PROCESSES FOR PRODUCTION OF ACRYLIC ACID AND/OR ESTER THEREOF AND POLYMER OF THE ACRYLIC ACID AND/OR THE ESTER

摘要

The purpose of the present invention is to provide: a process for producing acrylic acid and/or an ester thereof, which can produce acrylic acid and/or an ester thereof each having a high purity steadily for a long period while preventing the clogging of a reaction tube or the deterioration in activity of a catalyst; and a process for producing a hydrophilic resin having excellent performance and excellent safety using acrylic acid and/or an ester thereof which contains little impurities as a raw material. The present invention relates to a process for producing acrylic acid and/or an ester thereof from a raw material composition containing hydroxypropionic acid and/or an ester thereof, which comprises (a) an evaporation step of vaporizing the raw material composition and (b) a dehydration step of bringing the vaporized raw material composition into contact with a dehydration catalyst, and which is characterized in that the total amount of hydroxypropionic acid and/or the ester thereof supplied to step (b) relative to 100 mass% of the total amount of hydroxypropionic acid and/or the ester thereof supplied to step (a) is adjusted to 70 mass% or more.