The invention discloses a method for preparing alpha-acetyl-gamma-butyrolactone. The method comprises the following steps: adding
ethyl acetate and
sodium carbonate into a three-necked flask, dropwiseadding gamma-butyrolactone at the temperature of 44 to 46 DEG C, stirring, mixing the
ethyl acetate and liquid
aldehyde, dropwise adding a reaction solution, uniformly mixing, stirring and reacting for 1.5 to 2.5 hours at the temperature of 54 to 58 DEG C, adding the reaction solution into a high-pressure kettle, reacting for 5 to 6 hours at the temperature of 80 to 85 DEG C, cooling to
room temperature, adding the reaction solution into a three-necked flask, dropwise adding
sulfuric acid at 3 to 5 DEG C to adjust the pH to be 6 to 7, precipitating solids in the dropwise addition process, after the addition is ended, stirring for 11 to 13 hours, re-testing the pH which is unchanged, filtering to remove the solids, washing a
filter cake by using
ethyl acetate, performing the decompressionrotary
evaporation, removing the ethyl acetate until no fraction is outputted, obtaining a crude product, and performing the direct decompression rectification for the crude product. The preparation method is easy in obtaining raw materials, cheap in raw materials, easy in operation, higher in yield, and suitable for industrialized production.