The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) announced the funding results of the 2021 Original Exploration Program of the Ministry of Engineering and Materials Science (Expert recommendation). The project of “Theoretical basis research on Microbubble Planktonic Extraction based on Carbon Dioxide Phase Transition” organized by the College of Chemical Engineering, Zhengzhou University has been successfully shortlisted. This is the first time that the school is responsible for this kind of project as the undertaking unit, and it is also the first original exploration project approved by the discipline of mining and metallurgy in China.