Disclosed are methods for dehydrating a water containing source of formaldehyde in which water is separated from the water containing source of formaldehyde using a zeolite membrane. In certain aspects, the water containing source of formaldehyde includes a separation enhancer having a relative static permittivity ranging from 2.5 to 20, and the water containing source of formaldehyde may further include methanol. In certain aspects, (meth)acrylic acid alkyl ester may be produced using the dehydrated source of formaldehyde.