It is understood that after use, the bags can be completely biodegraded under composting conditions and will have no impact on the environment. In the future, CNOOC Engineering Technology Center will also cooperate with relevant research institutes to focus on developing high-barrier films, producing stiffer and thinner films to meet food packaging and other requirements, and continuously expanding the application fields of carbon dioxide-degradable plastics.

Reducing and utilizing carbon dioxide has long been a difficult problem that all humanity is committed to solving. While causing temperatures to rise, carbon dioxide is also a potential resource. For this reason, CNOOC took the lead in building a 3,000-ton-per-year PPC plant at its chemical company. To support the construction of the project's production facilities and expand the application market for carbon dioxide plastic products, the company, while building the plant, also carried out a series of R&D efforts on downstream PPC product applications, focusing on research and trials to expand the use of carbon dioxide-degradable plastics in packaging. At the same time, the company also cooperated with the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, CAS, to fully leverage the excellent properties of carbon dioxide plastic, such as high barrier performance and low oxygen permeability.

It is understood that since the project was launched in 2007, tests have been carried out on the purification, preliminary modification and end-capping of carbon dioxide-based plastics. Research on large-scale purification technology completed the design of two refining process routes for PPC with ash content below 1000×10-6 and below 50×10-6, and tests on end-capping, blending and controlled crosslinking of PPC were passed. In early May this year, a 100-kilogram-scale film blowing test was conducted at Jiangsu Nantong Huasheng Co., Ltd., steadily producing 0.03 mm film. Because the blown film products still needed improvement in impact and tear resistance, the project R&D team immediately made increasing the toughness of PPC material the focus of film blowing research and improved and optimized the PPC material formula and process. At the end of June, 375 kilograms of modified PPC material for film blowing underwent another industrial film blowing test at Nantong Huasheng, and the film was successfully made into plastic bags.