TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Process: In the process, the glycerol used in step (a) further comprises water. In the step (a) the molar ratio of triglyceride to dialkoxymethane is 1-6 and 1-30, and the molar ratio of triglyceride to glycerol is 1-3 and 1-7, where the dialkoxymethane comprises 3-9 carbon atoms. In step (a), if the dialkoxymethane is dimethoxymethane, fatty acid methyl ester and methanol are obtained in the upper layer along with fatty acid glycerol formal esters and an excess of dimethoxymethane. The acid catalyst used in step (a) is a homogeneous catalyst which is sulfuric acid or an heterogeneous catalyst which is an acidic ionic exchange resin, where the temperature of reaction of step (a) is 55-85 degrees C. The transesterification catalyst used in step (d) is a titanium alkoxide, where the alkoxide group comprises 1-6 carbon atoms. In the process, the excess of dialkoxymethane and the alkyl alcohol from step (b1) and the unreacted glycerol and homogeneous catalyst if a homogeneous catalyst has been used in step (a) from step (b2) can be reused or recycled into the process. In the step (c), the alkyl alcohol is methanol and the fatty acid alkyl ester is fatty acid methyl ester if dimethoxymethane has been used in the step (c) as a reagent. The acid catalyst used in step (c) is a homogeneous catalyst which is sulfuric acid or a heterogeneous catalyst which is an acidic ionic exchange resin. EXAMPLE - 79 g of soy oil, 28.12 g of glycerol, 105.78 g of dimethoxymethane, and 6.32 g of sulfuric acid were added to a closed vessel. The mixture was stirred at 290 rpm and heated at 70 degrees C. The reaction mixture was maintained at 70 degrees C and 1.5 bar for 10 hours. Two layers were separated by decantation. The upper layer containing excess of dimethoxymethane, methanol and a mixture of fatty acid methyl esters and fatty acid glycerol formal esters was subjected to distillation at atmospheric pressure. The fraction distilled at 42 degrees C corresponds to 82.4 g of pure dimethoxymethane which was recycled in the process without further treatment. Subsequently, a fraction distilling at 65 degrees C corresponding to 9.32 g pure methanol was obtained. The resulting mixture after distillation of volatile compounds was neutralized with 10 wt.% of an aqueous solution of potassium hydroxide to remove traces of sulfuric acid and then water was added. The mixture was dried yielding 90.69 g of a product containing fatty acid methyl esters and fatty acid glycerol formal esters. The glycerol formal in the lower layer was distilled off at reduced pressure to obtain 25.75 g of a fraction distilling at 90 degrees C corresponding to glycerol formal. The residue of distillation which comprised of 4.5 g of unreacted glycerol and sulfuric acid were re-used in subsequent batches.