Patent ID: 8378156

Claim:
A process for homologation of alcohol(s), comprising the following steps: 1 introducing alcohol(s) into an etherification unit to produce alkyl ether(s), 2 introducing at least a part of the alkyl ether(s) from step 1, together with CO and optionally H 2 , into a carbonylation unit, in the presence of an acidic homogeneous or heterogeneous carbonylation catalyst, to produce alkyl ester(s), 3 introducing at least a part of the alkyl ester(s) from step 2, together with H 2 , into a hydrogenation unit, to produce homologated alcohol(s), 4 optionally recycling at least a part of the homologated alcohol(s) from step 3, into the etherification unit of step 1, and 5 recovering alcohol(s) from the hydrogenation unit of step 3.