3. Processes
The quality of terephthalic acid, produced industrially in the 1950s, was unsuitable for the manufacture of PET as a result:
the presence of prohibitive impurities;
unsuitable crystal morphology (size and shape of crystals). The insoluble crystals were too small and required a very large quantity of glycol to form a conveyable paste, which led to very high levels of diethylene glycol (5%) and an additional cost that put a strain on the economics of the process.
For this reason, the first PET production units in the 1950s-1960s used batch processes based on DMT, a raw material that could be distilled under reduced pressure, and therefore easily purified, and miscible with glycol in the molten state. Productivity ranged...
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Processes
Solid-phase postcondensation (PCS or SSP)
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