Technology developments for obtaining solketal from glycerol and acetone in the present and future

This review has highlighted the main methods of obtaining solketal from acetone and glycerol, widely used as a solvent for resins, paints and varnishes, in cleaning agents, and as a fuel additive to motor fuels. Focus on new and promising methods using batch reactors (BR) and continuous reactors (CR) developed over the past 5 years. It is shown that the usage of additional external influence on the BR, for example, microwave, ultrasound or cavitation allows considerably increasing reaction rate and yield of solketal. Reaction between glycerol and acetone in BR in the presence of photo- and membrane catalysts is demonstrated to be the fundamentally new methods of synthesis in solketal. Among the processes in CR, of greatest interest are microreactor and microchannel technologies, since they allow solving the problems of intensifying the production of solketal. The advantages and limitations of these methods are analyzed, and assumptions are made about their further development.