Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.

Mitsui Petrochemical Industries, Ltd.

Shoji Hiraoka

Masayuki Sakai

Koji Nakamachi

Hideshi Hori

Fujito Ehara

Masanobu Ajioka

Junichi Imuta

Masatoshi Takagi

Shinji Ogawa

Hiroshi Suizu

Satoru Miyazoe

Yuji Terado

Takayuki Onogi

Hiroyuki Suzuki

Akiyoshi Shimizu

Kazuo Toyota

Michio Tsugawa

Yasushi Kotaki

Takeshi Ohmatsuzawa

Kenzaburou Fukutani

Seiji Noda

Hiroji Niimi

Hitoshi Tsuboi

Koji Takahashi

Ryo Shinagawa

Hiroshi Kimura

Masayoshi Yamaguchi

Mikio Hashimoto

Hajime Inagaki

Masayasu Ishibashi

Hiroshi Iwasaki

Satoshi Inoki

Masahiro Kouya

Nobumasa Mukai

Hiromi Ueki

Akivoshi Shimizu

Toru Matsuyoshi

The present invention provides a catalyst for polyester production capable of producing a polyester with high catalytic activity, a process for producing a polyester using the catalyst and a polyester produced thereby. The catalyst comprises a solid titanium compound obtained by dehydro-drying a hydrolyzate obtained by hydrolysis of a titanium halide and which has a molar ratio (OH/Ti) of a hydroxyl group (OH) to titanium (Ti) exceeding 0.09 and less than 4. In the process, the polyester is obtained by polycondensing an aromatic dicarboxylic acid, or an ester-forming derivative thereof, and an aliphatic diol, or ester-forming derivative thereof, in the presence of the catalyst. The resulting polyester has excellent transparency and tint, a titanium content of 1 to 100 ppm, a magnesium content of 1 to 200 ppm and a magnesium to titanium weight ratio of not less than 0.01.

Catalyst for polyester production, process for producing polyester using the catalyst, polyester obtained by the process, and uses of the polyester

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

A process for preparing polyester pellets which involves blending polyethylene terephthalate and polyethylene isophthalate copolymer before solid state polymerization, the polyethylene isophthalate copolymer being composed of dicarboxylic acid constituent units derived from dicarboxylic acids containing terephthalic acid and isophthalic acid and diol constituent units derived from diols containing ethylene glycol and 1,3-bis(2-hydroxyethoxy)benzene, palletizing the blend and crystallizing the pellets.

Process of making polyester pellets

The invention relates to a process for producing an aliphatic polyester excellent in stability which includes subjecting an aliphatic polyester containing at least 50% of an aliphatic hydroxycarboxylic acid unit, obtainable by solid-phase polymerization under a flowing gas in the presence of a volatile catalyst so as to have a desired weight average molecular weight within the range of 50,000 to 1,000,000, to a heat treatment at a temperature equal to or higher than the reaction temperature of the solid-phase polymerization under a flowing gas with maintaining the aliphatic polyester in a solid state. According to the process of the invention, an aliphatic polyester excellent in stability at molding and storage stability is obtained.

Process for producing aliphatic polyester excellent in stability

The novel polyester (first polyester &lsqb;A&rsqb;) of the invention comprises dicarboxylic acid constituent units derived from at least one dicarboxylic acid selected from terephthalic acid, isophthalic acid and naphthalenedicarboxylic acid and diol constituent units derived from diols comprising ethylene glycol and a polyalkylene glycol having a C -C alkylene chain, wherein the proportion of constituent units derived from the polyalkylene glycol is 0.001 to 10% by weight based on the diol constituent units. The polyester &lsqb;A&rsqb; has an excellent crystallization rate, is suitably used, singly or as compositions together with another polyester &lsqb;B&rsqb; and/or other polymers, for production of molded products such as films, sheets, laminates, preforms and bottles, which have excellent thermal, gas barrier and transparency properties.

Polyester compositions and laminates and processes for producing biaxially stretched polyester bottles

A process for producing aliphatic polyester wherein a crystallized aliphatic polyester prepolymer formed from an aliphatic dihydric alcohol and an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid and having a weight-average molecular weight of 2,000 to 100,000 is caused to undergo solid-phase polymerization in the presence of a volatile catalyst to make an aliphatic polyester having a weight-average molecular weight of 50,000 to 1,000,000. This process is more efficient than any prior process calling for a complicated step for catalyst removal, since it enables the removal of the catalyst from the reaction system during and/or after solid-phase polymerization. The polyester is comparable in stability to any aliphatic polyester having any catalyst removed therefrom.

Process for preparing aliphatic polyester

The present invention provides a catalyst for polyester production capable of producing a polyester with high catalytic activity and a process for producing a polyester using the catalyst. The catalyst for polyester production comprises a solid titanium compound which is obtained by dehydro-drying a hydrolyzate obtained by hydrolysis of a titanium halide and which has a molar ratio (OH/Ti) of a hydroxyl group (OH) to titanium (Ti) exceeding 0.09 and less than 4. The present invention also provides a method to obtain a polyester having a small increase of the acetaldehyde content during the molding. This method comprises bringing a polyester, which is obtained by the use of a titanium compound catalyst and in which the reaction has been completed, into contact with a phosphoric ester aqueous solution or the like having a concentration of not less than 10 ppm in terms of phosphorus atom. The present invention further provides a polyester having excellent transparency and tint and molded products of the polyester such as a blow molded article, a film, a sheet and a fiber. The polyester is obtained by polycondensing an aromatic dicarboxylic acid or an ester-forming derivative thereof and an aliphatic diol or an ester-forming derivative thereof in the presence of a catalyst for polyester production which comprises a polycondensation catalyst component comprising a solid titanium compound and a co-catalyst component comprising a magnesium compound. This polyester has a titanium content of 1 to 100 ppm, a magnesium content of 1 to 200 ppm and a weight ratio (Mg/Ti) of magnesium to titanium of not less than 0.01.

Disclosed are polyester pellets made of a polyester which comprises dicarboxylic acid constituent units derived from dicarboxylic acids containing terephthalic acid and isophthalic acid and diol constituent units derived from diols containing ethylene glycol and 1,3-bis(2-hydroxyethoxy)benzene, and which has the properties: constituent units derived from terephthalic acid are 15 to 99.5% by mol and constituent units derived from isophthalic acid are 0.5 to 85% by mol, both based on the total amount of dicarboxylic acid isophthalic acid constituent units (i); constituent units derived from ethylene glycol are 25 to 99.5% by mol and constituent units derived from 1,3-bis(2-hydroxyethoxy)benzene are 0.5 to 75% by mol, both based on the total amount of the diol constituent units (ii); the intrinsic viscosity is in the range of 0.5 to 1.5 dl/g; and the melting point (Tm (&deg;C.)), as measured by a differential scanning calorimeter, satisfies the formula &lsqb;1/527&minus;0.0017&middot;ln(1&minus;(m,&plus;m,)/200)&rsqb;,&minus;273<Tm&lE;265; said polyester pellets having a density of not less than 1,350 kg/m,. Also disclosed is a process for preparing the polyester pellets. The polyester pellets are excellent in gas barrier properties, transparency and heat resistance and hardly generate acetaldehyde.

Polyester pellets

The invention provides a process for producing high-molecular aliphatic polyesters capable of being substitutes for general-purpose resins that are required to have high toughness, in a simplified manner and at a high volume efficiency. Specifically, in the process, used as the starting material is an easily-available, low-molecular aliphatic polyester prepolymer to be prepared through polycondensation of inexpensive materials of an aliphatic hydroxycarboxylic acid such as lactic acid, glycolic acid or the like, an aliphatic polyalcohol such as butanediol or the like, and an aliphatic polycarboxylic acid such as succinic acid or the like, and the starting prepolymer is crystallized and thereafter polycondensed in a solid phase in the presence of a catalyst to give the intended, tough and high-molecular aliphatic polyester.

Preparation process of polyester

Disclosed is a propylene polymer composition comprising (a) a propylene polymer, (b) an olefin type elastomer and (c) a polar group-containing olefin polymer composition obtained by heating (c-1) an olefin polymer containing a carboxyl group or an acid anhydrous group in its molecule and (c-2) an amino compound, each in a specific amount. Also disclosed is a propylene polymer composition comprising (a) a propylene polymer, (b) an olefin type elastomer, (c-1) an olefin polymer containing a carboxyl group or an acid anhydrous group in its molecule and (c-2) an amino compound, each in a specific amount. The propylene polymer compositions of the present invention are excellent in properties of being coated with various coatings.

Propylene polymer compositions

Process for producing polyethylene naphthalate

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Yamaguchi, Japan

Shoji Hiraoka