This invention relates to a method for recovering valuable substances from
polyurethane foam, comprising: (A) providing a
polyurethane foam based on an
isocyanate component and a polyether
polyol component; (B) chemically decomposing the
polyurethane foam by reacting it with an organic
chemical decomposition agent and water, wherein the organic
chemical decomposition agent is selected from: (i) a primary or secondary chemically decomposable amine, (ii) a chemically decomposable amino
alcohol having a primary or secondary amino group, (iii) a chemically decomposable
alcohol, or (iv) a mixture of two or more of the said organic
chemical decomposition agents; (C) distilling off the organic chemical
decomposition agent and optionally
toluene diamine or a portion thereof generated in (B), wherein
solid components can be separated before and / or after
distillation; (D) extracting the polyether
polyol with an
organic solvent, wherein an acid and water are added, and a
polyol phase is obtained after separation of the acidic aqueous phase; and (E) post-treating the polyol phase to obtain at least one polyether polyol.