Process for producing alkyl methacrylates with improved water and acid management

The present invention relates to a process for producing alkyl methacrylates, in particular methyl methacrylate (MMA), comprising production of methacrolein (MAL) in a first reaction stage, direct oxidative esterification (DOE) of the methacrolein with an alcohol, preferably methanol, to afford an alkyl methacrylate in a second reaction stage and workup of the alkyl methacrylate crude product from the second reaction stage. The present invention especially relates to an optimized workup of the reactor output from the oxidative esterification of methacrolein, wherein the amount of employed water, the amount of employed acid and/or the amount of aqueous waste streams are minimized through an optimized recycling of the generated process water streams.