The major areas that Methyl acrylate is employed in is the production of surface coatings. These surface and water-based coatings are found in a range of industries and include the paint industry where Methyl acrylate can be a component of paints and lacquers. This is because methyl acrylate provides good water resistance, low temperature flexibility, and sunlight resistance to products, for example, latex paint formulations. It is also useful for water treatment as it is used to produce DMAEA (dimethylaminoethylacrylate) which is used as a flocculant in water treatment processes.