Polyethylene terepthalate production

FIGURE 5.3 Flow diagram for the production of polyethylene terepthalate (PET)-based thermoplastic elastomer (TPE). (From Papke, N. and Kargar-Kocsis, J., Polymer, 42, 1109, 2001. Courtesy of Elsevier.)... 

PESA can be blended with various thermoplastics to alter or enhance their basic characteristics. Depending on the nature of thermoplastic, whether it is compatible with the polyamide block or with the soft ether or ester segments, the product is hard, nontacky or sticky, soft, and flexible. A small amount of PESA can be blended to engineering thermoplastics, e.g., polyethylene terepthalate (PET), polybutylene terepthalate (PBT), polypropylene oxide (PPO), polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), or poly-ether amide (PEI) for impact modification of the thermoplastic, whereas small amount of thermoplastic, e.g., nylon or PBT, can increase the hardness and flex modulus of PESA or PEE A [247]. 

Organic thin film transistors are fabricated with a low-temperature process. It is therefore possible to fabricate TFT arrays for flat panel displays in a low cost process. The substrates are low-cost and flexible such as polyethylene terepthalate (PET). The low cost, large area TFT arrays can be used for many applications, e.g. electronic paper, smart cards and remotely updateable posters and notice boards. Currently the amorphous-silicon-on-glass technology is used for such applications. This technology is very expensive. These applications will only become popular in marketplace if the cost of production is substantially reduced. This is the driving force for the R D effort in organic TFTs. 

Most polymer blends that are commercial products in the industry are partially miscible. Partially miscible polymer blends are those that exhibit some shift from their pure component glass transition temperatures. Thus, a binary miscible blend will exhibit one glass transition temperature [1], and a partially miscible blend may exhibit two distinct glass transition temperatures other than their pure component values [2,3]. Some experimental systems such as polyethylene terepthalate (PET) and poly-hydroxybenzoic (PHB), polycarbonate (PC), and styrene acrylonitrile (SAN) have been reported [4]. Very little mathematical description of partially miscible systems is available in the literature. 

Figure 1.11 Fossil energy requirement for petrochemical polymers and PLA. The cross-hatched area of the bars represent the fossil energy used as chemical feedstock (i.e., fossil resource to build the polymer chain). The solid part of the bars represented the gross fossil energy used for the fuels and operation supplies used to drive the production processes. PC = polycarbonate HIPS = high-impact polystyrene GPPS = general purpose polystyrene LDPE = low-density polyethylene PET SSP = polyethylene terephthalate, solid-state polymerization (bottle grade) PP = polypropylene PET AM = polyethylene terepthalate, amorphous (fiber and film grade) ...

Culture and differentiation of mESCs in a perfused 3D fibrous matrix has also been reported (Li et al., 2003). In this study, perfusion led to a higher growth rate and final cell density in relation to static conditions. A polyethylene terepthalate (PET) matrix was applied for construction of the scaffold, which provided a larger surface area for adhesion, growth, and reduced contact inhibition. A bioprocess for efficient ESC-derived cardiomyocyte production was also developed (Bauwens et al., 2005). This system was capable of monitoring and control oxygen tension and pH in 500-mL vessels with continuous medium perfusion. Oxygen tension was shown to he a culture parameter that can be manipulated to improve cardiomyocyte yield. 

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