Influencing the viscosity of n-butene based esters mixtures by targeted use of ethene in production of the esters precursors

• Main Authors: DIRK FRIDAG, JOERG SCHALLENBERG, HORST-WERNER ZANTHOFF, GUIDO STOCHNIOL, FRANK GEILEN, KATRIN MARIE DYBALLA, DIETRICH MASCHMEYER, STEPHAN PEITZ, ROBERT FRANKE, HELENE REEKER, LENA ALTMANN
• Format: Patent
• Language: Chinese; English
• Published: 28.07.2017
• Subjects: ACYCLIC OR CARBOCYCLIC COMPOUNDS; CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY; ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

The invention relates to a process for preparing an ester mixture, in which an n-butene-containing feed mixture having a composition which changes over time is firstly oligomerized and then converted by hydroformylation, hydrogenation and esterification into an ester mixture. In this process, an approximation of the actual viscosity of the ester mixture is determined. The problem to be overcome is to provide a comparatively simple process which enables conversion of n-butene with a variable composition over time to an ester mixture having a viscosity which can be kept very substantially constant over a long period even when an inconstant C4 source which delivers fluctuating qualities over this period is utilized. This is achieved through controlled use of a second raw material, namely ethene. It has been found that the viscosity of n-butene-based ester mixtures can be influenced by controlled use of ethene in the preparation of the ester precursors. Specifically, the invention proposes two measures by which t