US Patent 7754900 Method for the production of dioxolane

Processes comprising: providing a reactive distillation column having an upper region, a middle region and a lower region; feeding ethylene glycol and an aqueous formaldehyde solution into the reactive distillation column in the middle region of the reactive distillation column; reacting the ethylene glycol and the aqueous formaldehyde solution in the reactive distillation column in the presence of a catalyst to form dioxolane; removing a product stream comprising dioxolane in an amount of at least 75% by weight from the upper region of the reactive distillation column; and removing a bottom stream comprising one or more components having boiling points higher than dioxolane from the lower region of the reactive distillation column.