Production of methyl acrylate

Production of methyl acrylate
Introduction
Methyl acrylate is an important organic chemical raw material widely used in fields such as coatings, adhesives, plastics, and textiles. This article will introduce the production process and related technologies of methyl acrylate.
The production of methyl acrylate mainly uses methanol and acrylic acid as raw materials. Methanol is produced from raw materials such as natural gas, coal, or petroleum, while acrylic acid is usually obtained through the oxidation of propylene. Other auxiliary materials include catalysts, solvents, etc.
The production process of methyl acrylate mainly includes the following steps: 1. Preparation of catalyst. In the production process of methyl acrylate, alkali catalysts or acid catalysts are often used. For the alkaline catalyst method, commonly used catalysts are sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide; The acid catalyst method uses sulfuric acid or phosphoric acid.
2. Esterification reaction
Methanol and acrylic acid are added to the reaction kettle in a certain proportion, and the esterification reaction is carried out after adding the catalyst. The reaction temperature is generally between 50-100 degrees Celsius, and inert gas should be added as a protective gas.
3. Dehydration reaction
After the esterification reaction is completed, dehydration reaction is required to remove the water from it. The commonly used method is to evaporate the water in the reaction system by heating it.
4. Separation and Purification: After completing the dehydration reaction, the product needs to be separated and purified. Usually, distillation, crystallization and other methods are used for separation to obtain high-purity methyl acrylate.
After separation and purification, methyl acrylate can be further refined to meet the required quality standards.

The production technology of methyl acrylate usually adopts ester exchange method, alcohol acid reaction method, and direct esterification method.
Ester exchange method is a process that utilizes the reaction between alcohols and esters, by adding esters with longer carbon chains to alleviate the equilibrium of esterification reactions. The purity of methyl acrylate produced by this method is high, but the requirements for raw materials are high.
The alcohol acid reaction method utilizes the esterification reaction between alcohol and acid, gradually adding acrylic acid and methanol to control the equilibrium of the reaction. The methyl acrylate produced by this method has relatively low requirements for raw materials, but its purity is slightly lower than that of the ester exchange method.
Direct esterification method is a direct esterification reaction between methanol and acrylic acid, without the need to introduce auxiliary esters or gradually add raw materials. The purity of methyl acrylate produced by this method is relatively low, but the production process is relatively simple.
Summary: Methyl acrylate is an important organic chemical raw material, and its production process requires catalysts, methanol, and acrylic acid to undergo esterification reactions, dehydration reactions, separation and purification, and refining treatments. The commonly used production techniques include ester exchange method, alcohol acid reaction method, and direct esterification method. By optimizing different production technologies and processes, methyl acrylate products with different purity and quality requirements can be obtained.