The goal of our research work on catalysts is to provide a solution to meeting market needs. Intensive R&D activities have hatched an original concept for catalyst design, which enabled us to create a new generation catalyst. The catalyst is characterized as non-antimony, non-titanium, and heavy metal-free. Its catalytic activity is par for conventional catalysts and the quality of polyester produced with it is excellent. Catalytic activity is one of the key factors that affect the throughput of polyester. Toyobo's new generation catalyst has a catalytic activity comparable to that of antimony catalyst, and the metal residue in the polyester is remarkably reduced. If needed, the catalytic activity can be boosted by modification. So, customers can continue to use their existing equipment and just replace the old catalyst with our new catalyst and see the value. Toyobo's new catalyst can also be applied to produce semi-dull resins. In general, a titanium catalyst tends to deactivate with a dulling agent -- titanium dioxide -- which makes it difficult for polyester producers to control polymerization. Since the catalytic activity of Toyobo's new catalyst is not affected by the presence of titanium dioxide, no specific care is required. Toyobo's new catalyst technology produces a polyethylene terephthalate-based polyester of excellent clarity and brightness. Since the polyester is free from insoluble particles like antimony metal, the appearance is better than that of antimony. It is also excellent in color quality. Whereas a titanium catalyst tends to give yellowish discoloration to the polyester, which can be a problem and is, nevertheless, difficult to improve to the market demands, Toyobo's new catalyst makes it possible to improve the color quality of polyester. In terms of the thermal stability of polyester, Toyobo's new catalyst is very good. Titanium catalysts, on the other hand, are at a disadvantage on this point. That is to say, polyester based on a titanium catalyst tends to have poorer thermal stability than one made with antimony, and it is hard to improve it. As a result, the polyester product tends to discolor and degrade more and more along with its thermal history. Toyobo's new catalyst, however, enables a polyester of a thermal stability no less than that of an antimony polyester. Other properties such as diethyleneglycol content and carboxyl end-group content are comparable. In addition to the adequate catalytic activity and the excellence in polyester quality such as appearance and thermal stability, Toyobo's new catalyst is environment-friendly. The total cost of producing a polyester product is almost the same as using an antimony catalyst, furthermore you get a better quality of polyester. Moreover, it is possible to reduce costs by raising throughput. This may frighten you as troubles in operation often occur, such as, spinning breaks increasing drastically and back-pressure increasing to the problem point of fiber applications when the throughput is raised. Toyobo's new catalyst technology, however, will reduce these problems remarkably, and save production costs at the same time.