Patent ID: 8188304

Claim:
A process for purifying a hydrocarbon solution deriving from the synthesis of a lanthanide carboxylate, comprising said lanthanide carboxylate and impurities of the corresponding carboxylic acid and/or water, comprising: treating the hydrocarbon solution, comprising lanthanide carboxylate, with an aqueous solution of a base to obtain a pH of the aqueous phase ranging from 11.0 to 11.8; and optionally treating the hydrocarbon solution comprising lanthanide carboxylate with a solid selected from the group consisting of Na 2 SO 4 , MgSO 4 , Mg(ClO 4 ) 2 , molecular sieves 3 Å, molecular sieves 4 Å, molecular sieves 5 Å and molecular sieves 13 X.