Abstract: A process for making a fiber composite involving: (a) providing a natural fiber; (b) providing a matrix material produced by a radical polymerization reaction of: (i) a monomer selected from the group consisting of ring opening products of epoxidized fatty compounds with olefinically unsaturated carboxylic acids, and (ii) a comonomer selected from the group consisting of olefinically unsaturated carboxylic acids; (c) providing a radical initiator; and (d) conducting the radical polymerization reaction of (i) and (ii) in the presence of the natural fiber so that the matrix material envelops the natural fiber, thus producing the fiber composite.

Abstract: The invention relates to a process for the production of Guerbet alcohols by condensation of aliphatic alcohols in the presence of alkali metal or alkaline earth metal hydroxides as catalyst using the Guerbet reaction, in which the initial pressure in the reactor corresponds to the vapor pressure of the alcohol components used and, during the reaction, the pressure is continually reduced to the vapor pressure of the reaction mixture at the particular temperature.