http://duniapetrokimia.blogspot.com/ Increasing demand for PTA worldwide. example: China's itself imports nearly 5 mi llion tn of PTA last year.

besides mcci prouction capacity as of 2000: 640k mt/y -largest in ina ------------------------steps of pta production: px, acetic acid, air (excess) , cat (mn/Co salt) fed into the reactor (150oC & 1 500 kPa) -> oxidation, > 95% conversion cta produced (slurry) enters centrifuge to remove water content 2.1.2 Manufacturing Process Terephthalic acid is typically produced by liquid-phase air oxidation of p-xylen e in the presence of manganese and cobalt acetate catalysts and a sodium bromide promoter to form cru de terephthalic acid. Crystalline crude terephthalic acid is collected as wet cake and dried. It is purified by dissolving in hot water under pressure and selectively hydrogenating contaminant s catalytically. Terephthalic acid is a solid; however, it is often stored and handled in molten form. azeotrope = a mixture (xh-water) remains constant composition when distilled. petrochemical feedstock = olefins & aromatics px = byproduct of petroleum refinery? PT PT PT PT Amoco Mitsui Pta Indonesia (Merak) 460k Mitsubishi Chemical Indonesia (Merak) Polyprima Karyareksa/Indorama (Cilegon) Asia Pacific Fibers (Karawang) 340 640k 500k

-----------------------------Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) We, human need various things to support our daily activities. Among so many tho se things, the number is dominated by synthetic materials. Assorted synthetic su bstances exist with their respective purpose namely nylon, plastics, acrylic, ke vlar, fibreglass, etc. Synthetic fibre itself is an engineered product which is initially aimed to emulate such similar function of natural fibre, also referred as artificial fibre. The first synthetic fibre ever made, nylon, was invented b y DuPont in the US and is used widely in textile industry as a replacement for s ilk. As of now, global demand for synthetic fibres increases rapidly and will grow en ormously in the future. One of the most popular synthetic compound comes from po lyester family, specifically polyethylene terephthlate. PET resin constructs app arels, jars, food & beverage containers, magnetic tape recorder, films, and many others. Sicra Trading Agency of Singapore forecasts worldwide demand for PET by 2015 is 38 million tons while the production will stick at number of 30 million tons. It is still a shortage of 8 million tons. This should be a quite good opp ortunity for related industries to develop their businesses. The key component to produce PET is purified terephthalic acid. In an oil refine ry plant, other than fuels are considered as byproducts. One of the oil refinery byproducts is aromatic. An aromatic contains ring structure. Belonging to petro

leum aromatics are generally benzene, toluene, and xylene isomers (para-meta-ort ho). An isomer of xylene, para-xylene is the raw material for PTA. To manufacture PTA, there are two main phases in place i.e. crude terephthalic a cid production and terephthalic acid purification. Very high purity of terephtha lic acid has already become a standard, therefore requires several procedures bo th physical and chemical means to achieve the desired level. Overall, the produt ion of PTA comprises these typical steps: - PX oxidation (CTA synthesis) - CTA crystallization - solid/liquid separation (CTA centrifugation/filtration) - CTA drying - CTA dissolution - CTA hydrogenation (purification to PTA) - PTA crystallization - PTA centrifugation - PTA drying - PTA product packaging CTA production stage begins with mixing acetic acid solvent and Mn/Co-Br catalys t before entering the reactor along with the raw material, PX. Compressed air is fed into the reactor to let the liquid mixture to be oxidized under exothermic reaction. The liquid phase coming out the reactor contains CTA as product and is sent to crystallizer to seize it from the liquor. During this process, impuriti es of the product remain in solution due to higher solubility in acetic acid whi le terephthalic acid crystallizes. CTA in the form of slurry flows to liquid-sol id separators and then the wet cake of CTA is dried by removing the moisture, pr edominantly acetic acid. leaving In the purification stage, CTA is firstly diluted with hot water as a preparatio n for hydrogenation unit feed. Reaction with hydrogen converts the impurities of CTA particularly p-formyl benzoic acid into more water-soluble form, p-toluic a cid. The stream is now much easier for removal of the impurities by physical sep aration. With crystallizer, crystal forms under controlled pressure and low temp erature. When the water boils, heat is also removed carrying some TA in the vapo r. As the vapor cooled in the atmosphere, TA sublimes to form solid particles th at settle to the ground. From the crystallizer, PTA slurry is sent to the centri fuges to segregate the mother liquor. The dissociation process in the centrifuge is favored by washing the wet cake with hot water. In the next pace, the stream is introduced into the dryers. Heat and inert gas are applied to reduce the moi sture content of the wet cake. Once it dries, the PTA of purity over 99% is read y for packaging. Another section is required for commercial production of above processes i.e. re covery section. The materials other than PX such as solvent, catalyst, and water are essentially reusable. Prior to returning them into the process, these mater ials need to be treated. Water eliminated from the oxidation stage can be recycl ed directly without further treatment. The catalyst is almost completely recover able, ready for re-oxidizing. The mother liquor from the separators and condensate from the dryers are recover ed by means of azeotropic distillation. The recovery is intended to obtain a reu sable solvent of acetic acid. The distillation process is done by using n-propyl acetate to facilitate the separation of acetic acid and water. Thanks God for the technology. ------------

syllabus: American Chemical Society (ACS) web portal