Kinetics and Thermodynamic Studies of Depolymerization of Nylon Waste by Hydrolysis Reaction

Depolymerization reaction of nylon waste was carried out by hydrolysis reaction. Yield of depolymerization products was up to 72.20% for a two-hour reaction time. The products obtained were characterized by melting point and FTIR spectra. The values obtained for dibenzoyl derivative of hexamethylenediamine (DBHMD) agreed with those of the pure substance. Chemical kinetics of this reaction shows that it is a first-order reaction with respect to hexamethylenediamine (HMD) concentration with velocity constant 7.32×10-3 min −1 . The energy of activation and Arrhenius constant obtained by Arrhenius plot were 87.22 KJg −1 and 0.129, respectively. The other thermodynamic parameters such as enthalpy of activation (ΔH‡) and entropy of activation (ΔS‡) and free energy of activation were 5975.85 J and −270.86 J·K −1 ·mol −1 and 101.59 KJ·mol −1 , respectively.