Polyamide (PA) is widely used as a high-performance engineering thermoplastic in automotive components and textiles, due to its superior mechanical strength and chemical resistance. However, the increase in PA waste has posed significant challenges to resource sustainability and environmental protection. Despite breakthrough development achieved in PA recycling, key barriers remain in process scale-up and high-value recovery. This review examines the current state of PA recycling, analyzing the research prospects of mechanical and chemical recycling from economic feasibility and environmental impact. We present discussions on innovative recycling approaches for PA, including upcycling, molecular design of novel PA derivatives, chemo-biological coupling and solvent-based recovery, offering potential solutions to the sustainable circular economy and green cycles. Finally, by presenting case studies, we highlight pathways toward future innovation that inform industrial-scale implementation.
Liu et al. (Thu,) studied this question.