The chemical degradation of epoxy insulating materials preserves the high-value carbon skeleton

enabling epoxy resin recycling and facilitating the precise dismantling of retired electrical equipment and their high-level recycling. Acid-catalyzed hydrolysis is an efficient degradation method;however

the unclear micro-mechanisms of ether bond reactions and product analysis restrict the circular reuse of degradation products. In this study

quantum chemical calculations are employed to analyze ether bond cleavage pathways

and it is revealed that active intermediates generated post-cleavage undergo proton regeneration through reactions with water molecules. The energy barriers for proton regeneration in the cleavage pathways of two C—O bonds adjacent to the ether bond are determined as 202.30 kJ/mol and 164.81 kJ/mol

respectively. Experimental verification using small-molecule compounds confirms the occurrence of proton regeneration and determines its temperature dependence. Epoxy resin degradation experiments and product analysis elucidate the micro-mechanism of epoxy resin hydrolysis under acidic conditions

revealing that the hydrolysis products contain bisphenol A derivatives and polyols

thereby validating the quantum chemical calculation results. This study provides theoretical support for the analysis of epoxy resin degradation products

and offers a new solution for the high-value recovery of epoxy degradation products.