Patent ID: 8771815

Claim:
A process for producing a plasticizer comprising: (i) recovering at least one linear C 4 to C 10 aldehyde, one branched C 4 to C 10 aldehyde, or a combination thereof from a hydroformylation product; (ii) oxidizing the linear, branched or combination thereof C 4 to C 10 aldehyde to form a linear, branched or combination thereof C 4 to C 10 acid; (iii) esterifying the linear, branched or combination thereof C 4 to C 10 acid with a polyol to yield a linear alkyl triglyceride, a branched alkyl triglyceride, or a combination thereof, and reaction byproducts; (iv) purifying the linear, branched or combination thereof alkyl triglyceride to form a plasticizer stream, a reaction byproduct stream, and an unreacted input stream, wherein the total carbon number of the alkyl triester groups ranges from 20 to 25 for greater than or equal to 45 wt % of the plasticizer; and (v) recycling from the purifying step back to the esterifying step the unreacted input stream and the reaction byproduct stream.