Production of fatty alcohols from fatty acids

Detergent-range alcohols from natural feedstock can be produced by high pressure hydrogenation of either methyl esters or fatty acids. The increasing quantities of fats and oils on the world market secure a reliable and economically priced material. Although fatty acid is an abundant worldwide commodity, most alcohol producers hydrogenate methyl esters, because direct hydrogenation of fatty acids is difficult as the catalyst is sensitive to acid attack. The process described here makes it possible to hydrogenate fatty acids directly to alcohols of high quality without prior esterification. The reaction takes place in the liquid phase over a fine-grained copper chromite slurry in a single reactor vessel. A special reactor design with an optimum arragement of the feeding nozzles causing an appropriate circulation of the reacting components inside the reactor facilitates the rapid “in situ” esterification reaction. This minimizes the free fatty acid concentration in the reactor to nearly zero. This results in a low consumption of catalyst. The most important advantages of the process are: direct feed of fatty acids of various origins, use of reasonably priced raw materials such as soapstock fatty acids and lower grade tallow acids, no process steps with methanol, and excellent economics. The process is industrially proven.