PROCESS FOR THE HYDROFORMYLATION OF SULFUR-CONTAINING THERMALLY CRACKED PETROLEUM RESIDUA

摘要

This invention is a catalytic process for the hydroformylation of olefinic, sulfur-containing thermally cracked petroleum streams to produce aldehydes and/or alcohols The catalysts are homogeneous transition metal carbonyl complexes. Especially preferred catalysts for low and medium pressure hydroformylation are cobalt and rhodium carbonyl hydride complexes in which some of the carbonyl ligands have been replaced by trivalent phosphorus lignads. In a preferred high pressure hydroformylation, the sulfur-containing gas oil distillate feed is produced from vacuum residue by high temperature thermal cracking. Such a feed contains more than 20% olefins with 1-n-olefins as the single major types. These olefin components are hydroformylated in the presence of a cobalt carbonyl complex to produce a novel type of semilinear aldehyde or alcohol product containing an average of less than one alkyl branch per molecule