PROCESS FOR PREPARING TRIACETIN Russian patent published in 1995 - IPC

FIELD: production of glycerol esters as plasticizers for polymers, more particularly in a process for preparing triacetin. SUBSTANCE: the process for preparing triacetin involves esterification of glycerol with an excess of acetic anhydride on boiling followed by separation of the resulting ester from acetic acid and water by vacuum distillation. In this case, glycerol is added portionwise to the anhydride for 15 to 30 minutes and the mixture is then kept while boiling for 1 hour. The basic amount of acetic acid is removed from the reaction products, the precipitate is diluted with water to a 0.5-20 acid concentration per triacetin. The acid is neutralized with 2-fold molar excess of aqueous calcium hydroxide followed by removal of the water and the acid and filtration of the salt precipitate. EFFECT: more efficient preparation process. 2 tbl