Patent 7550552 was granted and assigned to Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation on June, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Polybutylene terephthalate is produced by continuously subjecting terephthalic acid and 1,4-butanediol to an esterification reaction in the presence of a titanium compound catalyst using one-stage or plural-stage esterification reaction vessel(s) and then subjecting the resultant reaction product to a polycondensation reaction, wherein the esterification reaction between terephthalic acid and 1,4-butanediol is conducted in the presence of a titanium compound having a specific concentration under a specific pressure at a specific molar ratio between the raw materials. The process avoids undesirable side reactions by continuously conducting esterification reaction using terephthalic acid as a raw material, and can minimize loss of raw materials.