Process for flushing an oligomerization reactor and oligomerization of an olefin

A process for flushing an oligomerization reactor, comprising:

• flushing the oligomerization reactor with a flushing medium comprising C6 linear alpha olefins, C8 linear alpha olefins, C10 linear alpha olefins, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing, to provide a purge stream comprising the C6 linear alpha olefins, C8 linear alpha olefins, C10 linear alpha olefins, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing, and a polymer byproduct;
• contacting, in a separation system, the purge stream with a C8+ product fraction from an olefin oligomerization process to form a first intermediate stream;
• separating the first intermediate stream to provide a C6-10 linear alpha olefin fraction, and a heavy stream comprising a C12+ product fraction and the polymer byproduct;
• and
• recycling at least a portion of the C6-10 linear alpha olefin fraction to a reactor flushing system.

A process for oligomerization of an olefin, comprising:

• oligomerizing the olefin in the reactor to form a reaction product stream comprising linear alpha olefins;
• separating a C4-6 linear alpha olefin product fraction from the reaction product stream to provide a first stream comprising a C8+ product fraction;
• subsequent to oligomerizing the olefin in the reactor, flushing the reactor with a flushing medium comprising C6 linear alpha olefins, C8 linear alpha olefins, C10 linear alpha olefins, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing, to provide a purge stream comprising the C6 linear alpha olefins, C8 linear alpha olefins, C10 linear alpha olefins, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing, and a polymer byproduct;
• contacting in a separation system the purge stream with the C8+ product fraction to form a first intermediate stream;
• separating the first intermediate stream to provide a C6-10 linear alpha olefin fraction, and a heavy stream comprising a C12+ product fraction and the polymer byproduct;
• and
• recycling at least a portion of the C6-10 linear alpha olefin fraction to a reactor flushing system.