A method for producing a glyceryl ether, including the steps of feeding a
compound represented by the general formula (I):
##STR00001##
wherein R is a hydrocarbon group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms, a part or
all of the hydrogen atoms of which may be substituted with a fluorine
atom; OA, which may be identical or different, is an oxyalkylene group
having 2 to 4 carbon atoms; and p is the number of from 0 to 20,and water
to a reactor, and subjecting the compound to a hydrolytic reaction under
conditions that water is in a subcritical state or a supercritical state;
and wherein the method includes the step of (1) collecting water from a
reaction mixture after the hydrolytic reaction, adjusting a pH of the
water to 3.5 or more, and feeding the collected water to the reactor; or
(2) subjecting water collected from a reaction mixture after the
hydrolytic reaction to a filtration treatment with a reverse osmosis
membrane, and feeding the resulting treated water as a recycled water to
the reactor.