Reaction distillation was first used for the process of acrylic acid synthesis through transesterification of methyl acrylate with acetic acid using a strongly acidic cationic exchange resin catalyst (NKC-9). Pseudo-homogeneous (P-H) and Langmuir-Hinshelwood (L-H) heterogeneous kinetic models were presented and fitted with the experimental data obtained from the batch reaction. The key factors of the heterogeneous kinetic model were the four components' adsorption equilibrium constants on the catalyst surface, and they were determined by adsorption experiments. The activity coefficients were calculated using the NRTL method. The catalyst stability was evaluated in a fixed-bed reactor. Catalyst activity showed no obvious decrease after 1000 h of running. A reactive distillation column for acrylic acid synthesis was proposed and designed with process simulation.