Continuous process for the manufacture of lactide and lactide polymers

摘要

A process for preparing a polylactide; the process including: providing a crude lactide mixture including lactide comprising meso-lactide and at least one of L-lactide and D-lactide; said process being characterized by steps of: (a) purifying the crude lactide mixture by distillation in a distillation system into at least two distilled fractions comprising: (i) a low-boiling fraction; and (ii) an intermediate boiling fraction including purified polymer grade lactide, without a step of solvent extraction of the crude lactide mixture or recrystallization of the crude lactide mixture; and (b) reacting the purified polymer grade lactide to form polylactide.