Process for producing alkyl methacrylates with improved water and acid management

A process for producing alkyl methacrylates, in particular methyl methacrylate (MMA), includes 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. An optimized workup of the reactor output from the oxidative esterification of methacrolein involves minimizing the amount of employed water, the amount of employed acid, and/or the amount of aqueous waste streams, through an optimized recycling of the generated process water streams.