Patent ID: 7491841

Claim:
A process for producing an acrylic ester by supplying acrylic acid and an aliphatic or alicyclic alcohol having from 5 to 8 carbon atoms to an esterification reactor to cause an esterification reaction using a strongly acidic cation exchange resin as a catalyst in the reactor, the process comprising supplying an obtained reaction product to a low-boiling separation column to distill an alcohol, acrylic acid, and water from the top of the low-boiling separation column, and separating them into a water phase and an organic phase containing the alcohol and acrylic acid, the organic phase being circulated as a circulated liquid to the reactor, supplying a crude acrylic ester, which is withdrawn from the bottom of the low-boiling separation column, to a rectifying column, taking out a rectified acrylic ester from the top of the rectifying column, and supplying a high-boiling substance containing an acrylic ester, which is withdrawn from the bottom of the rectifying column, to a high-boiling separation column and/or a thin-film evaporator to separate it into an acrylic ester component and a high-boiling substance, the separated acrylic ester component being taken out as a distillate, mixing all or part of the distillate with water to extract and remove a high-boiling acid component contained in the distillate into a water phase, and supplying an obtained organic phase to the low-boiling separation column for its recovery.