20.500.12556/DKUM-98969 Chemical recycling of compact discs (CDs) with high temperature high pressure water The increasing accumulation of plastic-based electronic waste, such as compact discs (CDs), poses a major challenge to the environment due to their longevity and limited recyclability. This study investigates the hydrothermal degradation of end-of-life CDs – which are mainly composed of polycarbonate – under subcritical and supercritical water conditions as a sustainable approach for waste recycling. The hydrothermal treatments were carried out at temperatures ranging from 250 C to 450 ◦ C for reaction times of 5 to 60 min. The resulting product phases, i.e. water- soluble, diethyl ether (DEE)-soluble and solid gaseous, were quantified. The composition of the DEE-soluble phase was characterised by gas chromatography. The results showed a strong dependence of the product distribution on temperature and residence time. The yield of the DEE- soluble phase peaked at 450 ◦ C after 5 min (96.9 ± 1.0 %) and decreased at longer reaction times due to secondary decomposition into gas phase products. The major organic compounds in the DEE phase included bisphenol A, phenol and 4-isopropylphenol, while the concentration of other phenol derivatives such as 4-ethylphenol, 4-methylphenol (p-cresol) and 4-isopropenylphenol was generally low and below 5 %. These results show that hydrothermal treatment effectively converts waste CDs into valuable liquid and gaseous products, thereby reducing the amount of solid waste. The process offers a promising strategy for the recovery of resources from waste CDs. compact discs polycarbonate chemical recycling hydrothermal degradation subcritical and supercritiacal water bisfenol A polikarbonati hidrotermalna degradacija superkritična in subkritična voda true false true Elsevier Ltd. Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/heliyon © 2026 The Authors Članek v reviji 2026-07-22 09:24:05 2026-07-22 09:24:06 2026-07-23 03:10:02 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2026 0 0 11 str. iss. 13, [Article no.] e45225 Vol. 12 Avg. 2026 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 2025-07-26 2026-07-17 2026-07-18 54-139 285639939 10.1016/j.heliyon.2026.e45225 2405-8440 1-s2.0-S2405844026007383-main.pdf 1-s2.0-S2405844026007383-main.pdf 1 9F8C540C401538DE6CCB8A3CB2152B6C 63886a20fcc17591032c59ed864c899bb83a28803e0d1e4a955995627e13d31a a2c5ebc5-859e-11f1-a66a-00155d580e34 https://dk.um.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=208500 Fakulteta za kemijo in kemijsko tehnologijo 0 0 0