Treatment and resource recovery of N,N-Dimethylformamide waste liquids: A review of processes and prospects

• Comparative analysis of DMF treatment: recovery vs. degradation. • Innovative integration of low-energy processes (e.g., molecular distillation). • Engineering evaluation of efficiency, cost, and scalability. • Roadmap for industrial implementation of sustainable DMF recycling. N,N-Dimethylformamide (DMF) is a critical industrial solvent, but its waste poses significant ecological and health risks. Traditional treatment methods are energy-intensive and inefficient, failing to meet sustainability goals. This review analyzes the physicochemical properties and environmental risks of DMF and proposes differentiated treatment strategies based on waste concentration: high-concentration waste is suitable for resource recovery via integrated processes such as multi-effect distillation and extraction-distillation, while low-concentration waste can be treated by biological methods or advanced oxidation processes. Preliminary experiments demonstrate that under mild conditions (60-75°C, 300-350 Pa), Molecular Distillation (MD) can increase the DMF concentration from 12% to over 90%, with a recovery rate exceeding 70%, providing a promising low-energy recovery pathway. Future research should focus on optimizing low-temperature separation processes and developing intelligent control systems to advance DMF waste treatment towards a high-efficiency, low-carbon circular economy mode.