ACRYLIC ACID RECOVERY UTILIZING ETHYL ACRYLATE AND SELECTED CO-SOLVENTS

A method of recovering acrylic acid from a mixture comprising acrylic acid, water and acetic acid is disclosed, which includes: (a) extracting acrylic acid from the mixture with a solvent mixture comprising ethyl acrylate as the preponderant component thereof and an organic co−solvent selected from the group consisting of toluene, heptane, 1−heptene, methylcyclohexane, cycloheptane, cycloheptadiene, cycloheptatriene, 2,4−dimethyl−1,3 pentadiene, methylcyclohexene and methylenecyclohexene to form an extracted composition; and (b) azeotropically distilling the extracted composition to recover acrylic acid. Also disclosed is an alternate method of recovering acrylic acid which includes: (a) providing a feed stream containing acrylic acid, water, acetic acid, ethyl acrylate and an organic co−solvent selected from the group consisting of toluene, heptane, 1−heptene, methylcyclohexane, cycloheptane, cycloheptadiene, cycloheptatriene, 2,4−dimethyl−1,3 pentadiene, methylcyclohexene and methylenecyclohexene to a distillation column, wherein the weight ratio of ethyl acrylate to the organic co−solvent is from about 80:20 to about 95:5; and (b) azeotropically distilling said feed stream to provide an acrylic acid residue stream. A further embodiment of this invention involves directing the recovered acrylic acid stream to a distillation tower wherein a vapor or liquid side stream is obtained having a purity level of acrylic acid of at least 99%. This material can be subsequently further purified to obtain glacial acrylic acid having a purity of at least 99.8%. A method of recovering acrylic acid from a mixture comprising acrylic acid, water and acetic acid is disclosed, which includes: a extracting acrylic acid from the mixture with a solvent mixture comprising ethyl acrylate as the preponderant component thereof and an organic co-solvent selected from the group consisting of toluene, heptane, 1-heptene, methylcyclohexane, cycloheptane, cycloheptadiene, cycloheptatriene, 2,4-dimethyl-1,3 pentadiene, methylcyclohexene and methylenecyclohexene to form an extracted composition and b azeotropically distilling the extracted composition to recover acrylic acid. Also disclosed is an alternate method of recovering acrylic acid which includes: a providing a feed stream containing acrylic acid, water, acetic acid, ethyl acrylate and an organic co-solvent selected from the group consisting of toluene, heptane, 1-heptene, methylcyclohexane, cycloheptane, cycloheptadiene, cyclohe