Plant #2 > PET - Melt Phase Condensation Polymerization Process
The PET plant produces PET resin for making PET bottles using PTA (Purified Terephthalic Acid) and EG (Ethylene Glycol) as raw materials. The PET plant operates the process of improving basic physical properties to enable PET bottles manfufacturing using amorphous PET chips. The production process of the amorphous chips was initiated in 1988 with the introduction of the amorphous chip production technology of Germany’s Inventa Fisher Corporation and crystalline chip production technology of Italy’s Sinco Corporation. Currently, its excellent physical properties have become a distinguished figure in the domestic PET bottle market. The major products are TB-180 and TB-380 used as heat-resistant PET bottles, including a use for PET sheets.
■ Production process
01 Raw Material Supply Sector
The raw materials required for the production of PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) are PTA (Purified Terephthalic Acid) and EG (Ethylene Glycol).
02 Paste Production Sector
After PA and EG are supplied to the slurry storage tank at a mole ratio and are in uniformly mixed state, they are supplied through the esterification reactor.
03 Esterification Reaction Sector
Mixed paste is supplied at the constant feed rate to esterification reactor 1 and 2, and water is produced as a byproduct due to its characteristic of the polymerization reaction.
04 Condensation Polymerization Reaction Sector
The oligomers created from the esterification reaction stage react with one another under high-temperature and high-vacuum process conditions, and generate EG as a byproduct. The final polymer becomes non-crystalline PET resin with approx. 108 degrees of polymerization.
05 Chips Production
The melt phase PET generated from the condensation polymerization reaction stage goes through the extruder and is bagged in chips state or transferred to the solid phase condensation polymerization process to increase the molecular weight.
