Why is it a secret process?
Patents are issued for some of the most ridiculous ideas I've ever seen. In the old days, it was required to build a working model. This is no longer the case. You can find patents on the silliest things you've ever seen. Patents were originally intended to protect the patent holder's invention for twenty years in exchange for sharing it freely after this period. If you patent something now, you can be assured that it will be "knocked off" by the Chinese within weeks of publication. That is why so many processes are "trade secret", like mine. Ask Coke, KFC about their formulas.