Branched, substantially unsaturated ester oils

Abstract

A process for making branched, substantially unsaturated ester oils involving: (a) providing an unsaturated C16-22 fatty acid; (b) dimerizing the unsaturated C16-22 fatty acid; (c) removing a monomer fraction accumulating during dimerization, the monomer fraction containing branched, substantially unsaturated fatty acids; (d) converting the branched, substantially unsaturated fatty acids contained in the monomer fraction into corresponding branched, substantially unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters having double bonds; (e) hydrogenating the branched, substantially unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters, with their double bonds intact, to form corresponding branched, substantially unsaturated fatty alcohols; and (f) esterifying the branched, substantially unsaturated fatty alcohols to form the branched, substantially unsaturated ester oils.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.