PURIFICATION OF ETHYL ACETATE

PURPOSE:To remove aldehydes and improve the purity, by bringing ethyl acetate containing a very small amount of aldehydes into contact with a catalyst in the presence of a specific amount of an amine compound and distilling the resultant product in purifying the above-mentioned ethyl acetate to give the titled compound useful for applications, e.g. urethane resin, etc. CONSTITUTION:Ethyl acetate containing a very small amount of aldehydes, preferably an adequate amount of water is added to a strong acidic cation exchange resin having 2-30% exchange groups of H type to previously wet the resin by passing the water therethrough) is brought into contact with a catalyst, e.g. activated clay, etc., in the presence of a primary amine compound, preferably a higher boiling point than the ethyl acetate, e.g. heptylamine, etc., in a molar amount of 0.2-10 times based on the aldehyde. The resultant product is then distilled to purify the aimed compound. The distillation condition is as follows: For example, two distillation columns are used. In the first column, the number of plates is 20-40 and reflux ratio is 5-10 with 5-10% ratio of the low-boiling fraction. In the second column, the number of plates is 20-40 and reflux ratio is 0.5-1.5 with 5-15% ratio of the high-boiling fraction.