Patent ID: 7592497

Claim:
A process for the oligomerization of alphaolefins comprising: (a) contacting a mixture of alphaolefins comprising 1-decene and 1-dodecene with an oligomerization system consisting essentially of BF3 and an alcohol promoter, in at least one continuously stirred reactor under oligomerization conditions for a time sufficient to achieve a steady state reaction mixture; (b) fractionating the steady state reaction mixture of step (a) to obtain as overheads unreacted alphaolefin monomers and dimers and as a bottoms product trimers and higher oligomers of said mixture of alphaolefins; (c) hydrogenating at least a portion of said bottoms product to obtain a hydrogenated bottoms product; and (d) recovering a low viscosity PAO from said hydrogenated bottoms product, the low viscosity PAO being selected from the group consisting of a PAO having a nominal kinematic viscosity of 6 cSt (100° C.) and a pour point of less than −56° C., a PAO having a nominal kinematic viscosity of 8 cSt (100° C.) and a pour point of less than −48° C., and a PAO having a nominal kinematic viscosity of 10 cSt (100° C.) and a pour point of less than −45° C.