Provided is a method for preparing
lactide by one-step reaction of
lactic acid, which comprises mixing
lactic acid raw material with a
solvent and contacting with a catalyst, wherein the
solvent comprises
solvent I and solvent II, the solvent I is at least one selected from polar solvents such as
benzophenone, dihydrolevoglucosenone, N-methylpyrrolidone, trichloropropane and
sulfolane, the solvent II is C4-C12
alkane, substituted
alkane,
aromatic hydrocarbon or substituted
aromatic hydrocarbon, the
solubility of the solvent II for
lactic acid at normal temperature is not more than 1 g lactic acid / 100 g solvent; and the
reaction temperature and pressure are such that the solvent I does not boil in the
reaction system. The mixed solvent is used as the liquid environment for preparing
lactide by one-step reaction of lactic acid, the mixed solvent can be completely miscible with lactic acid in the reaction
raw material, on the one hand, it can increase the contact between lactic acid and the
solid catalyst, make the reaction more complete, reduce the generation of by-product poly lactic acid, and increase the selectivity of
lactide; on the other hand, since the poly lactic acid can also be dissolved in the selected solvent, the adhesion of the poly lactic acid on the catalyst can be reduced, the influence of catalyst deactivation caused by
carbon deposition can be reduced, and the service life of the catalyst can be improved.