The goal of this work was complete acid catalyzed depolymerization of polyamide (PA) 1010 to obtain the constituent PA 1010 monomers as final products, which can be polymerized again into high quality products. Microwaves were used to heat the reaction mixtures, which allow for reduced energy consumption and shortening the reaction time. In depolymerization experiments I studied the reaction conditions under which PA 1010 completely depolymerized; these were the temperature, HCl concentration, and reaction time. The degree of depolymerization was monitored by the presence of oligomers in reaction mixtures by 1H NMR and HPLC. When the oligomers were no longer present in the reaction mixtures, the depolymerization reaction was considered as complete. The resulting products sebacic acid and 1,10-diaminodecane were isolated and purified by recrystallization and distillation, respectively. The purity of the monomer products was evaluated by 1H NMR, HPLC and DSC.
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