There is provided a method of manufacturing coalesced resin particles for
obtaining coalesced resin particles by coalescing aggregated resin
particles in a grain boundary-free state in a short period of time while
keeping a grain size distribution within a narrow range. In a coalescence
process, a slurry of aggregated resin particles is flowed through an
inside of a pipe under predetermined heating and pressurizing conditions.
In a before-cooling decompression process, a slurry of coalesced resin
particles flowing through the inside of the pipe in a heat and
pressure-applied state is subjected to pressure reduction before it is
cooled down to a predetermined temperature in a cooling process. Then, in
a decompression process, a coalesced resin particle slurry that has been
cooled in the cooling process while being flowed through the inside of
the pipe is decompressed to an atmospheric pressure.