Patent ID: 7348462

Claim:
A process for preparing a product comprising branched olefins, said process comprising: hydrocracking and hydroisomerizing a paraffinic wax to produce an isoparaffinic composition comprising 0.5% or less quaternary carbon atoms, said isoparaffinic composition comprising paraffins having a carbon number of from about 7 to about 18, at least a portion of said paraffins being branched paraffins comprising an average number of branches per paraffin molecule of at least 0.5, said branches comprising a first number of methyl branches and optionally a second number of ethyl branches, said branched paraffins comprising a range of molecules of which the heaviest molecules comprise at most 6 carbon atoms more than the lightest molecules; exposing said isoparaffinic composition to a dehydrogenation catalyst in an amount and under dehydrogenation conditions effective to dehydrogenate said branched paraffins and to produce said branched olefins comprising 0.5% or less quaternary aliphatic carbon atoms.