Melt-To-Resin MTR®

The high-viscosity Melt-To-Resin MTR® Technology completely replaces conventional solid-state post-condensation (SSP) for food and drink packaging. It is based on the established 2-Reactor technology. Innovative and patented design highlights such as the advanced ESPREE® and DISCAGE® reactors as well as an improved polymer line design, short term filtration, die-face hot cut, AA conditioning and gentle process conditions mean that the MTR® process offers a number of excellent features. The list includes highest melt viscosities up to 1,500 Pas, excellent colour, reduced crystallinity, reduced AA content, higher raw material yield and many more.

Quality

High quality PET resin made from PTA/MEG and Co-Monomers is based on soft reaction conditions during the chemical processes of esterification and polycondensation which are only achieved in the 2R MTR® process. There is no “make-good” left to further production steps.

As such, the prepolymer is prepared to contain less than:

  • 2-3 meq/kg of vinyl ester groups,
  • 0.5 to 0.8% of oligomer content, and
  • 40 to 50 meq/kg of carboxyl end-groups,

while the chain length is kept low to support the reactivity during the high i.V. melt finishing process.

Economy

The MTR® process is characterized by lower costs for energy, capital investment and operations, leading to an overall reduction of conversion costs of about 30% compared to the traditional process.

The combination of the highly efficient 2R and MTR® technologies also leads to savings in raw materials. Costs and yield are drastically improved by omitting the solid-stating process.

Note: Uhde Inventa-Fischer has the technology to produce bottle preforms directly from the high i.V. melt: the MTP® process.