Manufacture of fatty alcohols based on natural fats and oils

Abstract The present worldwide capacity of fatty alcohols is ca. 1.0 million metric tons per year. About 60% of this capacity is based on petrochemical feedstocks, 40% on natural fats and oils. Three basic dominating commercial‐scale processes are used to manufacture fatty alcohols: the Ziegler process and the Oxo synthesis starting from petrochemical feedstocks, and the high‐pressure hydrogenation of natural fatty acids and esters. Basically, the high‐pressure hydrogenation can be used with triglycerides, fatty acids or fatty acid esters as feedstock. The direct hydrogenation of fats and oils has not been developed to a commercial‐scale process, mainly because it was not possible to prevent decomposition of the valuable byproduct glycerol. Conversion of fatty acids into fatty alcohols by catalytic hydrogenation without preesterification requires corrosion‐resistant materials of construction and acid‐resistant catalysts. Required reaction temperatures are higher, resulting in a higher hydrocarbon content. The majority of fatty alcohol plants based on natural fats and oils use methyl esters as feedstock. These can be made either by esterification of fatty acids or by‐transesterification of triglycerides. For catalytic high‐pressure hydrogenation of methyl esters to fatty alcohols, several process options have been developed. The bawic distinguishing feature is the catalyst application either in a fixed bed arrangement or suspended in the methyl ester feed.