Process for the continuous preparation of (meth)acrylate by reacting an alcohol with (meth)acrylic acid using at lest one control unit which is closed-loop controlled by a sensor (s)

A process for the continuous preparation of a (meth)acrylate by reacting an alcohol with (meth)acrylic acid comprising the steps:

• i) feeding a first stream containing the alcohol and a second stream containing the (meth)acrylic acid to a reaction zone (RZ), wherein
• the feed to the reaction zone (RZ) via the first stream is adjusted by a first control unit (RAA) which is closed-loop controlled by a sensor (S) and/or
• the feed to the reaction zone (RZ) via the second stream is adjusted by a second control unit (RAA) which is closed-loop controlled by the sensor (S), and reacting the alcohol and the (meth)acrylic acid in the reaction zone (RZ) to obtain a product mixture comprising the (meth)acrylate and unreacted (meth)acrylic acid and unreacted alcohol,
• ii) feeding the product mixture as a third stream from the reaction zone (RZ) to a separation zone (SZ), wherein the sensor (S) determines a molar ratio of the unreacted (meth)acrylic acid and the unreacted alcohol contained in the product mixture and, wherein the sensor (S), depending on the determined molar ratio of the unreacted (meth)acrylic acid and the unreacted alcohol in the product mixture, controls the first control unit (RAL) and/or the second control unit (RAA), and
• iii) separating the product mixture in the separation zone (SZ) to obtain the (meth)acrylate which is discharged from the separation zone (SZ) as a fourth stream and a recycling mixture comprising the unreacted (meth)acrylic acid and the unreacted alcohol which is discharged from the separation zone (SZ) as a fifth stream.