or supplies the same cooling air to a preheater. The prior rejection of claim 19 is therefore withdrawn.
Claim 23 additionally requires an atmosphere-side connection allowing atmospheric exchange from the electrically heatable reactor to the preheater Bellet nor other prior art does explicitly teach that Blake's general atmospheric-exchange disclosure provides the claimed connection between those two plant components. The prior rejection of claim 23 is therefore withdrawn.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STARFARI TESHAWN MCCLAIN whose telephone number is (571)272-0169. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8 AM- 5 PM.
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/STARFARI TESHAWN MCCLAIN/ Examiner, Art Unit 1736
/ANTHONY J ZIMMER/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1736
