Single collection bag blood collection system, method and apparatus

A method of collecting one or more blood components from whole blood in a collection container of whole blood, the collection container including a blood connection inlet and opposed ends, one end of the container including a first blood component outlet and the opposed end of the container including a second blood component outlet, a tubing loop separate from the fluid flow conduit and having one end in fluid communication with the flow conduit and another end in fluid communication with the interior of the blood collection container, the tubing loop extending between the flow conduit at the one end and the blood collection container at the other end, the blood collection container being free of attachment to other blood component collection containers during the collecting, the method including:

• centrifuging the blood collection container sufficiently to separate the collected blood into at least a plasma component disposed toward the one end of the container and a concentrated red component disposed toward the other end of the container;
• sterilely connecting a plasma collection subassembly including a plasma collection container in fluid communication with the first blood component outlets and/or a red cell collection subassembly including a red cell collection container with the second of the blood component outlets;
• and
• expressing the plasma component and/or the concentrated red cell component from the collection container and into the respective subassembly.