Patent ID: 6956130

Claim:
In the manufacture of 2-ethylhexyl acrylate according to a process comprising: direct esterification of acrylic acid with 2-ethylhexanol; catalyzed by sulphuric acid to obtain a crude reaction mixture (B1), the acrylic acid subjected to the esterification being stabilized by at least one stabilizing agent, the esterification being followed by neutralization of the crude reaction mixture (B1) with a base to obtain an organic phase (O1) and an aqueous phase (A1), the resulting salts of the neutralization passing into the aqueous phase (A1), the organic phase (O1) and aqueous phase (A1) being separated and the 2-ethylhexyl acrylate being recovered from the organic phase (O1), wherein the improvement comprises a process for the suppression of the emulsions which appear during the neutralization, which comprises: selecting the stabilizing agent of the acrylic acid during esterification so as to exclude hydroquinone, or, if hydroquinone is contained in the stabilizing agent, stabilizing the aqueous phase before and/or during the neutralization.