Patent ID: 8097757

Claim:
A process for the manufacture of (meth)acrylic anhydride by transanhydrization between (meth)acrylic acid and acetic anhydride in the presence of at least one polymerization inhibitor, characterized in that it comprises the following stages: a) reacting, in a reactor R 1 surmounted by a first distillation column C 1 , (meth)acrylic acid and acetic anhydride until the reactants have been partially converted to a crude reaction mixture, b) transferring the crude reaction mixture resulting from stage a) into an intermediate storage vessel S 1 which continuously feeds a second distillation column C 2 , c) recovering (meth)acrylic anhydride at the bottom of second distillation column C 2 and recovering a top fraction comprising essentially unconverted reactants and light byproducts at the second distillation column top, and d) recycling the top fraction from column C 2 to reactor R 1 all at once or continuously.