Application Of Titanium Materials in PTA Production
When it comes to PTA (purified terephthalic acid), many people may feel unfamiliar, but when it comes to daily necessities such as polyester fiber and plastic, everyone will feel familiar. In fact, PTA is an important raw material for these well-known products, and it plays a pivotal role in the field of petrochemicals.
In the production process of PTA, titanium plays a vital role with its excellent corrosion resistance and high temperature strength. The production process of PTA is quite complicated and needs to be carried out under high temperature and high pressure. Such harsh production conditions put forward extremely high requirements on equipment materials, and titanium is the ideal choice to meet these requirements.
Amoco, one of the world's largest PTA manufacturers, uses titanium and carbon steel composite materials to manufacture reactors in its factory in the United States. This composite material combines the corrosion resistance of titanium and the strength of carbon steel, allowing the reactor to operate stably under harsh conditions of 204℃ and 2.5MPa. In the No. 2 reactor built by Amoco Belgium, a 2mm thick titanium steel plate is used on the carbon steel substrate. Its diameter is 5.7m, height is 12m, and weight is as high as 170 tons. This design not only improves the corrosion resistance of the reactor, but also ensures its safety and stability in long-term operation.
Japan is also quite powerful in the field of PTA production. Its high-pressure container of terephthalic acid reactor adopts multi-layer cylindrical structure of titanium composite plate and single-wall container of titanium composite plate. These containers not only have excellent corrosion resistance, but also can withstand extremely high pressure and temperature. In addition, Japanese companies also chose Ti-6AI-4V titanium alloy for the stirring shaft and shaft seal device. This alloy has high strength, low specific gravity and excellent corrosion resistance, which is very suitable for key components in PTA production.
In my country, most of the PTA production equipment is imported from foreign countries. For example, Shanghai Petrochemical introduced a terephthalic acid low-temperature oxidation production unit from Japan in 1974, which involved the application of titanium. In 1984, Shanghai Petrochemical also introduced a polyester unit from Japan, of which 6 esterification coolers were made of titanium. By the 1990s, some titanium equipment was introduced in the hydrogenation process of Yizheng Chemical Fiber and Luoyang Petrochemical. These introduced equipment not only improved the technical level of PTA production in my country, but also promoted the widespread application of titanium in PTA production.
With the continuous expansion of the global polyester fiber, plastic and other markets, the demand for PTA is also growing. In order to meet this demand, companies from all over the world are constantly exploring new PTA production processes and equipment materials. In this process, titanium will continue to play an important role in PTA production with its unique performance advantages. At the same time, with the advancement of science and technology and the continuous optimization of processes, the application of titanium in PTA production will become more extensive and in-depth.
