Method of Separating a First Contaminant from a Feed Stream and Reactor System for Carrying Out the Method

Method of separating a first contaminant from a feed stream further comprising a condensation polymer, which method comprises the steps of:

• supplying the feed stream, an alcoholic solvent and optionally a depolymerization catalyst into a depolymerization vessel and mixing thereof to form a reaction mixture;
• depolymerizing at least a portion of said condensation polymer in said reaction mixture into monomer, dimer, trimer and/or oligomer under said reaction conditions;
• transferring the reaction mixture after the depolymerization of at least a portion of said condensation polymer in said reaction mixture to a separation stage comprising a separation vessel, and
• collecting the first contaminant, wherein said first contaminant is separated from the alcoholic solvent on the basis of a density separation in the separation stage, in particular so that first contaminant is arranged on top of the alcoholic solvent in the separation vessel;
• further comprising the step of cooling the reaction mixture with cooling means before the collecting step to ensure that the reaction mixture in the separation vessel is at a lower temperature than the depolymerization vessel such that the first contaminant that is liquid and/or dissolved in the depolymerization vessel at least partially precipitates and the cooled reaction mixture separates into a main phase that comprises the reaction products from the depolymerization and the alcoholic solvent, and a first contaminant phase in the form of solid particles and/or a solid layer.