Abstract: For the purpose of effective recovery of terephthalic acid (TPA) from the waster of polyester alkali deweighting finishing, adductive crystallization method was applied to separate the TPA from the wastewater residue, using N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF) as solvent to dissolve the TPA. Then the solution was distilled to remove most of the DMF and adductive crystallization product of TPA and DMF was obtained, which was formed in the cooling process of the distilled solution. Then the TPA was obtained through drying the adductive crystallization product to remove the DMF. The functional groups in the recovered products were identified by infra-red spectrum (IR), and the purity and acid value were determined by UV spectrophotometer and acid value titration, respectively. When the distillation temperature is 164 ℃ and the drying temperature is 105 ℃, the purity of recovered TPA is close to that of the standard TPA reagent, and the acid value reaches 96.8% of the standard TPA reagent. The research shows that the drying temperature has effect on the recovered TPA, and the TPA in alkali deweighting wastewater can be recovered effectively by using DMF solvent through adductive crystallization method.