Manufacturing Technologies

Manufacturing of PET can be divided into two main sections(TPA

manufacturing and polymerication step of TPA into bottle gradePET).

1. TPA manufacturing Technologies

Can be produced by different raw materials and through several routes.
1.1Direct oxidation of p-xylene
1.2Hydrolysis of DMT
1.3Oxidation of toluene

2. Polymerization of TPA to PET

2.1polymerization sequence is an esterification of 1 mode of acid with 2

moles of glycol. Water is liberated in the process
2.2polymerizatiion sequence is the polycondesation of BHET with liberation of
EG for recycle.(Tem bw 275 and 290 degree Celsius)
Why use TPA in nowadays?
Process diagram of PET with EG+TPA

3. Produce PET preform/Bottle

3.1Hot preform method (temperature remain constantly high for the whole process as
injection molding and blow molding, the material should in an elastic form. This method saves
a lot of energy as the material only has to be heated only once, that is when it is injected to
the cavity to produce the preform. The One-Step method is commonly used in small or
medium PET production companies.)

3.2Cold Preform method (The preform is injection molded on the first, then
reheated and blown on the second. The two-step system uses two
separate machines:
-injection molding(making the preforms)
-blow molding(the preform is reheated as the it isn't brought directly to the blow molding
machine and blown on the second machine)

This method is not very efficient as the heat lost is considered as a loss of energy. But
this machines are fully automated.This method is used in most medium to large scale PET
production companies.This machine is 200% more efficient than the one-step machine.

http://newengineeringpractice.blogspot.com/2011/08/manufacturing-of-plastic-bottles.html