【Ten Years of Great Progress in Chemical Technology】World’s First 10,000-ton/year Polyglycolic Acid Plant Put into Operation from 2017 to 2022

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Chemical technology has seen tremendous development over the past decade; let’s praise the prosperity and strength of modern China. By contributing our ideas, we can encourage more people to participate and make the discussions more lively. HaiChuan becomes even better with your involvement – we welcome everyone to join in the forum discussions. As the heat increases in July, be careful to prevent fires. --------------------------------------------Polyglycolic acid (PGA), also known as polyhydroxyacetic acid, is an aliphatic polyester with the lowest number of carbon atoms in its structure, a fully biodegradable ester structure, and the fastest degradation rate. It is widely used in various fields such as oil and gas extraction, medical sutures, materials for fixing fractures, tissue engineering scaffolds, as well as in agriculture, forestry, and food packaging. On September 19, 2022, the demonstration project of Yulin Chemical Company under the **Energy Group, which is capable of producing 50,000 tons per year of polylactic acid-based biodegradable materials, completed all its production processes and was officially put into operation. The biodegradable materials produced by this project can serve as a substantial substitute for single-use plastic products, and they can be completely degraded without causing any harm in natural environments such as soil and seawater within just six months to one year. **Yan Guochun, the person in charge of the polyglycolic acid biodegradable materials project at the Energy Group: Through years of innovative efforts, we are able to produce not only traditional plastics from coal, but also polyglycolic acid, a type of biodegradable plastic. Compared to the production of traditional plastics, coal consumption per ton of polyglycolic acid can be reduced by 1/2, while carbon dioxide emissions during production are reduced by 2/3. With technological advancements and increased scale, costs can approach those of traditional plastic production.