Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.

Nobumasa Mukai

Hideshi Hori

Fujito Ehara

Shoji Hiraoka

Akiyoshi Shimizu

Ken Maeda

Shouji Hiraoka

Tomohiro Suzuki

The object of the present invention is to provide a high quality polyester resin having high productivity, stability and safety, a catalyst for polyester production with high catalytic activity, a method for producing the polyester resin with the catalyst, a polyester resin obtained with the catalyst, and a hollow molded container having the polyester resin. The polyester resin of the present invention satisfies specific parameters regarding polymerizability, stability, and metal content. The catalyst for polyester production satisfies specific parameters. The catalyst particularly preferably has: (a) a solid titanium-containing compound which has a maximum solubility in ethylene glycol of 1,000 ppm or more in terms of converted titanium amount when dissolved in ethylene glycol with heating at 150&#xb0; C., and which has titanium, oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen, and optionally an alkali metal, and has a Ti&#x2014;O&#x2014;C bond; and (b) an alkali metal compound, the molar ratio of the alkali metal atoms to the titanium atom in the catalyst being in the range of 20/1 to 0.1/1.

Polyester resin and catalyst for polyester production, process for producing polyester resin with the catalyst, polyester resin obtained with the catalyst, and hollow molded container comprising the polyester resins

By the present invention, there are provided a catalyst for polyester preparation, which comprises a solid titanium compound containing titanium, oxygen, carbon and hydrogen and having a Ti&mdash;O bond and which has a maximum solubility in ethylene glycol, as measured when the catalyst is dissolved in ethylene glycol under heating at 150&deg; C., of not less than 3,000 ppm in terms of a titanium atom, a catalyst for polyester preparation, which comprises a titanium-containing solution wherein a contact product of a hydrolyzate of a titanium halide or a hydrolyzate of a titanium alkoxide with a polyhydric alcohol is dissolved in ethylene glycol in an amount of 3,000 to 100,000 ppm in terms of a titanium atom, a process for preparing a polyester using the catalyst, and a polyester prepared by the process. According to the present invention, a polyester can be prepared with a higher catalytic activity as compared with a case of using a conventional catalyst, and a polyester having better transparency, better hue and lower acetaldehyde content can be obtained as compared with a process using an antimony compound as a polycondensation catalyst.

Catalysts for polyester production, process for producing polyester, and polyester

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Yamaguchi, Japan

Nobumasa Mukai