Patent ID: 7786247

Claim:
A process for making a polyester polymer melt phase product comprising: a) esterifying or transesterifying a hydroxyl component and a dicarboxylic acid component comprising dicarboxylic acids, dicarboxylic acid derivatives, and mixtures thereof to produce an oligomeric mixture; b) polycondensing the oligomeric mixture in a polycondensation zone to produce a polyester polymer melt having an It.V. of at least 0.75 dL/g; and c) before the It.V. of the polyester polymer melt reaches 0.45 dL/g, adding an antimony containing catalyst to the oligomeric mixture or the polyester polymer melt or both, in any amount to provide from 180 ppm to 500 ppm antimony, based on the weight of the polyester polymer melt phase product; and d) adding a catalyst stabilizer to the polyester polymer melt; wherein the polyester polymer melt phase product has a b* color of −5 to +5 and an L* of at least 70.