Patent ID: 8580985

Claim:
A process of producing an estolide base oil comprising: providing at least one triglyceride having at least one oleic acid residue; providing at least one alpha olefin selected from one or more of ethene, propene, 1-butene, 1-pentene, 1-hexene, 1-heptene, or 1-octene; contacting the at least one triglyceride with the at least one alpha olefin in the presence of a metathesis catalyst to provide an olefin product comprising 1-decene, and a metathesized fatty acid product comprising at least one 9-decenoic acid residue; hydrolyzing the metathesized fatty acid product to provide a free fatty acid product comprising 9-decenoic acid; providing an oligomerization catalyst; and oligomerizing the 9-decenoic acid with a second fatty acid in the presence of the oligomerization catalyst to produce an estolide base oil, wherein said oligomerizing comprises forming a covalent bond between an oxygen of a carboxylic group of the second fatty acid and a carbon of the double bond of the 9-decenoic acid.