how are you invoking this? is the code looping over data, and if so what is the code with the looping? approximately how long was the execution time for each of the segments of sent emails?
you are using exceptions for errors. when using exceptions, none of the discrete error checking logic will ever get executed upon an error and should be removed. when using exceptions for errors, unless you are doing something special with the error information, you should not catch and handle exceptions in your code. instead let php catch and handle any exception, where php will use its error related settings (error_reporting, display_errors, and log_errors) to control what happens with the actual error information, via an uncaught exception error.
php's error_reporting should always be set to E_ALL. if you are invoking this via a browser, you should set display_errors to ON, so that any php detected errors (which will include any uncaught exceptions) will be displayed. if you are invoking this via a cron job/scheduled task, you should set log_errors to ON, so that any php detected errors will be logged.