Patent ID: 8440860

Claim:
Process for manufacturing dialkyl lactamide, the process comprising the steps of: reacting lactide and dialkylamine selected from one or more of dimethylamine, diethylamine, and methylethylamine to form a reaction mixture which comprises dialkyl lactamide selected from N,N-dimethyl lactamide, N,N-diethyl lactamide, and N,N-methylethyl lactamide, N,N-dialkyl lactoyl lactamide, and dialkylamine, subjecting the reaction mixture to a separation step to form a product stream comprising N,N-dialkyl lactamide, a first recycle stream comprising dialkylamine and a second recycle stream comprising N,N-dialkyl lactoyl lactamide, feeding the recycle streams to the reaction step, and isolating the product stream.