Process for producing acetaldehyde dimethylacetal

摘要

A process for producing acetaldehyde dimethylacetal comprising reacting acetaldehyde and methanol in the presence of an acid catalyst is disclosed, in which the reaction is carried out in a part of a rectification tower while conducting rectification to withdraw the water by-produced from the bottom of the tower and to recover a distillate containing the acetaldehyde dimethylacetal produced from the top of the tower. The distillate is subjected to azeotropic distillation in the presence of n-hexane or cyclohexane to separate methanol as an azeotrope with n-hexane or cyclohexane and a small amount of the acetaldehyde dimethylacetal and to recover high purity acetaldehyde dimethylacetal as a bottom.