Trimethylolpropane color improvement

The present invention provides a process for improving the color of trimethylolpropane including the steps of preparing a crude aqueous solution of trimethylolpropane (TMP) containing color causing impurities, distilling the solution evaporating excess water from the same, extracting the TMP from the solution, and purifying the extracted TMP, the improvement which comprises the steps of adding an alkaline material to the crude TMP solution after the evaporation step to react with the color causing impurities, cooling the TMP solution and then adding an organic acid thereto to partially neutralize the TMP solution and then proceeding with the extraction and purification steps to form TMP with an improved color.