Reusable Capture Complex

Method of degrading a mixture of waste polymers comprising polymer material and additives, which additives are released from the waste polymer the additive upon degradation of the polymer material, which method comprises the steps of:

• providing an improved reusable capture complex;
• providing the mixture of waste polymers in solid form in a solvent wherein the polymer material is one or more of a polyester, a polyamide, a polyamine and a polyether, and wherein the solvent is a mono- or di-alcohol;
• degrading the polymer material by glycolysis, wherein the solvent functions as a reactant, and wherein the capture complex catalyses degradation of the polymer material, wherein the additive is released from the polymer and wherein a mixture is obtained;
• cooling down the obtained mixture to 50-85° C.;
• using the capture complex to capture the additive;
• performing a separation to separate the capture complex with the captured additive from the mixture;
• cooling the mixture further in order to precipitate a monomer and dimer from the polymer material,
• wherein the improved capture complex is not dispersible in water and comprising a catalyst entity, a magnetic nanoparticle, and a bridging moiety solely between the catalyst entity and the magnetic nanoparticle, wherein the catalyst entity and bridging moiety are attached, and wherein the bridging moiety and nanoparticle are attached,
• wherein the catalyst entity comprises an aromatic heterocycle moiety provided with at least one nitrogen atom and carrying a positive charge, and a negatively charged moiety, wherein the negative charge is on a metal salt complex moiety having a two- or three-plus charged metal ion or a negatively charged counter-ion,
• wherein the nanoparticles have an average diameter of 2 nm-500 nm, and
• wherein the bridging moiety is present in an amount of 5*10-10-0.1 Mole bridging moiety/gr nanoparticle.

Method of degrading a mixture of waste polymers comprising polymer material and additives, which additives are released from the waste polymer the additive upon degrada-tion of the polymer material, wherein the polymer material is polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polyethylene furanoate (PEF), which method comprises the steps of:

• providing an improved reusable capture complex;
• providing the mixture of waste polymers in solid form in a solvent, wherein the solvent is ethanediol;
• degrading the polymer material by glycolysis, wherein the solvent functions as a reactant, and wherein the capture complex catalyses degradation of the polymer material, wherein the additive is released from the polymer and wherein a mixture is obtained;
• cooling down the obtained mixture to 50-85° C.;
• using the capture complex to capture the additive;
• performing a separation to separate the capture complex with the captured additive from the mixture;
• cooling the mixture further in order to precipitate a monomer and dimer from the polymer material,
• wherein the improved capture complex is not dispersible in water and comprising a catalyst entity, a magnetic nanoparticle of at least one of magnetite, hematite and maghemite, and a bridging moiety chosen from triethoxysilylpropyl or trihydroxysilylpropyl, wherein the catalyst entity and bridging moiety are bonded, and
• wherein the bridging moiety and nanoparticle are bonded,
• wherein the catalyst entity comprises imidazolium, and a negatively charged moiety chosen from FeCl4− and Cl−.