Method for preparing (meth) acrylic acid ester

Abstract

An improvement is provided in a method for preparing an (meth)acrylic acid ester comprising an esterification step for forming the (meth)acrylic acid ester by esterification reaction between (meth)acrylic acid and the corresponding aliphatic alcohol having 1 to 4 carbon atoms in the presence of an acidic catalyst, and a separation-purification step comprising an acid-separating column, a low boiling matter-separating column and a rectification column for separating and purifying the (meth)acrylic acid ester from the (meth)acrylic acid ester-containing mixture obtained in the esterification step. This improvement lies in that by circulating the bottom residue of the rectification column into the esterification step and/or the separation-purification step, the remaining polymerization inhibitor in the bottom residue is effectively reused and the remaining (meth)acrylic acid ester in the bottom residue is efficiently recovered.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.