Method For Depolymerizing A Polymer Into Reusable Raw Material

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for obtaining a monomer by degrading a polymer, the polymer being a homo or copolymer of the monomer, the method comprising the steps of providing the polymer and a solvent as a reaction mixture in a reactor, wherein the solvent is a reactant capable of reacting with the polymer to degrade the polymer into oligomers and at least one monomer; providing a reusable catalyst being capable of degrading the polymer into oligomers and at least one monomer; degrading the polymer in the reaction mixture at reaction conditions using the catalyst to form a monomer; and recovering the catalyst from the reaction mixture; wherein the method further comprises the addition of a base to at least one of the reaction steps. The present invention furthermore relates to the use of a base as a co-catalyst for a catalyst for degrading a polymer in a reaction mixture at reaction conditions.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.