Process for producing alcohols by alkoxycarbonylation of diisobutene and a c4 to c7 olefin and subsequent hydrogenation

Process for producing target alcohols, wherein the process comprises at least the following steps:

• a. providing a diisobutene stream containing 2,4,4-trimethylpent-2-ene and 2,4,4-trimethylpent-1-ene and providing an olefin stream containing the C4 to C7 olefin;
• b. alkoxycarbonylation of diisobutene and the C4 to C7 olefin with an alcohol and carbon monoxide in the presence of a homogeneous catalyst system comprising at least one metal of group 8 to 10 of the periodic table of the elements or a compound thereof, a phosphorus-containing ligand and an acid in a common reaction zone to obtain a liquid product mixture comprising at least the esters formed by the alkoxycarbonylation, the homogeneous catalyst system, unreacted olefins and unreacted alcohol;
• c. removing the homogeneous catalyst system from the liquid product mixture to obtain a crude product mixture comprising at least the esters formed by the alkoxycarbonylation, the unreacted olefins and unreacted alcohols;
• d. distillative processing of the crude product mixture in at least one distillation column to remove the unreacted alcohols and the unreacted olefins to obtain an ester mixture containing the esters formed;
• e. hydrogenating the esters obtained in step d with hydrogen in the presence of the heterogeneous catalyst system in a hydrogenation zone to obtain an alcohol mixture comprising at least the target alcohol, the eliminated alcohol and unreacted esters;
• and
• f. removing the target alcohol formed in step e in at least one separation process step selected from thermal separation, for example distillation, extraction, crystallization and membrane separation.