To solve the problem of catalyst recovery, high investment, and high energy consumption in the traditional manufacturing process of triethylene glycol di-2-ethylhexoate (TGDE), sulfated zirconia (HND-32) and reactive distillation (RD) were used in this work. Kinetics experiments for the esterification of triethylene glycol and 2-ethylhexanoic acid catalyzed by sulfated zirconia were performed at 463.15-493.15 K. The pseudo-homogeneous model was used to obtain the kinetics equation. Then, the process analysis results of the RD column indicate that there is an optimal theoretical plate number of the stripping section to obtain the highest yield of TGDE. The yield of TGDE can be enhanced to 98.15%, and 98.5 wt % TGDE can be obtained in the bottom of the RD column when the feed molar ratio is the stoichiometric ratio.