Patent ID: 8703450

Claim:
A process of producing a polymer by radical polymerization of acrylic acid, comprising the steps of: A) forming β-hydroxypropionic acid by splitting an organic material comprising a carbohydrate in the presence of a microorganism and a nutrient solution comprising carbon sources, nitrogen sources, and salts thereof for the nutrition of the microorganism, by means of an enzyme or at least one component of an enzyme; B) purifying the product of step A) including the step of removing the β-hydroxypropionic acid from the nutrient solution to provide β-hydroxypropionic acid; C) dehydrating the β-hydroxypropionic acid of step B) to form an aqueous acrylic acid solution; D) purifying the aqueous acrylic acid solution of step C) by crystallization to have a benzaldehyde content of less 0.1 ppm, a maleic acid or maleic acid anhydride content of less than about 5 ppm, an acetic acid content of less than 0.1 ppm and a ketone content of less than about 5 ppm, wherein the purification includes removal of water from the aqueous acrylic acid solution to form acrylic acid; and E) polymerizing the acrylic acid of step D) by radical polymerization to produce the polymer.