Patent ID: 8273313

Claim:
A methacrylic acid production system comprising: an oxidation subsystem adapted to oxidize a feed stream including isobutene and an methacrolein (MA) recycle stream into a hot oxidized stream including MA, methacrylic acid (MAA) and acetic acid (AA); a quench/distillation subsystem adapted to quench the hot oxidized stream with an amount of a quench stream sufficient to reduce the hot oxidized stream from an initial temperature of about 280° C. to a final temperature below about 75° C. instantaneously or near instantaneously and to distillatively form an MAA rich bottoms stream including a major portion of the AA produced in the system and an MA rich overhead stream; an MAA recycle subsystem adapted to form a first MAA product stream, the quench stream and an MAA rich overhead recycle stream; an MA overhead separation and recycle subsystem adapted to separate an MA rich overhead stream into an MA rich vapor stream and an MA lean recycle stream; an absorber/stripper system adapted to recover MAA and AA present in the MA rich vapor stream and to produce the MA recycle stream, a second MAA product stream and a lights waste stream, and an optionally a stripper gas system adapted to form a stripper gas stream formed by incinerating an incineration stream including the lights waste stream.