Patent ID: 8211949

Claim:
A surfactant composition comprising an aldehyde, an alcohol, an amine, an amide, a sulfate, a sulfonate, a sulfone, a sulfide, a sulfoxide, or a combination thereof, prepared by a process comprising tetramerizing ethylene in the presence of a chromium-containing ethylene tetramerization catalyst to form 1-hexene, 1-octene, and a byproduct mixture comprising C10-C20 olefins, separating the 1-hexene and 1-octene from the byproduct mixture wherein after separation from the 1-hexene and 1-octene, the byproduct mixture is distilled to separate therefrom a second byproduct mixture of C10-C14 olefins consisting of a C10, a C12, and a C14 fraction of olefins, and wherein the C10 fraction is from 40 to 79% branched isomers of the following structures: the C12 fraction is from 80 to 99% branched isomers of the following structures: and the C14 fraction is from 85 to 98% branched isomers of the following structures: and treating the second byproduct mixture by a process selected from the group consisting of (i) OXO, such that at least a portion of the olefins is converted to an aldehyde; (ii) OXO/hydrogenation, such that at least a portion of the olefins is converted to an alcohol; (iii) OXO/amination, such that at least a portion of the olefins is converted to an alkyl amine; and (iv) sulfonation, such that at least a portion of the olefins is converted to an alpha olefin sulfonate.