A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament that includes providing a polymer melt and separating the polymer melt from the extruder into at least eight streams. The multiple streams are exposed to a chamber pressure within a chamber that is below approximately 5 millibars. The streams are recombined into a single polymer stream and formed into bulked continuous carpet filament.

Systems for manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament from polymer, where the systems are configured for: (1) melting polymer (e.g., derived from post-consumer PET bottles) to create a first single stream of polymer melt; (2) separating the first single stream of polymer melt into multiple streams of polymer melt; (3) exposing the multiple streams of polymer melt to a pressure of between about 0 millibars and about 5 millibars; (4) allowing the multiple streams of polymer melt to fall into a receiving section of a melt processing unit; (5) recombining the multiple streams of polymer melt into a second single stream of polymer melt; and (6) providing the second single stream of polymer melt to one or more spinning machines that are configured to form the second single stream of polymer melt into bulked continuous carpet filament.

A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament that includes providing a polymer melt and separating the polymer melt from the extruder into at least eight streams. The multiple streams are exposed to a chamber pressure within a chamber that is below approximately 25 millibars, or another predetermined pressure. The streams are recombined into a single polymer stream. Polymer from the polymer stream is then formed into bulked continuous carpet filament.

A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament which, in various embodiments, comprises: (A) grinding recycled PET bottles into a group of flakes; (B) washing the flakes; (C) identifying and removing impurities, including impure flakes, from the group of flakes; (D) passing the group of flakes through an MRS extruder while maintaining the pressure within the MRS portion of the MRS extruder below about 1.5 millibars; (E) passing the resulting polymer melt through at least one filter having a micron rating of less than about 50 microns; and (F) forming the recycled polymer into bulked continuous carpet filament that consists essentially of recycled PET.

A filter screen includes a plate body with an upstream surface, an opposed downstream surface, and an array of apertures extending between the upstream surface and the downstream surface. A polytetrafluoroethylene-based layer overlays the upstream surface between apertures of the aperture array, the polytetrafluorethylene-based layer being conformally disposed over the upstream surface of the plate body and spanning the upstream surface between the apertures of the aperture array to slow deposition of carbonaceous deposits on the filter screen.

A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament which, in various embodiments, comprises: (A) grinding recycled PET bottles into a group of flakes; (B) washing the flakes; (C) identifying and removing impurities, including impure flakes, from the group of flakes; (D) passing the group of flakes through an MRS extruder while maintaining the pressure within the MRS portion of the MRS extruder below about 1.5 millibars; (E) passing the resulting polymer melt through at least one filter having a micron rating of less than about 50 microns; and (F) forming the recycled polymer into bulked continuous carpet filament that consists essentially of recycled PET.

A blood processing filter for removing undesirable components from liquid containing a blood component or blood, comprises a sheet-shaped filter element, and a container that includes an inlet-side container element and an outlet-side container element that are disposed to clamp the filter element, and has an internal space separated by the filter element into an inlet space and an outlet space. The filter element includes a pair of filtering surfaces disposed on the inlet space side and the outlet space side, and an end surface along a periphery of the pair of the filtering surfaces, and the inlet-side container element and the outlet-side container element are provided with a gripper that clamps and compresses outer edge portions of the pair of filtering surfaces, and adheres to the end surface with melt resin, and a part of the container is provided with a steam-permeable portion having steam permeability.

A method for extracting a liquid additive from an interior space of a tank at an extraction point includes: filtering the liquid additive by at least one filter that covers the extraction point and that is configured to separate the extraction point from the interior space of the tank and through which the liquid additive flows, wherein contaminants of the liquid additive are deposited on a surface of the filter, and extracting the liquid additive from the tank at the extraction point; forming at least one porous filter cake from contaminants of the liquid additive on the surface of the filter; and filtering the liquid additive by the at least one porous filter cake, wherein contaminants of the liquid additive are deposited in the filter cake, and extracting the liquid additive from the tank at the extraction point.

A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament from recycled polymer. In various embodiments, the method includes: (1) reducing recycled polymer material into polymer flakes; (2) cleansing the polymer flakes; (3) melting the flakes into a polymer melt; (4) removing water and contaminants from the polymer melt by dividing the polymer melt into a plurality of polymer streams and exposing those streams to pressures below 5 millibars; (5) recombining the streams; and (6) using the resulting purified polymer to produce bulked continuous carpet filament.

A system for manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament that is adapted for providing a polymer melt and dividing the polymer melt into a plurality of streams (e.g., at least six or eight streams) to increase a surface area of the polymer melt. The plurality of streams is then exposed to a pressure that is below approximately 5 millibars. The streams are then recombined into a single polymer stream and formed into bulked continuous carpet filament. In various embodiments, an extruder, such as a multi-screw extruder, is used to divide the polymer melt into the plurality of streams.