Esterification and Polymerisation in PE
Matthew Irwin – H00101376
Process Intensification – B51GD
Esterification and Polymerisation in PET production
Process Overview
Polyethylene terephthalate is a polymer with broad applications worldwide, and one of the most produced polymers manufactured globally each year. It main application is the bottling industry where approximately
14.7 Mt in 2009. PET resin is produced conventionally in a two - step process displayed in figure 1.9. The first stage is the esterification of Terephthalic acid (PTA) with Ethylene glycol (EG) carried out in a succession of polymerisation reactors conventionally stirred tank batch reactors and using antimony (III) oxide catalyst. The solid PTA is mixed with an ethylene glycol. The paste formed is then fed into the primary esterification reactor (PE1) which operates at 7 bar and 270°C, vapour from the reactor is rectified via a multi-stage distillation column (D5), this removes any water and acetaldehyde as well as recovering unreacted EG which is recycled back to PE1. Oligomer from PE1 is fed into a consecutive esterification reactor (PE2) which runs at 1bar and 290°C and is divided into three chambers each representing a single
CSTR. Vapour from PE2 is also rectified (D6) with the recovery of EG back to the reactor (PE2).
The second stage of the process involves the stepwise polymerisation of the poly-ethylene terephthalate
.The oligomer is the fed into a low polymerizer (PP1), which operates at medium vacuum pressures and this is in order to strip off any remaining B-EG in the mixture. It is the first step in a three-step polymerization process. The final two steps consist of an intermediate polymerizer (PP2), followed by a high polymerizer
(PP3), they are both disc ring reactors operate at low vacuum pressures to facilitate mass transfer of the viscous polymer. B-EG is recovered from the vapour product of the polymerizers via a series of spray condensers SC1, 2 AND 3. The recovered B-EG is recycled back to the original paste
Process Intensification – B51GD
Esterification and Polymerisation in PET production
Process Overview
Polyethylene terephthalate is a polymer with broad applications worldwide, and one of the most produced polymers manufactured globally each year. It main application is the bottling industry where approximately
14.7 Mt in 2009. PET resin is produced conventionally in a two - step process displayed in figure 1.9. The first stage is the esterification of Terephthalic acid (PTA) with Ethylene glycol (EG) carried out in a succession of polymerisation reactors conventionally stirred tank batch reactors and using antimony (III) oxide catalyst. The solid PTA is mixed with an ethylene glycol. The paste formed is then fed into the primary esterification reactor (PE1) which operates at 7 bar and 270°C, vapour from the reactor is rectified via a multi-stage distillation column (D5), this removes any water and acetaldehyde as well as recovering unreacted EG which is recycled back to PE1. Oligomer from PE1 is fed into a consecutive esterification reactor (PE2) which runs at 1bar and 290°C and is divided into three chambers each representing a single
CSTR. Vapour from PE2 is also rectified (D6) with the recovery of EG back to the reactor (PE2).
The second stage of the process involves the stepwise polymerisation of the poly-ethylene terephthalate
.The oligomer is the fed into a low polymerizer (PP1), which operates at medium vacuum pressures and this is in order to strip off any remaining B-EG in the mixture. It is the first step in a three-step polymerization process. The final two steps consist of an intermediate polymerizer (PP2), followed by a high polymerizer
(PP3), they are both disc ring reactors operate at low vacuum pressures to facilitate mass transfer of the viscous polymer. B-EG is recovered from the vapour product of the polymerizers via a series of spray condensers SC1, 2 AND 3. The recovered B-EG is recycled back to the original paste
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