Polytrimethylene Terephthalate: An Example of an Industrial Polymer Platform Development in China

Poly(trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT) which combines properties of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), is used in everyday products such as apparel and carpet. DuPont has successfully developed a renewably sourced building block, bio‐based 1,3‐propanediol (PDO), through industrial bio‐technology using glucose as the raw material. This green technology has significantly promoted the commercialization of PTT and its development activities. In DuPont's China R&D center, an industrial polymer technology platform has been established to serve the local China market with PTT manufacturing and application support. This platform explores new industrial applications for and modifications to PTT, such as expansion of the application space into engineering polymers (EP), development of fire retardancy, melt viscosity regulation for PTT fiber spinning and the use of PTT in nanocomposite preparations.