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 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 process of producing a polyamide polymer using in-line vacuum finishing technology in the absence of steam or other gases. The polyamide polymer, in particular Nylon 66, Nylon 6, and copolyamides, have a high molecular weight, excellent color, and low gel content. The polyamide polymer also has a relative viscosity greater than 50 as measured in a 90% strength formic acid solution; consistent viscosity with a standard deviation of less than 1; a gel content no greater than 50 ppm as measured by insolubles larger than 10 micron; and an optical defect content of less than 2,000 parts per million (ppm) as measured by optical control system (OCS). The polymer can be made into monofilaments or a multifilament yarn.

A halogen-free modified high-filling recyclable plastic board is provided in this disclosure, which includes a substrate layer and a printed layer and a protective layer disposed sequentially on the substrate layer from bottom to top. Raw materials of the substrate layer include, by weight in percent, 20 to 25% of PEAT resin, 70 to 75% of stone powder, 0.5 to 0.8% of chain extender, 1 to 2% of white mineral oil, 3 to 6% PE, and 0.4 to 0.8% stearic acid. The plastic board according to the present disclosure is formed using a hot press process, without glue bonding and with good integrity; and the manufactured board is large in surface tension, its surface is easy to be processed and a substrate layer thereof has good compatibility with a printed layer and a protective layer, which can be recycled as a whole.

A system comprising: (1) a grinding unit configured to receive and grind recycled PET bottles into a group of polymer flakes comprising up to about ten percent colored polymer flakes and balance substantially clear polymer flakes; (2) a washing unit configured to wash the group of polymer flakes; and (3) an extruder configured to extrude material in a plurality of different extrusion streams. The extruder may be further configured to: (1) receive a concentrate-polymer mixture comprising a mixture of the polymer flakes and a color concentrate; (2) melt the concentrate-polymer mixture to produce a polymer melt; (3) reduce a pressure within the extruder; and (4) pass the polymer melt through the extruder so that the polymer melt is divided into the plurality of extrusion streams. The system may then filter the polymer melt through at least one filter and form the polymer melt into bulked continuous carpet filament.

Systems for manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament from polymer, where the systems are configured for: (1) passing polymer flakes through a crystalliers; (2) melting the polymer to create a first single stream of polymer melt; (3) separating the first single stream of polymer melt into multiple streams of polymer melt; (4) exposing the multiple streams of polymer melt to a pressure of between about 0 millibars and about 25 millibars in a chamber; (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 halogen-free modified high-filling recyclable plastic board is provided in this disclosure, which includes a substrate layer and a printed layer and a protective layer disposed sequentially on the substrate layer from bottom to top. Raw materials of the substrate layer include, by weight in percent, 20 to 25% of PEAT resin, 70 to 75% of stone powder, 0.5 to 0.8% of chain extender, 1 to 2% of white mineral oil, 3 to 6% PE, and 0.4 to 0.8% stearic acid. The plastic board according to the present disclosure is formed using a hot press process, without glue bonding and with good integrity; and the manufactured board is large in surface tension, its surface is easy to be processed and a substrate layer thereof has good compatibility with a printed layer and a protective layer, which can be recycled as a whole.

A molding material comprising a pellet group of at least 20 saponified ethylene-vinyl ester-based copolymer pellets, wherein at least 95% of the pellets have a surface that is substantially a single closed surface, and when a maximum outer diameter of a pellet is taken as a long diameter and a minimum diameter in a cross section having the greatest area among the cross sections perpendicular to the long diameter is taken as a short diameter, the average value of the long diameter/short diameter ratio of at least 20 pellets taken from the pellet group is 1.6 or less and the standard deviation of the long diameter/short diameter ratio of the at least 20 pellets is 0.13 or less.

A process of producing a polyamide polymer using in-line vacuum finishing technology in the absence of steam or other gases. The polyamide polymer, in particular Nylon 66, Nylon 6, and copolyamides, have a high molecular weight, excellent color, and low gel content. The polyamide polymer also has a relative viscosity greater than 50 as measured in a 90% strength formic acid solution; consistent viscosity with a standard deviation of less than 1; a gel content no greater than 50 ppm as measured by insolubles larger than 10 micron; and an optical defect content of less than 2,000 parts per million (ppm) as measured by optical control system (OCS). The polymer can be made into monofilaments or a multifilament yarn.