Enhanced production of lightly branched olefin oligomers through olefin oligomerization

A method comprising:

• contacting a feed mixture comprising at least one C3 olefin and/or at least one C4 olefin with a zeolite catalyst having a framework selected from the group consisting of MTT, MWW, MRE, MTW, MI, TON and any combination thereof under oligomerization reaction conditions effective to form a product mixture;
• wherein the zeolite catalyst is modified by steaming, modified with an organic acid, modified with a transition metal, modified with coke, modified by impregnation with NiO, or any combination thereof;
• and
• obtaining a plurality of olefin oligomers within the product mixture, the olefin oligomers comprising at least about 10% C12 olefin oligomers, based on total olefin oligomers by mass, and at least about 25% C10-C13 olefin oligomers in total, based on total olefin oligomers by mass.

A method comprising:

• contacting a first portion of a feed mixture comprising at least one C3 olefin and/or at least one C4 olefin with a zeolite catalyst having an MTT framework in a first reactor under oligomerization reaction conditions effective to form a first intermediate product;
• contacting a second portion of the feed mixture with a zeolite catalyst having an MFS framework in a second reactor under oligomerization reaction conditions effective to form a second intermediate product;
• wherein the first reactor and the second reactor are in parallel with one another;
• and
• blending at least a portion of the first intermediate product with at least a portion of the second intermediate product to form a product mixture comprising a plurality of olefin oligomers comprising at least C10-C13 olefin oligomers, and C12 olefin oligomers of the C10-C13 Olefin oligomers having an average branching index, as measured by GC, of about 2.2 or less.