A degassing extruder having a multi-screw unit, which degassing extruder comprises a housing having a feed region having a feed opening, an inner housing recess having an extraction opening extending as far as the outside and an outlet region having an outlet opening. The multi-screw unit rotatably arranged in the housing recess comprises: a rotor element having a main screw web extending over the outer circumference of a rotor shaft core, and a rotationally driven satellite screw, which is mounted in a receiving groove on the rotor element, which receiving groove extends at least along part of the length of the multi-screw unit. At least in the region of the extraction opening, the main screw web above the receiving groove has an respective opening recess for leading the satellite screw through.

A method of manufacturing a plurality of colors of bulked continuous carpet filament from a single multi-screw extruder which, in various embodiments, comprises: (A) passing PET through an extruder that melts the PET and purifies the resulting PET polymer melt; (B) splitting the extruded polymer melt into a plurality of melt streams and adding a colorant to each of the plurality of melt streams; (C) using one or more static mixers (e.g., thirty six static mixers) to substantially uniformly mix (e.g., homogeneously mix) each of the plurality of melt streams with its respective added colorant; and (D) feed each of the uniformly mixed and colored plurality of melt streams into a respective spinning machines that turns the polymer into filament for use in manufacturing carpet, rugs, and other products.

A method of recycling a PET-containing material comprises: (1) providing a polymer crystallizer comprising at least one heating element, and at least one blower; (2) providing an MRS extruder having an MRS section comprising a plurality of satellite screws; (3) providing a vacuum pump in fluid communication with the MRS section; (4) grinding and washing the PET-containing material; (5) heating the PET-containing material in the crystallizer to at least partially dry the PET-containing material; (6) shearing the PET-containing material in the MRS extruder to produce a PET-containing melt; (7) increasing a surface area of the PET-containing melt by distributing the PET-containing melt across a plurality of satellite screws in the MRS extruder; (8) drawing off vapors from the PET-containing melt by reducing the pressure in the MRS section with the vacuum pump; (9) collating the PET-containing melt in the MRS extruder; and (10) extruding a recycled PET-containing material.

A method of recycling a PET-containing material comprises: (1) providing a polymer crystallizer comprising at least one heating element, and at least one blower; (2) providing an MRS extruder having an MRS section comprising a plurality of satellite screws; (3) providing a vacuum pump in fluid communication with the MRS section; (4) grinding and washing the PET-containing material; (5) heating the PET-containing material in the crystallizer to at least partially dry the PET-containing material; (6) shearing the PET-containing material in the MRS extruder to produce a PET-containing melt; (7) increasing a surface area of the PET-containing melt by distributing the PET-containing melt across a plurality of satellite screws in the MRS extruder; (8) drawing off vapors from the PET-containing melt by reducing the pressure in the MRS section with the vacuum pump; (9) collating the PET-containing melt in the MRS extruder; and (10) extruding a recycled PET-containing material.

A method of recycling a PET-containing material comprises: (1) providing an MRS extruder having an MRS section comprising a plurality of satellite screws and an outlet; (2) providing a vacuum pump in communication with the MRS section; (3) providing a spinning machine comprising an inlet, wherein the inlet is directly coupled to the outlet of the MRS extruder; (4) heating a plurality of PET-containing flakes in the MRS extruder to form a PET-containing melt; (5) increasing a surface area of the PET-containing melt by distributing the PET-containing melt across the plurality of satellite screws in the MRS extruder; (6) drawing off vapors from the PET-containing melt by reducing the pressure in the MRS section with the vacuum pump; (7) collating the PET-containing melt in the MRS extruder; and (8) extruding the PET-containing melt through the outlet of the MRS extruder into the inlet of the spinning machine.

A method of recycling a PET-containing material comprises: (1) providing an MRS extruder having an MRS section comprising a plurality of satellite screws and an outlet; (2) providing a vacuum pump in communication with the MRS section; (3) providing a spinning machine comprising an inlet, wherein the inlet is directly coupled to the outlet of the MRS extruder; (4) heating a plurality of PET-containing flakes in the MRS extruder to form a PET-containing melt; (5) increasing a surface area of the PET-containing melt by distributing the PET-containing melt across the plurality of satellite screws in the MRS extruder; (6) drawing off vapors from the PET-containing melt by reducing the pressure in the MRS section with the vacuum pump; (7) collating the PET-containing melt in the MRS extruder; and (8) extruding the PET-containing melt through the outlet of the MRS extruder into the inlet of the spinning machine.

The present invention relates to a process for devolatilising polymer-containing media such as, in particular, polymer melts, polymer solutions and dispersions and also devolatilisation apparatuses for carrying out the abovementioned process.

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 expanded surface area extruder while maintaining a pressure within the expanded surface area extruder below about 25 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 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 flakes through a PET crystallizer; (E) passing the group of flakes through an MRS extruder while maintaining the pressure within the MRS portion of the MRS extruder below about 18 millibars; (F) passing the resulting polymer melt through at least one filter having a micron rating of less than about 50 microns; and (G) forming the recycled polymer into bulked continuous carpet filament that consists essentially of recycled PET.

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) adding one or more color concentrates to the flakes; (E) passing the group of flakes through an MRS extruder while maintaining the pressure within the MRS portion of the MRS extruder below about 25 millibars; (F) passing the resulting polymer melt through at least one filter having a micron rating of less than about 50 microns; and (G) forming the recycled polymer into bulked continuous carpet filament that consists essentially of recycled PET.