Recovery of caprolactam from oligomers and/or polymers of caprolactam

摘要

Caprolactam is recovered from oligomers and/or polymers of caprolactam by cleavage of oligomers and/or polymers of caprolactam and subsequent working up by distillation of the caprolactam obtained in the cleavage, by a process including (a) cleaving oligomers and/or polymers of caprolactam to obtain an aqueous reaction mixture which contains caprolactam, (b) removing water from the reaction mixture obtained under (a) to obtain a residue, (c) distilling the residue obtained under (b) in an acidic medium and (d) then distilling the distillate in an alkaline medium to obtain caprolactam, or (c') distilling the residue obtained under (b) in an alkaline medium and (d') then distilling the distillate in an acidic medium to obtain caprolactam.