Process for the recovery of epsilon-caprolactam from nylon 6 comprising fishing nets

A process for recovering purified epsilon-caprolactam from material that is selected from the group consisting of material derived from nylon 6 comprising fishing nets in a plant, wherein the plant comprises

• a depolymerization section [B],
• a recovery section [C], and
• a purification section [D],
• and wherein the process comprises the steps of:
• a) charging material derived from nylon 6 comprising fishing nets to the depolymerization section [B];
• b) depolymerizing the material derived from nylon 6 comprising fishing net material in the depolymerization section [B] at a temperature ranging from 180° C. to 400° C. so that an epsilon-caprolactam comprising stream is obtained;
• c) discharging the epsilon-caprolactam comprising stream from the depolymerization section [B] and recovering crude epsilon-caprolactam from said stream in the recovery section [C];
• and
• d) purifying said crude epsilon-caprolactam in the purification section [D] to obtain purified epsilon-caprolactam wherein the purification comprises the steps of
• (i) extracting the crude epsilon-caprolactam with an organic solvent, whereby an organic phase is obtained, and wherein the organic phase comprises the organic solvent, epsilon-caprolactam and impurities;
• and either
• (ii) a) solvent switching based on back-extraction with water, or
• (ii) b) solvent switching based on solvent swap distillation;
• (iii) distillative removal of impurities with lower- or higher-boiling points than epsilon-caprolactam under vacuum conditions;
• and
• (iv) obtaining purified epsilon-caprolactam by crystallization of epsilon-caprolactam from a solution comprising epsilon-caprolactam and impurities at a temperature of 10 to 95° C.