PROCESS FOR SEPARATING METHANOL AND METHYL ACRYLATE OR METHYL METHACRYLATE

摘要

A distillation process is used to separate methanolfrom a mixture of methanol with methyl acrylate or methylmethacrylate, as well as from a mixture of methanol andwater with methyl acrylate or methyl methacrylate with theuse of an azeotropic solvent, which forms an azeotropicmixture with methanol. In distilling such a mixture bythe use of a distillation column:(1) part of the condensate of vapors distilled overfrom the top of the distillation column top is returned tothe top of the column;(2) the remaining condensate is separated into twolayers;(3) the upper layer essentially composed of anazeotropic solvent from the two separated layers is fed toan intermediate portion of the distillation column;(4) the lower layer essentially composed ofmethanol from the above two separated layers is withdrawnfrom the distillation system; and(5) methyl acrylate or methyl methacrylate, orelse, methyl acrylate or methyl methacrylate and water,are recovered from the bottom of the column.Water may be added to the remaining condensate atthe time of separation into two layers. The amount ofwater added is 0.1-10 times the weight of methanol.