In re Robeson

In re Robeson

Opinion

 [****486]   [*1272]  Before WORLEY, Chief Judge, and RICH, MARTIN, SMITH, and ALMOND, Jr., Associate Judges

 [**611]  WORLEY, Chief Judge, delivered the opinion of the court:

Robeson appeals from the board's affirmance of the rejection of claims 2 to 31, all the claims of his application ¹ for a patent on a chemical process.

The invention relates to the production of trimethylolpropane, hereafter TMP, and its recovery from the reacted mixture. In that process formaldehyde is reacted with butyraldehyde in the presence of sodium hydroxide. Sodium formate is produced as a by-product.

The claims may conveniently be divided into three groups. Claim 8, representative of claims drawn to a process for the production of TMP, reads:

8. Process for the production of trimethylolpropane which comprises continuously reacting, in an aqueous medium, a mixture of butyraldehyde, formaldehyde and sodium hydroxide,  [***2]  there being about 6 to 10 moles of formaldehyde per mole or butyraldehyde, to produce trimethylolpropane and sodium formate, continuously reducing the pH of the reacted mixture, continuously removing unreacted formaldehyde by distillation from the mixture and separating the trimethylolpropane from the sodium formate.

Claim 2, representative of claims drawn to the recovery of TMP by solvent  [**612]  extraction from a reaction mixture containing sodium formate, reads:

2. Process for the separation of trimethylolpropane from an aqueous solution containing trimethylolpropane and sodium formate, which comprises extracting said solution with ethyl acetate to obtain a first liquid phase comprising a water solution of sodium formate and a second liquid phase comprising an ethyl acetate solution of trimethylolpropane, physically separating said phases to free said second liquid phase from said first liquid phase, and recovering the trimethylolpropane from said second liquid phase.

Claim 25, illustrative of claims drawn to the washing of the solvent extract with water to remove residual sodium formate, reads:

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