Patent ID: 8426654

Claim:
A method for producing fatty alcohols from a first composition, the method comprising: splitting the first composition, comprising a vegetable oil, an animal fat or a vegetable oil and an animal fat, into fatty acids and glycerol in counterflow to steam at temperatures in a range from 220 to 275° C. and at pressures in a range from 45 to 65 bar(a) so as to form a dispersion; physically separating the dispersion by gravity or centrifugal force into a phase containing the fatty acids and into sweet water containing 12 to 25 vol-% glycerol; discharging the sweet water for further treatment; separating at least one fatty acid fraction by distillation from the phase containing the fatty acids; mixing the fatty acid fraction together with generated fatty alcohols in at least one stage at temperatures in the range from 230 to 270° C. and at atmospheric pressure for a period of 6 to 24 hours or under vacuum or protective gas, while simultaneously removing reaction water obtained by forming wax esters; hydrogenating the formed wax esters with an acid number of 1 to 3 (mg KOH/g) on a fixed bed of uniformly shaped catalyst bodies such that the wax esters trickle down over the fixed bed in a thin layer so as to be continuously permeated by a hydrogen phase guided in cocurrent or countercurrent flow so as to react to obtain fatty alcohols, the wax esters being hydrogenated at a temperature in a range from 180 to 220° C. and at a pressure in a range from 70 to 100 bar(a), the uniformily shaped catalyst bodies being extrusion-produced and containing as main components copper and copper-chromium oxide and as secondary components zinc, aluminum, iron, silicon, and alkaline earth elements; separating the hydrogenation reaction product into fatty alcohols and hydrogen by cooling; recirculating the hydrogen for hydrogenating the wax esters; recirculating part of the separated fatty alcohols to the mixing as the generated fatty alcohols in an amount corresponding to 1.2 to 1.4 times an amount of the fatty acid fraction, and discharging a remaining part of the separated fatty alcohols for further treatment.