Methods for manufacturing bulked continuous filament

A method of purifying a PET polymer, comprising:

• melting a plurality of PET-containing flakes in an MRS extruder to produce a PET-containing melt, wherein the MRS extruder comprises a plurality of satellite screws, each of the plurality of satellite screws being at least partially housed within a respective extruder barrel and mounted to rotate about its respective central axis, a viscosity monitor, and a pressure regulation system;
• 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;
• monitoring a viscosity of the PET-containing melt within the MRS extruder;
• regulating a pressure within the MRS extruder with the pressure regulation system in response to an intrinsic viscosity of the PET-containing melt;
• recombining the distributed PET-containing melt to produce a purified PET polymer;
• and
• extruding the purified PET polymer directly into a spinning machine.

A method of using a purified polymer to produce bulked continuous filament, comprising:

• feeding a plurality of surface-dried polymer flakes to an extruder and melting the plurality of polymer flakes to produce a polymer melt, wherein the extruder comprises a plurality of satellite screws, each of the plurality of satellite screws being at least partially housed within a respective extruder barrel and mounted to rotate about its respective central axis;
• expanding a surface area of the polymer melt by separating the polymer melt into a plurality of polymer melt streams, wherein each polymer melt stream is associated with one satellite screw of the plurality of satellite screws;
• removing at least some interstitial water and volatile organic impurities from the plurality of polymer melt streams by reducing a pressure within the extruder;
• measuring an intrinsic viscosity of the plurality of polymer melt streams within the extruder using a viscosity monitor;
• regulating the pressure within the extruder based on the intrinsic viscosity of the plurality of polymer melt streams;
• recombining the polymer melt streams to produce a purified polymer melt;
• and
• directly feeding the purified polymer melt into a spinning machine wherein the purified polymer melt is spun into bulked continuous filament.