Patent 7888542 was granted and assigned to Neste on February, 2011 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The invention relates to a process for producing high-quality saturated base oil or a base oil component based on hydrocarbons. The process of the invention comprises two main steps, the oligomerization and deoxygenation. A biological starting material containing unsaturated carboxylic acids and/or esters of carboxylic acids is preferably used as the feedstock.