The invention discloses a
methyl methacrylate synthesis process comprising the steps: carrying out
condensation reaction on the reaction raw materials, liquefying and separating out a mixture of
methanol and
methyl acetate, circulating, separating out a mixture of
methanol and
methyl acrylate, carrying out
hydrogenation reaction to obtain a mixture of
methanol and
methyl propionate, carrying out areaction on the mixture with a
formaldehyde source, liquefying a
reaction product gas flow, separating out a mixture of methanol and
methyl propionate to obtain a methanol-free MMA crude product liquid, separating the mixture of methanol and
methyl propionate, and respectively circulating. According to the method, the mixture of methanol and
methyl acetate, the mixture of methanol and
methyl acrylate and the mixture of methanol and methyl
propionate are gradually separated in an azeotropic manner, so that the
energy consumption of methanol separation circulation is reduced; methanol and
methyl acrylate azeotrope is used as a
raw material to be fed into a hydrogenation reactor, so that the separation difficulty is reduced;
formaldehyde is separated from the methanol-free MMA crude productliquid, and the difficulty of further refining is lower; the
separation problem of a methanol-containing multi-component complex easily-polymerized
system is effectively solved, and a powerful supportis provided for MMA synthesis of a
methyl acetate route.