Reduced fouling process for the production of methyl methacrylate

A process for producing methyl methacrylate (MMA) comprising:

• (a) contacting methacrylamide (MAM) with methanol in an aqueous reaction medium in an esterification reaction zone in the presence of an acidic raw material selected from the group consisting of sulfuric acid, oleum, and mixtures thereof, to produce a first stream comprising MMA, water, methanol, acidic raw material and methacrylic acid (MAA);
• (b) phase separating the first stream in a first phase separating apparatus into a first aqueous phase comprising the acidic raw material, and a first organic liquid product phase comprising:
• MMA, methanol and MAA;
• (c) taking a first organic stream from the first organic liquid product phase, and neutralizing the MAA of the first organic stream with ammonia to produce a neutralized stream comprising MMA, methanol and ammonium methacrylate;
• (d) optionally adding water to the neutralized stream;
• (e) phase separating the neutralized stream in a second phase separating apparatus into an organic layer comprising MMA and an aqueous layer comprising methanol and ammonium methacrylate, the layers having a common interface;
• (f) removing a polymer-removing stream from the phase separating apparatus at or below the height of the interface;
• and (g) removing from the second phase separating apparatus a second aqueous stream comprising a portion of the aqueous layer and from 1 to 500 ppm of a soluble polymer and wherein the second aqueous stream is recycled to the esterification reaction zone wherein the polymer-removing stream has a relative size compared to the second aqueous stream, and the relative size is from 0.1 to 7% of the size of the second aqueous stream.