A process for isolating pure butyl acrylate from crude butyl acrylate, where butyl is n-butyl or isobutyl, by distillation, wherein the process is carried out in a divided wall column which has separation-active internals and a vaporizer and in which a dividing wall is arranged in the longitudinal direction of the column to form an upper joint column region, a lower joint column region, an inflow section (10, 12) having a side feed point and an offtake section (11, 13) having a side offtake point, the column has a number of theoretical plates in the range from 20 to 80, where the number of theoretical plates of the dividing wall column relates to the sum of the theoretical plates in the joint upper column region, the joint lower column region and the inflow section (10, 12), the side feed point for the crude butyl acrylate is arranged at a theoretical plate in the region commencing at least two theoretical plates above the bottommost theoretical plate and ending at least two theoretical plates below the uppermost theoretical plate, the side offtake point for the pure butyl acrylate is arranged at a theoretical plate in the region commencing at least two theoretical plates above the bottommost theoretical plate and ending at least two theoretical plates below the uppermost theoretical plate and the dividing wall is arranged in the column in the region commencing at least one theoretical plate above the bottommost theoretical plate and ending at least one theoretical plate below the uppermost theoretical plate, where the ratio of amount of liquid at the upper end of the dividing wall going to the enrichment section and the stripping section of the column is set in the range from 1:0.2 to 1:5 and the ratio of amounts of the vapor streams at the lower end of the dividing wall going to the stripping section and the enrichment section of the column is set in the range from 1:0.5 to 1:2.0, where the butyl acrylate is n-butyl acrylate and the crude n-butyl acrylate has the following composition: from 40 to 90% by weight of n-butyl acrylate, from 0.1 to 20% by weight of n-butanol, from 0.1 to 20% by weight of water, from 0.1 to 20% by weight of relatively high boilers (relative to n-butyl acrylate), from 0.1 to 20% by weight of further low boilers (relative to n-butyl acrylate), or the butyl acrylate is isobutyl acrylate and the crude isobutyl acrylate has the following composition: from 40 to 90% by weight of isobutyl acrylate, from 0.1 to 20% by weight of isobutanol, from 0.1 to 20% by weight of water, from 0.1 to 20% by weight of relatively high boilers (relative to isobutyl acrylate), from 0.1 to 20% by weight of further low boilers (relative to isobutyl acrylate). from 40 to 90% by weight of n-butyl acrylate, from 0.1 to 20% by weight of n-butanol, from 0.1 to 20% by weight of water, from 0.1 to 20% by weight of relatively high boilers (relative to n-butyl acrylate), from 0.1 to 20% by weight of further low boilers (relative to n-butyl acrylate), from 40 to 90% by weight of isobutyl acrylate, from 0.1 to 20% by weight of isobutanol, from 0.1 to 20% by weight of water, from 0.1 to 20% by weight of relatively high boilers (relative to isobutyl acrylate), from 0.1 to 20% by weight of further low boilers (relative to isobutyl acrylate).