Poly Corterra

H. H. Chuah, Corterra Poly (trimethylene) terephthalate — New Polymeric Fiber for Carpets, Paper presented at Tifcon 96, Blackpool, U.K. (1966). http //www. shellchemicals.com. 

The newest commercial polymer to join the polyester family is poly(trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT) which is being targeted at fibre applications (Chapter 11). It is sold under the Corterra trademark by Shell. After packaging, the single largest use for polyesters is for fibre applications such as clothing, textiles and non-wovens. The technology of polyester fibre formation is described in Chapters 12 and 13. 

Propanediol (1,3PD) is also undergoing a transition from a small-volume specialty chemical into a commodity. The driving force is its application in poly (trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT), which is expected to partially replace polyethylene terephthalate) and polyamide because of its better performance, such as stretch recovery. The projected market volume of PTT under the trade-names CORTERRA (Shell) and Sorona 3GT (Dupont) is 1 Mt a-1 within a few years. In consequence, the production volume of 1,3PD is expected to expand from 55kta-1 in 1999 to 360 kt a-1 in the near future. 1,3PD used to be synthesized from acrolein by Degussa and from ethylene oxide by Shell (see Fig. 8.8) but a fermentative process is now joining the competition. 

Shell Chemical has commercialized poly(trimet-hylene terephthalate) (based on 1,3 propane diol) under the trade name Corterra [Plastics Engineering, Nov. 1997]. This polyester will exhibit performance intermediate between PET and PBT and should exhibit blend potential similar to that enjoyed by these well established polyesters. 

During the last 8 or 10 years, there has been a considerable effort to introduce a new potentially high volume polyester, poly(trimethylene terephthalate) [24], into the market. The polyester is sold under a commercial trade name as Corterra and as a fiber by the trade name Sorona. ... 

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