SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANUFACTURING BULKED CONTINUOUS 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.
1 . A bulked continuous carpet filament consisting essentially of a recycled polymer.
2 . The bulked continuous carpet filament of claim 1 , wherein said bulked continuous carpet filament is produced using a process that includes at least a step of passing a recycled polymer through an extruder comprising:
(A) a first satellite screw extruder, said first satellite screw extruder comprising a first satellite screw that is mounted to rotate about a central axis of said first satellite screw;
(B) a second satellite screw extruder, said second satellite screw extruder comprising a second satellite screw that is mounted to rotate about a central axis of said second satellite screw;
(C) a pressure regulation system that is adapted to maintain a pressure within said first and second satellite screw extruders below a pressure of about 1.5 millibars as said recycled polymer passes through said first and second screw extruders; and
(D) a satellite screw extruder support system that is adapted to orbitally rotate said first and second satellite screws about a main axis as said recycled polymer passes through said first and second screw extruders, said main axis being substantially parallel to both: (1) said central axis of said first satellite screw; and (2) said central axis of said second satellite screw.
3 . The bulked continuous carpet filament of claim 2 , wherein said bulked continuous carpet filament has an internal viscosity of between about 0.79 dL/g and about 1.00 dL/g.
4 . The bulked continuous carpet filament of claim 2 , wherein said recycled polymer consists essentially of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
5 . The bulked continuous carpet filament of claim 2 , wherein said bulked continuous carpet filament is produced using a process that includes at least a step of passing said recycled polymer through at least one filter after said step of passing said recycled polymer through said extruder.
6 . The bulked continuous carpet filament of claim 5 , wherein said at least one filter comprises:
a first filter having a micron rating of less than about 50 microns; and
a second filter having a micron rating of less than about 30 microns.
7 . The bulked continuous carpet filament of claim 1 , wherein said bulked continuous carpet filament consists essentially of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
8 . The bulked continuous carpet filament of claim 7 , wherein said bulked continuous carpet filament has a tenacity that is between about 3 gf/den and about 8 gf/den.
9 . The bulked continuous carpet filament of claim 1 , wherein said bulked continuous carpet filament is produced using a process that includes at least a step of passing a recycled polymer through an extruder comprising:
(A) at least six satellite screw extruders, each of said at least six satellite screw extruders comprising a satellite screw that is mounted to rotate about a respective central axis of each said satellite screw;
(B) at least one vacuum pump that is adapted to maintain a pressure within each of said at least six satellite screw extruders below a pressure of about 5 millibars as said recycled polymer passes through each of said at least six satellite screw extruders; and
(C) a satellite screw drum that houses said at least six satellite screw extruders and is adapted to orbitally rotate said at least six satellite screw extruders about a main axis as said recycled polymer passes through said at least six satellite screw extruders, said main axis being substantially parallel to each said central axis.
10 . The bulked continuous carpet filament of claim 9 , wherein said bulked continuous carpet filament consists essentially of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
11 . A bulked continuous carpet filament comprising between about 80% recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and about 100% recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET), wherein:
said bulked continuous carpet filament has a tenacity of at least about 3 gf/den.
12 . The bulked continuous carpet filament of claim 11 , wherein said bulked continuous carpet filament has a tenacity of between about 3 gf/den and 9 g/den.
13 . The bulked continuous carpet filament of claim 12 , wherein said bulked continuous carpet filament is produced using a process that includes at least a step of passing a recycled polymer through an extruder comprising:
(A) a first satellite screw extruder, said first satellite screw extruder comprising a first satellite screw that is mounted to rotate about a central axis of said first satellite screw;
(B) a second satellite screw extruder, said second satellite screw extruder comprising a second satellite screw that is mounted to rotate about a central axis of said second satellite screw;
(C) a pressure regulation system that is adapted to maintain a pressure within said first and second satellite screw extruders below a pressure of about 1.2 millibars as said recycled polymer passes through said first and second screw extruders; and
(D) a satellite screw extruder support system that is adapted to orbitally rotate said first and second satellite screws about a main axis as said recycled polymer passes through said first and second screw extruders, said main axis being substantially parallel to both: (1) said central axis of said first satellite screw; and (2) said central axis of said second satellite screw.
14 . The bulked continuous carpet filament of claim 13 , wherein said recycled polymer consists essentially of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
15 . The bulked continuous carpet filament of claim 13 , wherein said recycled polymer has an internal viscosity of between about 0.79 dL/g and about 1.00 dL/g while passing through said first and second satellite screw extruders.
16 . The bulked continuous carpet filament of claim 15 , consisting essentially of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
17 . The bulked continuous carpet filament of claim 11 , comprising between about 0% virgin polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and about 20% virgin polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
18 . The bulked continuous carpet filament of claim 11 , wherein said bulked continuous carpet filament is produced using a process that includes at least a step of passing a recycled polymer through an extruder comprising:
(A) at least six satellite screw extruders, each of said at least six satellite screw extruders comprising a satellite screw that is mounted to rotate about a respective central axis of each said satellite screw;
(B) at least one vacuum pump that is adapted to maintain a pressure within said at least six satellite screw extruders between a pressure of about 0.5 millibars and a pressure of about 5 millibars as said recycled polymer passes through said at least six satellite screw extruders; and
(C) a satellite screw drum that houses said at least six satellite screw extruders and is adapted to orbitally rotate said at least six satellite screw extruders about a main axis as said recycled polymer passes through said at least six satellite screw extruders, said main axis being substantially parallel to each said central axis.
19 . The bulked continuous carpet filament of claim 18 , wherein said recycled polymer consists essentially of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
20 . The bulked continuous carpet filament of claim 19 consisting essentially of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET).