A method and reaction system for the continuous preparation of higher alcohol methacrylates

Abstract

This application relates to a method and reaction system for the continuous preparation of higher alcohol methacrylates. The method includes: 1) an esterification reaction, comprising continuously esterifying excess methacrylic acid and higher alcohols in an N-stage esterification reactor to obtain higher alcohol methacrylates, where N is an integer and N≥2; the N-stage esterification reactors are connected in series such that at least a portion of the reactants from the i-th stage esterification reactor can enter the (i+1)-th stage esterification reactor, where i is an integer from 1 to N-1; 2) a dehydration treatment, wherein the dehydration treatment comprises dehydrating the methacrylic acid-water mixture from the 1st to Nth stage esterification reactors into a dehydration unit, and dehydrating the material from the dehydration unit into the 1st stage esterification reactor. The method and reaction system provided by this invention can significantly simplify existing production operations, improve the conversion rate of higher alcohols and the yield of higher alcohol ester products, shorten the reaction time, and are easy to scale up industrially.

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