- Catalytic Technologies Ltd (CTL) develops new titanium catalyst technology which eliminates the use of the heavy metal catalyst antimony oxide in PET production
- Technology is tested by major industry players around the world
- Company announces ambitious target of taking over 50% of the PET resin and sheet market within the next five years
A new titanium catalyst technology for the industrial production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) polyester is now being adopted by several companies around the world as PET manufacturers and processors seek to eliminate the use of the heavy metal catalyst antimony oxide. The technology was developed by Catalytic Technologies Ltd (CTL), a company established in late 2010 on Teesside in the UK. To date the company has invested over £ 1M on research and development and in 2013 it launched its patent pending UP-Technology platform which allows CTL to produce catalysts with unique chemical composition and that eliminates undesired side reactions.
In addition to eliminating antimony oxide, the new catalyst offers a range of other benefits. These include high polymer thermal stability, improved brightness and clarity owing to lower impurity content, a significant net reduction in the overall process energy required to produce plastic packaging and lighter bottles without compromising on bottle strength.
The company’s UP-Technology platform is being exploited on industrial scale plants in Asia with further commercial trials scheduled and worldwide pilot unit testing on-going.The success is due in part to the decision to invest in a continuous pilot unit catalyst trial on Uhde Inventa-Fischer’s state of the art polyester 2R-MTR pilot plant. The trial enabled substantial testing of CTL’s new UP-catalysts by independent PET polyester production experts to demonstrate the benefits of the catalyst technology compared to the industry antimony reference.
CTL’s new products target the markets for mainstream, high intrinsic viscosity PET resin and sheet used for the production of bottle and packaging plastics. The company have set the ambitious target of taking over 50% of the PET resin and sheet market within the next five years.
www.ctl8.com
