A process for efficiently manufacturing high purity polyarylene sulfide. The process comprises feeding a liquid or gaseous sulfur compound (e.g. hydrogen sulfide) to a mixture comprising lithium hydroxide in a non-protonic organic solvent (e.g. N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone), dehydrating the reaction mixture adjusting the sulfur content of the reaction mixture and feeding a dihalogeno aromatic compound (e.g. p-dichlorobenzene) to effect a polycondensation reaction and optionally adding of an alkali metal hydroxide (e.g. sodium hydroxide) or alkaline earth metal hydroxide to recover lithium ion.
