Liquid propylene oligomers and methods of making same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9732300-B2
Application number	US-201514806708-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 23, 2015
Priority date	Jul 23, 2015
Publication date	Aug 15, 2017
Grant date	Aug 15, 2017

Abstract

Disclosed herein are oligomerization processes using feedstocks containing propylene to produce an oligomer product, and methods for recovering a propylene oligomer from the oligomer product. The resultant propylene oligomer can be characterized by a Mn in a range from 250 to 10,000 g/mol, a viscosity index of at least 85, and a pour point in a range from −5 to −60° C.

First claim

We claim:

1. A propylene oligomer having:
a Mn in a range from 250 to 10,000 g/mol;
a kinematic viscosity at 100° C. in a range from 6 to 200 cSt;
a kinematic viscosity at 40° C. in a range from 25 to 8000 cSt;
a viscosity index of at least 85; and
a pour point in a range from −5 to −60° C.

2. The oligomer of claim 1 , wherein the propylene oligomer has:
a Mn in a range from 500 to 5000 g/mol;
a viscosity index in a range from 85 to 175; and
a pour point in a range from −10 to −35° C.

3. The oligomer of claim 1 , wherein the propylene oligomer has:
a Mn in a range from 500 to 2500 g/mol;
a viscosity index in a range from 88 to 135; and
a pour point in a range from −15 to −40° C.

4. The oligomer of claim 1 , wherein the propylene oligomer has:
a kinematic viscosity at 100° C. in a range from 8 to 250 cSt;
a kinematic viscosity at 40° C. in a range from 50 to 6000 cSt; and
a flash point in a range from 140 to 300° C.

5. The oligomer of claim 1 , wherein the propylene oligomer has:
a kinematic viscosity at 100° C. in a range from 12 to 80 cSt;
a kinematic viscosity at 40° C. in a range from 200 to 1500 cSt; and
a flash point in a range from 160 to 200° C.

6. The oligomer of claim 1 , wherein the propylene oligomer comprises at least 98 mol % propylene.

7. The oligomer of claim 1 , wherein the propylene oligomer comprises at least 99.5 mol % propylene.

8. The oligomer of claim 1 , wherein the propylene oligomer is a liquid at standard temperature and pressure.

9. The oligomer of claim 1 , wherein the propylene oligomer is a hydrogenated propylene oligomer.

10. A base oil or lubricant composition comprising the propylene oligomer of claim 1 .

11. A propylene oligomer having:
a Mn in a range from 250 to 10,000 g/mol;
a ratio of Mz/Mw in a range from 1.9 to 8;
a kinematic viscosity at 100° C. in a range from 6 to 200 cSt;
a kinematic viscosity at 40° C. in a range from 25 to 8000 cSt; and
a viscosity index of at least 85.

12. The oligomer of claim 11 , wherein the propylene oligomer has:
a Mn in a range from 500 to 5000 g/mol;
a ratio of Mz/Mw in a range from 1.9 to 6; and
a viscosity index in a range from 85 to 175.

13. The oligomer of claim 11 , wherein the propylene oligomer has:
a kinematic viscosity at 100° C. in a range from 12 to 80 cSt;
a kinematic viscosity at 40° C. in a range from 200 to 1500 cSt; and
a flash point in a range from 160 to 200° C.

14. A base oil or lubricant composition comprising the propylene oligomer of claim 11 .

15. A process comprising:
contacting an olefin feedstock comprising propylene with a catalyst system comprising (i) a metallocene compound, (ii) a chemically-treated solid oxide, and (iii) an optional co-catalyst, to form an oligomer product under oligomerization conditions; and
isolating the propylene oligomer of claim 1 from the oligomer product.

16. The process of claim 15 , wherein the olefin feedstock comprising propylene is contacted with the catalyst system in the presence of hydrogen, and wherein the catalyst system comprises an organoaluminum co-catalyst.

17. The process of claim 16 , wherein a decrease in the Mn of the oligomer product produced by the process in the presence of hydrogen is greater than a decrease in the Mn of an oligomer product produced by a catalyst system comprising an aluminoxane activator instead of the chemically-treated solid oxide, under the same oligomerization conditions.

18. The process of claim 15 , wherein the chemically-treated solid oxide comprises fluorided alumina, sulfated alumina, fluorided silica-alumina, sulfated silica-alumina, fluorided silica-coated alumina, fluorided-chlorided silica-coated alumina, sulfated silica-coated alumina, or any combination thereof.

19. The process of claim 15 , wherein an activity of the catalyst system is at least 25,000 grams of the oligomer product per gram of the metallocene compound per hour.

20. The process of claim 15 , wherein isolating comprises removing unreacted propylene and at least a portion of light propylene oligomers from the oligomer product using one or more separation steps.

21. The oligomer of claim 2 , wherein:
the propylene oligomer comprises at least 98 mol % propylene; and
the propylene oligomer has a kinematic viscosity at 100° C. in a range from 12 to 80 cSt.

22. A base oil or lubricant composition comprising the propylene oligomer of claim 21 .

23. The oligomer of claim 3 , wherein:
the propylene oligomer comprises at least 99.5 mol % propylene; and
the propylene oligomer has a kinematic viscosity at 100° C. in a range from 12 to 80 cSt.

24. The oligomer of claim 12 , wherein:
the propylene oligomer comprises at least 98 mol % propylene; and
the propylene oligomer has a kinematic viscosity at 100° C. in a range from 12 to 80 cSt.

25. A base oil or lubricant composition comprising the propylene oligomer of claim 24 .

Assignees

• Chevron Phillips Chemical Co Lp
• Chevron Phillipa Chemical Company LP

Inventors

• Kilgore Uriah J
• Lief Graham R
• Haschke Eric J

Classifications

• C10N2070/00

  Specific manufacturing methods for lubricant compositions · CPC title

• C10M2205/0245

  used as base material · CPC title

• C08F10/06

  Propene · CPC title

• C07C2/08

  Catalytic processes · CPC title

• C10M107/06

  containing propene · CPC title