Method for tracking (multiple) transfer of materials and products comprising said materials in decentralized network

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for tracking at least one transfer associated with a material and at least one product comprising the material in a decentralized network is disclosed. The decentralized network includes a distributed ledger including a plurality of member nodes, and the distributed ledger includes a material transfer transaction including material data associated with the material and a product transfer transaction including product data associated with at least one product including the material. In a first step, at least one data set is received, each data set comprising data of at least one material transfer transaction comprising data of the material and / or data of at least one product transfer transaction comprising product data associated with product (s) comprising the material. In a second step, the material data and the product data are retrieved based on the received data set (s). The at least one transfer is then tracked by determining a transfer balance associated with the material and the at least one product based on the retrieved material data and the retrieved product data. Finally, the determined transfer balance is provided.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a computer-implemented method and apparatus for tracking at least one transfer associated with a material and at least one product containing the material in a distributed material network, the use of a transfer balance generated by the method of the present invention or using the apparatus of the present invention for verifying material transfers associated with a material and (multiple) products containing the material, and a computer element. Background Art

[0002] The present disclosure generally relates to verifying transfers in a distributed system by determining a mass balance of the transfers associated with a material and a product(s) comprising the material.

[0003] Such a distributed system includes any number of producer nodes and consumer nodes. All nodes except the final consumer consume products made from the mass flow to produce other products made from the mass flow. In such a distributed system, it is desirable to predict and manipulate the production / consumption nodes to achieve target values ​​of system-wide verifiable key performance indicators (KPIs), such as the total emissions (GHG, air / water / land pollution) of the distributed system, the total recycling quota of the distributed system, the environmental impact profile of the distributed system, etc.

[0004] These system-wide KPIs are in contrast to local indicators that are valid only for individual pairs of nodes. Local "success stories" are known to generate displacement effects ("carbon leakage", in this case, increased GHG emissions in other producing countries, i.e., part of the network) or rebound effects (local production increases are overcompensated by overall consumption increases), making the system performance worse overall while the local performance improves.

[0005] The standard implementation of distributed systems is either a hub-and-spoke system or a peer-to-peer system. The drawback of a hub-and-spoke system is a high degree of centralization, which either gives the hub owner a monopoly over all participating production and consumption nodes, or leads to an unwieldy bureaucracy - because all participants share ownership of the hub ("shareholder democracy"). Peer-to-peer networks are good at manipulating local KPIs between suppliers and consumers. However, P2P networks cannot guarantee a complete and uninterrupted supply chain without missing links, let alone guarantee a verifiable supply chain, especially a circular supply chain, with a mass balance, because there is no centralized authority to supervise it. Introducing a mass balance authority in a peer-to-peer network will in turn lead to a hub-and-spoke system with a shareholder bureaucracy.

[0006] In order to manipulate a material-based distributed system, it is critical to establish a mass balance of the distributed system. Controlling mass balance at both the node level and the distributed system level allows identification of which nodes must be manipulated to achieve system-wide target KPIs. To this end, distributed mass balance can be combined with an optimization algorithm (e.g., a MILP algorithm, or an evolutionary or genetic optimization algorithm). This task is very similar to manipulating a group of process units in a chemical manufacturing system.

[0007] The prior art option for establishing mass balance on a distributed system of different legal entities is a consensus mechanism implemented on a distributed ledger (such as a blockchain) that is transparent, ensures integrity by design, and provides public verifiability of certain statements. Mass balance requires tracking that the mass of the transferred material is consistent across all steps in the production chain involving the material or the product produced from the material. In particular, mass balance can be used to ensure that the material does not simply disappear from the value chain. Mass balance can be performed system-wide, i.e., on the complete supply chain of a given product or group of products, at the company level or at the product level (i.e., for a specific product). System-wide mass balance can be performed by monitoring the total input (i.e., the total amount of raw materials supplied to the upstream participants of the production chain) and the total output. In the case of a linear process that does not recycle the products produced and disposes of the complete products in a landfill, the total output corresponds to the amount of products disposed of in the landfill. For a circular process that at least partially recycles or reuses the products, the total output corresponds to the total amount of recycled products plus the total amount of unrecycled products (i.e., waste products) disposed in the landfill. Mass balance at the company level can be performed as described above by comparing the total amount of materials purchased by the company with the total amount of products produced by the company. In order to perform mass balance on the product level, in addition to the total amount of starting materials and the total amount of products produced from the starting materials, a recipe is also required to perform the mass balance, which contains information about the proportions or amounts of starting materials used to produce the product.

[0008] In order to monitor the quality flow within the production chain, information about the quality input and quality output can be stored on a distributed ledger to provide public verifiability. Everyone who has access to the distributed ledger (e.g., a government authority or a non-governmental organization) can read each quantity, sum it up and compare the resulting quantities with each other. In addition, the method allows monitoring certain predefined quotas (i.e., maximum values ​​​​set by government regulations, minimum values ​​​​set by government regulations, etc.) by accessing the distributed ledger and reading each produced quantity, summing it up and comparing the resulting quantity with a predefined quota (such as CO2 emissions) for each company within the production chain or the entire distributed system.

[0009] While this approach ensures transparency and enables verifiability, it may be associated with some disadvantages. For example, such a technique may reveal details about the final product (e.g., depending on the industry, the recipe (e.g., a single ingredient or the amount of an ingredient)) or details about the complete supply chain within the production chain. That is, this form of publicly verifiable mass balance does not protect any privacy and may have an adverse impact on the competitive advantage of companies. In addition, such non-privacy data storage in a distributed ledger may conflict with legal provisions, such as the EU's General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR").

[0010] A certain level of privacy for data stored in a distributed ledger can be achieved by hiding the identities of the parties and the materials / products being transferred. However, this requires private communication channels between the parties involved (e.g., supplier-customer) to privately exchange data that must not appear in a transparent manner in the distributed ledger, such as the above identities and details about the materials / products being transferred.

[0011] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved mass balancing method which can be performed in an efficient and automated manner and which ensures the necessary privacy of data stored in a distributed ledger while avoiding the use of private communication channels. Summary of the invention

[0012] These and other objects are solved by the subject-matter of the independent claims and will become apparent on reading the following description. The dependent claims relate to preferred embodiments of the invention.

[0013] In one aspect, a computer-implemented method for tracking at least one transfer associated with a material and at least one product containing the material in a decentralized network is disclosed. The decentralized network includes a distributed ledger, the distributed ledger includes a plurality of member nodes, and the distributed ledger includes material transfer transactions including material data associated with the material and product transfer transactions including product data associated with at least one product containing the material. The method includes the following steps:

[0014] - receiving at least one data set, each data set comprising data of at least one material transfer transaction comprising material data and / or data of at least one product transfer transaction comprising product data associated with product(s) comprising the material,

[0015] - retrieving material data and product data based on the received data set(s),

[0016] - tracking at least one transfer by determining a transfer balance associated with a material and at least one product based on the retrieved material data and the retrieved product data, and

[0017] -Providing the at least one tracked transfer.

[0018] In another aspect, an apparatus for tracking at least one transfer associated with a material and at least one product containing the material in a decentralized network is disclosed. The decentralized network includes a distributed ledger, the distributed ledger includes a plurality of member nodes, and the distributed ledger includes material transfer transactions including material data associated with the material and product transfer transactions including product data associated with at least one product containing the material. The apparatus includes one or more computing nodes and one or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions thereon, the computer-executable instructions being configured to, when executed by the one or more computing nodes, cause the apparatus, in particular one or more of the computing nodes, to perform the following steps:

[0019] - receiving at least one data set, each data set comprising data of at least one material transfer transaction comprising material data and / or data of at least one product transfer transaction comprising product data associated with product(s) comprising the material,

[0020] - retrieving material data and product data based on the received data set(s),

[0021] - tracking at least one transfer by determining a transfer balance associated with a material and at least one product based on the retrieved material data and the retrieved product data, and

[0022] -Providing the at least one tracked transfer.

[0023] On the other hand, the present disclosure may also provide a data processing system, in particular a distributed data processing system comprising multiple computing nodes, wherein the data processing system, in particular one or more of the multiple computing nodes, is configured to execute the method of the present disclosure in a distributed manner.

[0024] Yet another aspect of the invention relates to the use of a transfer balance generated according to the method of the present disclosure for verifying material transfers associated with a material and product(s) containing the material using the apparatus and data processing system of the present disclosure.

[0025] In yet another aspect, a computer element having instructions, which when executed on one or more computing nodes, is configured to perform the steps of the method of the present disclosure, or is configured to be executed by the apparatus of the present disclosure.

[0026] In yet another aspect, the present disclosure may also provide a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed by a data processing system, cause the data processing system to perform the method of the present disclosure. The data processing system may be a distributed data processing system comprising a plurality of computing nodes.

[0027] In yet another aspect, the present disclosure may also provide a computer readable medium comprising instructions, which, when executed by a data processing system, cause the data processing system to perform the method of the present disclosure. The data processing system may be a distributed data processing system comprising a plurality of computing nodes.

[0028] Any disclosure and embodiment described herein relates to the method, apparatus, computer element listed above or below, and vice versa. The benefits provided by any embodiment and example are also applicable to all other embodiments and examples, and vice versa.

[0029] As used herein, "determining" also includes "initiating or causing determination", "generating" also includes "initiating and / or causing generation", and "providing" also includes "initiating or causing determination, generation, selecting, sending and / or receiving". "Initiating or causing performance of an action" includes any processing signal that triggers a computing node or device to perform a corresponding action.

[0030] The methods, apparatus, and computer elements disclosed herein provide an efficient way to determine mass balances of a distributed system across different legal entities for a single company or at a product level using a consensus mechanism implemented on a distributed ledger and a "need to know" principle. This "need to know" principle is implemented by anonymizing the parties involved and the transferred materials or products involved, but de-anonymizing the transferred mass. For example, the use of cryptographic credentials (e.g., signatures and public / private keys) and pointers to the corresponding material / product data is advantageous for this. Anonymizing the parties involved and the materials / products involved allows the public to access the data stored in the distributed ledger because the stored data is fully de-anonymized and does not allow reconstruction of the parties involved and the exact materials / products associated with the stored transactions. Keeping the transferred mass de-anonymized allows the public and / or regulators, etc. to verifiably track system-wide key performance indicators (KPIs) for the entire distributed system in a transparent manner, such as the recycling quota of the circular distributed system, the GHG emissions of the distributed system, the throughput or flow rate of material loops within the circular distributed system, the virgin material consumption compared to the throughput within the circular distributed system, the irreversible loss rate of materials within the circular distributed system, etc.

[0031] For example, specific "addresses" or "destinations" can be assigned to KPIs, such as GHG emissions or waste generated by a distributed system, and the addresses can be made publicly available. The total amount transferred to these addresses can then be accessed by the public / auditors and can directly represent certain KPIs or can be used to determine or calculate additional KPIs.

[0032] The main benefit to the public is precisely the ability of the distributed ledger to provide a verifiable basis for performance reporting while keeping the integrity of market competition. The benefit to each participant is that there is a verifiable material basis for every claim made to consumers or investors. These claims are no longer at risk of being verified as invalid due to manipulation of data (e.g., fraudulent recycling claims, material origin claims, etc.). Similarly, no participant can make false and exaggerated sustainability claims. Verification of claims by auditors or regulators can be guaranteed because each transaction stored in the distributed ledger can be de-anonymized on a "need to know" basis, that is, each transaction is identified and signed by a public / private key pair that can be traced back to its owner. This requirement also ensures that participants in a distributed system utilizing the method and apparatus of the present invention consistently implement existing "know your customer" and "anti-money laundering" requirements.

[0033] The implemented "know-on-need" principle makes it necessary to exchange or share details about the transferred materials / products between the parties involved via separate communication channels. Instead of using private communication channels between the parties involved, a secure and efficient standardized data exchange platform can be used, via which data sets containing the details are transferred. These data sets combine the data of materials or products with decentralized identifiers and optionally one or more authentication mechanisms, and allow for more reliable and secure data sharing and exchange on a single platform, while the ownership of the data contained in the data sets remains with the party providing these data sets. By further including one or more authorization mechanisms, data sharing or exchange can be performed in a more flexible manner, enabling multiple data consuming services from different participants in the chemical supply chain to access the data sets.

[0034] The method thus combines (i) a platform allowing the exchange of data sets, which platform itself is not suitable for establishing an overall closed and verifiable mass balance, but allows an efficient and secure data exchange between all parties of a distributed system; and (ii) a decentralized network including a distributed ledger for immutably and verifiably storing the information required to perform a mass balance on the material flow(s) of the distributed system. The combination of these two systems allows a high degree of anonymization of the data stored in the distributed ledger and used to monitor the mass flows, while ensuring an efficient and secure data exchange between all parties of the distributed system via a single platform to allow sharing of details about the material / product(s) transferred and the parties involved. Example

[0035] The method and apparatus of the present invention relate to tracking material transfers by determining a transfer balance associated with a material and at least one product containing the material using a distributed ledger, the distributed ledger containing material transfer transactions associated with the material and product transfer transactions associated with (multiple) products containing the material. A distributed ledger can be viewed as a shared, replicated, and synchronized database between member nodes of a decentralized network (such as a P2P network). Typically, a distributed ledger records transactions between participants of the network and thus provides an immutable history of the transactions. Updates to the distributed ledger can be performed based on a consensus algorithm, for example, storing additional material transfer transactions and / or product transfer transactions. When an update occurs, all member nodes of the distributed are updated using the current version of the ledger. A specific example of a distributed ledger application is a blockchain application. The nature of a distributed ledger is that there is no centralized institution, such as a clearing house.

[0036] Material transfer transactions and product transfer transactions contain material data and product data, respectively.

[0037] In one embodiment, the material data includes material transaction metadata and the amount of the material (e.g., the amount of material transferred during the transfer of the material). For example, the material transaction metadata can be used to retrieve data indicating the material associated with the transaction from a database (e.g., a MongoDB database). Such data indicating the material associated with the transaction can be, for example, a pointer (such as a hash pointer), or a link for accessing a data set associated with the material, or an access point to the data set.

[0038] Material transaction metadata may be considered as data representing the material being transferred. Material transaction metadata may include one or more of a material identifier, at least one material classification, and material production data.

[0039] As an example, the material production data may include one or more of a timestamp, a production location, a production country, and a batch ID. This allows, for example, efficient information access and retrieval in a database that holds information about the material being transferred, and may also allow participants in the transfer (but not necessarily any other party) to access more information than is stored in the actual transaction, for example using the material production data in combination with the material identifiers described below. Thus, accurate tracking of a particular unit of material may be maintained over multiple transfer steps, processing steps, etc., without having to communicate all of the prior history within each transaction. Thus, transactions remain manageable in size, do not require specific means to protect sensitive data, and may still provide reliable tracking.

[0040] According to the present disclosure, a material identifier may include a digital representation pointing to a data set (e.g., a material pass or a material data set or portion thereof). The pointer (e.g., a hash pointer) may be used to retrieve details about the transferred material, such as its characteristics, composition, etc., using a single data exchange platform. For example, according to the present disclosure, the transaction itself may not include any specific details about the materials associated with the material transfer. For example, this can ensure that the transaction can be made public while keeping details about the transferred materials and the parties involved confidential. As a more specific example, a transaction may include transaction metadata that includes a digital representation pointing to a data set or portion thereof.

[0041] In the present case, the term "digital representation(s) pointing to a data set or a portion thereof" should be understood broadly and may include at least one interface to a data providing service. It may further include at least one interface to a data consuming service. It may include an endpoint for data exchange or sharing (resource endpoint) or an endpoint for service interaction (service endpoint), which is uniquely identified via a communication protocol.

[0042] The amount of material is used to determine the transfer balance, for example, for the purpose of performing a mass balance, as described later. This information may not be as sensitive as information related to the transferred material and the identities of the parties involved, so for transparency purposes (e.g., mass balance), it may be advantageous not to anonymize the amount of transferred material contained in the transaction. Anonymizing the data related to the transferred material and the parties involved, but ensuring that the information can be retrieved when necessary, for example from a database, allows improved access control and privacy. In particular, this allows sensitive data (e.g., data that is considered reliable and / or may be audited) to be managed by a trusted party, and also ensures reliable and continuous access to the information. Furthermore, this allows the use of a public distributed ledger, since sensitive information (such as material data and the identities of the parties involved) cannot be obtained from the transaction data. However, knowing the identities of the parties involved allows a trusted party to monitor material flows, such as waste flows.

[0043] In one embodiment, the product data includes product transaction metadata and the amount of the product containing the material. For example, the transaction metadata can be used to retrieve data indicating the product containing the material associated with the transaction from a database (e.g., a MongoDB database). For example, such data indicating the product containing the material associated with the transaction can be a pointer (such as a hash pointer), or a link for accessing a data set associated with the product, or an access point to the data set.

[0044] Product transaction metadata may be viewed as data representing a transferred product containing a material. The product transaction metadata may include one or more of a product identifier, at least one product classification, and product production data. As an example, the product production data may include one or more of a timestamp, a production location, a production country, and a batch ID. This allows, for example, efficient information access and retrieval in a database storing information about the transferred product containing the material, and may also allow a participant in the transfer (but not necessarily any other party) to use the product production data in combination with the product identifier, for example as previously described with respect to the material identifier, to access more information than is stored in the actual transaction.

[0045] The product identifier may include a digital representation pointing to a data set (e.g., a product pass or product data set or portion thereof). The pointer (e.g., a hash pointer) may be used to retrieve details about the transferred product containing the material, such as its identity, composition, etc. (as described above).

[0046] The amount of product containing material is used for the purpose of determining the transfer balance, for example, performing a mass balance, as described later. This information may not be as sensitive as the information related to the transferred product containing material and the identities of the parties involved as described previously.

[0047] In addition to the material data and product data, the transaction may further include at least one transaction ID (e.g., a transaction ID associated with the transaction and optionally a transaction ID of a previous transaction associated with a previous material transfer or product transfer transaction), (multiple) cryptographic credentials of the parties involved, or a combination thereof. The cryptographic credentials may include data establishing the identity of a party to the communication. The cryptographic credentials may take the form of a machine-readable cryptographic key (e.g., a public key and / or a private key and / or a cryptographic signature and / or a password and / or a passphrase). The cryptographic credentials may be self-published or issued by a trusted third party. The cryptographic credentials may be configured to establish a clear association between the cryptographic credentials and a specific, real individual or other entity. The cryptographic credentials may optionally be configured to expire after a period of time, although this is not mandatory. An X.509 public key certificate is an example of a cryptographic credential. Particularly preferably, each transaction contains the public keys of the parties involved and is signed with the private key of the party that generates the transaction and sends the transaction to the member node for submission to the distributed ledger.

[0048] The term "product containing material" is to be understood in this document in a broad sense and refers to product(s) produced using the material, i.e., the material is used in the production of the product(s) or in at least one of a series of production steps necessary to produce the product(s). Similarly, components (e.g., chemical materials) resulting from the reuse or recycling of the product(s) are also referred to herein as "products containing material". Thus, a product containing the material may not necessarily contain the material in its original form (e.g., its original chemical composition or its original physical appearance), for example, where the product is produced by reacting the material(s), or where the product is produced by changing the appearance of the material.

[0049] If the method according to the invention is used to determine the overall transfer balance of a distributed system comprising multiple parties, the term "material" corresponds to the starting materials used in each first production step performed within the distributed system, while if a company-wide mass balance is to be determined according to the method according to the invention, the term "material" corresponds to all purchased materials. Similarly, if the transfer balance is to be determined on a product level according to the method according to the invention, the term "material" corresponds to all starting materials used to prepare a specific product. If the transfer balance of a specific production process comprising several production steps is to be determined, the term "material" covers all starting materials, for example, raw materials used in the production process. However, if the transfer balance of a specific production step in a production process comprising several production steps is to be determined, the term "material" covers intermediates used as starting materials to produce the product obtained by the production step for which the transfer balance is to be determined.

[0050] In the present disclosure, at least one transfer associated with a material and a (multiple) product containing the material may refer to the (multiple) transfer of the material and the (multiple) product containing the material between one or more first parties to one or more second parties, in particular, the (multiple) transfer from one or more first parties to one or more second parties. Transfer may refer to a transfer that has been executed and is expected or planned from one or more first parties to one or more second parties. In one example, a transfer may include a material or a (multiple) product containing the material being transferred between exactly one first party and exactly one second party. The one or more first parties and the one or more second parties may each include at least one of a legal person (e.g., a company), a natural person, and a collection of legal persons and / or natural persons. The one or more first parties and the one or more second parties are collectively referred to herein as the parties involved in the transfer.

[0051] In the case of virgin materials, the one or more first parties may be referred to as "material owners", and the one or more second parties that receive the virgin materials (i.e., are involved in the transfer of the virgin materials) may be referred to as "material recipients". The material recipients may use the virgin materials to produce a first product, and may transfer the first product to other parties. In this case, the other parties are referred to as "product recipients". i If the first product produced by the material recipient requires further processing (for example, if the first product is an intermediate product), the product recipient may use the received first product and may produce a second product comprising the first product and the virgin material. The second product may be transferred to another party. In the case where the second product is a final product, the other party may be referred to as a "consumer", or in the case where the second product requires further processing, the other party may be referred to as a "product recipient". i+1 Likewise, all other recipients of products containing the material, such as consumers, parties performing recycling or reuse process steps, etc., may be referred to as product recipients x i+n. If such a recipient performs the last step in the recycling or reuse process, and the recycled or reused parts produced by the last step are transferred to another party as chemical materials, then the other party may be referred to as the above-mentioned "material recipient". The material owner may be the party that has ownership of the material, in particular, the party that has physical control over the material and / or economic ownership of the material. The material owner who is the party that transfers the material is also referred to as the material owner associated with the transfer of the material in the present disclosure, and vice versa. The material recipient or product recipient may be the party that receives ownership of the material or a product containing the material, in particular, physical control over the material or a product containing the material, and / or economic ownership of the material or a product containing the material. In the present disclosure, the material recipient or product recipient who is the party that transfers the material or a product containing the material is also referred to as the material recipient or product recipient associated with the transfer of the material, and vice versa.

[0052] Transfers can include from a material owner to a material receiver or from a material receiver to a product receiver. i The term "transfer of ownership" refers to a transfer of ownership of the material or product(s) containing the material, and may include at least one of a transfer of physical control over the material or product(s) containing the material (also referred to as a physical transfer of the material or product(s) containing the material), and a transfer of economic ownership of the material or product(s) containing the material.

[0053] In the present disclosure, material should be broadly understood to refer to one or more physical entities. In one embodiment, the material can be a discrete material or a non-discrete material, for example, in the case of a non-discrete material, the material can be a continuous volume of solid or liquid material, or in the case of a discrete material, the material can include multiple parts, such as parts or components.

[0054] In one embodiment, the material can be a chemical raw material or a chemical material. In the present disclosure, the chemical raw material can include materials used as an educt or starting material in the production process. The virgin material can be an original material or a reused material, for example, a material that has undergone a production and use cycle. According to the present disclosure, the virgin material can include newly extracted raw materials, in particular materials that have not undergone a previous production and use cycle, in particular materials that have not been processed and / or used. According to the present disclosure, the reused material can be a material that has undergone a production and use cycle. For example, the reused material can be a material that has been processed to prepare for reuse after using the material. This may require processing steps (e.g., recycling) and / or other processing steps (e.g., cleaning, etc.). Recycled materials are examples of reused materials. Reused materials can be materials that have undergone one or more processing steps after using the material. These processing steps can be steps that enable the material to be introduced into the production step as a raw material.

[0055] A chemical material may be a chemically processed material, such as a raw material that has undergone at least one chemical reaction, for example, an intermediate material used in a further production step.

[0056] For the sake of clarity, depending on the transfer balance to be determined, for example, if the transfer balance of a specific production step among several production steps leading to the final product X is to be determined, the term "material" may refer to an intermediate "product" used in the production process. In this case, the term "product comprising the material" refers to a product obtained using the intermediate "product" (e.g., a further intermediate product or the final product X). Therefore, the term "material" and the term "product comprising the material" are not equal to each other, even if the material can be regarded as an intermediate "product" of a previous production step.

[0057] Step 1:

[0058] In a first step of the method of the invention, at least one data set is received, for example, via a member node connected to another decentralized network (such as a single decentralized platform) and allowing secure and efficient data exchange between all parties of the distributed system as described above. The term "data set" should be understood broadly in the present case and may include data related to the properties of a material or product and / or data related to the use of a material or product. Such properties may be static properties or dynamic properties. Static properties may be properties that are constant over time, such as melting point, boiling point, density, hardness, flammability, etc. Dynamic properties may be properties that vary over time, such as shelf life, pH value, color, reactivity. Properties may include performance properties, chemical properties (such as flammability, toxicity, acidity, reactivity, heat of combustion), and / or physical properties (such as density, color, hardness, melting and boiling points, conductivity, etc.). Data related to the use of a material or product may include data related to further processing of the material or product (e.g., use of the material as a reactant in further chemical reaction(s)) and / or data related to the use of the material or product (e.g., data related to use of the material or product in a process and / or in a manufacturing process). Data sets may include chemical data, emissions data, recycled content, biobased content, and / or production data.

[0059] Each received data set includes data of at least one material transfer transaction containing material data and / or data of at least one product transfer transaction containing product data associated with (multiple) products containing the material. In the present case, the terms "data including at least one material transfer transaction" and "data including at least one product transfer transaction" should be understood in a broad sense and can cover the inclusion of the data directly in the data set or via a digital representation pointing to the data. In addition to the material data, the (multiple) transactions may include one or more of the following: transaction type (e.g., create transaction or transfer transaction), one or more public keys (such as the public keys of the first party and one or more second parties), URI (in particular, URI generated from the private key and public key of one of the two parties involved in the transaction) and transaction ID. The transaction can be signed by the party to the transfer using its private key. Then, the verification of the signature can be performed, for example, using the URI content, for example, by each member node when executing the consensus algorithm. The term "transaction" should be understood as a digital representation, in particular a unique digital representation, of the transfer of materials and (multiple) products containing the materials from a first party to one or more second parties (in particular, from exactly one first party to exactly one second party) stored in a distributed ledger.

[0060] The distributed ledger (more specifically, the transactions stored therein) represents the flow of materials and products in a distributed system (such as a production chain or supply chain), for example, the introduction of materials into a distributed system or the transfer of materials and (multiple) products within a distributed system. The distributed ledger can allow searching for transactions, which in turn can enable searching across multiple intermediate steps associated with the materials or products assigned to the retrieved transactions. This ensures the traceability of the material and product flows and the accountability of the parties to the distributed system.

[0061] Dataset:

[0062] Each dataset can include

[0063] - Decentralized identifiers, and

[0064] - data relating to the material or to products incorporating the material.

[0065] In the present case, the term "decentralized identifier" should be understood broadly and includes any unique identifier that is uniquely associated with a data owner and chemical product data. Decentralized identifiers may include universal unique identifiers (UUIDs) or digital identifiers (DIDs). Decentralized identifiers may be issued by centralized or decentralized identity issuing agencies. Decentralized identifiers may include authentication information. Access to chemical product data may be controlled by the data owner via the decentralized identifier and its unique association with the data owner and chemical product data. This is in contrast to a centralized agency solution, in which the identifier is provided by such a centralized agency and access to the data is controlled by such a centralized agency. In this context, decentralized means that the use of the identifier is controlled by the data owner at the time of implementation.

[0066] Each data set can be generated by collecting data associated with a material or a product containing the material (such as material or product characteristic data listed later), wherein the material or product includes a physical identifier. The physical identifier is then assigned to a decentralized identifier, and each data set is generated using the decentralized identifier and the collected data. The decentralized identifier can be provided by a central node or one or more decentralized nodes. The decentralized identifier generated by a central node or one or more decentralized nodes can be provided to the node generating the data set and at least one authentication data registration node, which nodes are preferably accessible to data providing services and / or data consumption services. This enables customized data sharing or exchange for materials and products between the parties involved in the distributed system. In particular, the data providing service and / or data consumption service can customize the data sharing or exchange protocol based on the anchoring of the decentralized identifier with the data related to the material or the data related to the product.

[0067] The authentication data registration node can be a centralized registration node, such as a centralized file system, a centrally managed distributed database, and / or a centrally managed peer-to-peer network. A centralized configuration allows for more control and standardization via a central node. The authentication data registration node can be a decentralized registry, such as a distributed ledger, a decentralized file system, a distributed database, and / or a peer-to-peer network. A decentralized configuration allows for more efficient use of computing resources and increased control of data owners. In addition, a decentralized configuration is independent of a centrally managed node and improves the reliability and flexibility of the system.

[0068] In one embodiment, the generation of the data set includes providing a decentralized identifier associated with a physical entity of a material or a product comprising the material. In this context, the physical entity may relate to a physical material or product associated with the decentralized identifier. In this case, the term "physical entity" should be understood broadly and relates to a physical embodiment of a material or a product comprising the material.

[0069] A physical entity can be any material or product in a chemical supply chain. A physical entity can be a raw or reused or recycled material, a chemical product, a chemical formulation, a chemical mixture, a component, an assembly of components, a final product, or a combination thereof.

[0070] A decentralized identifier may be associated with a physical entity to which material property data or product property data is associated. A decentralized identifier may be associated with a material to which material property data is associated or a product to which product property data is associated. For example, a decentralized identifier may be associated with a physical entity of a basic substance, a raw material, a chemical material, a chemical mixture, a chemical preparation, etc. A decentralized identifier may be associated with a physical entity to which material or product will be supplied and to which material property data or product property data is associated. For example, a decentralized identifier may be associated with a physical entity of a component, a component assembly, a final product, etc. A decentralized identifier may be associated with more than one physical entity to which material or product will be supplied and to which material property data or product property data is associated. For example, a decentralized identifier may be associated with a physical entity of a component, a component assembly, and a final product. Associating decentralized identifiers with different physical entity stages in a chemical supply chain allows virtually tracking the supplied materials or (multiple) products containing the materials in the supply chain. In this way, materials or (multiple) products containing the materials and their associated data may be tracked, for example, until the end of the life of the final product.

[0071] In one embodiment, the decentralized identifier is or is assigned to a physical identifier connected to a material or product. The connection of the physical identifier to the material or product can be provided by a physical connection to a physical product or physical entity. For example, the physical identifier can be connected to the physical entity of the material or product. The physical entity can be a material or a product containing the material. The physical identifier can have a one-to-one correspondence with a virtual identity or a physical identity through a physical connection to the physical entity. In one embodiment, the physical identifier is physically attached to the material or product via an identifier element.

[0072] A "physical identifier" or "physical identifier element" may refer to any virtual or physical arrangement that associates a decentralized identifier with a material or product. A physical identifier may be any identifier for a material or product, such as a batch number or a part number. A physical identifier element may include passive or active elements, such as, but not limited to, a QR code, an RFID tag. A physical identifier element may be a physical identifier that is physically connected to a material or product. An identifier element may include a tag embedded in a material, a barcode, a QR code, a tag similar to an RFID tag, or a similar physical arrangement that allows a chemical product to be digitally identified.

[0073] In one embodiment, an identifier element comprising a physical identifier is physically attached to a material or product. The physical identifier may be provided from a sensor that reads a physical identifier element, wherein the physical identifier element is physically connected to the material or product. The identification element may be physically connected to a material or product, thereby uniquely identifying the material or product. The identification element may be physically connected to any component of a material or product, such as a packaging of a material or product, thereby uniquely identifying the material or product.

[0074] In one embodiment, each data set includes one or more authentication mechanisms associated with a decentralized identifier and data related to a material or a product containing the material. The authentication mechanism may include a token (such as a private key and a public key infrastructure), a certificate mechanism, or a biometric mechanism (such as a fingerprint, facial recognition, or voice recognition, etc.). For example, a common public key certificate is an X.509 certificate. Through the authentication mechanism, data access to data consumption services can be controlled in a secure manner, and the integrity of the data provision service can be ensured. This makes data exchange or sharing more reliable, controllable, and secure.

[0075] One or more authentication mechanisms associated with decentralized identifiers generated by a central node or by one or more decentralized nodes can be provided to the node generating each data set and at least one decentralized authentication data registry, which are preferably accessible by data provision services and / or data consumption services. The authentication data registry can be a centralized registry, such as a centralized file system, a centrally managed distributed database, and / or a centrally managed peer-to-peer network. A centralized configuration allows for greater control and standardization via a central node. The authentication data registry can be a decentralized registry, such as a distributed ledger, a decentralized file system, a distributed database, and / or a peer-to-peer network. A decentralized configuration allows for more efficient use of computing resources and increased control of data owners.

[0076] In another embodiment, each data set involves one or more authorization mechanisms associated with a decentralized identifier and data related to a material or data related to a product containing the material. The authorization mechanism may include (multiple) authorization rules including data transaction instructions or data transaction agreements, such as data usage policies, smart data contracts, or more complex data processing instructions associated with data provision and / or data consumption services. Through the authorization mechanism, data access and data usage by data consumption services can be controlled in a secure manner.

[0077] One or more authorization mechanisms associated with a decentralized identifier generated by a central node or by one or more decentralized nodes may be provided to a node for generating or processing each data set or a node for accessing data associated with a material or data associated with a product containing the material. Additionally or alternatively, one or more authorization mechanisms may be provided to at least one centralized or decentralized authorization data registry, which is preferably accessible to a data providing service and / or a data consuming service. In one embodiment, one or more authorization mechanisms associated with a decentralized identifier generated by one or more decentralized nodes may be provided to a node for generating or processing each data set and at least one centralized file system, a centrally managed distributed database, a centrally managed peer-to-peer network, a distributed ledger, a decentralized file system, a distributed database, and / or a peer-to-peer network, which are preferably accessible to a data providing service and / or a data consuming service.

[0078] In one example, the data associated with a material includes one or more digital representations pointing to material property data or a portion thereof. The material property data may include a material name, a material ID, a material composition, a chemical and / or physical property of a material, emission data of a material, a recycled content of a material, a bio-based content of a material, further material production data, material declaration data, chemical material safety data, certificate of analysis data associated with a material, (multiple) transaction IDs of a material transfer transaction associated with a material, or a combination thereof. In the present case, the term "recycled content data and / or bio-based content data" should be understood broadly and include any data related to recycled content or bio-based content used to provide or manufacture a physical entity (e.g., a raw material or basic substance, a chemical product or chemical material, a component, a component assembly, or a final product) at any stage of the chemical supply chain.

[0079] In the present case, the term "emission data" should be understood broadly and include any data related to environmental footprint. Environmental footprint can refer to an entity and its associated environmental footprint. Environmental footprint can be entity-specific. For example, environmental footprint can involve products, companies, processes such as manufacturing processes, raw materials or basic substances, chemical products or materials, components, component assemblies, final products, combinations thereof, or additional entity-specific relationships. Emission data may include data related to the carbon footprint of chemical products. Emission data may include data related to greenhouse gas emissions released, for example, when producing chemical products. Emission data may include data related to greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions may include emissions such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), perfluorocarbons (PFC), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), and other emissions, combinations thereof, and other emissions.

[0080] Emissions data can include data related to greenhouse gas emissions generated by the entity or company's own operations (production, power plants and waste incineration). Scope 2 includes emissions generated by the production of energy provided by external parties. Scope 3 includes all other emissions generated along the value chain. Specifically, this includes greenhouse gas emissions generated by raw materials obtained from suppliers. The product carbon footprint (PCF) is the sum of greenhouse gas emissions and removals generated by consecutive and interrelated process steps related to a specific product. Cradle-to-gate PCF aggregates greenhouse gas emissions based on selected process steps: from the extraction of resources to the time when the product leaves the company's factory gate. This PCF is called partial PCF. In order to achieve such aggregation, each company that provides any product must be able to provide the contribution of each of its products to the PCF in scope 1 and scope 2 as accurately as possible, and obtain reliable and consistent PCF data for purchased energy (scope 2) and its raw materials (scope 3).

[0081] In one example, the data associated with a product containing the material includes one or more digital representations pointing to product characteristic data or a portion thereof. The product characteristic data may include a product name, a product ID, a material composition of the product, a chemical and / or physical property of the product, emission data of the product, recycled content of the product, bio-based content of the product, further product production data, material declaration data, chemical material safety data, certificate of analysis data associated with the product, (multiple) transaction IDs of a material transfer transaction associated with the material, and / or (multiple) transaction IDs of a product transfer transaction associated with (multiple) products containing the material, or a combination thereof.

[0082] In one embodiment, each data set is received from a data providing service. Specifically, the data providing service can ensure that each data set has the correct configuration and content, and in particular can reliably ensure the storage and / or secure access to the (multiple) data sets. In the present case, the term "data providing service" should be understood in a broad sense and include computer executable instructions for providing and / or processing data associated with the data owner (such as material property data) for access and / or processing by a data consumption service. The (multiple) data sets can be received using (multiple) digital representations pointing to the (multiple) data sets. The (multiple) digital representations can be received from the data owner and can be used to retrieve the corresponding material or product property data from the data providing service using the data consumption service. In the present case, the term "data consumption service" should be understood in a broad sense and include computer executable instructions for accessing and / or processing data associated with the data owner (such as (multiple) data sets).

[0083] In one embodiment, a material and at least one product comprising the material are transferred in a linear process or a cyclic process. Both the linear process and the cyclic process may include a production step, in which the product(s) comprising the material are produced from at least one raw material or at least one chemical material. The production step may include one or more sub-steps, the number of sub-steps required to produce the product comprising the material depending on the raw materials and / or chemical materials and the specific product(s) comprising the material. Both the linear process and the cyclic process may further include a use step, i.e., the final consumer uses the product comprising the material and produced in the production step.

[0084] The linear process preferably comprises only a production step, a use step and a disposal step. In particular, it does not involve the reuse of the product(s) containing the material, and in particular may not involve any recovery step and / or other treatment steps to prepare for the reuse of the product(s) containing the material. In other words, the raw materials used in the processing steps of the linear process do not include chemical materials produced from the product containing the material, for example, chemical materials that are recycled or otherwise reintroduced.

[0085] According to the present disclosure, a recycling process is a process that includes a reuse step in addition to a production step and a use step. Thus, it also includes processing the product(s) containing the material for reuse. It may optionally include a disposal step for components / parts of the product(s) containing the material that cannot be reused and need to be disposed of. Furthermore, different cycles of the recycling process may include different subsets of the above steps.

[0086] In the recycling process, a material or a product (or products) containing the material can be divided and / or combined with other materials and / or products (or products) containing the material. Combining with other materials and / or products (or products) containing the material can be regarded as processing the material and processing the material (or materials) and / or products (or products) containing the material.

[0087] In particular, the cyclic process may be implemented as a closed material loop. According to the present disclosure, a closed material loop may be a cyclic process, more specifically a cyclic material flow, wherein raw material in the form of virgin material is only fed into the cyclic process to replace unusable material, e.g., disposed material and material that is diffused or accidentally lost to the environment (e.g., by wear, abrasion or irreversible loss). Otherwise, no virgin material is fed / introduced into the closed material loop. The virgin material flow that is fed into the cyclic process to replace disposed material and / or diffused or accidentally lost material may be referred to as a replenishment flow of virgin material.

[0088] Data on at least one material transfer transaction:

[0089] In one embodiment of the present invention, the data of at least one material transfer transaction includes a transaction ID of at least one material transfer transaction containing material data, (multiple) credentials associated with the material transfer transaction, or a combination thereof. The (multiple) credentials associated with the (multiple) material transfer transaction may include (multiple) public keys of the parties involved in the transaction, and a signature of a party that generates the transaction and sends the transaction to the member node for submission to the distributed ledger.

[0090] The transaction ID is preferably generated when the material transfer transaction is generated, when the generated transaction is sent to the member node for submission to the distributed ledger, or when the material transfer transaction is verified before submission to the distributed ledger. Submission of the transaction to the distributed ledger may require verification of the signature of the transaction and further predefined cryptographic conditions by the member node receiving the transaction, such as whether the input amount listed in the transaction has been consumed by another transaction, whether the input amount is equal to the output amount, whether the transfer transaction contains the addresses of all parties involved, etc. If the transaction received by the member node cannot be successfully confirmed by the node, an error message can be sent from the member node to the sender or a party to the transaction (in the case where the sender is not a party involved in the transaction). This allows the above-mentioned party to check the transaction data and modify the transaction data before resending the transaction. After the transaction is confirmed, it can be stored in a database (e.g., the database layer of the distributed ledger). The member nodes participating in the consensus algorithm can generate blocks based on the list of confirmed transactions stored in the database, and can propose the blocks as new blocks to be added to the distributed ledger. If the majority of member nodes participating in the consensus algorithm vote in favor of adding the proposed block, the block is appended to the distributed ledger as a new block. Transaction metadata and the addresses of the parties involved can be retrieved from the transactions contained in the newly appended block and can be stored in a separate database (e.g., the database layer of the distributed ledger).

[0091] The separate database can be used to search for transactions based on transaction metadata and / or addresses, thereby allowing transactions stored on the distributed ledger to be searched quickly and efficiently without having to search within the distributed ledger. After the transaction(s) are successfully submitted to the distributed ledger, the party participating in the transfer or the party generating the transaction can receive a confirmation of the submission of the transaction to the distributed ledger from the member node receiving the transaction. Similarly, if the received transaction is not submitted to the distributed ledger, an error message can be sent from the member node to the above party. This allows the transaction to be resent after receiving the error message.

[0092] Data of at least one product transfer transaction:

[0093] In one embodiment of the present invention, the data of at least one product transfer transaction includes a transaction ID of at least one product transfer transaction containing product data, (multiple) vouchers associated with the product transfer transaction, or a combination thereof. The (multiple) vouchers associated with the (multiple) product transfer transactions may include (multiple) public keys of the parties involved in the transaction, and a signature of a party that generates the transaction and sends the transaction to a member node for submission to a distributed ledger.

[0094] Step 2:

[0095] In a second step of the method of the invention, material data and product data are retrieved separately based on the received data set(s).

[0096] In one embodiment of the method of the present invention, retrieving material data based on the received data set(s) comprises: determining the identity of at least one material transfer transaction based on the data of the material transfer transaction(s) contained in the received data set(s), and retrieving material data associated with the at least one identity of the determined material transfer transaction(s). For this purpose, the transaction IDs of the material transfer transaction(s) contained in the received data set(s) may be retrieved, and the associated material transfer transaction(s) may be retrieved from the distributed ledger via the member node using the retrieved transaction IDs. Thereafter, material data, in particular the amount of transferred material, may be determined from the retrieved material transfer transaction.

[0097] In one embodiment of the method of the present invention, retrieving material data based on the received data set(s) includes: determining at least one material transfer transaction associated with the product(s) containing the material based on the data of the product transfer transaction(s) contained in the received data set(s), and retrieving the material data of the determined material transfer transaction(s). For example, the material transfer transaction(s) may be determined by determining the identity of the product transfer transaction(s) associated with the material transfer transaction(s) contained in the received data set(s). For this purpose, the transaction IDs of the product transfer transactions contained in the received data set(s) may be retrieved and used to determine one or more identities of the associated material transfer transactions.

[0098] One or more identities can be determined because all transactions for a material and all transactions for a product(s) containing the material are linked together via their transaction IDs. For example, a transaction ID associated with the generation of a material in a distributed ledger (i.e., submitting a transaction associated with a material not yet stored in the distributed ledger to the distributed ledger) is linked to a transaction that transfers at least a portion of the material from a material owner to at least one material recipient. If the material recipient uses the material to produce a product containing the material, the transaction ID associated with the transaction indicating the transfer of the product to the product recipient is also linked to the transaction ID associated with the transfer of the material from the material owner to the material recipient. Linking the transaction associated with the transfer of the material with the transaction associated with each product containing the material not only allows tracking of the production phase of the product, the use phase of the product, and the reuse phase of the product, but also allows determining the transfer balance associated with the transfer by using the link to determine all transactions, and determining the corresponding amount contained in the transaction required for the transfer balance.

[0099] In one embodiment of the method of the present invention, retrieving product data based on the received data set(s) includes: determining the identity of at least one product transfer transaction based on the data of the product transfer transaction(s) contained in the received data set(s), and retrieving product data associated with the at least one identity of the determined product transfer transaction(s). The retrieval of the identity of the at least one product transfer transaction and the product data may be performed as previously described with respect to retrieving material data from the material transfer transaction(s) based on the determined identity.

[0100] In one embodiment of the method of the present invention, retrieving product data based on the received data set(s) includes: determining at least one product transfer transaction associated with the material based on the data of the material transfer transaction(s) contained in the received data set(s), and retrieving product data of the determined product transfer transaction(s). The product transfer transaction may be determined by determining one or more identities using the transaction IDs of the material transfer transaction(s) contained in the received data set(s) as described above.

[0101] Step 3:

[0102] In a third step of the method of the invention, at least one transfer is tracked by determining a transfer balance associated with a material and at least one product comprising said material based on the material data and product data retrieved in the second step.

[0103] In one embodiment of the present invention, determining the transfer balance includes

[0104] - determining the total amount of the material based on the retrieved material data, and determining the total amount of product(s) containing the material based on the retrieved product data, and

[0105] - Compare the determined total amount of material with the determined total amount of product(s).

[0106] Determining the total amount of material may include retrieving the amount of material contained in the material data of each retrieved material transfer transaction and adding the retrieved amounts of material. Similarly, the total amount of product may be determined by retrieving the amount of product contained in the product data of each retrieved product transfer transaction and adding the retrieved amounts of (multiple) products. Since the amounts of materials and products are not anonymized (e.g., by adding a random number to the amounts so that the actual amount cannot be directly derived from the transaction data stored in the distributed ledger), the retrieved amounts can be added without any further decryption method. This allows the public or authorities to monitor certain mass flows without providing them with any special decryption algorithm to determine the transfer balance.

[0107] For example, by balancing the amounts listed in all transactions associated with the generation of materials in the distributed ledger (i.e., transactions associated with the first storage of virgin materials in the distributed ledger) with the amounts of (multiple) products listed in all transactions associated with the transfer of unrecycled (multiple) products to addresses associated with landfills or dumps, the public and / or auditors can monitor the overall mass balance of the circular system. If the circular system is a closed material loop, the amounts listed in all transactions associated with the generation of materials in the distributed ledger should be equal to the amounts listed in all transactions associated with the transfer of unrecycled (multiple) products to addresses associated with landfills or dumps. Material / product classification can be used to determine the mass balance of a particular type of material / product (e.g., all materials / products classified as "polymers"). However, because the identities of the parties and details about the materials are anonymized, the parties involved and the materials involved cannot be easily identified from the data available on the distributed ledger. This allows for a transparent balance of transfers to be provided without over-disclosing the parties and materials / products involved in the transfers, thereby ensuring adequate data protection and avoiding negative impacts on the competitiveness of the parties in the distributed system.

[0108] In another example, a company's mass balance can be determined, for example, by an auditor using all transactions associated with the company, for example, by receiving (multiple) datasets for the company listing all transaction IDs and using the listed transaction IDs to retrieve quantities of materials and (multiple) products containing the materials.

[0109] In one example, determining the total amount of a material may further include retrieving a stoichiometry associated with the material based on the received (multiple) data sets, and determining the total amount of the material based on the retrieved stoichiometry. This may be preferred if a transfer balance is to be determined for a particular production stage in a production step of a certain product or a distributed system, as this requires knowledge of the stoichiometry to determine the correct transfer balance. The data set may be used to retrieve the product characteristic data using a digital representation pointing to the product characteristic data including data about the stoichiometry. The use of stoichiometry allows, for example, the amount of the (multiple) products produced from sustainable materials to be determined when the (multiple) products are transferred to a specific "address" associated with a company (i.e., a specific public key is used for the recipient "address"). By determining the mass balance using stoichiometry and the amount of material and (multiple) products transferred to the specific address, the validity of the sustainability claim can be easily verified.

[0110] In one example, determining the total amount of product(s) containing the material includes retrieving the stoichiometry associated with the product based on the received data set(s), and determining the total amount of product(s) containing the material based on the retrieved stoichiometry. This may be preferred if a transfer balance is to be determined for a particular product or a particular production stage in a production step of a distributed system, as this requires knowledge of the stoichiometry to determine the correct transfer balance. As previously described, a product identifier can be used to retrieve a product data set.

[0111] In one embodiment of the present invention, the transfer balance is a material mass balance. The term "material mass balance" may refer to the overall mass balance of the distributed system, the mass balance of a company that is part of the distributed system, or the mass balance of a specific product, depending on the material transfer transactions and product transfer transactions used to determine the material mass balance.

[0112] Further embodiments or aspects are set out in the following numbered clauses:

[0113] 1. A computer-implemented method for tracking at least one transfer associated with a material and at least one product comprising the material in a decentralized network comprising a distributed ledger, the distributed ledger comprising a plurality of member nodes, the distributed ledger comprising material transfer transactions comprising material data associated with the material and product transfer transactions comprising product data associated with at least one product comprising the material, the method comprising the steps of:

[0114] - receiving at least one data set, each data set comprising data of at least one material transfer transaction containing the material data and / or data of at least one product transfer transaction containing the product data associated with the product(s) containing the material,

[0115] - retrieving the material data and the product data based on the received data set(s),

[0116] - tracking at least one transfer by determining a transfer balance associated with the material and the at least one product based on the received or retrieved material data and the received or retrieved product data, and

[0117] -Providing the at least one tracked transfer.

[0118] 2. The method of embodiment 1, wherein the material is a discrete material or a non-discrete material.

[0119] 3. The method according to embodiment 1 or 2, wherein the material is a chemical raw material or a chemical material.

[0120] 4. A method according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the (multiple) material transfer transactions and the (multiple) product transfer transactions each further include data indicating at least one transaction identity, public keys of the parties associated with the transfer of the material and the at least one product, data indicating a transaction type, or a combination thereof.

[0121] 5. A method according to any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein the material data includes material transaction metadata and the quantity of the material.

[0122] 6. The method of embodiment 5, wherein the material transaction metadata may include a material identifier, at least one material classification, material production data, or a combination thereof.

[0123] 7. A method according to embodiment 6, wherein the material identifier includes a digital representation pointing to the data set or a portion thereof.

[0124] 8. A method according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the product data includes product transaction metadata and the quantity of the product containing the material.

[0125] 9. The method according to embodiment 8, wherein the product transaction metadata includes a product identifier, at least one product classification, product production data, or a combination thereof.

[0126] 10. The method of embodiment 9, wherein the product identifier comprises a digital representation pointing to the data set or a portion thereof.

[0127] 11. The method of any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein each data set comprises a decentralized identifier and data related to the material or data related to a product containing the material.

[0128] 12. The method of embodiment 11, wherein each data set further comprises one or more authentication mechanisms associated with the decentralized identifier.

[0129] 13. The method of embodiment 11, wherein each data set relates to one or more authorization mechanisms associated with the decentralized identifier.

[0130] 14. The method of any one of embodiments 11 to 13, wherein the data associated with the material comprises one or more digital representations pointing to material property data or a portion thereof.

[0131] 15. A method according to embodiment 14, wherein the material characteristic data includes material name, material ID, material composition, chemical and / or physical properties of the material, emission data of the material, recycled content of the material, bio-based content of the material, further material production data, material declaration data, chemical material safety data, analysis certificate data associated with the material, or a combination thereof.

[0132] 16. The method of any one of embodiments 11 to 15, wherein the data associated with the product comprises one or more digital representations pointing to product characteristic data or a portion thereof.

[0133] 17. A method according to embodiment 16, wherein the product characteristic data includes product name, product ID, material composition of the product, chemical and / or physical properties of the product, emission data of the product, recycled content of the product, bio-based content of the product, further product production data, material declaration data, chemical material safety data, analysis certificate data associated with the material, or a combination thereof.

[0134] 18. A method according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein each data set is received from a data providing service.

[0135] 19. The method of any preceding embodiment, wherein the material and at least one product comprising the material are transferred in a linear production process or a cyclic process.

[0136] 20. A method according to any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein the data of the at least one material transfer transaction includes a transaction ID of the at least one material transfer transaction containing the material data, (multiple) vouchers associated with the material transfer transaction, or a combination thereof.

[0137] 21. A method according to any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein the data of the at least one product transfer transaction includes a transaction ID of the at least one product transfer transaction containing the product data, (multiple) vouchers associated with the product transfer transaction, or a combination thereof.

[0138] 22. A method according to any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein retrieving material data based on the received (multiple) data sets includes: determining the identity of at least one material transfer transaction based on the data of the (multiple) material transfer transactions contained in the received (multiple) data sets, and retrieving material data associated with at least one identity of the determined (multiple) material transfer transactions.

[0139] 23. A method according to any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein retrieving material data based on the received (multiple) data sets includes: determining at least one material transfer transaction associated with (multiple) products containing the material based on the data of the (multiple) product transfer transactions contained in the received (multiple) data sets, and retrieving material data associated with the determined (multiple) material transfer transactions.

[0140] 24. A method according to any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein retrieving product data based on the received (multiple) data sets includes: determining the identity of at least one product transfer transaction based on the data of the (multiple) product transfer transactions contained in the received (multiple) data sets, and retrieving product data associated with at least one identity of the determined (multiple) product transfer transactions.

[0141] 25. A method according to any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein retrieving product data based on the received (multiple) data sets includes: determining at least one product transfer transaction associated with the material based on the data of the (multiple) material transfer transactions contained in the received (multiple) data sets, and retrieving the product data of the determined (multiple) product transfer transactions.

[0142] 26. The method of any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein determining the transfer balance comprises

[0143] - determining the total amount of the material based on the retrieved material data, and determining the total amount of product(s) containing the material based on the retrieved product data, and

[0144] - Compare the determined total amount of material with the determined total amount of product(s).

[0145] 27. The method of embodiment 26, wherein determining the total amount of material comprises retrieving the amount of material contained in the material data of each determined material transfer transaction and adding the retrieved amounts of material.

[0146] 28. The method of embodiment 27, wherein determining the total amount of the material further comprises retrieving a stoichiometry associated with the material based on the received (multiple) data sets, and determining the total amount of the material based on the retrieved stoichiometry.

[0147] 29. A method according to any one of embodiments 26 to 28, wherein determining the total amount of (multiple) products containing the material includes retrieving the amount of (multiple) products containing product data for each received product transfer transaction and adding the retrieved amounts of (multiple) products.

[0148] 30. A method according to embodiment 29, wherein determining the total amount of (multiple) products containing the material further includes retrieving the chemical measurement associated with the product based on the received (multiple) data sets, and determining the total amount of (multiple) products containing the material based on the retrieved chemical measurement.

[0149] 31. A method according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the material transfer balance includes a material mass balance.

[0150] 32. An apparatus for tracking at least one transfer associated with a material and at least one product comprising the material in a decentralized material network comprising a distributed ledger, the distributed ledger comprising a plurality of member nodes, the distributed ledger comprising transfer transactions comprising material data associated with the material and transfer transactions comprising product data associated with at least one product comprising the material, the apparatus comprising:

[0151] One or more computing nodes; and one or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions thereon, which are constructed so that when executed by the one or more computing nodes, the device performs a method as described in any one of Examples 1 to 31.

[0152] 33. Use of a material transfer balance generated by the method of any one of embodiments 1 to 31 or by the apparatus of embodiment 32 to verify material transfer associated with a material and product(s) comprising the material.

[0153] 34. A computer element having instructions, which, when executed on one or more computing nodes, is configured to perform the steps of the method described in any one of embodiments 1 to 31, or is configured to be executed by the device described in embodiment 32. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0154] The present disclosure will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings:

[0155] Figures 1A to 1C Demonstrates a centralized computing environment ( Figure 1A), Distributed Computing Environment ( Figure 1B ) and distributed computing environments ( Figure 1C ) example embodiment.

[0156] Figure 2 An example of a decentralized system including a distributed ledger for use within methods and systems according to the present disclosure is shown.

[0157] Figure 3 Shown by Figure 2 A sequence diagram of a member node submitting a transaction to a distributed ledger.

[0158] Figure 4 An example of a chemical product pass including DID owner data, DID document data, and a decentralized identity infrastructure is shown.

[0159] Figure 5 An example of a chemical product passport including ID-based data, passport data, and a decentralized identity infrastructure is shown.

[0160] Fig. 6A , Figure 6B An example of an authentication protocol is shown.

[0161] 7A to 7C Different example configurations of product passes anchored by digital identifiers are shown.

[0162] Figure 8 is a flow chart illustrating an example embodiment of a method according to the present disclosure.

[0163] Fig. 9A It is shown Figure 8 Flowchart of an example embodiment of block 804 of FIG.

[0164] Fig. 9B It is shown Figure 8 Flowchart of an example embodiment of block 806 of FIG.

[0165] Fig. 10A is a block diagram showing several parties for transferring materials and products containing such materials to a distributed system.

[0166] Fig. 10B It shows Fig. 10A Block diagram of the transactions associated with the transfer of , which are submitted to the distributed ledger by several member nodes.

[0167] Fig. 10C is a block diagram illustrating the generation of a data set for a product including a material, the data set including environmental data and a transaction ID of an associated product transfer transaction submitted to a distributed ledger.

[0168] Fig. 10Dis a block diagram illustrating receiving data set(s) from a data consumption service and using data contained in the data set(s) to retrieve material data and product data stored within a transaction submitted to a distributed ledger.

[0169] Fig.11 is a block diagram illustrating determination of a transfer balance for a linear distributed system including several parties involved in supplying raw materials and producing product(s) comprising the raw materials.

[0170] Fig. 12A is a block diagram illustrating determination of a transfer balance of products within a cyclic distributed system including several parties involved in supplying raw materials and producing product(s) comprising the raw materials.

[0171] Fig. 12B is a block diagram illustrating determining a transfer balance for a cyclic system including several parties involved in supplying raw materials and virgin materials, producing product(s) comprising the raw materials / virgin materials, and recovering at least a portion of the produced products.

[0172] Fig.13A is a block diagram illustrating the determination of the transfer balance of a single firm in a distributed system.

[0173] Fig. 13B Demonstrated for determining Fig.13A Embodiments of a system for shifting balance and generating (multiple) data sets.

[0174] Fig.14 is a block diagram illustrating the determination of a transfer balance for a specific product produced from different starting materials using defined stoichiometries.

[0175] Fig.15 An example of a distributed ledger is shown.

[0176] Fig.16A , Fig. 16B Example embodiments of the present disclosure are shown.

[0177] Fig.17 is a flow chart illustrating an example embodiment of a method according to the present disclosure.

[0178] Figures 18A-18E Potential applications of the methods of the present disclosure are demonstrated.

[0179] Fig.19 An example of a production facility producing a chemical product associated with a materials dataset is shown.

[0180] Fig. 20 Another example of a production facility producing a chemical product associated with a material data set is shown.

[0181] Fig.21 An example of a production system for producing a chemical product associated with one or more material data sets is presented.

[0182] Fig. 22 is a flow chart illustrating an example embodiment of a method according to the present disclosure.

[0183] Fig.23A It is shown Fig. 22 Flowchart of an example embodiment of block 2402 of .

[0184] Fig. 23B It is shown Fig. 22 Flowchart of an example embodiment of block 2404 of .

[0185] Fig.23C , Fig.23D It is shown Fig. 22 Flowchart of an example embodiment of block 2406 of . DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0187] The following embodiments are merely examples for implementing the methods, systems, or application devices disclosed herein and should not be considered limiting.

[0188] To provide context for methods and apparatus according to the present disclosure, Figures 1A to 1C Different computing environments (centralized, decentralized, and distributed) are shown in and described below.

[0189] The methods, apparatus, and computer elements of the present disclosure are implemented in a distributed or at least partially distributed computing environment, specifically a distributed network, which can reflect the distributed nature of material transfer between independent parties.

[0190] Figure 1A An example embodiment of a centralized computing system 100a is shown, which includes a central computing node (the solid circle in the middle) and a number of peripheral computing nodes 101.1 to 101.N (represented as the solid circles on the periphery).

[0191] The term "computing system" is broadly defined herein to include one or more computing nodes, node systems, or combinations thereof. The term "computing node" is broadly defined herein and may refer to any device or system including at least one physical tangible processor and a physical tangible memory capable of having computer executable instructions executed by the processor thereon. The form of computing nodes is now increasingly diverse. Computing nodes may be, for example, handheld devices, production facilities, sensors, monitoring systems, control systems, electrical appliances, laptop computers, desktop computers, mainframes, data centers, or even devices that are not traditionally considered to be computing nodes, such as wearable devices (e.g., glasses, watches, etc.). Memory may take any form and depend on the nature and form of the computing node.

[0192] In this example, the peripheral computing nodes 101.1 to 101.N may be connected to a central computing system (or server). In another example, the peripheral computing nodes 101.1 to 101.N may be attached to the central computing node via, for example, a terminal server (not shown). Most functions may be performed by or obtained from the central computing node (also referred to as a remote centralized location). One peripheral computing node 101.N has been expanded to provide an overview of the components present in the peripheral computing nodes 101.1 to 101.N. The central computing node may include the same components as described with respect to the peripheral computing node 101.N.

[0193] Each computing node of the centralized computing system 100a may include at least one hardware processor 102 and memory 104. The term "processor" may refer to any logic circuit configured to perform the basic operations of a computer or system, and / or generally refers to a device configured to perform calculations or logical operations. In particular, a processor or computer processor may be configured to process basic instructions that drive a computer or system. The processor may be a semiconductor-based processor, a quantum processor, or any other type of processor configured to process instructions. As an example, the processor may include at least one arithmetic logic unit ("ALU"), at least one floating point unit ("FPU") (such as a math coprocessor or a digital coprocessor), a plurality of registers (specifically registers configured to provide operands to the ALU and store operation results), and memory (such as L1 and L2 cache memory). In particular, the processor may be a multi-core processor. In particular, the processor may be or may include a central processing unit ("CPU"). The processor may be a ("GPU") graphics processing unit, a ("TPU") tensor processing unit, a ("CISC") complex instruction set computing microprocessor, a reduced instruction set computing ("RISC") microprocessor, a very long instruction word ("VLIW") microprocessor, or a processor that implements other instruction sets or multiple processors that implement a combination of instruction sets. The processing device may also be one or more special processing devices, such as an application specific integrated circuit ("ASIC"), a field programmable gate array ("FPGA"), a complex programmable logic device ("CPLD"), a digital signal processor ("DSP"), a network processor, etc. The methods, systems, and devices described herein may be implemented as software in a DSP, a microcontroller, or any other auxiliary processor, or as hardware circuits within an ASIC, CPLD, or FPGA. It should be understood that the term processor may also refer to one or more processing devices, such as a distributed processing device system located on multiple computer systems (e.g., cloud computing), and is not limited to a single device unless otherwise specified.

[0194] Memory 104 may refer to physical system memory, which may be volatile, nonvolatile, or a combination thereof. Memory may include nonvolatile mass storage, such as physical storage media. Memory may be a computer-readable storage medium (such as RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM) or other optical disk storage, disk storage, or other magnetic storage device, or any other physical tangible storage medium, which may be used to store desired program code devices in the form of computer executable instructions or data structures and may be accessed by a computing system. In addition, memory may be a computer-readable medium (also referred to as a transmission medium) that carries computer executable instructions. Further, after reaching various computing system components, program code devices in the form of computer executable instructions or data structures may be automatically transferred from a transmission medium to a storage medium (and vice versa). For example, a computer executable instruction or data structure received via a network or data link may be buffered in a RAM within a network interface module (e.g., "NIC"), and then ultimately transferred to a computing system RAM and / or a storage medium with lower volatility at a computing system. Therefore, it should be understood that a storage medium may be included in a computing component that also (or even primarily) utilizes a transmission medium.

[0195] The computing node may include a plurality of structures 106, which are generally referred to as "executable components or computer executable instructions". For example, the memory 104 of the computing node may be shown as including the executable components 106. The term "executable component" may be the name of a structure known to those of ordinary skill in the computing arts, which may be software, hardware, or a combination thereof, or may be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination thereof. For example, when implemented in software, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the structure of the executable component includes software objects, routines, methods, etc. executed on the computing node, regardless of whether such executable components are present in the heap of the computing node or the executable components are present on a computer-readable storage medium. In this case, it will be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art that the structure of the executable component is present on a computer-readable medium so that when interpreted by one or more processors of the computing node (e.g., by a processor thread), the computing node is caused to perform a function. Such a structure may be directly computer-readable by a processor (such as in the case where the executable component is binary).

[0196] Alternatively, the structure can be constructed to be interpretable and / or compiled (whether in a single stage or in multiple stages) to generate such binary that can be directly interpreted by a processor. When the term "executable component" is used, this understanding of the example structure of the executable component is completely within the scope of understanding of those of ordinary skill in the field of computing. The example of an executable component implemented in hardware includes hard-coded or hard-wired logic gates, which are implemented in hardware specifically or almost specifically, such as in a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or any other special circuit. In this specification, the terms "component", "agent", "manager", "service", "engine", "module", "virtual machine", etc. are used synonymously with the term "executable component".

[0197] The processor 102 of each computing node guides the operation of each computing node in response to executing the computer executable instructions constituting the executable components. For example, such computer executable instructions can be embodied on one or more computer readable media forming a computer program product. Computer executable instructions can be stored in the memory 104 of each computing node. Computer executable instructions include, for example, instructions and data, which, when executed at the processor 102, enable a general computing node, a special computing node, or a special processing device to perform a specific function or function group. Alternatively or in addition, the computer executable instructions can configure the computing node to perform a specific function or function group. The computer executable instructions can be, for example, binary or even instructions that undergo some conversion (such as compilation) before being directly executed by the processor, such as intermediate format instructions, such as assembly language, or even source code.

[0198] Each computing node may include a communication channel 108, such as a network (on a Figure 1A A "network" may be defined as one or more data links that enable electronic data to be transmitted between computing nodes and / or modules and / or other electronic devices. When information is transmitted or provided to a computing node via a network or another communication connection (hardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired or wireless), the computing node correctly treats the connection as a transmission medium. A transmission medium may include a network and / or a data link that may be used to carry a desired program code device in the form of a computer executable instruction or data structure and may be accessed by a general-purpose computing system or a dedicated computing node. Combinations of the above may also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0199] (Multiple) computing nodes may further include a user interface system 110 for establishing an interface connection with a user. The user interface system 110 may include an output mechanism 110A and an input mechanism 110B. The principles described herein are not limited to exact output mechanisms 110A or input mechanisms 110B, as this will depend on the nature of the device. However, the output mechanism 110A may include, for example, a display, a speaker, a display, a tactile output, a hologram, etc. The example of the input mechanism 110B may include, for example, a microphone, a touch screen, a hologram, a camera, a keyboard, a mouse or other pointer input, any type of sensor, etc.

[0200] Figure 1B An example embodiment of a distributed computing environment 100b is shown, wherein a number of computing nodes 101.1' to 101.N' are represented as solid circles. Figure 1A Compared to the illustrated centralized computing environment 100a, the computing nodes 101.1' to 101.N' in the distributed computing environment are not connected to a central computing node and are therefore not under the control of a central computing node. Instead, both hardware resources and software resources may be allocated to each individual computing node 101.1'...101.N' (local or remote computing system), and data may be distributed between the various computing nodes 101.1'...101.N' to perform tasks. Thus, in a distributed system environment, program modules may be located in local and remote memory storage devices. One computing node 101.N' has been expanded to provide an overview of the components present in each computing node of the distributed computing environment 100b. In this example, computing node 101.N' includes components related to Figure 1A Same parts as described above.

[0201] Figure 1CAn example embodiment of a distributed computing environment 100c is shown. In this specification, "distributed computing" may refer to any computing that utilizes multiple computing resources. Such use may be achieved through virtualization of physical computing resources. An example of distributed computing is cloud computing. "Cloud computing" may refer to a model for implementing on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services). When a cloud computing environment is distributed, the cloud computing environment may be distributed internationally within an organization and / or across multiple organizations. In this example, a distributed cloud computing environment 100c may include the following computing resources: (multiple) mobile devices 116, applications 118, databases 120, data storage 122, and (multiple) servers 124. The cloud computing environment 100c may be deployed as a public cloud 126, a private cloud 128, or a hybrid cloud 130. A private cloud 128 may be owned by an organization, and only members of the organization with appropriate access rights may use the private cloud 128, thereby making the data in the private cloud at least confidential. In contrast, data stored in a public cloud 126 may be open to anyone via the Internet. The hybrid cloud 130 may be a combination of both the private cloud 126 and the public cloud 128 and may have some data that is private while other data may be publicly available.

[0202] As explained in detail above, the methods and apparatus of the present disclosure may utilize a decentralized network including a distributed ledger. Figure 2 An exemplary decentralized network including a distributed ledger with member nodes is shown. In this example, the distributed ledger includes three member nodes. In another example, the distributed ledger may include more or fewer member nodes.

[0203] A distributed ledger is a shared, replicated, and synchronized database between member nodes 1 202, 2 210, and 3 214 of a decentralized network 200 (e.g., a P2P network). Typically, a distributed ledger can record transactions between participants of a distributed system (e.g., participants 1 to 3 associated with member nodes 1 to 3), and can therefore provide an immutable transaction history. Updates to the distributed ledger are performed based on consensus algorithms 208, 216, 224 running on at least a portion of the member nodes. When an update occurs, i.e., a new block with (multiple) transactions is appended to the distributed ledger, all member nodes update themselves with correctly updated copies of the ledger. A specific example of a distributed ledger application is a blockchain application. The nature of a distributed ledger is that there is no centralized institution, e.g., a clearing house.

[0204] A distributed ledger (more specifically, its transactions) may represent a material flow in a distributed network (such as a supply chain), for example, the introduction of a material into a material network or the transfer of product(s) containing said material within the distributed network. The data stored in the distributed ledger allows the determination of transfer balances, in particular mass balances, associated with the transfer(s) of materials and product(s) containing said materials.

[0205] exist Figure 2 , as a specific example, each member node 1 to 3 (202, 210, 218) is shown as having a database layer (i.e., database 204, 212, 220) (also referred to as a database API), a distributed ledger control layer, which includes a distributed consensus algorithm 208, 216, 224 and serves as a distributed ledger anchor (e.g., a blockchain anchor). In this example, the consensus algorithm is a Byzantine fault-tolerant proof-of-stake consensus algorithm. In another example, the consensus algorithm is a proof-of-work consensus algorithm. The consensus algorithm of each member node is connected to the consensus algorithms of other member nodes to allow consensus to be reached on whether to append a new block to the distributed ledger. Each consensus algorithm 208, 216, 224 is connected to a corresponding distributed ledger server layer 206, 214, 222 to allow information to be exchanged between the algorithm and the server, for example, information about whether consensus has been reached on a proposed new block. After consensus is reached to append a new block to the distributed ledger, the database layer stores the new block and information about the transaction(s) contained in the block.

[0206] Providing different layers may be advantageous, as database functionality is suitable for high throughput, e.g., for data loading and retrieval, access, and querying, while distributed ledger functionality typically provides lower throughput but ensures data immutability, tamper-proofing, evidence, decentralized consensus of state, and state replication across different nodes. However, separation into different layers is optional.

[0207] like Figure 2 The distributed ledger presented in can be configured so that database access and query commands on each member node are implemented as part of the database layer, and only a few necessary database commands are implemented by the control layer.

[0208] As an example, when it comes to material flows represented by a distributed ledger, the control layer can implement transactions that first generate materials in the distributed ledger, i.e., feed or introduce materials into the distributed system (hereinafter also referred to as creation transactions), and can implement transactions associated with the transfer of materials or product(s) containing the materials (hereinafter also referred to as transfer transactions).

[0209] A create transaction may, for example, generate an asset object in the distributed ledger for a certain amount of a particular material, and a transfer transaction may, for example, implement an "append-only" write operation to the distributed ledger that must reference one or more input transactions (create transaction(s) or transfer transactions), one or more outputs (destination addresses), and the amount being transferred. Referencing inputs allows for mass balancing to be performed within transactions, as input amounts can be compared to output amounts, and allows for the enforcement of the rule that input amounts must equal output amounts.

[0210] Performing an automatic mass balance within each transaction ensures that the material flow is well-defined at all times and avoids "losing" materials / products containing them within the supply chain. Thus, using only two transaction types, it is possible to perform mass balancing of a distributed system, mass balancing of a single company within a distributed system, or mass balancing of a specific product containing (multiple) specific materials in a distributed consensus.

[0211] Figure 3 Demonstrates the use of member nodes (such as Figure 2 202, 210, 218) submits a transaction to a distributed ledger. The numbers in square brackets indicate the order of steps performed by the various components of the decentralized system including the distributed ledger.

[0212] The sequence diagram includes a client side 302 and a server side 304. The server side represents Figure 2 The client side 302 includes an application 306 and a driver 308 that communicates with the application 306. The server side 304 includes a distributed ledger server 310, a consensus algorithm 312 that communicates with the server 310 and a database 314, and a database 314 that communicates with the consensus algorithm 312 and the server 310. In a first step, the application 306 is used to generate a JSON payload containing the data required for the transaction (such as the amount of the material / product), the address of the current owner, the destination address (i.e., the address to which the material / product is transferred), and additional transaction metadata (such as the material transaction metadata or product transaction metadata described previously). As previously described, the metadata can be used to obtain details about the material or product associated with the transaction.

[0213] "Hiding" the identities of the parties involved in a transaction and the details of the materials or products associated with said transaction allows (as previously described) to perform mass balancing using the readily available masses listed in the transaction, thereby guaranteeing the anonymity required to comply with data regulations and avoiding negative impacts on the competitive advantages of the participants of the distributed system (e.g. by allowing the complete supply chain of a certain product to be determined). However, the parties involved and the materials / products involved can be easily determined by accessing, for example, at least one database including (multiple) public keys associated with the parties involved and the identity of said party and / or using data contained in the transaction metadata to determine the identity of the material or (multiple) products. The JSON payload generated by the application 306 is then sent to the driver 308 together with the signing key pair.

[0214] In the second step shown in the sequence diagram, the driver 308 prepares a transaction (hereinafter denoted as TX) according to the JSON payload received from the application 306 by encapsulating the received JSON data. In one example, the driver 308 is included as a library or module in the application 306. In another example, the driver 308 is included in another application.

[0215] The driver 308 then signs the encapsulated JSON data using the private key from the signing key pair received from the application 306 .

[0216] In the third step (step [3] in the sequence diagram), the driver 308 publishes the signed transaction to the distributed ledger server 310 , for example, by using the HPPT API provided by the server 310 .

[0217] After receiving the signed transaction from the driver 308, the distributed ledger server 310 performs verification(s) on the received signed transaction. Such verifications may include, for example, whether the signature is valid, whether the input amount is equal to the output amount (in the case where the transaction is associated with the transfer of materials / products), whether the transaction does not consume input amounts that have already been spent (so-called double spending), whether the public key associated with the owner in the transaction is not on a blacklist or is on a whitelist (to allow control over the generation of materials and / or product(s) in the distributed ledger), or whether the transaction ID(s) referenced by the transaction are not on a blacklist (to avoid the transfer of, for example, confiscated materials), etc.

[0218] After the server 310 successfully validates the received transaction, it then publishes the validated transaction to the consensus algorithm component 312 (step [5]), for example, by using an HTTP API provided by the component 312. In this example, a consensus protocol is executed after receiving the validated transaction (step [6]). In another example, the validated transaction is received in the memory pool of the consensus algorithm component 312, and the component 312 waits for the server component 310 to perform some additional verification (not shown). After all verifications are completed, the component 312 executes a consensus protocol on all fully validated transactions collected in the memory pool of the component 312. As part of the consensus process, all validated transactions in the memory pool are packaged into blocks, and at least a portion of the member nodes of the distributed ledger vote on the validity of the generated blocks.

[0219] Once consensus is reached among all components 312, component 312 of each member node sends a request to the server 310 to submit the block (i.e., append the block as a new block to the existing blockchain) (step [7]).

[0220] In response to the request received from component 312, server component 310 submits a block of (multiple) transactions in database 314 (step [8]), and database 314 stores the block (step [9]). Thereafter, database 314 sends a response back to server component 310 indicating that the block has been submitted (step

[10] ).

[0221] After server component 310 receives the response indicating that the block has been committed, the server component sends a response indicating that the block has been committed to component 312 (step

[11] ). Server component 310 then sends a response back to application 304 via driver 308 indicating that the transaction has been committed in the block (steps

[12] and

[13] ) and provides data about the transaction (such as a transaction ID, public keys of the parties associated with the transaction, transaction metadata, or a combination thereof).

[0222] Figure 4 Examples of ID-based owner data 402, ID-based material-related data or product-related data, and a decentralized identity manager are shown.

[0223] The ID may be a decentralized ID (DID). The ID-based data associated with the material or the product-related data may be a DID document associated with the DID. The ID-based owner data may include an ID associated with a subject (such as a material-related or product-related) and may include an authentication mechanism. The ID-based owner data may include owner data electronically owned and controlled by the DID owner. In this context, electronically owned may refer to data stored in an owner repository or wallet. Such data may be securely stored and / or managed on an organizational server or client device. The ID-based owner data may include a DID, a private key, and a public key. The ID-based owner may own and control a DID representing an identity associated with a DID subject, a private key associated with the DID, and a public key pair. A DID may be understood as an identifier and authentication information associated or uniquely linked to the identifier.

[0224] The DID subject may be a material or a product containing the material, such as a raw material, a chemical product, an intermediate product, a component, an assembly of components, or a final product. The DID subject may be a machine, system, or device for producing a material or a product containing the material, or a collection of such (multiple) machines, (multiple) devices, and / or (multiple) systems. The DID owner may be a supply chain participant or manufacturer, such as a chemical manufacturer that produces chemicals. The DID owner may be an upstream participant in the supply chain of a chemical manufacturer, such as a supplier of raw chemical products or precursors for producing chemicals. The DID owner may be a downstream participant in the supply chain of a chemical manufacturer, such as a customer who consumes chemicals to produce intermediate products, components, assemblies of components, or final products. The DID owner may be any participant in the supply chain including a supplier of raw chemical products, an intermediate chemical product manufacturer, an intermediate parts manufacturer, a component manufacturer, a component assembly manufacturer, or a final product manufacturer.

[0225] A DID can be any identifier associated with a DID subject and / or a DID owner.

[0226] Preferably, the identifier is unique to the DID subject and / or DID owner. The identifier may be unique at least within the scope of the intended use of the DID. The identifier may be a local or global unique identifier of a material or product(s) containing the material, or a collection thereof; a machine, system or device for producing a material or product(s) containing the material, or a collection of such machines, devices and / or systems; a chemical manufacturer producing chemicals, an upstream participant in the chemical manufacturer's supply chain, a downstream participant in the chemical manufacturer's supply chain, or a collection thereof; any participant in the supply chain including a raw chemical product supplier, an intermediate chemical product manufacturer, an intermediate parts manufacturer, a component manufacturer, a component assembly manufacturer or a final product manufacturer, or a collection thereof.

[0227] A DID can be a uniform resource identifier (URI), such as a uniform resource locator (URL). A DID can be an internationalized resource identifier (IRI). A DID can be a random string of numbers and letters to improve security. In one embodiment, a DID can be a string of 128 letters and numbers, for example: following this paradigm: did:method name:method-specific did, such as did:instance:ebfeb1f712ebc6f1c276e12ec21. A DID can be decentralized, independent of a centralized third-party management system, and controlled by the DID owner.

[0228] A dataset that is a DID document can be associated with a DID. Therefore, a dataset can include a reference to a DID that is associated with the DID subject described by the DID document. A DID document can also include authentication information such as a public key. The public key can be used by a third-party entity that is granted access permission by the DID owner / subject to information and data owned by the DID owner / subject. The public key can also be used to verify whether the DID owner actually owns or controls the DID. A DID document can include authentication information, authorization information, for example, for authorizing a third-party entity to read a DID document or certain parts of a DID document, without, for example, giving the third party the right to prove ownership of the DID.

[0229] The data set may include (multiple) transaction IDs of material transfer transactions associated with the material and / or product transfer transactions associated with (multiple) products containing the material. The data set may include one or more representations (e.g., data related to the material or data related to the product) digitally linked to material property data or product property data, for example, by means of a service endpoint. The service endpoint may include a network address running a service on behalf of the DID owner. In particular, a service endpoint may refer to a service to which the DID owner grants access rights to material property data or product property data. Such a service may include a service that reads or analyzes material property data or product property data. Material or product property data may include (multiple) transaction IDs of material transfer transactions associated with the material and / or (multiple) transaction IDs of product transfer transactions associated with (multiple) products containing the material, chemical product declaration data, chemical product safety data, certificate of analysis data, emissions data, product carbon footprint data, product environmental footprint data, product specification data, product information, technical application data, production data, or a combination thereof.

[0230] A dataset may include various other information, such as metadata that specifies when the dataset was created, when it was last modified, and / or when it expires.

[0231] DIDs and data sets can be associated with data registration nodes such as centralized data service systems or decentralized data service systems (e.g., distributed ledgers or blockchains). Possible blockchain systems include Quorum and Hyperledger Fabric. Distributed ledgers or blockchains can be used to store representations of DIDs pointing to data sets. Representations of DIDs can be stored on distributed computing nodes of distributed ledgers or blockchains. For example, DID hashes can be stored on multiple computing nodes of a distributed ledger and point to the location of a data set. In some embodiments, the data set can be stored on a distributed ledger. Alternatively, in other embodiments, the DID document can be stored in a data store (not shown) associated with a distributed ledger or blockchain.

[0232] A distributed ledger or blockchain may be any decentralized distributed network that includes various computing nodes that communicate with each other. For example, a distributed ledger may include a first distributed computing node, a second distributed computing node, a third distributed computing node, and any number of additional distributed computing nodes. A distributed ledger or blockchain may operate according to any known standard or method for distributed ledgers. Examples of traditional distributed ledgers corresponding to distributed ledgers or blockchains include, but are not limited to, Bitcoin [BTC], Ethereum, and Litecoin.

[0233] Figure 5An example 500 of ID-based credential data, material-related ID-based data or product-related data, and an identity manager is shown.

[0234] and Figure 4 Compared to the example, Figure 5 An example of an ID is certificate-based. The ID-based certificate data may include authentication data of the certificate owner and the certificate issuing authority. For example, a cryptographic signature from the issuing authority may bind the data owner's public key to the ID. The ID may be, for example, Figure 2 The unique ID (such as UID) described by the DID. The certificate can be an X.509 certificate, such as X509v3. ID-based material-related data or product-related data can be associated with the data source of the data owner. ID-based data may include IDs, authentication data, (multiple) material transfer transactions associated with the material and / or (multiple) transaction IDs of (multiple) product transfer transactions associated with (multiple) products containing the material, and endpoints associated with material characteristic data or product characteristic data. Such endpoints may include any digital representation connected to a data source. The data source may provide material characteristic data or product characteristic data.

[0235] In this certificate-based example, the ID-based material-related data or product-related data includes one or more certificates associated with the data owner. These certificates can be associated with an identity manager, which includes, for example, a certificate issuance service and / or a dynamic provisioning service that provides dynamic attribute tokens (e.g., OAuth access tokens).

[0236] The information required to verify the certificate is provided via a certification registry associated with the certificate issuance service and / or the dynamic provisioning service. For example, in the IDSA reference architecture model version 3.0 in April 2019, connectors associated with the data owner, the certificate authority (CA), the dynamic attribute provisioning service (DAPS), and connectors associated with the data consumer service are used to verify the identity before performing data exchange (not shown). For this purpose, such a connector includes one or more certificates, such as (multiple) X.509 certificates. In this way, the connector has a unique identifier embedded in the X.509 certificate, thereby identifying the connector instance.

[0237] Fig. 6A and Figure 6B Each illustrates an example method for authenticating access to a data set containing data of at least one material transfer transaction and / or data of at least one product transfer transaction.

[0238] During the authentication process, various communication modes can be implemented to verify identity. Fig. 6AAn example communication pattern that can occur between a data providing service and a data consuming service is shown. In this case, the data providing service can act as the verification entity instead of using a separate service for authentication.

[0239] The data consumption service may send a service request to the data providing service. The request may include a decentralized identifier, such as the DID of the data consumption service.

[0240] In response to the request, the data providing service may access a registry (such as a centralized or decentralized authentication registry) to retrieve data related to the authentication mechanism(s) associated with the decentralized identifier. For example, a centralized authentication registry may provide the data related to the authentication mechanism via the authentication service issuing the access token. Further, for example, a decentralized authentication registry may provide the data related to the authentication mechanism by generating a request token. The data related to the authentication mechanism may include a public key of the data consuming service.

[0241] Based on the retrieved data related to the authentication mechanism(s), the data providing service may generate an authentication request (e.g., corresponding to an authentication request token or a dynamic attribute token). The authentication request may be generated based on a public key of the data consuming service and / or a private key of the data provider service. The generated authentication request may be sent to the data consuming service.

[0242] Based on the received authentication request, the data consumption service may generate authentication data for responding to the authentication request. The generated authentication data may be sent back to the data providing service.

[0243] Upon receiving a response including the authentication data from the data consuming service, the data providing service may then verify the authentication data. In response to the verification, the data providing service may grant or deny the service request of the data consuming service. In the event that access is granted, the data consuming service may provide a decentralized identifier associated with the corresponding data set to be retrieved, and the data providing service may verify the provided decentralized identifier and (upon verification) may provide data associated with the decentralized identifier, such as material characteristic data or product characteristic data associated with the material-related data or the product-related data.

[0244] Figure 6B Another example communication pattern that can occur between a data providing service, a data consuming service, and an authentication service is shown.

[0245] First, a data consuming service may request a service or initiate communication with a data providing service. The request may include a decentralized identifier, such as a DID of the data consuming service.

[0246] Upon receiving the request, the data provision service may access the distributed ledger to retrieve one or more authentication mechanisms associated with the decentralized identifier. Based on the retrieved authentication mechanism(s), the service provider may generate an authentication request.

[0247] Here, at least one of the retrieved authentication mechanism(s) may be provided via an authentication service. Thus, in some embodiments, the generated authentication request may be sent directly to the authentication service. Upon receiving the authentication request from the data provider service, the authentication service may generate authentication data.

[0248] The authentication data generated by the authentication service may be sent to the data consuming service.

[0249] The data consuming service may then pass the authentication data to the data providing service. Upon receiving the authentication data, the data providing service may then verify the authentication data. In response to the verification, the data providing service may grant or deny the service request of the data consuming service. In the event that access is granted, the data consuming service may provide a decentralized identifier associated with the corresponding data set to be retrieved, and the data providing service may verify the provided decentralized identifier and (upon verification) may provide data associated with the decentralized identifier, such as material characteristic data or product characteristic data.

[0250] Alternatively, in some embodiments, after the data providing service may generate the authentication request, the data providing service may send the authentication request to the data consuming service. The data consuming service may pass the authentication request to the authentication service.

[0251] Further, after the authentication service can generate the authentication data, in some embodiments, the authentication service only contacts the data consumer service to notify the receipt of the authentication request and obtain consent. When the data consumer service receives the notification, the data consumer service agrees and sends the consent back to the authentication service. After receiving the consent, the authentication service then sends the authentication data directly to the data providing service.

[0252] Finally, in many transactions, authentication can be performed mutually by both parties. In this mutual authentication scenario, each party is both a principal entity and a validating entity. The data consuming service and the data providing service control their decentralized identities. Initially, each service exchanges its own decentralized identity. Next, each of these services accesses the distributed ledger to obtain each other's (multiple) authentication mechanisms. Each service then generates its own authentication request based on the (multiple) authentication methods of the other ID. The generated authentication data is then sent to the other service. After receiving each other's authentication data, each service verifies the received authentication data. Based on the verification results, these services can then perform additional communications, such as one service can grant or deny the service request of another service.

[0253] Fig. 6A and Figure 6B Only an example of an authentication protocol is shown. Additionally, although the communication arrows are discussed in a certain order or shown in a communication sequence, no particular order is required unless otherwise specified or because one communication depends on another communication being completed before the communication can be transmitted.

[0254] Fig. 7A The individual configurations of data sets generated in the chemical value chain are shown. Individual data sets can be generated for multiple product stages in the chemical value chain. The data sets can include providing decentralized identifiers and authentication mechanisms for each of the multiple product stages. These data sets for multiple product stages can be based on cryptographic signatures. For example, these data sets for multiple product stages can be cascaded by hash values ​​based on different data sets. Fig. 7A As shown, Hash 1 can be based on data of a raw material data set, Hash 2 can be based on data of a chemical product data set, and Hash 3 can be based on data of a raw material data set plus data of a chemical product data set. Other combinations of data sets can be further cascaded until Hash N, which allows the data sets to be cascaded all the way to the final product data set. Cascading via a cryptographically signed hash is just an example cascade. Other examples include permission aggregation of different ranges of data that can be embedded in a sub-data set, public key aggregation with different cryptographic signatures, or service endpoint aggregation with different links. Each data set includes a transaction ID of at least one material transfer transaction and / or a transaction ID of at least one product transfer transaction. Material transfer transactions and / or product transfer transactions are associated with the transfer of materials associated with a material data set and / or products containing the material associated with a product data set.

[0255] Figure 7BAnchoring configurations for different datasets generated in a chemical value chain are shown. A final dataset is generated for a final product. Separate datasets can be generated for multiple product stages of the final product and embedded in or linked to the final dataset. The generation of datasets can include providing decentralized identifiers and authentication mechanisms for each of the multiple product stages. These datasets for multiple product stages can be based on cryptographic signatures. For example, these datasets for multiple additional product stages can be cascaded by hash values ​​based on different datasets.

[0256] like Figure 7B As shown, Hash 1 can be based on data from a raw material data set, Hash 2 can be based on data from a chemical product data set, and Hash 3 can be based on data from a raw material data set plus data from a chemical product data set. Further cascading can be performed on other combinations of data sets, up to Hash N, which allows the data sets to be cascaded all the way to the final product data set. Cascading via a cryptographically signed hash is just one example cascading. Other examples include permission aggregation of different ranges of data that can be embedded in a sub-pass, public key aggregation with different cryptographic signatures, or service endpoint aggregation with different links. Each data set includes a transaction ID for at least one material transfer transaction and / or a transaction ID for at least one product transfer transaction. Material transfer transactions and / or product transfer transactions are associated with the transfer of materials associated with a material data set and / or products containing the material associated with a product data set.

[0257] Figure 7C A fully embedded configuration of different datasets generated in the chemical value chain is shown. Separate datasets can be generated for multiple product stages in the chemical value chain. The generation of datasets can include providing decentralized identifiers and authentication mechanisms for each of the multiple product stages. These datasets for multiple product stages can be based on cryptographic signatures. For example, these datasets for multiple product stages can be cascaded through hash values. Figure 7C As shown, Hash 1 can be based on data from a raw material data set. Hash 2 can be based on data from a raw material data set and a chemical product data set. Further cascading can be performed on other combinations of data sets, up to Hash N, which allows the data sets to be cascaded all the way to the final product data set. Cascading via a cryptographically signed hash is just an example cascading. Other examples include permission aggregation of different ranges of data that can be embedded in a sub-pass, public key aggregation with different cryptographic signatures, or service endpoint aggregation with different links. Each data set includes a transaction ID for at least one material transfer transaction and / or a transaction ID for at least one product transfer transaction. The material transfer transaction and / or the product transfer transaction is associated with the transfer of a material associated with the material data set and / or a product containing the material associated with the product data set.

[0258] 7A to 7CDifferent example configurations of data sets anchored by digital identifiers are shown. These configurations include different parent, child, grandchild, etc. relationships of data sets generated in the chemical value chain up to the final product. Similarly, data sets generated in the recycling chain from the final product to (multiple) recyclates can be cascaded.

[0259] Further, similarly, data sets generated in the chemical value chain up to the final product and in the recycling chain from the final product to (multiple) recyclates can be cascaded. In this way, the circularity of material flows can be virtually represented and tracked.

[0260] Figure 8 FIG. 1 shows a method for implementing a distributed ledger in accordance with the present disclosure on a decentralized network (e.g., Figure 2 Block diagram of method 800 for tracking at least one transfer of a material and at least one product containing the material in a distributed network (particularly for determining a mass balance).

[0261] In step 802 of method 800, at least one data set is received. Each received data set contains material transfer transaction data and / or product transfer transaction data. In this example, each data set further includes a digital representation pointing to the aforementioned material characteristic data or product characteristic data, and can be, for example, as described below with respect to Fig. 10C The (multiple) data sets are preferably received from a data service provider, for example, as described below with respect to Fig. 10D Described in more detail. In this example, the material transfer transaction data may include (multiple) transaction IDs, credentials (such as public keys) associated with (multiple) material transfer transactions, or a combination thereof. The (multiple) transaction IDs may be used to retrieve the corresponding (multiple) material transfer transactions from the distributed ledger via the member node. The retrieved (multiple) material transfer transactions include material data.

[0262] In this example, the material data includes the amount of material (either the amount of new material (i.e., material associated with a transaction being submitted to the distributed ledger for the first time) or the amount of transferred material (i.e., where the transferred material is associated with a transaction already existing within the distributed ledger)) and material transaction metadata (such as material identifiers and / or material classifications and / or material production data). Using a data set that is independent of the information written to the distributed ledger allows certain information, such as the amount and a digital representation pointing to the data set to be stored immutably, thereby associating the corresponding material / (multiple) products with the transaction within the distributed ledger, while allowing detailed information about the material to be provided via a separate coordinated data exchange route. This allows the data contained within each transaction to be reduced to a minimum, thereby reducing the amount of data that needs to be stored within the distributed ledger, and also ensures the necessary privacy regarding sensitive details of the material / (multiple) products associated with the corresponding transaction(s).

[0263] The amount of data received in box 802 depends on the type of transfer balance, in particular the mass balance, to be determined in box 806. For example, if the overall mass balance of the distributed system is to be determined, the data set received in box 802 corresponds to all data sets associated with the total mass flowing into the distributed system (i.e., the total amount of raw materials and / or virgin materials). If the mass balance of a single company within the distributed system is to be determined, the data set received in box 802 corresponds to all data sets associated with the total mass input flow flowing into said company. Similarly, if the mass balance of a certain product produced from at least one material is to be determined, the data set received in box 802 corresponds to the data set associated with the total mass inflow of materials used to produce said product.

[0264] In block 804 of method 800, material data and product data are retrieved based on the data set(s) received in block 802. If the data set(s) received in block 802 include data of material transfer transaction(s) and data of product transfer transaction(s), the data may be used to retrieve corresponding material transfer transaction(s) and product transfer transaction(s) including material data and product data, respectively, from a distributed ledger via a member node.

[0265] Material data and product data may then be retrieved from the retrieved transactions. If the data set(s) received in block 802 only contains data for material transfer transactions(s) or product transfer transactions(s), then the corresponding transfer transactions must be retrieved based on the included data. In one example, this is as described below with respect to Fig. 9A It is executed as described in .

[0266] In block 806 of method 800, a transfer balance associated with the material and the product(s) containing the material is determined based on the material data and product data retrieved in block 804. In this example, the transfer balance, in particular the mass balance, is as described later with respect to Fig. 9B Determined as described.

[0267] In block 808 of method 800, the transfer balance determined in block 806 is provided, for example, via a communication interface. In one example, using Figure 3 The application 306 determines the transfer balance and also provides the transfer balance via the application, for example, by displaying the results of the determination performed in block 806 within a graphical user interface.

[0268] Fig. 9A Shown Figure 8804 of FIG. 802. In this embodiment, block 802 includes several sub-blocks, depending on the amount of data contained in the (multiple) data sets received in block 802.

[0269] In block 902, it is determined whether the data set(s) received in block 802 contain data of material transfer transaction(s) and data of product transfer transaction(s), such as transaction IDs associated with the respective transactions and optionally credentials, in particular public keys of the parties involved. If the received data set(s) contain only data of material transfer transaction(s), blocks 904 to 910 are executed to retrieve product data in addition to material data associated with the transaction data. If the received data set(s) contain only data of product transfer transaction(s), blocks 912 to 918 are executed to retrieve material data in addition to product data associated with the transaction data. If the received data set(s) contain data of material transfer transaction(s) and data of product transfer transaction(s), blocks 920 to 926 are executed to retrieve material data and product data associated with the transaction data.

[0270] In block 904, product transfer transactions are determined based on the data of the material transfer transactions contained in the received data set (s). In this example, determining the product transfer transaction associated with the material based on the data of the material transfer transactions contained in the received data set (s) includes retrieving the data of the material transfer transactions, in particular the transaction ID, from the received data set (s), and using the retrieved data, in particular the retrieved transaction ID, to determine the product transfer transaction associated with the retrieved data, in particular the retrieved transaction ID. As previously described and as later described Fig. 10B As shown, the material transfer transaction associated with the material and the product transfer transaction associated with the product(s) containing the material are linked to each other, thereby allowing the product transfer transaction associated with the material transfer transaction to be determined using the transaction ID of the material transfer transaction(s). The transaction ID of the material transfer transaction(s) may be provided to the member node and posted to the distributed ledger (e.g., see Figure 2 )'s database layer queries the corresponding transaction ID of the product transfer transaction to determine the product transfer transaction.

[0271] In block 906, the product data contained in the product transfer transaction(s) determined in block 904 is retrieved. This may be performed, for example, via the member node querying the database layer of the distributed ledger for the product data using the transaction ID determined in block 904.

[0272] In block 908, an identity of at least one material transfer transaction is determined based on the data of the material transfer transaction contained in the received data set(s). The identity may include transaction ID(s), credential(s) such as public keys of the parties involved in the transaction, or a combination thereof. In this example, the identity includes the transaction ID. In this example, the received data set(s) include the transaction ID(s) of the material transfer transaction(s) associated with the material, and the transaction ID(s) are retrieved from the received data set(s) in block 908.

[0273] In block 910, material data is retrieved from the material transfer transaction(s) determined in block 908. This may be performed as described with respect to block 906 by accessing the database layer of the distributed ledger via a member node and retrieving the associated material data using the transaction ID determined in block 908.

[0274] In block 912, material transfer transactions are determined based on the data of the product transfer transactions contained in the received data set (s). In this example, determining the material transfer transactions associated with the product (s) containing the material based on the data of the product transfer transactions contained in the received data set (s) includes retrieving the data of the product transfer transactions, in particular the transaction IDs, from the received data set (s), and using the retrieved data, in particular the retrieved transaction IDs, to determine the material transfer transactions associated with the retrieved data, in particular the retrieved transaction IDs. As described above and as described later Fig. 10B As shown, the material transfer transaction associated with the material and the product transfer transaction associated with the product(s) containing the material are linked to each other, thereby allowing the material transfer transaction associated with the product transfer transaction to be determined using the transaction ID of the product(s) transfer transaction. The transaction ID of the product(s) transfer transaction may be provided to the member node and posted to the distributed ledger (e.g., see Figure 2 )'s database layer queries the corresponding transaction ID of the material transfer transaction to determine the material transfer transaction.

[0275] In block 914, the material data contained in the material transfer transaction(s) determined in block 912 is retrieved. This may be performed, for example, via the member node querying the database layer of the distributed ledger for the material data using the transaction ID determined in block 912.

[0276] In block 916, an identity of at least one product transfer transaction is determined based on the data of the product transfer transaction contained in the received data set(s). The identity may include a transaction ID(s), a credential(s) such as a public key of each party involved in the transaction, or a combination thereof. In this example, the identity includes a transaction ID. In this example, the received data set(s) include a transaction ID of a product transfer transaction(s) associated with a product(s) including a material, and the transaction ID is retrieved from the received data set(s) in block 916.

[0277] In block 918, product data is retrieved from the product transfer transaction(s) determined in block 916. This may be performed as described with respect to block 906 by accessing the database layer of the distributed ledger via a member node and retrieving the associated product data using the transaction ID determined in block 916.

[0278] In block 920 , the identity of at least one material transfer transaction is determined based on data of the material transfer transaction contained in the received data set(s), as described above with respect to block 908 .

[0279] In block 922 , material data included in the material transfer transaction(s) determined in block 920 is retrieved, as previously described with respect to block 910 .

[0280] In block 924 , the identity of at least one product transfer transaction is determined based on data of the product transfer transaction contained in the received data set(s), as described above with respect to block 916 .

[0281] In box 926 , product data is retrieved from the product transfer transaction(s) determined in box 924 , as previously described with respect to box 918 .

[0282] Fig. 9B Shows how Figure 8 A flow chart of one embodiment of determining a transfer balance is depicted in block 806 .

[0283] In block 928, a determination is made whether to retrieve stoichiometry. For example, such a determination may be made based on the type of transfer balance to be determined, particularly a mass balance. For example, if the overall mass balance of a distributed system or the mass balance of a company that is part of a distributed system is to be determined, stoichiometry is not necessary and the total amount of material is determined as described in blocks 930 and 932. However, if the transfer balance of a specific product is to be determined, stoichiometry is required and the stoichiometry needs to be retrieved as described later with respect to block 938. If it is determined in block 928 that stoichiometry is not required, the method proceeds to block 930, otherwise proceeds to block 938 described later.

[0284] In block 930, Figure 8 In block 804 or in Fig. 9A The quantity of the material is retrieved from the material data retrieved in box 910 / 914 / 922.

[0285] The amounts retrieved in block 930 are then added together in block 932 to obtain the total amount of material.

[0286] In block 934, from Figure 8 Box 804 or Fig. 9A The quantity of the product(s) containing the material is retrieved from the product data retrieved in box 906 / 918 / 926.

[0287] The amounts retrieved in box 934 are then added in box 936 to obtain the total amount of product(s) containing the material.

[0288] In block 938, the stoichiometry associated with the material is retrieved from the received data set(s). To this end, data associated with the product (e.g., a digital representation pointing to product characteristic data) may be used to retrieve the stoichiometry. The data associated with the product may be accessed via a data consumption service using a decentralized identifier contained in the received data set, as previously described (see also Fig. 10C ).

[0289] In block 940 , the amount of material is retrieved from the retrieved material data, as described with respect to block 930 .

[0290] In block 942 , the total amount of material is determined using the stoichiometry retrieved in block 938 and the amount of material retrieved in block 940 .

[0291] In box 944, the quantity of the product(s) containing the material is retrieved from the retrieved product data, as described with respect to box 934.

[0292] In box 946, the total amount of product(s) is determined using the stoichiometry retrieved in box 938 and the amount of material retrieved in box 944.

[0293] In block 948, a transfer balance, in particular a mass balance, is determined by comparing the total amount of material with the total amount of product(s) using the total amount of material determined in block 932 or block 942 and the total amount of product(s) containing the material determined in block 936 or block 946. If the amounts are equal, the mass balance holds, i.e., all the material is used to produce the corresponding product(s). With respect to a circular system, a mass balance allows the detection of product losses with unknown destinations, such as waste illegally disposed of in a landfill, since in the case of illegal placement of waste, the amount of product(s) is not equal to the amount of material.

[0294] Fig. 10A is a block diagram illustrating several parties transferring materials and products containing these materials to a distributed system. In this example, a first material owner ( Fig. 10A denoted as MO1 in the figure) has 0.1 kg of precious metal, and the second material owner (in Fig. 10A denoted as MO2 in the figure) has 0.5 kg of sodium hydroxide (NaOH). Both the precious metals and the NaOH are considered to be materials within the meaning of the present invention. The number of parties involved and the exact materials and products can be compared with Fig. 10A For example, there may be more or fewer material owners, and the types of materials may vary. Fig. 10A Likewise, there may be more material recipients and / or more product recipients.

[0295] In step 2A, 0.1 kg of precious metal owned by material owner MO1 is transferred from the material owner to material receiver MR. Similarly, in step 2B, 0.5 kg of NaOH owned by material owner MO2 is transferred from the material owner to material receiver MR. The transfer of precious metal and NaOH is accompanied by corresponding (multiple) data sets (which are represented by Fig. 10A The material receiver (MR) can use its data consumption service to retrieve (multiple) data sets associated with precious metals and NaOH from the corresponding data provision service. The (multiple) data sets can contain decentralized identifiers, material-related data as described above, and transaction IDs associated with corresponding material transfer transactions stored in the distributed ledger (e.g., see 7A to 7C ).

[0296] The material receiver uses the received materials (ie, the received 0.1 kg of precious metals and 0.5 kg of NaOH) to produce 0.6 kg of electrode materials. The produced 0.6 kg of electrode materials (corresponding to products containing these materials) are then transferred to the product receiver PR in step 3.

[0297] Fig. 10B This is a demonstration of the Fig. 10ABlock diagram of a transaction associated with the transfer of materials and products discussed. The transaction has been submitted to the distributed ledger by several member nodes, i.e., the transaction is stored in one or more blocks of the distributed ledger. In this example, the member nodes are respectively assigned to the material owner MO1 (i.e., member node 1 1002), the material owner MO2 (i.e., member node 2 1004), and the material receiver MR (i.e., member node 3 1006). In another example, more or fewer member nodes may be used, for example, if one party of the distributed system uses multiple member nodes, or if more than one party of the distributed system shares a member node.

[0298] In order to verify the integrity of the chain of several transactions, the "asset type" of the chained transactions must be the same. In other words, once a material flow chain is started by registering a new material in the distributed ledger, the asset type associated with the material can no longer be changed. Therefore, the asset type must be set uniformly for all transactions. In this example, the asset type is set to "Asset: Mass", i.e., an asset is defined as a general transfer of a certain amount of mass (e.g., measured in 1 / 1000 of a kilogram).

[0299] In this example, each transaction associated with registering a new material in the distributed ledger (i.e., storing the material for the first time in a block of the distributed ledger) or transferring a material / product(s) containing the material is stored in a different block 1010a, 1012a, 1014a, 1016a, 1018a of the distributed ledger. In another example, Fig. 10B At least two of the transactions 1020, 1022, 1024, 1026, 1028 shown in are stored in the same block of the distributed ledger. In this example, each block 1010a, 1012a, 1014a, 1016a, 1018a contains multiple transactions 1010b, 1012b, 1014b, 1016b, 1018b. In another example, each block 1010a, 1012a, 1014a, 1016a, 1018a contains only one transaction. The number of transactions present in a block depends on whether the transaction received by a member node is in the generation of the block (e.g., as described above with respect to Figure 3 The ) were previously collected.

[0300] Transaction 1020 associated with step 1A corresponds to the first registration of 0.1 kg of precious metal owned by material owner MO1 in the distributed ledger. The transaction contains a transaction ID (i.e., transaction ID1), an input amount (i.e., 0.1 kg (precious metal), an output amount corresponding to the input amount (because the amount is registered for the first time in the distributed ledger), the public key of the material owner MO1, and material transaction metadata (such as the material transaction metadata mentioned above), which allows authorized parties (such as material recipient MR or auditors) to retrieve details about the registered material. Transaction 1020 has been submitted to the distributed ledger by member node 602 in block 610a. In order to register 0.1 kg of precious metal in the distributed ledger, material owner MO1 can use an application, for example, about Figure 3 The application 306. After entering the corresponding data (i.e., the amount to be registered, the public key of MO1, the private key of MO1, and the material transaction metadata), the application 306 sends a JSON payload to the driver 308, which prepares the transaction according to the received payload and signs the prepared transaction.

[0301] The driver 308 then sends the signed transaction to the client 304 (member node 1 1002 in this case), which verifies the transaction, performs consensus, and if consensus is reached, commits the transaction in a new block, as described above. Figure 3 As described in . Since the first registration of a material within a distributed ledger is a sensitive step, said registration can only be performed by certain parties to avoid registering materials in the distributed ledger that do not exist in the real world, as this would result in an invalid mass balance. For example, control over registration transactions can be performed by using a whitelist or blacklist of public keys retrieved by the distributed ledger server when validating transactions. When using a whitelist, if the public key included in the transaction matches a public key on said whitelist, then the transaction is valid. When using a blacklist, if the public key included in the transaction does not match said public key on the blacklist, then the transaction is valid.

[0302] Transaction 1022 is related to the transfer of 0.1 kg of precious metal registered in step 1A to the material receiver MR (corresponding to Fig. 10A2A in ). Since the transaction maps a transfer from the material owner MO1 to the material recipient MR, the transaction additionally includes a transaction ID of the transaction associated with registering the 0.1 kg of precious metal within the distributed ledger (i.e., transaction ID1) and the public key of the material recipient (to indicate which party is receiving the material). The use of transaction ID1 allows the distributed ledger server 310 to verify that the input amount has not yet been spent to avoid double spending of assets registered within the distributed ledger. The material recipient MR can use the material transaction metadata to retrieve details about the transferred material, such as material property data (as described above). Transaction 1022 has been submitted to the distributed ledger by member node 1002 within block 1012a. In order to transfer 0.1 kg of precious metal to the material recipient, the material owner MO1 can use an application (e.g., regarding Figure 3 The application 306 described above) enters the necessary data and generates a transaction, which is then verified and stored in a new block of the distributed ledger, as described above. Figure 3 as described.

[0303] Transaction 1024 associated with step 1B corresponds to the first registration in the distributed ledger of 0.5 kg of NaOH owned by material owner MO2. The transaction includes a transaction ID (i.e., transaction ID3), an input amount (i.e., 0.5 kg (NaOH), an output amount corresponding to the input amount (because the amount is first registered in the distributed ledger), a public key of material owner MO2, and material transaction metadata (such as the material transaction metadata mentioned above). Transaction 1024 has been submitted to the distributed ledger by member node 1004 in block 1014a.

[0304] To register 0.5 kg of NaOH, the material owner MO2 can use the application (e.g. Figure 3 The application 306 described above) enters the necessary data and generates a transaction, which is then verified and stored in a new block of the distributed ledger, as described above. Figure 3 as described.

[0305] Transaction 1026 is related to the transfer of 0.5 kg of NaOH registered in step 1B to the material receiver MR (corresponding to Fig. 10A2B in step 1016). Since this transaction maps a transfer from the material owner MO2 to the material recipient MR, the transaction additionally contains the transaction ID of the transaction associated with registering the 0.5 kg of NaOH in the distributed ledger (i.e., transaction ID3) and the public key of the material recipient (to indicate which party is receiving the material). Transaction 1026 has been submitted to the distributed ledger by member node 1004 in block 1016a. To transfer the 0.5 kg of NaOH to the material recipient, the material owner MO2 can use an application (e.g., regarding Figure 3 The application 306 described above) enters the necessary data and generates a transaction, which is then verified and stored in a new block of the distributed ledger, as described above. Figure 3 as described.

[0306] Transaction 1028 is related to the transfer of 0.6 kg of electrode material produced by the material receiver from the received 0.1 kg of precious metal and the received 0.5 kg of NaOH to the product receiver PR (corresponding to Fig. 10A 3). Since two materials (i.e., 0.1 kg of precious metal and 0.5 kg of NaOH) are used to produce the electrode material, transaction 1028 references transaction 1022 (corresponding to the transfer of 0.1 kg of precious metal) and transaction 1026 (corresponding to the transfer of 0.5 kg of NaOH) using the corresponding transaction IDs. Referencing these transactions allows the distributed ledger server 310 to determine whether the input amount has been spent, thereby avoiding double spending. Transaction 1028 has been submitted to the distributed ledger by member node 606 in block 618a. In order to transfer 0.6 kg of electrode material to the product recipient, the material recipient MR can use an application (e.g., about Figure 3 The application 306 described above) enters the necessary data and generates a transaction, which is then verified and stored in a new block of the distributed ledger, as described above. Figure 3 as described.

[0307] Referencing each associated previous transaction (i.e., linking together all transactions associated with a material and a product(s) containing the material using the transaction ID) allows tracking which material is contained in the product(s), thereby allowing the product recipient PR to verify that the 0.6 kg of electrode material received from the material recipient MR was indeed produced from the 0.1 kg of precious metal and 0.5 kg of NaOH referenced in transaction 1028. Furthermore, the product transaction metadata contained in transaction 1028 can be used by the product recipient PR to retrieve details about the electrode material received from the material recipient, as previously described.

[0308] Furthermore, referencing each associated previous transaction allows for automatic mass balance checks to be performed, as input quantities are bounded by the quantities listed in the referenced transaction, and output quantities cannot be greater than input quantities. This avoids one party transferring more material than possible in a transaction, and therefore avoids invalid mass balances due to incorrect data in the distributed ledger.

[0309] Fig. 10C is a block diagram illustrating the generation of a data set for a product containing a material, the data set comprising environmental data and a transaction ID of an associated product transfer transaction submitted to a distributed ledger. In this example, the process of transferring a material from a material receiver MR (see Fig. 10A )Generation of a dataset of electrode materials produced.

[0310] However, the method can also be used to generate data sets for other materials and product(s) comprising the materials.

[0311] In a first step, the material receiver MR receives (multiple) data sets of raw materials (i.e., precious metals and NaOH) from a corresponding data providing service (not shown) via its data consumption service 1030. For this purpose, the precious metals and NaOH may be registered in the production facility of the material receiver MR. Registration may include providing decentralized identifiers associated with the received precious metals and NaOH. Providing decentralized identifiers may include reading a physical identifier element physically connected to the precious metals and NaOH as described above. Providing decentralized identifiers may include accessing a database with decentralized identifiers and obtaining decentralized identifiers associated with the precious metals and NaOH.

[0312] Based on the provided decentralized identifier, material property data associated with such decentralized identifier may be accessed. Access may be granted through authentication and authorization based on authentication and authorization information associated with the decentralized identifier (e.g., see Fig. 10A and Fig. 10B). Based on the decentralized identifier, material property data (such as chemical declaration data, material safety data, certificate of analysis data, emission data, product carbon footprint data, product environmental footprint data, material specification data, material information, technical application data, production data, performance data, quality data, material configuration data, recycled content data or a combination thereof) can be accessed through a data consumption service 1030, which requests access to the material property data associated with each decentralized identifier and controlled by the material owner MO1 and the material owner MO2. The data consumption service may include computer executable instructions operating in an at least partially decentralized computing environment. Such computer executable instructions may be based on a Json Web Token (JWT), which includes authentication information, authorization information, and / or a digital representation pointing to data related to the material or a portion thereof. The digital representation may include an endpoint (resource endpoint) for data exchange or sharing or an endpoint (service endpoint) for service interaction, which may be uniquely identified via a communication protocol. (Multiple) digital representations pointing to data related to the material or a portion thereof may be uniquely associated with a decentralized identifier.

[0313] Then, he produces electrode materials and associates the produced materials with physical identifiers (such as batch numbers or batch IDs). As described above, the electrode material can be physically connected to a physical identifier element. The physical identifier can be assigned to identifier information associated with a decentralized identifier. For such assignment, the physical identifier element can be read, or a database with a physical identifier can be accessed. A request for providing a decentralized identifier can be triggered to assign the physical identifier to the decentralized identifier. In this way, the decentralized identifier can be assigned to the electrode material. Providing a decentralized identifier can include accessing a database with decentralized identifiers and associated information such as authentication information. Providing a decentralized identifier can include accessing a decentralized service to provide decentralized identifiers and associated information such as authentication information. In response to the request, a data set including decentralized identifiers and data related to the electrode material can be generated. The data related to the electrode material can include a representation such as a pointer or link to the product characteristic data of the electrode material. The decentralized identifier can be associated with the data related to the electrode material. The decentralized identifier can be further associated with the decentralized identifiers of the precious metals and NaOH (i.e., the raw materials for producing the electrode material), or assigned to or linked to the decentralized identifier. The data set can be made available to the decentralized network for access by other participants or producers of the network. In this way, the chain of input to output materials can be traced and used in further manufacturing steps without exposing the chemical product data in an uncontrolled way.

[0314] The above process steps can be performed via the operating system of the production facility (e.g. Fig. 13BIn this embodiment, the operating system includes a collector (such as Fig. 13B The data integration unit 1334 is configured to collect data of the electrode material and / or the physical identifier as described above. The collector may be configured to collect data associated with the electrode material or data associated with the production of the electrode material, wherein the electrode material is connected to or includes the physical identifier. The operating system may in particular include an ID reader (such as Fig. 13B ID reader 1326) configured to provide the physical identity of the input (i.e., precious metal and NaOH) or output (i.e., electrode material) as described above. The system may further include a designator (e.g., Fig. 13B The data integration unit 1334 in the embodiment of the present invention is configured to assign the decentralized identifier and the associated information to the electrode material as described above. In addition, the operating system may include an ID provider (such as Fig. 13B An ID provider 1338) is configured to provide a decentralized identifier and associated information as described above.

[0315] After the electrode material is produced, the material recipient MR can use the transaction ID contained in the (multiple) data sets received in the first step to retrieve the material transfer transactions 1012b and 1016b associated with the transfer of precious metals and NaOH from the distributed ledger 1008 via the member node 1006. The data contained in the retrieved transactions 1012b and 1016b (such as the batch ID contained in the material transaction metadata) can be used together with additional production data collected by the environmental footprint calculation unit 1032 of the material recipient MR during the production of the electrode material to calculate emissions data and / or recycled content and / or bio-based content. The emissions data and / or recycled content and / or bio-based content calculated by the unit 1032 can then be used to generate transaction inputs (see step 5), such as with respect to Figure 3 The transaction input can be related to the transfer of the produced electrode material to the product receiver PR (see Fig. 10A ), i.e., the transaction input may be generated when the electrode material is transferred to the product recipient. In this example, the transaction input contains data calculated by unit 1032. In another example, the data is combined with additional characteristic data of the electrode material acquired during or after the production of the electrode material, and may be accessed via the digital representation contained in the generated data set. The prepared transaction input is provided by member node 1006 (corresponding to Figure 3The client side 304 of the block 1018a receives the transaction 1018b and submits it to the distributed ledger as a transaction 1018b in the block 1018a (see step 6). As mentioned above, the transaction ID received from the member node 1006 at the time of submission is used during the generation of the data set.

[0316] Fig. 10D is a block diagram illustrating receiving (multiple) data sets from a data consumption service and using the data contained in the (multiple) data sets to retrieve material data and product data stored in a transaction submitted to a distributed ledger. In this example, the product receiver PR (see Fig. 10A ) receives a data set associated with the received electrode material from the material receiver MR. The data set may be as described above with respect to Fig. 10C The data set is provided by the data providing service 1034 of the material receiver MR (which has produced the electrode material and has data associated with the produced electrode material) to the data consumption service 1036 of the product receiver PR. The product receiver PR can retrieve information about the received electrode material via the data consumption service 1036 using the digital representation pointing to the product characteristic data. In addition, the product receiver PR can retrieve from the received data set the transaction ID associated with the transfer of the electrode material from the material receiver MR to himself, i.e., the transaction ID 5 of the transaction 1028 (see Fig. 10B ), and the transaction data stored in the distributed ledger 1008 can be accessed via the member node 1038.

[0317] Since the transaction 1028 is linked to the transactions associated with the materials used to produce the electrode material, i.e., transactions 1012b (transaction ID2) and 1016b (transaction ID4), the product receiver can retrieve the transaction data, such as the quantity and the material identifier, via the member node 1038 using the transaction ID2 and ID4. The product receiver PR can retrieve the data set associated with the precious metals and NaOH used to produce the electrode material from the corresponding data providing services (not shown) of the material owners MO1 and MO2 via its data consumption service 1036 using the material identifier.

[0318] The amounts listed in transactions 1012b and 1016b (i.e., the total material amounts) can be compared to the amounts of products included in transaction 1018b (i.e., the total product amounts) to verify that the mass balance associated with the production of the electrode material received by the product recipient PR is closed. In addition, the product recipient PR can use the data of the electrode material, such as emissions data, recycled content, etc., to similarly calculate the emissions data, recycled content, etc. of the electrodes produced by the product recipient PR. After producing the electrodes from the received electrode materials, the product recipient PR can generate a data set, as described above with respect to Fig. 10C described.

[0319] A peer-to-peer network exchanging digital twin data cannot establish an overall closed mass balance, and in the absence of centralized supervision, the complete history of the final product or recycled product cannot be guaranteed. On the other hand, a distributed ledger system that implements the "know-on-need" principle and stores only a minimum amount of data on the chain (such as the mass transferred, the public keys of the parties involved in the transfer, and the transaction metadata) requires a private communication channel between the parties involved to privately exchange data that must not appear in a transparent manner on the distributed ledger, such as identities associated with (multiple) public keys, detailed data about the transferred materials / products, etc. Combining a peer-to-peer network exchanging digital twin data (i.e., exchanging datasets containing decentralized identifiers and data related to materials or products) with a distributed ledger allows material transfers / product transfers to be stored immutably and mass balances to be verifiably established with a minimum amount of data stored in the distributed ledger. On-chain mass balancing means that the information generated by each transaction cannot be completely hidden, as some information can still be inferred from the publicly available network structure (and despite the anonymization of user public keys), for example, transactions that branch into very short chains are most likely waste, or transactions that do not form loops (i.e., enter very long chains) are also most likely waste or fuel. However, this can be tolerated because quality transparency of waste dumping and recycling rates in mechanical and chemical recycling may be enforced by regulators (such as government regulations).

[0320] Fig.11 is a block diagram illustrating the determination of the transfer balance of a linear distributed system comprising several parties involved in the supply of raw materials and the production of product(s) comprising said raw materials. In this example, the production from raw materials to product(s) comprises several parties. In another example, the production from raw materials to product(s) comprises only one party, for example, if the product(s) can be obtained from the raw materials in a single step without performing any further production / purification steps. In a linear distributed system without recycling, it can be assumed that all product(s) transferred to the consumer(s) from the last party within the production step will ultimately be transferred to the landfill(s). Therefore, the total mass output of the linear distributed system corresponds to the amount of product(s) transferred to the landfill(s).

[0321] In this example, all raw material(s) transferred into the linear distributed system are registered by member node 1104 via transactions 1108b and 1110b in blocks 1108a and 1110a of decentralized network 1102. All product(s) containing these raw materials and leaving the linear system are registered by member node 1106 via transactions 1114b and 1116b in blocks 1114a and 1116a of decentralized network 1102.

[0322] In order to determine a transfer balance, in particular a mass balance, the total amount of starting materials and the total amount of product(s) comprising said starting materials must be calculated and compared.

[0323] The total amount of raw material can be obtained by determining the transactions associated with the transfer of the raw material, for example, by retrieving all transactions that register the raw material in the distributed ledger (create transactions), and determining the transactions 1108b, 1110b (transfer transactions) associated with the transfer of the registered raw material by searching all transactions that reference the ID of the create transaction (to ensure that the amount transferred is used for the mass balance calculation). By summing the amounts listed in each determined transfer transaction, the total input amount 1120 can be determined.

[0324] By searching for transactions where the recipient's public key corresponds to the public key assigned to the landfill(s), the total amount of product(s) containing the raw material can be obtained. By summing the amounts listed in each determined transaction 1114b, 1116b, the total output amount 1122 can be determined.

[0325] In one example, an application that can access a decentralized network (such as Figure 3 The mass balance determined can be displayed within a graphical user interface and any deviations can be highlighted to increase user comfort.

[0326] The mass balance of the linear system is closed if the total input 1120 is equal to the total output 1122, that is, if each mass flow always has a clear destination. For example, at the beginning of submitting a transaction to the distributed ledger, the mass balance may not be closed because the product(s) containing the material that have been produced may still be in the possession of the consumer and may not have been disposed of, so the total input may be greater than the total output.

[0327] Fig. 12Ais a block diagram illustrating the determination of a transfer balance of recycled product(s) within a circular system comprising several parties involved in supplying raw materials and virgin materials, producing product(s) comprising said raw materials / virgin materials, and recycling at least a portion of the products after the produced products are transferred from (multiple) consumers to a recycling process. The recycled materials are then reintroduced into the production process. In this example, the produced product is an electric vehicle, and the recycling comprises recycling the batteries contained in said electric vehicle to obtain ferrous material, which can then be used to extract metals (the last step), which can be reintroduced into the battery production process.

[0328] In this example, the production from raw materials to product(s) includes several parties. In another example, the production from raw materials to product(s) includes only one party, for example, if the product(s) can be obtained from the raw materials in a single step without performing any further production / purification steps.

[0329] In this example, all raw material(s) and virgin materials transferred into the circular distributed system are registered by a member node (not shown) via transactions 1108b and 1110b in blocks 1108a and 1110a of the decentralized network 1206. The battery removed from the car is registered by a member node (not shown) via transaction 1116b in block 1216a of the decentralized network 1206.

[0330] In order to determine the transfer balance, in particular the mass balance, associated with batteries removed from electric vehicles and used to produce black matter material, the total amount of virgin material and / or raw materials used to produce the batteries must be compared with the total amount of batteries used to produce the black matter.

[0331] The total amount of raw materials and virgin materials can be obtained by retrieving data sets associated with raw materials and virgin materials and data sets for each further production stage of the battery from various data providing services 1202 via a data consuming service 1204 associated with a recycler (e.g. a company producing black matter from batteries). The recycler can obtain the corresponding data set by recursive request using the hash contained in the data set of the final product (e.g. the car(s) containing the battery) (see FIG. 7A to FIG. 7B). These hashes may allow the corresponding data set to be identified and retrieved via the data consumption service 1204. In addition, retrieval of the data set also allows recyclers to access detailed data about the battery and the materials contained, thereby allowing improved recycling. The data set associated with the transfer of the battery to the recycler contains a transaction ID associated with the transfer of the battery from the dismantler to the recycler (e.g., transaction 1116b). The transaction ID may be used to retrieve, via the member nodes 1106 of the distributed ledger 1206, data directly or indirectly linked to the transaction ID (see Fig. 10B ) associated with all previous transactions (e.g., transactions 11108b, 1110b) of the battery. Thus, the transaction ID contained in the data set associated with the received battery allows identification of all transactions associated with virgin and raw materials and all intermediate products used to produce the corresponding battery.

[0332] If the total input quantity included in the transaction (1108b, 1110b) is equal to the total quantity included in the transaction 1116b, then the mass balance for that particular battery is closed. Monitoring the mass balance within the recycling system allows preventing waste from being illegally placed, as illegal disposal of waste will result in an invalid mass balance (i.e., the total input quantity of the battery received by the recycler is not equal to the sum of the input materials used to produce the battery).

[0333] Fig. 12B , is a block diagram showing a transfer balance of a closed-loop cyclic system, which includes several parties involved in supplying raw materials and virgin materials, producing (multiple) products containing the raw materials / virgin materials, and recovering at least a portion of the products after the produced products are transferred from (multiple) consumers to a recycling process. The recovered materials are then reintroduced into the production process. In this example, the production from raw materials to (multiple) products includes several parties. In another example, the production from raw materials to (multiple) products includes only one party, for example, if the (multiple) products can be obtained from raw materials in a single step without performing any further production / purification steps. In a cyclic system for recycling, it can be assumed that only (multiple) parts of (multiple) products that cannot be recycled are transferred to (multiple) landfills. Therefore, the total mass output of the cyclic distributed system corresponds to the sum of recycled materials and non-recycled materials (i.e., (multiple) parts of (multiple) products transferred to (multiple) landfills).

[0334] In this example, all raw material(s) and virgin materials transferred into the circular distributed system are registered by member node 1104 via transactions 1110b and 1112b in blocks 1110a and 1112a of decentralized network 1212. Recycled materials are registered by member node 1106 via transactions 1116b and 1118b in blocks 1116a and 1118a of decentralized network 1212. Waste materials are registered by member node 1208 via transaction 1120b in block 1120a of decentralized network 1212.

[0335] In order to determine the transfer balance, in particular the mass balance, the total amount of virgin and / or raw material, the amount of recycled material and the amount of material transferred to landfill(s) must be calculated.

[0336] The total amount of raw materials and virgin materials can be obtained by determining the transactions associated with the transfer of raw materials and virgin materials, for example, by retrieving all transactions (creation transactions) that register raw materials and virgin materials in the distributed ledger, and determining the transactions 1110b, 1112b (transfer transactions) associated with the transfer of the registered raw materials and virgin materials by searching all transactions that reference the ID of the creation transaction (to ensure that the transferred amount is used for the mass balance calculation). The total input amount 1230 can be determined by summing the amounts listed in each determined transfer transaction.

[0337] The total amount of waste can be determined by searching for transactions where the recipient's public key corresponds to the public key assigned to the landfill(s). The total amount of waste 1218 can be determined by summing the amounts listed in each determined transaction 1120b.

[0338] For example, the total amount of recycled material can be determined by determining all transactions associated with the transfer of recycled material into the production process. To this end, the corresponding transactions 1116b and 1118b can be searched using a public key associated with the company that performed the last step in the recycling process or using product transaction metadata. By summing the amounts listed in each determined transaction 1116b, 1118b, the total recycled amount 1216 can be determined.

[0339] The mass balance of the recycling system is closed if the total input 1214 is equal to the sum of the total recycled 1216 and the total waste 1218. The total input 1214 and the total recycled 1216 can also be used to determine the recycling quota of the recycling system, thereby allowing the recycling system to be manipulated if the predefined recycling quota is not met, for example, by prohibiting the introduction of new virgin materials into the recycling process. To this end, the distributed ledger server 310 can calculate the recycling quota when verifying a transaction that registers new virgin materials, and if the introduction of the amount of virgin materials listed in the transaction would reduce the recycling quota below a predefined threshold, the distributed ledger server may not confirm the transaction (i.e., may reject the transaction).

[0340] Monitoring the mass balance of the recycling system allows preventing waste from being illegally placed, as illegal disposal of waste will result in an invalid mass balance (ie, total input 1214 is not equal to the sum of total recycling 1216 and total waste 1218).

[0341] Fig.13A is a block diagram showing the transfer balance of a single company in a distributed system. A single company can be a linear distributed system (such as Fig.11 systems) or cyclic distributed systems (such as Fig. 12A and Fig. 12B In this example, the company receives raw materials. In another example, the company may receive (in addition to or instead of raw materials) intermediate products (i.e., materials) and / or recycled materials.

[0342] In this example, all transferred raw material(s) received by the company are registered in transaction 1308b in a block of decentralized network 1304. All product(s) that contain raw materials and leave the company (e.g., by selling the product(s) to consumer(s) or other companies for further processing) are registered by member node(s) 1306 via transactions 1314b and 1316b in blocks 1314a and 1316a of decentralized network 1304.

[0343] In order to determine the transfer balance, in particular the mass balance, the total amount of raw materials received by the company and the total amount of product(s) containing said raw materials and leaving the company have to be calculated and compared.

[0344] For example, the total amount of raw materials received by the company can be obtained by retrieving all transactions 1308b using the data of material transfer transactions contained in the data set associated with the raw materials. The company can retrieve the data set from the corresponding data providing service (not shown) of the raw material owner via its data consumption service 1302, as previously described (e.g., see Fig. 10D). Each retrieved data set associated with a raw material contains data of a material transfer transaction associated with the raw material, such as a transaction ID. The transaction ID can be used to retrieve transactions 1308b containing quantities of all raw materials processed by the company via member node 1306. By summing the quantities listed in each determined material transfer transaction, a total input quantity 1318 can be determined.

[0345] For example, by searching for transactions 1312b, 1314b where a particular public key associated with the company's warehouse system is listed as a recipient, the total amount of product(s) that contains the raw materials and leaves the company can be obtained. By summing the amounts listed in each determined transaction 1312b, 1314b, the total output amount 1320 can be determined.

[0346] In one example, an application that can access a decentralized network (such as Figure 3 The mass balance determined can be displayed within a graphical user interface and any deviations can be highlighted to increase user comfort.

[0347] The mass balance of a company is closed if the total input 1318 equals the total output 1320, ie if each mass flow always has a clear destination. For example, a mass balance can be monitored by an auditor to ensure that each company in a distributed system handles its material flows correctly.

[0348] Determining a company's mass balance allows accounting for the raw materials attributable to a specific product flow leaving a production system, in particular in a circular and net-zero economy. The method according to the invention uses data stored in a distributed ledger to determine the mass balance, ensuring that the attribution of inflows to outflows is tamper-evident within the reporting period (i.e., the closed period required to certify the mass balance), since mass flows cannot be arbitrarily combined using information other than that stored in the distributed ledger.

[0349] Fig. 13B Demonstrated for determining Fig.13A In this example, the system is a linear or cyclic distributed system (e.g., Fig.11 A linear distributed system or Fig. 12A and Fig. 12B A distributed system that is part of a company's cycle.

[0350] The system includes an address unit 1322 that assigns addresses (e.g., a public key in a private-public key pair) to mass storage associated with mass inflows (mass storage inputs) and mass storage associated with mass outflows (mass storage outputs) (see step 1). The address(es) of the mass storage inputs can be used for all transactions associated with received materials, i.e., the address(es) of the mass storage inputs are used as recipient addresses for all transactions associated with receipt of materials by the company. Similarly, the address(es) of the mass storage outputs can be used for all transactions associated with product(s) produced from the received material(s) (i.e., all product(s) containing the material). Mass balancing can be performed by comparing the total amount contained in all transactions associated with the mass inflow addresses with the total amount contained in all transactions associated with the mass outflow addresses, as described later.

[0351] The system further includes an ID reader 1326 configured to read IDs, such as physical identifiers of raw materials and product(s) produced from the raw materials (i.e., product(s) containing the raw materials). The physical identifiers can be attached to the raw materials and product(s) via physical identifier elements as described above. The ID reader can provide the determined ID to a database (not shown) that can be accessed by the ERP system.

[0352] The system further includes an ERP system 1328 (Enterprise Resource Planning System). In this example, the ERP system 1328 generates a transaction 1340 with an ERP transaction ID (see step 2). The ERP transaction 1340 uses the product identifier as a primary key, records the mass flow output and contains a metadata set. The metadata set contains, for example, a production recipe of the form

[0353] - Amount and composition of mass input (in mass percent)

[0354] - Amount and composition of mass output (in mass percent)

[0355] - Production unit ID as reference

[0356] In this example, the system further includes an environmental footprint calculation unit 1330. The unit 1330 receives (a plurality of) ERP transactions 1340 from the ERP system 1328 (see Fig. 13B3A in ERP transactions 1340), and calculate the environmental footprint associated with the product(s) containing the material(s) based on the data contained in the received ERP transactions 1340. For example, the calculation of the environmental footprint based on the data contained in the received ERP transactions 1340 can be performed based on energy consumption and / or product output. In this example, the unit 1330 also receives transaction data of (multiple) material transactions associated with quality inputs (i.e., raw materials used to produce the product), such as emissions data, recycled content, bio-based content, and performs the calculation of the environmental footprint based on the data contained in the ERP transactions 1340 and the received transaction data. The calculated environmental footprint is associated with the product identifier contained in the ERP transaction 1340 by using the product identifier as a primary key 1342 ( Fig. 13B In step 3B of ). In order to take into account the co-production of multiple products, a secondary key can be used within the calculated product data to associate each calculated product metadata with the respectively produced product. The use of the unit 1330 allows the automatic calculation of the environmental footprint of the produced products, which can then be stored and provided to the company's customers upon request without any additional effort.

[0357] The system further includes a component mass flow unit 1332. The unit 1332 receives ERP transactions 1340 (see Fig. 13B Step 3C) and generate a list 1344 of the amounts of component mass by multiplying the composition vector by the mass output stream (see Fig. 13B 3D). A list 1344 may be generated based on the amount of mass input and the composition of mass input (in mass percentage) and the amount of mass output and the composition of mass output (in mass percentage) contained in the received ERP transaction 1340. The list 1344 generated by the unit 1332 is used as input for transaction data prepared by the data integration unit 1334 described below.

[0358] Data integration unit 1334 generates transaction input 1346 by retrieving the following data using the product identifier (ie, primary key) and merging them into one data set (ie, transaction input 1346):

[0359] - ERP transaction ID from ERP transaction 1340,

[0360] - a list 1344 of the quantities of component mass inputs and outputs,

[0361] - Environmental footprint data 1342,

[0362] - Encrypted addresses of mass storage input and mass storage output 1324 ( Fig. 13B Steps 4 and 5),

[0363] - the transaction type (i.e., transfer transaction or create transaction), and

[0364] - Optionally, the transaction ID of a previous transaction.

[0365] Transaction input 1346 can vary according to the production steps for producing (multiple) products containing materials from the material. For example, the amount of the product produced can be assigned to at least two different mass storage output addresses so that the total mass output of the product is divided between the at least two different mass storage output addresses. In this case, unit 1334 assigns a numerical value (i.e., a list of the amount of the divided mass output) to the corresponding mass storage output address. For example, a numerical value can be obtained from ERP transaction data 1340. For chemical reactions involving multiple reaction products, each reaction product can be assigned to a specific mass storage output address, as described above. In addition, unit 1334 can add a list of quality component scores associated with each quality output address as transaction metadata to transaction input 1346 to allow the use of data stored in the distributed ledger to calculate inventory counts of each component.

[0366] The data integration unit 1334 can act as a Figure 3 The client 302 described above can use the application 306 and the driver 308 to generate the Figure 3 Describes the signed transaction.

[0367] The transaction input 1346 generated by the unit 1334 is received by the member node 1336 of the distributed ledger of the decentralized network. The distributed ledger server 310 then verifies the received signed transaction and upon successful execution of consensus (e.g., as described above with respect to Figure 3 ) and then submit the transaction to the distributed ledger in a block (see Fig. 9B Member node 1336 may provide instructions to unit 1334 to commit the transaction (as described above with respect to Figure 3 The notification may include transaction data, such as a transaction ID, public keys of the parties involved, transaction metadata, or a combination thereof.

[0368] In addition to generating transaction inputs 1346, data integration unit 1334 may also inventory quality storage address 1324 by storing the sum of transaction inputs associated with quality storage inputs and quality storage outputs to allow quality balance to be determined using unit 1334, as described below.

[0369] A prerequisite for balancing the storage account is that the ERP transactions and the blockchain transactions are consistent. The data integration unit 1334 can ensure consistency by ensuring that the logical order of the ERP transactions is the same as the order of transactions submitted to the distributed ledger via the member node 1336. To this end, the unit 1334 can queue the received ERP transactions 1340 until the previously generated transaction input sent to the member node 1336 is submitted to the distributed ledger.

[0370] Once consistency is established for each storage address, the data integration unit 1334 balances the sum of transactions. The result is the net inventory of each storage address at a given timestamp:

[0371] - a mass inflow is represented by a transaction that commits a certain amount of material to the mass storage input address(es), and

[0372] -Mass outflows are represented by transactions that commit a certain amount of product(s) containing a material to a mass storage output address(es).

[0373] Additionally, a part-by-part inventory count can be performed by:

[0374] - retrieve a list of blockchain transactions associated with a specific mass storage output address, and

[0375] A sum is performed over the list 1344 of quantities of component mass outputs generated by the component mass flow unit 1332 .

[0376] The determined mass balances may be stored in the data integration unit 1334 as data records (e.g., as key-value pairs or documents) associated with the corresponding mass storage addresses and the corresponding mass storage names. For ongoing operations, a list of timestamps is created that represents the batch intervals of the production steps as a uniform time grid.

[0377] However, if an inventory count is required for a given quality storage address, the timestamp must be placed manually in such a way that all production batches associated with this quality storage output address are completed in the ERP at this timestamp (so that the batch ends occur simultaneously), or all inventory management operations must be performed on a fixed (usually unified) time grid. In the latter case, the unified time grid represents the de facto batch interval length, which means that the batch interval of all production units must be the same. However, in general, batch sizes are not consistent across multiple production units and products of a company. Therefore, the time grid interval can be adjusted to the greatest common divisor of all batch lengths occurring in the company's production system.

[0378] The data integration unit 1334 is further connected to an ID provider 1338. The ID provider 1338 is configured to provide a decentralized identifier as described above, such as a DID (see Fig. 13B The ID provided is used by the data integration unit 1334 to generate (using the product identifier as primary key) a data set containing the transaction data received from the member node 1336 and additional product characteristic data contained in the ERP transaction 1340 and / or calculated by the environmental footprint calculation unit 1330 and / or retrieved from another database (not shown) connected to the unit 1334 (see Fig. 13B Step 8).

[0379] Fig. 13B The system presented in allows performing a company's mass balance by storing information about material flows, flows associated with product(s) containing the material(s) and inventories in a tamper-evident manner in a distributed ledger, thereby allowing tracking of material(s) and associated product(s) even if the products are not produced in a real-time continuous flow but are often produced in activities where materials that have been in inventory for some time are used in such production activities.

[0380] also, Fig. 13B The presented system allows for the generation of a data set associated with a product produced from a particular raw material, the data set including transaction data, such as transaction ID and environmental footprint data.

[0381] Due to the mass balance paradigm, chemical products with identical chemical, physical, and mechanical properties may have very different histories, origins, and product environmental footprints. Therefore, the same material identifier must match several different material datasets describing material sustainability factors, and the same product identifier must match several different product datasets describing product sustainability factors. This is achieved using the Fig. 13B The described system is implemented by using a material identifier or product identifier within the transaction metadata in combination with the aforementioned classification or production data. The material identifier or product identifier points to a corresponding material dataset or product dataset, and further data allows retrieval of material property data or product property data associated with the material or a produced product containing the material, respectively, from the material dataset or product dataset.

[0382] Fig.14It is a block diagram showing the transfer balance of a specific product produced by different raw materials using a limited stoichiometry. In this embodiment, a specific chemical product is produced using a defined production formula using 3 different compounds (materials A to C). Then, the produced product is packaged and sold to (multiple) consumers, such as end consumers or other upstream companies, for further processing. In another example, more or less different compounds can be used. In another example again, the product can be produced by assembling different parts, for example, when the product is a part of a car (such as a battery, etc.).

[0383] In this example, all material(s) transferred to the production process are registered by member node 1404 via transaction 1406b in block 1406a of decentralized network 1402. All product(s) produced from the material and transferred to packaging or shipping are registered by member node 1404 via transaction 1412b in block 1412a of decentralized network 1402.

[0384] In order to determine the transfer balance, in particular the mass balance, the total amount of material and the total amount of product(s) comprising said material must be calculated and compared taking into account the stoichiometry which can be retrieved from the ERP transaction data 1340, for example.

[0385] In one example, the total amount of material can be obtained by determining transactions associated with transferring the material into the production process, for example, by retrieving all transactions 1406b associated with materials A through C from the data integration unit 1334. The transactions 1406b can be retrieved from the distributed ledger via the member node 1404 using the transaction ID contained in the data set associated with materials A through C received via the data consumption service 1420. The total input amount 1416 can be determined by summing the amounts listed in each retrieved transaction. In another example, the total amount of materials A through C can be calculated using the list 1344 generated by the component mass flow unit 1332.

[0386] The total amount of product(s) containing materials A to C can be obtained by searching for a specific mass storage output address, such as Fig. 13B By summing the amounts listed in each determined transaction 1412b, the total output amount 1418 may be determined.

[0387] In one example, an application that can access a decentralized network (such as Figure 3 The mass balance determined can be displayed within a graphical user interface and any deviations can be highlighted to increase user comfort.

[0388] The mass balance of the products is closed if the total input 1416 is equal to the total output 1418 taking the stoichiometry into account, ie if each mass flow always has a clear destination.

[0389] The chemical measurements may be retrieved, for example, from ERP transaction data 1340 .

[0390] As explained in detail above, the methods and apparatus of the present disclosure may utilize a distributed ledger. Fig.15 An exemplary distributed ledger 1500 is shown in FIG.

[0391] The distributed ledger 1500 is a shared, replicated and synchronized database between member nodes 1502 of a decentralized network (such as a P2P network). A distributed ledger application performs computational steps associated with a distributed ledger. Typically, a distributed ledger can record transactions between participants of a network and can therefore provide an immutable transaction history. Updates to the distributed ledger are performed based on a consensus algorithm. When an update occurs, all nodes update themselves with a correctly updated copy of the ledger. A specific example of a distributed ledger application is a blockchain application. The nature of a distributed ledger is that there is no centralized institution, such as a clearing house.

[0392] A distributed ledger (more specifically, its transactions) may represent a material flow in a material network (such as a supply chain), for example, an introduction of a material into a material network or a transfer of a material within a material network. In this case, the distributed ledger may allow for searching transactions, which in turn may enable lookups across multiple intermediate steps in a material network (such as a supply chain), thereby ensuring traceability of the material flow and accountability of each material owner and recipient.

[0393] exist Fig.15 In the example, each node is shown as having a database layer 1504a (also referred to as a database API) and a distributed ledger control layer 1504b, which includes a distributed consensus algorithm and serves as a distributed ledger anchor (e.g., a blockchain anchor). Providing different layers may be advantageous because database functions are suitable for high throughput, for example, for data loading and retrieval, access and query, while distributed ledger functions generally provide lower throughput but ensure data immutability, tamper resistance, evidence, decentralized consensus of state, and state replication across different nodes. However, separation into different layers is optional.

[0394] like Fig.15 The distributed ledger presented in can be configured so that database access and query commands on each node are implemented as part of the database layer, and only a few necessary database commands are implemented by the control layer.

[0395] As an example, when it comes to material flows represented by a distributed ledger, the control layer can implement create transactions and transfer transactions, where create transactions represent the feeding or introduction of materials into the material network, while transfer transactions represent the transfer of materials from a material owner to a material recipient within the material network.

[0396] A create transaction may, for example, write an asset object to the ledger and add a pointer to the corresponding metadata, while a transfer transaction may, for example, perform an "append-only" write operation on the ledger that must reference one or more input transactions (create transactions or transfer transactions) and one or more outputs (destination addresses).

[0397] Thus, with only two transaction types, even distributed tracking and recording of material flows in a material network (in particular, mass balances of materials) can be performed in distributed consensus.

[0398] Fig.16A and Fig. 16B A block diagram illustrating a method for controlling raw material feeds by raw material owners to a recycling process in a decentralized network including a distributed ledger 1602, including a plurality of member nodes 1604 and a distributed ledger application 1606, according to the present disclosure is shown. For simplicity, only one of the member nodes is shown in detail.

[0399] The member nodes communicate with a requester computer device 1608 (also referred to simply as a requester), for example, via a data connection.

[0400] The requester computer device may optionally communicate, for example via another data connection, with a storage device 1610a on which the encrypted credential(s) of the raw material owner 1612a are stored. The requester device may be configured to retrieve the encrypted credential(s) of the raw material owner from the storage device.

[0401] The requester computer device is configured to send a raw material transaction request 1614 to a member node, specifically to a distributed ledger application. The raw material transaction request contains raw material data associated with the raw material, including at least the amount of raw material fed to the recycling process and optionally the encrypted credential(s) 1612a of the owner of the raw material.

[0402] The distributed ledger application is configured to receive a raw material transaction request from a requester computer device and determine whether the amount of raw material included in the raw material transaction request meets a predefined recycling quota range. In addition, the distributed ledger application can be optionally configured to verify (multiple) encrypted credentials included in the raw material transaction request.

[0403] Fig.16AA scenario is shown where a raw material transaction is submitted to and optionally stored in a distributed ledger. This occurs only when it is determined that a predefined recycling quota range is met, and optionally only when it is determined that the (multiple) cryptographic credentials are valid. In addition, the member node (specifically the distributed ledger application) sends a confirmation 1620 of submitting the raw transaction request as a raw material transaction to the requestor computer device. In addition, in the same or different steps, the success of storing the raw material transaction in the distributed ledger can also be sent to the requestor computer device.

[0404] Fig. 16B Shown with Fig.16A Same system. Fig. 16B In , the situation is that the submission of the raw material transaction request to the distributed ledger is rejected. That is, the request will not be submitted to or stored in the distributed ledger as a transaction. This situation occurs when it is determined that the predefined recycling quota range is not met and / or the (optionally performed) verification of (multiple) cryptographic credentials fails, or both. Furthermore, if this is the case, a rejection 1622 of submitting the raw material transaction request as a raw material transaction is sent by the member node, in particular the distributed ledger application, to the requestor computer device. In Fig.16A and Fig. 16B In the figure, the decentralized network is represented by reference numeral 1622.

[0405] Fig.17 is a flow chart showing a computer-implemented method of the present application. The method can be applied to Fig.16A and Fig. 16B in the system shown.

[0406] In step S11, the requester sends a raw material transaction request to the distributed ledger application. The raw material transaction request includes raw material data associated with the raw material, and the data includes at least the amount of the raw material. The raw material transaction request may also include (multiple) encrypted credentials of the owner of the raw material.

[0407] In step S12, a raw material transaction request is received by the distributed ledger application from a requester.

[0408] In step S13A, the distributed ledger application determines whether the amount of raw materials included in the raw materials transaction request meets a predefined recycling quota range.

[0409] In step S13B, the distributed ledger application verifies the encrypted credentials included in the raw material transaction request.

[0410] If the predefined recycling quota range is met, and optionally, if the (multiple) cryptographic credentials are valid, then in step S14, the raw material transaction request is submitted to the distributed ledger as a raw material transaction, and a confirmation of submitting the raw material transaction request is sent by the distributed ledger application.

[0411] If the predefined recycling quota range is not met, and / or the optional verification of the cryptographic credential(s) fails, then in step S15 the distributed ledger application sends a rejection to submit the raw material transaction request as a raw material transaction.

[0412] In step S16, a confirmation of submitting the raw material transaction request is received, for example, by the requester.

[0413] In step S17 , a rejection of submitting the raw material transaction request is received, for example, by the requester.

[0414] Thus, the transaction is stored in the distributed ledger only if certain requirements are met, i.e., the recycling quota is adhered to, and optionally only if the requester is eligible to introduce virgin material into the process. Additional requirements may have to be met in order to confirm the submission, e.g., requirements regarding the origin of the material or the characteristics of the material.

[0415] According to the present disclosure, material transactions may include different types of transactions. For example, a material transfer transaction may be a creation transaction. A creation transaction may be a transaction type that represents the introduction of, for example, raw materials or native materials into a production process. Therefore, a native material transaction is an example of a creation transaction. Through the methods of the present disclosure, restrictions on which participant is the owner of the material that is eligible to create a transaction may be implemented. Therefore, any entry point into the production process may be closely controlled. For example, there may be a whitelist or blacklist of parties that are eligible to submit a creation transaction to a distributed ledger. It should be noted that a creation transaction has no previous transactions within a transaction chain. Therefore, some checks that may be applied within a transaction chain (e.g., mass balance, etc.) cannot be applied to a creation transaction, which makes it even more important to allow only trusted parties to create transactions.

[0416] Another type of transaction may be an ongoing transfer transaction, which may be any transaction that does not introduce or dispose of material. These transactions will have a previous transaction. For example, this may allow mass balances to be performed and ensure that material does not simply appear or disappear.

[0417] exist FIG. 18A to FIG. 18E , different examples are shown demonstrating potential applications of the methods of the present disclosure in material networks (eg, supply chains).

[0418] Participants in the example may include one or more of: a material provider 1802 , one or more product producers 1804a , 1804b (e.g., a parts producer 1804a , a component producer 1804b , a module producer 1804c , or an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) 1804d ), and one or more recyclers 1808 .

[0419] Fig.18A The general flow of information, such as data labeled "material data" and data labeled "product data," is shown, where product data is a specific type of material data related to a product that includes the material (e.g., a material in processed or unprocessed form). Specifically, a material provider can provide material data to a distributed ledger, and each product producer can provide product data to a distributed ledger 1602. In addition, each participant can retrieve information from the distributed ledger, and / or information can be exchanged between different participants.

[0420] Fig.18B Similar to Fig.18A , and illustrates the specific case where information exchanged between participants may include the transfer of material data sets.

[0421] Fig. 18C Also similar to Fig.18A In this particular case, the participants include material providers, parts manufacturers, component manufacturers, module manufacturers and OEMs. Fig. 18C Also shown are material flows of material 1806a, parts 1806b, components 1806c, modules 1806d, and original equipment 1806e. It should be understood that at least a portion of material 1806a may be found in parts, components, modules, and original equipment.

[0422] exist Fig.18D In the example shown, for example, the participants include a material provider (specifically a pigment provider) and two product producers (ie, a pigment paste producer and a coating producer).

[0423] exist Fig.18E In the example shown, for example, the participants include a material provider (specifically a cathode material provider), two product producers (specifically a battery cell producer and a lithium-ion module producer), an OEM, and a recycler.

[0424] Despite FIG. 18A to FIG. 18E In the example, each participant is shown as being able to perform a two-way data exchange with the distributed ledger and another participant, but it should be understood that this may not necessarily be the case. For example, data exchange may not be implemented for all possible data exchange routes, or data exchange routes may be selectively closed for some participants through access control, etc.

[0425] Fig.19 An example of a production facility producing a chemical product associated with a materials dataset is shown.

[0426] Fig.19 The production facilities shown in can manufacture chemical products. The production facilities can manufacture organic chemical products, such as those obtained by reacting organic chemical reactants. The production facilities can include one or more production plants. For example, the production facilities for manufacturing chemical products can include at least one precursor / intermediate production plant. The physical inputs of the production facilities can include materials, such as raw materials, intermediate materials, or parts to be assembled. The raw materials can be virgin or recycled raw materials.

[0427] The physical input may be associated with a decentralized identifier as described above. The physical input(s) may be registered at a production facility. Registration may include providing a decentralized identifier associated with the physical input. Providing a decentralized identifier may include reading a physical identifier element physically connected to the physical input as described above. Providing a decentralized identifier may include accessing a database with decentralized identifiers and obtaining a decentralized identifier associated with the physical input.

[0428] Based on the provided decentralized identifier, the chemical product data associated with this decentralized identifier can be accessed.Access can be granted by authentication and authorization based on the authentication and authorization information associated with the decentralized identifier.Based on the decentralized identifier, chemical product data, such as chemical product declaration data, chemical product safety data, analysis certificate data, emission data, product carbon footprint data, product environmental footprint data, chemical product specification data, product information, technical application data, production data, performance data, quality data, material configuration data, recycled content data or a combination thereof can be accessed.Chemical product data can be accessed by requesting access to the data service of the chemical product data associated with each decentralized identifier, and is controlled by the data owner of the physical input.The data owner can be the producer of the physical input.Data services can include computer executable instructions operating in at least partially decentralized computing environments.Such computer executable instructions can be based on Json Web Token (JWT), including authentication information, authorization information, and / or digital representations pointing to chemical product data or a portion thereof.The digital representation can include an endpoint (resource endpoint) for data exchange or sharing or an endpoint (service endpoint) for service interaction, which can be uniquely identified via a communication protocol. Digital representation(s) pointing to the chemical product data or a portion thereof may be uniquely associated with the decentralized identifier.The chemical product data may be used in a manufacturing process of a production facility.

[0429] A production facility can produce a physical output based on one or more physical inputs.

[0430] The physical output of the production facility can be associated with the physical identifier. As described above, the physical output of the production facility can be physically connected to the physical identifier element. The physical identifier can be assigned to the identifier information associated with the decentralized identifier. For such assignment, the physical identifier element can be read, or a database with the physical identifier can be accessed. A request for providing a decentralized identifier can be triggered to assign the physical identifier to the decentralized identifier.

[0431] In this way, a decentralized identifier can be assigned to a physical output. Providing a decentralized identifier can include accessing a database with decentralized identifiers and associated information such as authentication information. Providing a decentralized identifier can include accessing a decentralized service to provide decentralized identifiers and associated information such as authentication information. In response to the request, a material data set including decentralized identifiers and data related to chemical product data of a chemical product can be generated. Data related to chemical product data can include representations such as pointers or links to chemical product data. Decentralized identifiers can be associated with data related to chemical product data of a physical output. Decentralized identifiers can be further associated with decentralized identifiers of physical inputs or assigned or linked to decentralized identifiers of physical inputs. Material data sets can be provided to a decentralized network for access by other participants or producers of the network. In this way, the chain of input to output materials can be traced and used in further manufacturing steps without exposing chemical product data in an uncontrolled manner.

[0432] The above process steps can be performed via the operating system of the production facility. In this embodiment, the operating system includes a collector configured to collect chemical product data and / or physical identifiers, as described above. The collector can be configured to collect chemical product data associated with the chemical product or chemical product data associated with the production of the chemical product, wherein the chemical product is connected to or includes a physical identifier. In particular, the operating system may include an ID reader configured to provide the physical identity of (multiple) physical inputs or outputs, as described above. The system may further include a designator configured to assign decentralized identifiers and associated information to physical outputs, as described above. In addition, the operating system may include an ID provider configured to provide decentralized identifiers and associated information, as described above.

[0433] Fig. 20 Another example of a production facility producing a chemical product associated with a material data set is shown.

[0434] exist Fig.19The process steps described in the context of can be performed via interaction of an operating system of a production facility with a designator, collector or reader or ID provider. In this embodiment, the operating system can be communicatively connected to the production facility and the designator, collector, ID reader or ID provider. The operating system can be configured to provide chemical product data from the production facility. The operating system may include a collector configured to provide chemical product data from the production facility. The operating system may include an ID reader configured to read a physical identifier element physically connected to a physical input or output. The designator can be configured to assign a decentralized identifier and associated information to a physical identifier of a physical output, as described above in Fig.19 The ID provider may be configured to provide a decentralized identifier and associated information, as described above in Fig.19 The ID reader may be configured to provide the physical identity and associated information of (multiple) physical inputs or outputs, as described above in Fig.19 The designator, collector, ID reader and / or ID provider may be configured as a decentralized service or application executed via a decentralized network.

[0435] Fig.19 and Fig. 20 Only two example embodiments are shown, and Fig.19 and Fig. 20 Any combination of the system components shown in may be possible. For example, the ID reader may be configured as part of the operating system, while the ID provider and the assignor may not be configured as part of the operating system.

[0436] Fig.21 An example of material tracking from raw materials to final product in the production of chemical products is shown. Fig.21 An example of material tracking in the production of chemical products is specifically shown.

[0437] To produce a chemical product, raw materials may be provided as physical input. Raw materials may include precursor materials. Raw materials may include virgin or recycled materials. Raw materials may be associated with a decentralized identifier. The decentralized identifier may be associated with a digital twin of the raw material. The decentralized identifier may be associated with raw material data, such as a label of virgin or recycled material, material properties related to its environmental impact, or material properties associated with its origin.

[0438] The production of chemical products can include a two-step process: 1) the production of precursor materials, 2) the production of chemical products. In order to produce precursor materials, raw materials can be used as physical input. The operating system of the precursor production can access data related to the raw materials based on, for example, a decentralized identifier from a raw material provider. Such data can be used to operate the production. For example, if the raw material is a recycled material, a production step of purifying the recycled material can be included. For example, if the raw material is a virgin material, the purification step can be omitted. The precursor material can be formed by co-precipitating the raw materials. The production data from the precursor production can be stored and / or associated with a decentralized identifier.

[0439] In a second step, a precursor material may be provided to produce a chemical product. The precursor material may include a precursor produced by a precursor production. The precursor material may include a recycled precursor material or a precursor material produced by a different entity. Such a precursor material may be associated with a decentralized identifier, via which data related to the precursor material may be accessed.

[0440] The chemical product produced and packaged can be assigned to the decentralized identifier and the associated information as listed above. The electrode active material packaged can for example include a physical identifier element physically attached to the packaging, such as a QR code. Such a physical identifier element can be assigned to the decentralized identifier. The assignment of the physical identifier element and the decentralized identifier can be performed by the ID generator / assigner locally running in a decentralized system and / or a distributed system.

[0441] For example, a packaging line may include a detector that detects a physical identifier on each package. Based on such identification, an operating system for chemical product production may request a decentralized identifier and may assign the provided decentralized identifier to the physical identifier. In response to the request, a material data set may be generated that includes the decentralized identifier and data related to the chemical product.

[0442] For such generation, data related to the chemical product recorded before and / or during the production of the chemical product may be collected or accessed. Such data may be provided by an operating system for the production of the chemical product, or by a storage environment connected to an operating system for the production of the chemical product. This may include data collected and stored during the production of precursor materials.

[0443] The data related to the chemical product may include an identifier of a raw material used to produce the chemical product.The data related to the chemical product may include data related to the raw material accessible, for example, via a decentralized identifier of the raw material.

[0444] The data related to the chemical product may include data related to the material configuration of the chemical product. The material configuration data may be related to the chemical composition of the chemical product. The material configuration data may specify at least one component of the chemical composition of the chemical product.

[0445] The data associated with a chemical product may include data associated with characteristics related to environmental impact, such as CO2 footprint or recycled content. For example, the data associated with a chemical product may specify the recycled content of a component or raw material.

[0446] The data related to chemical products may include data related to the production conditions provided by the operating system produced by the chemical products. The data related to chemical products may include data related to the operating conditions provided by the operating system produced by the chemical products. The data related to chemical products may include data related to the producer, such as producer name, producer brand or producer identifier. The data related to chemical products may include data related to the product, such as product name, product brand or product identifier.

[0447] Fig. 22 FIG. 1 shows a method for implementing a distributed ledger in accordance with the present disclosure on a decentralized network (e.g., Figure 2 Block diagram of method 2200 for tracking at least one transfer of a material and at least one product containing the material in a distributed network (particularly for determining a mass balance).

[0448] In step 2202 of method 2200, data of at least one material transfer transaction is received. The received data includes material data. In this example, the material data includes the amount of the material (the amount of the new material (i.e., the material associated with the transaction submitted to the distributed ledger for the first time) or the amount of the transferred material (i.e., in the case where the transferred material is associated with a transaction already existing in the distributed ledger)) and material transaction metadata (such as material identifiers and / or material classifications and / or material production data). The material identifier may include a digital representation pointing to a material data set as described above to avoid listing details about the material in the transaction so that each member of the distributed ledger can view the data. The digital representation can be used to retrieve the material data set from the data provision service, as described above. Using a material data set independent of the information written in the transaction allows certain information, such as the amount and the digital representation pointing to the material data set to be stored unchanged, thereby associating the corresponding material with the transaction in the distributed ledger, while allowing detailed information about the material to be provided via a separate channel requiring specific user credentials. This allows the data contained in each transaction to be reduced to a minimum, thereby reducing the amount of data that needs to be stored in the distributed ledger, and also ensures the necessary privacy of sensitive details about the material associated with the corresponding (multiple) transactions.

[0449] The amount of data received in box 2202 depends on the type of transfer balance, in particular the mass balance, to be determined in box 2206. For example, if the overall mass balance of the distributed system is to be determined, the data received in box 2202 corresponds to the total mass flowing into the distributed system (i.e., the total amount of raw materials and / or virgin materials). If the mass balance of a single company within the distributed system is to be determined, the data received in box 2202 corresponds to the total mass input flow flowing into said company. Similarly, if the mass balance of a certain product produced from at least one material is to be determined, the data received in box 2202 corresponds to the total mass inflow of materials used to produce said product. In this example, the data is received in box 2202, as will be described later with respect to Fig.23A as described.

[0450] In block 2204 of method 2200, data of at least one product transfer transaction is received. The received data includes product data. In this example, the product data includes the amount of the product containing the material (the amount of the new product (i.e., the product associated with the transaction submitted to the distributed ledger for the first time) or the amount of the transferred product (i.e., in the case where the transferred product is associated with a transaction already existing in the distributed ledger)) and product transaction metadata (such as a product identifier and / or a product classification and / or product production data). The product identifier may include a digital representation pointing to a product data set as described above to avoid listing details about the product within the transaction so that each member of the distributed ledger can view the data. The digital representation can be used to retrieve the product data set from a data provision service, as described above. Using a product data set independent of the information written in the transaction allows certain information, such as the amount and the digital representation pointing to the product data set to be stored unchanged, thereby associating the corresponding product with the transaction within the distributed ledger, while allowing detailed information about the product to be provided via a separate channel that requires specific user credentials. This allows the data contained within each transaction to be reduced to a minimum, thereby reducing the amount of data that needs to be stored within the distributed ledger, and also guarantees the necessary privacy regarding sensitive details of the products associated with the respective transaction(s).

[0451] The amount of data received in box 2204 depends on the type of transfer balance to be determined in box 2206, in particular a mass balance, as previously described with respect to box 2202. For example, if the overall mass balance of the distributed system is to be determined, the data received in box 2204 corresponds to the total mass flowing out of the distributed system (i.e., the total amount of (multiple) products leaving the distributed system). If the mass balance of a single company within the distributed system is to be determined, the data received in box 2202 corresponds to the total mass input flow out of said company. Similarly, if the mass balance of a certain product produced from at least one material is to be determined, the data received in box 2202 corresponds to the total mass outflow of said produced product. In this example, the data received in box 2204, as described later with respect to Fig. 23B as described.

[0452] In block 2206 of method 2200, a transfer balance associated with the material and the product(s) containing the material is determined based on the data contained in the material transfer transaction(s) and product transfer transaction(s) received in blocks 2202 and 2204, as previously described. In this example, the transfer balance, and in particular the mass balance, is as described later with respect to Fig.23C and Fig.23D As determined by the description.

[0453] In block 2208 of method 2200, the transfer balance determined in block 2206 is provided, for example, via a communication interface. In one example, using Figure 3 The application 306 determines the transfer balance and also provides the transfer balance via the application, for example, by displaying the results of the determination performed in block 2206 within a graphical user interface.

[0454] Fig.23A Shown Fig. 22 2304. In block 2302, one or more identities of corresponding (multiple) material transfer transactions are received. In one example, the at least one identity is received from a party that has stored (multiple) transactions associated with the material in a distributed ledger and has received the at least one identity when submitting the (multiple) corresponding transactions to the distributed ledger. In another example, the at least one identity is received by receiving (multiple) material data sets of the material associated with the corresponding material transfer transaction, the material data sets containing the identities of the transactions associated with the material, as described above. In yet another example, the at least one identity is received by receiving material transaction metadata of (multiple) material transfer transactions and retrieving at least one identity associated with the received material transaction metadata from the distributed ledger, in particular from the database layer of the distributed ledger. In yet a further example, the at least one identity is retrieved in block 2302 based on the data of at least one product transfer transaction received, as described previously with respect to the optional second step.

[0455] In this example, the identity of the at least one material transfer transaction includes a transaction ID of the at least one material transfer transaction that includes the corresponding material data.

[0456] In block 2304, data of at least one material transfer transaction is retrieved based on the one or more identities received in block 2302, for example by accessing a database of a corresponding member node (e.g., Figure 2 204 or 212 or 220) and retrieves the material data contained in the transaction associated with the received one or more identities. After the end of block 2304, the method proceeds to Fig. 22 Box 2204.

[0457] Fig. 23B Shown Fig. 222306 and 2308. In block 2306, one or more identities of corresponding product transfer transactions are received. In one example, the at least one identity is received from a party that has stored the transaction(s) associated with the product(s) in a distributed ledger and has received the at least one identity when submitting the corresponding transaction(s) to the distributed ledger. In another example, the at least one identity is received by receiving a product dataset of the product(s) associated with the corresponding product transfer transaction, the product dataset containing the identities of the transactions associated with the product(s), as described above. In yet another example, the at least one identity is received by receiving product transaction metadata of the product transfer transaction(s) and retrieving the at least one identity associated with the received product transaction metadata from the distributed ledger, in particular from a database layer of the distributed ledger. In yet a further example, the at least one identity is retrieved in block 2306 based on the received data of at least one material transfer transaction, as described previously with respect to the optional second step.

[0458] In this example, the identity of the at least one product transfer transaction includes a transaction ID of the at least one product transfer transaction that includes the corresponding product data.

[0459] exist Fig. 23B In block 2308, data of at least one product transfer transaction is retrieved based on the one or more identities received in block 2306, for example, by using the received one or more identities to access a database of a corresponding member node (e.g., Figure 2 204 or 212 or 220) and retrieves the product data contained in the transaction associated with the received one or more identities. After the end of block 2308, the method proceeds to Fig. 22 Box 2206.

[0460] Fig.23C and Fig.23D Shows how Fig. 22 A flowchart of one embodiment of determining a transfer balance is described in block 2206 of FIG. Fig.23C The total amount of material is determined as described, and as Fig.23D The total amount of product(s) comprising the material is determined as described. The determined total amount is then used to calculate a transfer balance, in particular a mass balance.

[0461] exist Fig.23CIn block 2310 of the method, it is determined whether to retrieve stoichiometry. For example, such a determination may be made based on the type of transfer balance to be determined, particularly a mass balance. For example, if the overall mass balance of a distributed system or the mass balance of a company that is part of a distributed system is to be determined, stoichiometry is not necessary and the total amount of material is determined as described in blocks 2312 and 2314. However, if the transfer balance of a specific product is to be determined, stoichiometry is required and the stoichiometry needs to be retrieved as described later with respect to block 2316. If it is determined in block 2310 that stoichiometry is not required, the method proceeds to block 2312, otherwise proceeds to block 2316 described later.

[0462] In block 2312, from Fig.23A The quantity of each material is retrieved from the material data retrieved in box 2304.

[0463] Then, in block 2314, the amounts retrieved in block 2312 are added together to obtain the total amount of material. After block 2314, the method proceeds to Fig. 22 Box 2206.

[0464] In block 2316, based on Fig. 23B The stoichiometry associated with the material is retrieved from the product identifier contained in the product data of the (multiple) product transfer transaction retrieved in block 2308 of . To this end, the product identifier, in particular the digital representation pointing to the product data set, is retrieved from the (multiple) product transfer transaction and used to retrieve the product characteristic data, for example via the data provision service as described above. The product characteristic data contains the corresponding stoichiometry required to determine the total amount of the material.

[0465] In box 2318, the amount of material is retrieved from each retrieved material transfer transaction, as described with respect to box 2312.

[0466] In block 2320, the total amount of material is determined using the stoichiometry retrieved in block 2316 and the amount of material retrieved in block 2320. After block 2320, the method proceeds to Fig.23D Box 2322.

[0467] exist Fig.23DIn block 2322, it is determined whether to retrieve stoichiometry. For example, such a determination may be made based on the type of transfer balance to be determined, in particular a mass balance. For example, if the overall mass balance of a distributed system or the mass balance of a company that is part of a distributed system is to be determined, stoichiometry is not necessary and the total amount of product(s) is determined as described in blocks 2324 and 2326. However, if the transfer balance of a specific product is to be determined, stoichiometry is required and the stoichiometry needs to be retrieved as described later with respect to block 2328. If it is determined in block 2322 that stoichiometry is not required, the method proceeds to block 2324, otherwise proceeds to block 2328 described later.

[0468] In block 2324, from Fig. 23B The amount of each product is retrieved from the product data retrieved in box 2308 of . Then, the amounts retrieved in box 2324 are added together in box 2326 to obtain the total amount of the product(s). After box 2326, the method proceeds to box 2334, which is described later.

[0469] In block 2330, based on Fig. 23B The chemical measurements associated with the product are retrieved from the product identifier contained in the product data of the (multiple) product transfer transactions retrieved in block 2308 of . For this purpose, the product identifier, in particular the digital representation pointing to the product data set, is retrieved from the (multiple) product transfer transactions and used to retrieve the product characteristic data, for example, via the data provision service as described above. The product characteristic data contains the corresponding chemical measurements required to determine the total amount of the material.

[0470] In box 2232, the quantity of the product is retrieved from each retrieved product transfer transaction, as described with respect to box 2312.

[0471] In block 2334, the total amount of product is determined using the stoichiometry retrieved in block 2330 and the amount of product retrieved in block 2332. After block 2334, the method proceeds to block 2328.

[0472] In block 2328, using the total amount of material determined in block 2314 or block 2320 of FIG. 25C and the total amount of product(s) containing the material determined in block 2326 or block 2334, a transfer balance, in particular a mass balance, is determined by comparing the total amount of material with the total amount of product(s). If the amounts are equal, the mass balance holds, i.e., all the material is used to produce the corresponding product(s). With respect to a circular system, a mass balance allows the detection of product losses with unknown destinations, such as waste illegally disposed of in a landfill, since in the case of illegal placement of waste, the amount of product(s) is not equal to the amount of material.

[0473] In the claims and description, "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. A single element or other unit may fulfill the functions of several entities or items recited in the claims.

[0474] The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to an advantageous embodiment.

[0475] The disclosure is also described in conjunction with preferred embodiments and examples. However, other variations may be understood and implemented by those skilled in the art and those practicing the claimed invention through study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the claims. It is particularly noteworthy that any of the steps presented may be performed in any order, i.e., the present invention is not limited to a particular order of the steps. Furthermore, it is not required that different steps be performed at a certain place or node in the distributed system, i.e., each step may be performed at a different node using different equipment / data processing.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for tracking at least one transfer associated with a material and at least one product comprising the material in a decentralized network comprising a distributed ledger, the distributed ledger comprising a plurality of member nodes, the distributed ledger comprising material transfer transactions comprising material data associated with the material and product transfer transactions comprising product data associated with at least one product comprising the material, the method comprising the steps of: - receiving at least one data set, each data set comprising data of at least one material transfer transaction containing the material data and / or data of at least one product transfer transaction containing the product data associated with the product(s) containing the material, - retrieving the material data and the product data based on the received data set(s), - tracking at least one transfer by determining a transfer balance associated with the material and the at least one product based on the received or retrieved material data and the received or retrieved product data, and -Providing the at least one tracked transfer.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The material is a chemical raw material or a chemical material.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The material data includes material transaction metadata and the quantity of the material.

4. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The product data includes product transaction metadata and the quantity of the product containing the material.

5. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein: Each data set includes a decentralized identifier and data associated with the material or data associated with a product containing the material.

6. The method according to any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein: Each dataset is received from a data provisioning service.

7. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The material and at least one product comprising the material are transferred in a linear production process or in a cyclic process.

8. The method according to any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein: Retrieving material data based on the received (multiple) data sets includes: determining the identity of at least one material transfer transaction based on the data of the (multiple) material transfer transactions contained in the received (multiple) data sets, and retrieving material data associated with at least one identity of the determined (multiple) material transfer transactions.

9. The method according to any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein: Retrieving material data based on the received (multiple) data sets includes: determining at least one material transfer transaction associated with (multiple) products containing the material based on the data of the (multiple) product transfer transactions contained in the received (multiple) data sets, and retrieving material data associated with the determined (multiple) material transfer transactions.

10. The method according to any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein: Retrieving product data based on the received (multiple) data sets includes: determining the identity of at least one product transfer transaction based on the data of the (multiple) product transfer transactions contained in the received (multiple) data sets, and retrieving product data associated with at least one identity of the determined (multiple) product transfer transactions.

11. The method according to any one of the preceding embodiments, wherein: Retrieving product data based on the received (multiple) data sets includes: determining at least one product transfer transaction associated with the material based on the data of the (multiple) material transfer transactions contained in the received (multiple) data sets, and retrieving the product data of the determined (multiple) product transfer transactions.

12. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: Determining the transfer balance includes - determining the total amount of the material based on the retrieved material data, and determining the total amount of product(s) containing the material based on the retrieved products, and - Compare the determined total amount of material with the determined total amount of product(s).

13. An apparatus for tracking at least one transfer associated with a material and at least one product comprising the material in a decentralized material network comprising a distributed ledger, the distributed ledger comprising a plurality of member nodes, the distributed ledger comprising transfer transactions comprising material data associated with the material and transfer transactions comprising product data associated with at least one product comprising the material, the apparatus comprising: One or more computing nodes; and one or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions thereon, the instructions being configured to cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 12 when executed by the one or more computing nodes.

14. Use of a material transfer balance generated by the method of any one of claims 1 to 12 or by the apparatus of claim 13 for verifying material transfers associated with a material and product(s) containing the material.

15. A computer element having instructions, which, when executed on one or more computing nodes, is configured to perform the steps of the method of any one of claims 1 to 12, or is configured to be executed by the apparatus of claim 13.

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