Patent ID: 6838517

Claim:
A method far producing an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, comprising: copolymerizing ethylene and vinyl acetate in an alcohol-based solvent, so as to form a solution containing said ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer; and recovering unreacted vinyl acetate from said solution after copolymerizing; wherein said solution is introduced into a recovery column through an upper portion thereof, a vapor of an alcohol-based solvent is introduced into said recovery column through a lower portion thereof, a solution comprising ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer is taken out of said recovery column through a lower portion thereof, and unreacted vinyl acetate in the solution is taken out of said recovery column with the vapor of the alcohol-based solvent through an upper portion thereof; wherein said alcohol-based solvent, the vapor of which is introduced into said recovery column, is deoxidized in advance of being introduced into said recovery column and an oxygen concentration in said alcohol-based solvent is not more than 60 ppm.