The present invention relates to a method of saturating ethylene-containing gases with acetic acid before they are fed into a vinyl acetate reactor, in which the acetic acid recovered in the vinyl acetate process is introduced into a column having a countercurrent stripping section and a rectification section and ethylene-containing gas is supplied via the bottom, wherein the liquid taken off at the bottom of the column is divided into two substreams and one substream is pumped back into the column with maintenance of a minimum pumped circulation required for sufficient saturation with acetic acid.