Patent ID: 8163212

Claim:
A process for producing a pellet of an ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer, comprising: (1) introducing into a vessel an ethylene-vinylalcohol copolymer solution comprising 50 parts by weight or more of an alcohol having a boiling point of 100° C. or less with respect to 100 parts by weight of an ethylene-vinylalcohol copolymer, contacting the solution with water vapor in said vessel to let out said alcohol with water vapor and then letting out from said vessel an ethylene-vinylalcohol copolymer hydrous composition containing 0 to 10 parts by weight of said alcohol and 10 to 1000 parts by weight of water with respect to 100 parts by weight of the ethylene-vinylalcohol copolymer; (2) cutting the ethylene-vinylalcohol copolymer hydrous composition in a molten state let out from said vessel in (1), thereby obtaining ethylene-vinylalcohol copolymer hydrous composition pellets; (3) introducing the ethylene-vinylalcohol copolymer hydrous composition pellets obtained in (2) into a dryer to reduce a water content of the pellets; (4) melt-kneading the pellets having the water content from 0.1 to 4.5 wt. % reduced in (3), in an extruder; and (5) cutting the ethylene-vinylalcohol copolymer discharged from the extruder in (4), thereby obtaining the pellet of the ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer.