An economical and easy to scale up method for glycerol conversion to solketalacetin (i.e. (2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxolan-4-yl)methyl acetate) as a valuable fuel additive is described, for the first time. In the first part, monoacetin was synthesized by reacting glycerol with acetic acid in a batch system. In the second stage the solketalacetin was produced from the reaction of monoacetin with acetone using Purolite PD 206 as a catalyst. The central composite design was employed for the experimental design for the second stage of the reaction. The optimum operating conditions for the second stage of the reaction were as follows: acetone to monoacetin mole ratio, 5; reaction temperature, 20°C; pressure, 45 bar; flow rate, 0.2 mL·min ?1 and 2.0 g, catalyst. In the second part, a continuous, suggested easy-to-scale-up system for glycerol conversion to a valuable fuel additive mixture such as solketalacetin, solketal and minimum amount of diacetin. A two-stage reaction was conducted to synthesize the mixture. At first, glycerol was reacted with acetic acid in a continuous system to synthesize monoacetin using a small plug flow reactor and central composite design to optimize the variables related to monoacetin synthesis. Finally, an acetic acid-to-glycerol mole ratio of 3.7:1, a temperature of 79 °C, a flow rate of 0.9 mL min ?1 , and a pressure of 1 bar were determined as the optimum conditions. In the third part, silica benzyl sulfonic acid (A) catalyst prepared for reaction of monoacetin with acetone to synthesis solketalacetin. To synthesize A the silica gel was functionalized with benzyl group and then sulfonated with chlorosulfonic acid. The catalytic activity of A was compared with Amberlyst 36 and purolite PD 206 in a continuous flow system. The stability of the catalytic activity was examined by kept on–stream and reusability tests, which showed the A, have the highest stability.
