June 2012 – Continuous 2R-MTR pilot unit trial completed successfully

Following a series of laboratory scale trials CTL have invested in a continuous high IV PET pilot unit trial to compare the new CTL Ti638 UP catalyst to an antimony standard. The two week trial first ran an antimony reference to allow appropriate comparison with the new titanate catalyst. The trial demonstrated that catalysis by Ti638 UP alone, and jointly with an antimony catalyst produced PET chip that was improved when compared to the antimony PET reference. Early results indicate that physical optical and process properties of high IV PET can be significantly improved when using CTL Ti638 UP, and most importantly, and completely like any other titanate catalyst available on the market, the Ti638 UP Ti-PET thermal stability is excellent. Preform and bottle trials will now take place to further investigate the catalyst performance.