Balancing the amount of recyclable materials in a product ecosystem

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of sustainability, in particular to the field of managing recyclable materials to improve the circularity of such recyclable materials. The present disclosure relates to methods, apparatuses, systems, decentralized network nodes, and computer elements for allocating an amount of recyclable material associated with a material owner to a virtual material account and for allocating the amount of recyclable material stored in such virtual material account to a produced chemical product by generating a chemical product pass associated with the produced chemical product. The present disclosure further relates to a chemical product associated with such chemical product pass.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of sustainability, and more particularly to the field of managing recyclable materials to improve the circularity of such recyclable materials. This disclosure relates to methods, apparatus, systems, distributed network nodes, and computer elements for allocating quantities of recyclable materials associated with material owners to virtual material accounts and for allocating quantities of recyclable materials stored in such virtual material accounts to produced chemical products by generating chemical product passes associated with those chemical products. This disclosure further relates to chemical products associated with such chemical product passes. Background Technology

[0002] The environmental impact of end products is a major concern. This impact can be mitigated by using recycling systems where materials contained in the end product or its components are recovered to allow for the production of new chemicals from the recovered materials. Transparency regarding the amount of recyclable material contained within the produced end product can help improve recovery rates and allow the allocation of the recovered amount from the recovery of the end product containing such material to the newly produced chemical, thus allowing for a reduction in the environmental impact of the production chain associated with the production of the end product. However, because this material is contained in numerous end products, transparency regarding the amount of recyclable material is hindered. Therefore, there is a need to develop methods and systems that allow for the balancing of the amount of recyclable material contained within the end product, enabling the allocation of the recovered amount associated with the recovery of such recyclable material to both the newly produced chemical and the end product produced from it. Summary of the Invention

[0003] On the one hand, a method for allocating quantities of recyclable materials associated with material owners to virtual material accounts is disclosed, particularly a computer-implemented method, which includes the following steps:

[0004] • Provide data relating to the owner of the material and data relating to the final product or components containing the recyclable material;

[0005] • Based on the provided data, collect final product data and / or component data via a distributed network;

[0006] • Aggregate the collected data by applying at least one aggregation rule to the collected data;

[0007] • Determine the amount of recyclable material by applying at least one transformation rule to the aggregated data;

[0008] • The determined amount of recyclable material is allocated to at least one virtual material account via accounting transactions.

[0009] On the other hand, a method for allocating quantities of recyclable materials associated with material owners to virtual material accounts is disclosed, particularly a computer-implemented method, which includes the following steps:

[0010] • Provide data relating to the owner of the material and data relating to the final product or components containing the recyclable material;

[0011] • Based on the provided data, collect final product data and / or component data via a distributed network;

[0012] • The amount of recyclable material in each final product or its component is determined by applying at least one transformation rule to the collected data;

[0013] • Allocate the determined amount of recyclable material to at least one virtual material account via accounting transactions;

[0014] • Aggregate at least a portion of the amount of recyclable materials stored in the at least one virtual materials account;

[0015] • The aggregated amount of recyclable materials is allocated to at least one virtual material account via another accounting transaction.

[0016] In another aspect, an apparatus for allocating quantities of recyclable materials associated with a material owner to a virtual material account is disclosed, the apparatus comprising:

[0017] • A data provisioning interface configured to provide data relating to the material owner and data relating to the final product or components containing the recyclable material;

[0018] • Distributed network interface, configured to collect final product data and / or component data via a distributed network based on the provided data;

[0019] • A materials accounting system configured to provide at least one virtual materials account for balancing the amount of recyclable materials;

[0020] • Materials entry system, which is configured as

[0021] ○ Aggregate the collected data by applying at least one aggregation rule to the collected data.

[0022] The amount of recyclable material is determined by applying at least one transformation rule to the aggregated data, and

[0023] ○ The determined amount of recyclable material is allocated to at least one of the provided virtual material accounts through accounting transactions.

[0024] In another aspect, an apparatus for allocating quantities of recyclable materials associated with a material owner to a virtual material account is disclosed, the apparatus comprising:

[0025] • A data provisioning interface configured to provide data relating to the material owner and data relating to the final product or components containing the recyclable material;

[0026] • Distributed network interface, configured to collect final product data and / or component data via a distributed network based on the provided data;

[0027] • A materials accounting system configured to provide at least one virtual materials account for balancing the amount of recyclable materials;

[0028] • Materials entry system, which is configured as

[0029] ○ The amount of recyclable material in each final product or its component is determined by applying at least one transformation rule to the collected data;

[0030] ○ The determined amount of recyclable material is allocated to at least one of the provided virtual material accounts through accounting transactions;

[0031] ○ Aggregate at least a portion of the amount of recyclable materials stored in the at least one virtual materials account;

[0032] ○ The aggregated amount of recyclable materials is allocated to at least one virtual material account via another accounting transaction.

[0033] In another aspect, a method is disclosed for assigning or conferring at least one environmental property related to a recyclable material associated with a material owner, particularly a computer-implemented method, wherein the chemical product is produced at least partially from one or more input materials associated with the recyclable material through chemical production, the method comprising:

[0034] • Provide data associated with the chemical products produced, including chemical product identifiers;

[0035] • Provide at least one allocation rule for allocating amounts of recyclable materials to chemical products;

[0036] • A virtual material account for storing the amount of recyclable material is determined by the allocation rule, wherein the amount of recyclable material has been allocated to the virtual material account based on data associated with the final product or component thereof containing the recyclable material;

[0037] • Based on the provided data associated with the chemical product and the allocation rule, the amount of recyclable material stored in the determined virtual material account is allocated to the chemical product identifier by generating a chemical product pass associated with the chemical product based on the allocated amount of recyclable material, the chemical product pass including the chemical product identifier and data related to the allocated amount of recyclable material.

[0038] • Optionally, the generated chemical product pass can be provided for access via a distributed network under the control of the data owner of the chemical product pass.

[0039] In another aspect, a method is disclosed for assigning or conferring at least one environmental property related to a recyclable material associated with a material owner, particularly a computer-implemented method, wherein the chemical product is produced at least partially from one or more input materials associated with the recyclable material through chemical production, the method comprising:

[0040] • Provide data associated with the chemical products produced, including chemical product identifiers;

[0041] • Provide at least one allocation rule for allocating amounts of recyclable materials to chemical products;

[0042] • A virtual material account for storing the amount of recyclable material is determined by the allocation rule, wherein the amount of recyclable material has been allocated to the virtual material account based on data associated with the final product or component thereof containing the recyclable material;

[0043] • Based on the provided data associated with the chemical product and the allocation rule, the amount of recyclable material stored in the determined virtual material account is allocated to the chemical product identifier;

[0044] • Provide the amount of recyclable material assigned to the chemical product identifier to generate a chemical product pass associated with the chemical product based on the amount of recyclable material assigned, the chemical product pass including the chemical product identifier and data related to the amount of recyclable material assigned.

[0045] In another aspect, an apparatus is disclosed for assigning or conferring at least one environmental property related to a recyclable material associated with a material owner upon a produced chemical product, wherein the chemical product is produced at least partially from one or more input materials associated with the recyclable material through chemical production, the apparatus comprising:

[0046] • A data providing interface configured to provide data associated with the produced chemical product, including a chemical product identifier;

[0047] • Rule provider, configured to provide at least one allocation rule for allocating amounts of recyclable material to chemical products;

[0048] • A materials accounting system configured to provide at least one virtual materials account for storing quantities of recyclable materials, wherein the quantities of recyclable materials have been allocated to the virtual materials account based on data associated with a final product or component thereof containing the recyclable materials;

[0049] • Materials billing system, which is configured as

[0050] ○ The virtual material account provided for storing the amount of recyclable material is determined by the allocation rules, and

[0051] Based on the provided data associated with the chemical product and the allocation rule, the amount of recyclable material stored in the determined virtual material account is allocated to the chemical product identifier by generating a chemical product pass associated with the chemical product based on the allocated amount of recyclable material, the chemical product pass including the chemical product identifier and data related to the allocated amount of recyclable material;

[0052] • Optionally, a distributed network interface is configured to provide generated chemical product passes for access via a distributed network under the control of the data owner of the chemical product pass.

[0053] In another aspect, an apparatus is disclosed for assigning or conferring at least one environmental property related to a recyclable material associated with a material owner upon a produced chemical product, wherein the chemical product is produced at least partially from one or more input materials associated with the recyclable material through chemical production, the apparatus comprising:

[0054] • A data providing interface configured to provide data associated with the produced chemical product, including a chemical product identifier;

[0055] • Rule provider, configured to provide at least one allocation rule for allocating amounts of recyclable material to chemical products;

[0056] • A materials accounting system configured to provide at least one virtual materials account for storing quantities of recyclable materials, wherein the quantities of recyclable materials have been allocated to the virtual materials account based on data associated with a final product or component thereof containing the recyclable materials;

[0057] • Materials billing system, which is configured as

[0058] ○ A virtual material account that determines the amount of recyclable material stored through this allocation rule;

[0059] Based on the provided data associated with the chemical product and the allocation rule, the amount of recyclable material stored in the determined virtual material account is allocated to the chemical product identifier;

[0060] • A data providing interface configured to provide the amount of recyclable material assigned to the chemical product identifier to generate a chemical product pass associated with the chemical product based on the amount of recyclable material assigned, the chemical product pass including the chemical product identifier and data related to the amount of recyclable material assigned.

[0061] In another aspect, a method for generating a chemical product pass associated with a chemical product produced from one or more input materials through chemical production is disclosed, particularly a computer-implemented method, wherein the chemical product is associated with a chemical product identifier, the method comprising:

[0062] • Provide the amount of recyclable material assigned to the chemical product identifier, wherein the amount of recyclable material is allocated according to the method disclosed herein or through the apparatus disclosed herein;

[0063] • Provide data associated with the chemical product produced, including the chemical product's identifier.

[0064] • Provide at least one decentralized identifier associated with the data related to the chemical products produced.

[0065] • Generate the chemical product pass, which includes the chemical product identifier, the at least one distributed identifier, at least a portion of the data associated with the chemical product produced, and data related to the amount of recyclable material allocated to the chemical product identifier;

[0066] • Optionally, the generated chemical product pass can be provided for access via a distributed network under the control of the data owner of the chemical product pass.

[0067] In another aspect, an apparatus for generating a chemical product pass associated with a chemical product produced from one or more input materials through chemical production is disclosed, wherein the chemical product is associated with a chemical product identifier, the apparatus comprising:

[0068] • A material disbursement system configured to provide an amount of recyclable material assigned to the chemical product identifier, wherein the amount of recyclable material is disbursed according to the method disclosed herein or through the apparatus disclosed herein;

[0069] • A data providing interface configured to provide data associated with the produced chemical product, including the chemical product identifier;

[0070] • A distributed identifier provider configured to provide at least one distributed identifier associated with data related to the chemical product produced.

[0071] • A chemical product pass generator configured to generate the chemical product pass, which includes the chemical product identifier, the at least one distributed identifier, at least a portion of data associated with the chemical product produced, and data related to the amount of recyclable material allocated to the chemical product identifier.

[0072] • Optionally, a distributed network interface is configured to provide generated chemical product passes for access via a distributed network under the control of the data owner of the chemical product pass.

[0073] In another aspect, a method for managing and / or controlling the assignment of environmental properties associated with recyclable materials to produced chemical products is disclosed, particularly a computer-implemented method, wherein the chemical product is produced at least in part from one or more input materials associated with the recyclable material through chemical production, the method comprising:

[0074] • Allocate quantities of recyclable materials to at least one virtual material account using the methods or apparatus disclosed herein;

[0075] • Provide data associated with the chemical products produced, including chemical product identifiers;

[0076] • Provide at least one allocation rule for allocating amounts of recyclable materials to chemical products;

[0077] • A virtual material account that determines the amount of recyclable material stored via this allocation rule;

[0078] • Based on the provided data associated with the chemical product and the allocation rule, the amount of recyclable material stored in the determined virtual material account is allocated to the chemical product identifier by generating a chemical product pass associated with the chemical product based on the allocated amount of recyclable material, the chemical product pass including the chemical product identifier and data related to the allocated amount of recyclable material.

[0079] • Optionally, the generated product pass can be provided for access via a distributed network under the control of the data owner of the product pass.

[0080] In another aspect, a method for monitoring the environmental impact of a chemical product, particularly a computer-implemented method, is disclosed, wherein the chemical product is produced at least in part from one or more input materials associated with recyclable materials through chemical production, the method comprising:

[0081] • Allocate quantities of recyclable materials to at least one virtual material account using the methods or apparatus disclosed herein;

[0082] • Provide data associated with the chemical products produced, including chemical product identifiers;

[0083] • Provide at least one allocation rule for allocating amounts of recyclable materials to chemical products;

[0084] • A virtual material account that determines the amount of recyclable material stored via this allocation rule;

[0085] • Based on the provided data associated with the chemical product and the allocation rule, the amount of recyclable material stored in the determined virtual material account is allocated to the chemical product identifier by generating a chemical product pass associated with the chemical product based on the allocated amount of recyclable material, the chemical product pass including the chemical product identifier and data related to the allocated amount of recyclable material.

[0086] • Optionally, the generated chemical product pass can be provided for access via a distributed network under the control of the data owner of the chemical product pass.

[0087] In another aspect, a system for managing and / or controlling the assignment of environmental properties related to recyclable materials to produced chemical products is disclosed, wherein the chemical products are produced at least partially from one or more input materials related to the recyclable materials through chemical production, the system comprising:

[0088] • A materials accounting system configured to provide at least one virtual materials account for balancing the amount of recyclable materials;

[0089] • A materials accounting system configured to allocate quantities of recyclable materials to at least one virtual materials account provided, in accordance with the methods or apparatus disclosed herein.

[0090] • A data providing interface configured to provide data associated with the produced chemical product, including a chemical product identifier;

[0091] • A rule-providing interface is configured to provide at least one allocation rule for allocating amounts of recyclable materials to chemical products;

[0092] • Materials billing system, which is configured as

[0093] ○ A virtual material account that determines the amount of recyclable material stored through this allocation rule;

[0094] Based on the provided data associated with the chemical product and the allocation rule, the amount of recyclable material stored in the determined virtual material account is allocated to the chemical product identifier by generating a chemical product pass associated with the chemical product based on the allocated amount of recyclable material, the chemical product pass including the chemical product identifier and data related to the allocated amount of recyclable material;

[0095] • Optionally, a distributed network interface is configured to provide generated chemical product passes for access via a distributed network under the control of the data owner of the chemical product pass.

[0096] In another aspect, a system for monitoring the environmental impact of a chemical product is disclosed, wherein the chemical product is produced at least in part from one or more input materials associated with recyclable materials through chemical production, the system comprising:

[0097] • A materials accounting system configured to provide at least one virtual materials account for balancing the amount of recyclable materials;

[0098] • A materials accounting system configured to allocate quantities of recyclable materials to at least one virtual materials account provided, in accordance with the methods or apparatus disclosed herein.

[0099] • A data providing interface configured to provide data associated with the produced chemical product, including a chemical product identifier;

[0100] • A rule-providing interface is configured to provide at least one allocation rule for allocating amounts of recyclable materials to chemical products;

[0101] • Materials billing system, which is configured as

[0102] ○ A virtual material account that determines the amount of recyclable material stored through this allocation rule;

[0103] Based on the provided data associated with the chemical product and the allocation rule, the amount of recyclable material stored in the determined virtual material account is allocated to the chemical product identifier by generating a chemical product pass associated with the chemical product based on the allocated amount of recyclable material, the chemical product pass including the chemical product identifier and data related to the allocated amount of recyclable material;

[0104] • Optionally, a distributed network interface is configured to provide generated chemical product passes for access via a distributed network under the control of the data owner of the chemical product pass.

[0105] In another aspect, a method for managing and / or controlling the assignment of environmental properties associated with recyclable materials to produced chemical products is disclosed, particularly a computer-implemented method, wherein the chemical product is produced at least in part from one or more input materials associated with the recyclable material through chemical production, the method comprising:

[0106] • Allocate quantities of recyclable materials to at least one virtual material account using the methods or apparatus disclosed herein;

[0107] • Provide data associated with the chemical products produced, including chemical product identifiers;

[0108] • Provide at least one allocation rule for allocating amounts of recyclable materials to chemical products;

[0109] • A virtual material account that determines the amount of recyclable material stored via this allocation rule;

[0110] • Based on the provided data associated with the chemical product and the allocation rule, the amount of recyclable material stored in the determined virtual material account is allocated to the chemical product identifier;

[0111] • Provide the amount of recyclable material assigned to the chemical product identifier to generate a chemical product pass associated with the chemical product based on the amount of recyclable material assigned, the chemical product pass including the chemical product identifier and data related to the amount of recyclable material assigned.

[0112] In another aspect, a method for monitoring the environmental impact of a chemical product, particularly a computer-implemented method, is disclosed, wherein the chemical product is produced at least in part from one or more input materials associated with recyclable materials through chemical production, the method comprising:

[0113] • Allocate quantities of recyclable materials to at least one virtual material account using the methods or apparatus disclosed herein;

[0114] • Provide data associated with the chemical products produced, including chemical product identifiers;

[0115] • Provide at least one allocation rule for allocating amounts of recyclable materials to chemical products;

[0116] • A virtual materials account that determines the amount of recyclable materials stored through this allocation rule;

[0117] • Based on the provided data associated with the chemical product and the allocation rule, the amount of recyclable material stored in the determined virtual material account is allocated to the chemical product identifier;

[0118] • Provide the amount of recyclable material assigned to the chemical product identifier to generate a chemical product pass associated with the chemical product based on the amount of recyclable material assigned, the chemical product pass including the chemical product identifier and data related to the amount of recyclable material assigned.

[0119] In another aspect, a system for managing and / or controlling the assignment of environmental properties related to recyclable materials to produced chemical products is disclosed, wherein the chemical products are produced at least partially from one or more input materials related to the recyclable materials through chemical production, the system comprising:

[0120] • A materials accounting system configured to provide at least one virtual materials account for balancing the amount of recyclable materials;

[0121] • A materials accounting system configured to allocate quantities of recyclable materials to at least one virtual materials account provided, in accordance with the methods or apparatus disclosed herein.

[0122] • A data providing interface configured to provide data associated with the produced chemical product, including a chemical product identifier;

[0123] • A rule-providing interface is configured to provide at least one allocation rule for allocating amounts of recyclable materials to chemical products;

[0124] • Materials billing system, which is configured as

[0125] ○ A virtual material account that determines the amount of recyclable material stored through this allocation rule;

[0126] Based on the provided data associated with the chemical product and the allocation rule, the amount of recyclable material stored in the determined virtual material account is allocated to the chemical product identifier;

[0127] ○ Provide the amount of recyclable material allocated to the chemical product identifier to generate a chemical product pass associated with the chemical product based on the allocated amount of recyclable material, the chemical product pass including the chemical product identifier and data related to the allocated amount of recyclable material.

[0128] In another aspect, a system for monitoring the environmental impact of a chemical product is disclosed, wherein the chemical product is produced, at least in part, from one or more input materials associated with recyclable materials through chemical production, the method comprising:

[0129] • A materials accounting system configured to provide at least one virtual materials account for balancing the amount of recyclable materials;

[0130] • A materials accounting system configured to allocate quantities of recyclable materials to at least one virtual materials account provided, in accordance with the methods or apparatus disclosed herein.

[0131] • A data providing interface configured to provide data associated with the produced chemical product, including a chemical product identifier;

[0132] • A rule-providing interface is configured to provide at least one allocation rule for allocating amounts of recyclable materials to chemical products;

[0133] • Materials billing system, which is configured as

[0134] ○ A virtual material account that determines the amount of recyclable material stored through this allocation rule;

[0135] Based on the provided data associated with the chemical product and the allocation rule, the amount of recyclable material stored in the determined virtual material account is allocated to the chemical product identifier;

[0136] ○ Provide the amount of recyclable material allocated to the chemical product identifier to generate a chemical product pass associated with the chemical product based on the allocated amount of recyclable material, the chemical product pass including the chemical product identifier and data related to the allocated amount of recyclable material.

[0137] A chemical product associated with a chemical product pass generated according to the methods or apparatus disclosed herein.

[0138] A distributed network node configured to provide an amount of recyclable material allocated to a chemical product identifier associated with a produced chemical product, wherein the amount of recyclable material is allocated to the chemical product identifier according to the method disclosed herein or by means of the apparatus disclosed herein.

[0139] In another aspect, a computer element, particularly a computer program product or computer-readable medium, having instructions is disclosed, which, when executed on one or more computing nodes, is configured to perform the steps of any of the methods disclosed herein.

[0140] In another aspect, this disclosure relates to a computer element having instructions that, when executed on one or more computing nodes, is configured to perform the steps of the methods disclosed herein or is configured to be performed by the means disclosed herein.

[0141] Any disclosures, embodiments, and examples described herein relate to the methods, apparatuses, systems, distributed network nodes, chemical products, and computer elements listed above and below. Advantageously, the benefits provided by any embodiment and example also apply to all other embodiments and examples. Example

[0142] Embodiments of this disclosure will be outlined below through examples and / or embodiments. It should be understood that this disclosure is not limited to the embodiments and / or examples described.

[0143] To achieve or improve the recyclability of recyclable materials, transparency regarding the amount of such recyclable materials contained in the final product, its components, and / or contained in production waste generated during the production of the final product and / or its components is essential.

[0144] By determining the amount of recyclable materials available through recycling processes on end products containing recyclable materials, their components, and / or production waste, and by balancing this amount on a virtual materials account, the amount of recyclable materials contained in the final products produced and / or in the production waste generated during the production of the final products becomes transparent and accountable. Therefore, this virtual materials account can balance the amount of recyclable materials that are already available or will become available in the future. Balancing the amount of recyclable materials on the virtual materials account allows a portion of this amount to be efficiently assigned to the produced chemicals in the form of a recovery content. This allows for tracking the recovery content in chemical processing and providing chemicals with a positive environmental impact, and thus also providing end products with a positive environmental impact produced from them. The virtual materials accounting system allows for the decoupling of the allocation of the amount of recyclable materials from the input material flow into chemical production, while still allowing for the customization of the environmental impact of the produced chemicals based on the amount of recyclable materials provided by the virtual materials accounting system. In this way, the environmental impact of the produced chemicals can be customized according to the needs of customers or owners of recyclable materials (such as product producers that produce products based on chemicals), regardless of the environmental properties associated with the input materials entering production. By generating chemical product passes that are associated with the products produced and include data related to the amount of recyclable material allocated to the chemical products, the environmental characteristics of the chemical products can be made transparent to customers who further process the chemical products.

[0145] By using a decentralized network to collect data related to end products and / or components containing such recyclable materials, data on the composition of end products, their components, and / or production waste necessary to determine the amount of recyclable material in each end product, end product group, each component, component group, and / or production waste batch can be shared in a secure and controlled manner, thus avoiding access to data not required to determine the amount of recyclable material.

[0146] By using aggregation rules, data collected for each final product and / or each component and / or each batch of production waste can be efficiently aggregated, allowing the determination of the total amount of recyclable material based on the aggregated data. The use of aggregation rules allows the collected data to be filtered according to given criteria, thus ensuring that the total amount of recyclable material can be determined for a defined scope. This allows for the efficient determination of the total amount of recyclable material based on data collected via a distributed network.

[0147] By using allocation rules, owners of recyclable materials can control and / or manage the allocation of quantities stored as recycled content in such accounts to chemical products, thus providing them with a means to mitigate the environmental impact associated with the chemical products and other products (e.g., discrete products) they produce. Therefore, material owners can directly control the environmental impact of the production inputs they use to produce products (e.g., final products). In this way, regardless of the environmental impact contribution of production inputs provided by upstream production stages, material owners can ensure the target environmental impact of the produced products. Allocation rules can allow the selective allocation of quantities stored in such accounts to a given chemical product, such as a chemical product produced from input materials associated with the recyclable materials, a chemical product produced by a producer of a given chemical product, and / or a chemical product produced for a user of a given chemical product. Using virtual material accounts to balance the quantity of recyclable materials allows for the abstraction of the complexity of the material cycle and product ecosystem involving numerous participants, while still allowing the assignment of recycled content to the produced chemical products. Thus, the amount of recycled content to be allocated to the produced chemical products can be determined based on the material cycle associated with the material owner.

[0148] By using digital assets (e.g., chemical product passes) linked to (or assigned to, attached to, or associated with) the produced chemicals, the amount of recyclable material allocated to the chemicals from a virtual balancing account can be made transparent in terms of recycling content. These digital assets can be transferred to chemical product consumers and used by them to determine the recycling content of the produced products. Therefore, digital assets can be used by downstream participants in the materials cycle to make the produced products more sustainable. Specifically, for chemical networks that produce more than one chemical product from more than one input material via interconnected, connected, and disconnected production chains, the use of digital assets enables the allocation of recycling amounts (e.g., the amount of recyclable material allocated to the chemicals from a virtual balancing account) based on the physical setup of the chemical production network. The use of digital assets allows for the abstraction of the complexity of the chemical production network while still allowing the assignment of recycling content to the chemicals. Thus, the recycling content of the produced chemicals can be determined based on the physical setup of the chemical production network.

[0149] By converting data collected via a decentralized network into indexable or accountable quantities of recyclable materials, data stored within the decentralized network and forming a first semantic domain can be transformed into a common language (e.g., indexable or accountable quantities of recyclable materials) used among different participants in the material cycle. This common language can serve as the intersection of shared meanings among these participants. For example, material owners and chemical producers can learn from the balance of a virtual materials account how much recyclable material is available for allocation to the produced chemicals. Furthermore, such participants can easily control or audit the transformation of collected data into accountable quantities of recyclable materials, thereby ensuring that this quantity is determined in a reliable and credible manner. Additionally, the transformation of collected data associated with physical products (e.g., final products) into accountable quantities of recyclable materials allows the conversion of recyclable materials contained in physical products (e.g., the produced final products) into tradable materials.

[0150] The conversion from the first semantic domain to the second semantic domain via the amount of indexable or accountable recycled material stored in the virtual balance account can be achieved by transforming the amount of recycled material (e.g., a generic term) to a second semantic domain, such as a chemical product pass associated with a chemical product produced from a quantity of recycled material that has been allocated and stored in a virtual balance account. Since transforming the collected data into indexable quantities and then back into data (e.g., chemical product passes) is easily controlled or auditable for participants in the material cycle, the conversion between the two semantic domains via the virtual material account can be performed reliably and trustworthyly.

[0151] Various units, entities, nodes, or other computing components can be described as being "configured to" perform one or more tasks. "Configured to" should be interpreted as meaning "having a circuit system that performs one or more tasks during operation." Units, circuits, entities, nodes, or other computing components can be configured to perform tasks even when the unit / circuit / component is not operational. Units, circuits, entities, nodes, or other computing components forming the structure corresponding to "configured to" may include hardware circuitry and / or memory storing executable program instructions to perform the operation. For convenience in the description, units, circuits, entities, nodes, or other computing components can be described as performing one or more tasks. This description should be interpreted as including the phrase "configured to."

[0152] Generally, the methods, apparatuses, systems, computer elements, nodes, or other computing components described herein may include memory, software components, and hardware components. Memory may include volatile memory (such as static or dynamic random access memory) and / or non-volatile memory (such as optical or magnetic disk storage devices, flash memory, programmable read-only memory, etc.). Hardware components may include any combination of the following: combinational logic circuit systems, clock storage devices (such as flip-flops, registers, latches, etc.), finite state machines, memory (such as static random access memory or embedded dynamic random access memory), custom-designed circuit systems, programmable logic arrays, etc.

[0153] Recyclable materials can be any material contained in the final product and obtained or available through a recycling process of the final product or a portion thereof. Recyclable materials can also be any material contained in production waste or production scrap and obtained or available through a recycling process of the production waste or production scrap. The final product, a portion thereof (e.g., components), and / or production waste may therefore contain an amount of recyclable material that can be obtained through a recycling process. The amount of recyclable material allocated to or stored in a virtual balance account may represent the amount of available recyclable material and / or the amount of recyclable material that may be available in the future. Available recyclable material may include recyclable material obtained from a recycling process that has not yet been used as input material for chemical production to produce new chemical products. Recyclable material that may be available in the future may include virtual recyclable material that has not yet been produced but can be produced in the future by recycling a final product containing recyclable material.

[0154] Production waste or production scrap can be generated during any step of the production process for the final product. Production waste or production scrap can be generated during the production of chemical products or discrete products used to produce the final product. Production waste may include discarded materials that may no longer be used in any step of the final product's production. Scrap materials can be collected and provided to recyclers for recycling. Production waste or production scrap may include discarded cathode active materials and / or discarded anode active materials. Production waste or production scrap may include discarded electrode materials. Discarded electrode materials may include recyclable materials, such as recyclable metals or metal compounds.

[0155] Data related to the final product or its components may be associated with production waste generated during the production of the final product and / or its components. Final product data and / or component data may include waste data associated with production waste generated during the production of the final product and / or its components.

[0156] The final product can be part of a product ecosystem. A product ecosystem can include chemical products. A product ecosystem can include a production chain that produces the output product. The output product can be a chemical product, intermediate chemical product, component, component assembly, or final product. A product ecosystem can include a processing chain for handling old output products generated from the use of the produced output products. The processing chain can include a recycling chain for recovering at least a portion of the old output products or their components. The processing chain can include a reuse chain for reusing the old output products. A product ecosystem can include various participants, such as producers of original input materials, producers of chemical products, users of chemical products, producers of final products, users of final products, collectors of end-of-life products, and recyclers. A product ecosystem can allow the use of recycled materials generated from the recycling of end-of-life products to produce new products, such as chemical products. A product ecosystem can be associated with the production and / or reuse and / or recycling of physical products.

[0157] Participants in a product ecosystem can connect via a distributed network. The distributed network can include one or more distributed network nodes configured to execute data transactions. Distributed network nodes can be associated with participants in the product ecosystem. Data transactions can be based on transaction protocols that include authentication and / or authorization mechanisms. Based on authentication and / or authorization mechanisms, a peer-to-peer network can be established between distributed network nodes in the distributed network. One or more authentication mechanisms can be associated with or linked to a distributed identifier. One or more authentication mechanisms associated with a distributed identifier can be provided to distributed network nodes. One or more authentication mechanisms associated with a distributed identifier can be accessed by distributed network nodes. Distributed configuration allows for more efficient use of computing resources and strengthens each data owner's control over the distributed network.

[0158] Data providing network nodes can be configured to provide access to data stored in a dedicated storage device associated with the respective data providing network node. The data stored in the dedicated storage device may include data related to final products or components containing recyclable materials. Data stored in the dedicated storage device may include permits for generated chemical products. Data providing network nodes can be configured to provide access to such data upon request by data consuming network nodes. Access to such data can be under the control of the data providing network node associated with the corresponding data. Data providing network nodes can be configured to authenticate and / or authorize data consuming network nodes to access such data.

[0159] Data consuming network nodes can be configured to request access to data stored in dedicated storage devices associated with data providing network nodes. Data consuming network nodes can be configured to determine, for example, by querying a distributed network, particularly a distributed registry of storage access elements, to identify the access elements associated with the produced products. Data consuming network nodes can be associated with participants in the product ecosystem.

[0160] A material owner can be any entity that owns recyclable materials. A material owner can be any entity that controls recyclable materials. A material owner can be any entity within a product ecosystem that controls the flow of recyclable materials within a material cycle associated with the recyclable materials. A material cycle can refer to a circular system in which a final product or its components are recycled and recycled materials are obtained to produce new chemical products, which are then used to produce new final products. A material cycle can be a closed material cycle in which recycled materials are used to produce the same final product, and the recycled materials are obtained from that material cycle via recycling. A material cycle can be an open material cycle in which recycled materials are used to produce different final products, distinct from the material cycle from which the recycled materials are obtained.

[0161] A virtual materials account can refer to a digital storage structure that stores the quantity (e.g., quantity data) of recyclable materials. Therefore, a virtual materials account can be a digital inventory of recyclable material quantities. A virtual materials account can contain transaction tables. Transaction tables can contain entries associated with allocating quantities of recyclable materials to the account and deducting quantities of recyclable materials from the account. These entries can be stored within the table based on accounting transactions received by the virtual balancing account or an accounting system that includes a virtual materials account. These entries can contain data included in the accounting transactions, such as the quantity to be credited or deducted, the recyclable material identifier, the transaction initiator, the transaction time and date, or a combination thereof. A virtual materials account can be associated with metadata identifying the account used to balance the quantity of recyclable materials. A virtual materials account can be associated with metadata identifying the units of recyclable materials and the quantities allocated to the account. A virtual materials account can be associated with metadata identifying the environmental properties of the recyclable materials associated with the account. A virtual materials account can hold or store quantities of recyclable materials for trading. Quantities of recyclable materials can be allocated (or credited or added) to the account, thus increasing the balance of recyclable materials stored in the account. The balance of recyclable materials stored in an account can be reduced, for example, by deleting (or billing out, withdrawing, or deducting) the amount of recyclable materials from the account by assigning a quantity to a chemical product identifier. Virtual material accounts can be associated with environmental attribute types such as recyclables. Virtual material accounts can be associated with recyclable material types such as metals. Virtual material accounts can be associated with allocation schemes or rules for assigning or distributing quantities of recyclable materials to or from the account. Virtual material accounts can be part of a materials accounting system that includes multiple virtual material accounts. The materials accounting system can include a materials entry system configured to convert data associated with the final product or its components and collected from a distributed network into quantities of recyclable materials and to enter (or allocate or add) these quantities into the virtual balance account of the materials accounting system. The materials accounting system can include a materials exit system configured to exit (or delete, withdraw, or deduct) the amount of recyclable materials stored in the virtual balance account by assigning a quantity of recyclable materials to a chemical product identifier associated with the produced chemical product.

[0162] Assigning or attributing at least one environmental attribute related to recyclable materials to a produced chemical product may include associating a chemical product identifier associated with the corresponding produced chemical product with an amount of recyclable material stored in a virtual materials account, such amount being related to or corresponding to the environmental attribute. The chemical product identifier may be associated with a physical entity of the chemical product. Thus, the virtual identifier of the chemical product can be uniquely linked to the physical entity of the chemical product. This link may include a physical or virtual link to an identifier uniquely associated with the physicochemical product. For a physical link, a label or code may be physically linked to the chemical product, for example, by printing a QR code on packaging. For a virtual link, different identifiers associated with the physicochemical product may be linked. For example, an order number, batch number, LOT number, or a combination thereof may be linked.

[0163] Environmental attributes can specify the environmental impact of a chemical product. Environmental attributes can be data points or datasets that numerically specify the environmental impact of the chemical product produced. Environmental attributes can relate to the recovery content of the chemical product produced. Environmental attributes can include quantitative data points related to the type of impact, for example, taking into account the recovery content of the chemical product. Environmental attributes can specify the recovery content. The term "sustainable" can refer to a material or product with a recovery content. For example, sustainable end products can include recovery content. Similarly, sustainable chemical products can include recovery content. Environmental attributes can include additional environmental characteristics of the input or chemical product.

[0164] Environmental attributes can refer to any characteristic or feature related to environmental impact. Such characteristics can be properties or features of input materials and / or chemical products. Environmental attributes can indicate the environmental performance of input materials, chemical production, and / or chemical products. Environmental attributes can be derived from the characteristics of input materials, chemical production, and / or chemical products. Environmental attributes can be associated with the environmental impact of one or more materials at any stage of their life cycle. Stages of a material or product life cycle can include: providing raw materials, producing products (such as intermediate or final products), using products, treating end-of-life products, recycling end-of-life products, disposing of end-of-life products, reusing components of end-of-life products, or any subset of these stages. Environmental attributes can be tracked through any activity of one or more entities involved in any stage of the life cycle of one or more materials or products. Environmental attributes associated with any activity of one or more entities involved in any stage of the life cycle of one or more materials or products can be accumulated or aggregated.

[0165] Environmental attributes may include one or more characteristics that can assign an environmental or sustainability impact to input materials, chemical products, intermediate products, and / or final products. Environmental attributes may include environmental, technical, recyclability, or circular characteristics associated with the environmental impact of input materials, chemical products, intermediate products, and / or final products.

[0166] Environmental characteristics can specify or quantify ecological standards associated with the environmental impact of input materials, intermediate products, and / or chemical products. Environmental characteristics can be, or may be derived from, measurements taken during the life cycle of the input materials, chemical products, intermediate products, and / or final products. Environmental characteristics can include, for example, impact categories such as carbon footprint, greenhouse gas emissions or global warming potential, primary energy demand, cumulative energy demand, consumption of biological and non-biological resources, air emissions, stratospheric ozone depletion potential, ozone formation, terrestrial and / or marine acidification, water consumption, water loss, water availability, water pollution, noise pollution, freshwater and / or marine eutrophication potential, human carcinogenic and / or non-carcinogenic toxicity, photochemical oxidant formation, particulate matter formation, terrestrial, freshwater and / or marine ecotoxicity, ionizing radiation, agricultural and / or urban land occupation, land conversion, land use, indirect land use, deforestation, biodiversity, mineral resource consumption, and / or fossil resource consumption. Environmental characteristics can be calculated through a combination of one or more environmental characteristics. Environmental characteristics may include, for example, material or product characteristics related to the production of the material or product, such as recycled content, bio-based content, renewable content, bio-based, vegan, halal, kosher, palm oil-free, natural, etc.

[0167] Technical characteristics can specify or quantify the properties of a material or product that are at least indirectly related to its environmental impact. Technical characteristics may include, for example, product composition data, bill of materials, product specification data, product component data, product safety data, application characteristic data, application instructions, or product quality data. Technical characteristics can be or can be generated from measurements taken during the life cycle of one or more materials or products. Technical characteristics can be determined at any stage of the material or product life cycle and can characterize the performance of the material or product at or up to that stage. Technical characteristics may include, for example, composition data, inputs from the production process, bill of materials, product or material specification data, product or material component data, product or material safety data, application characteristic data, application instructions, or product or material quality data. Technical characteristics may include, for example, the physical, chemical, or other properties of the material or product.

[0168] Recycling characteristics can specify or quantify the lifecycle features of a material or product associated with recycling. Recycling characteristics can be, or can be generated from, measurements taken during the lifecycle of one or more materials or products. Recycling characteristics can be, or can be generated from recycling data recorded in one or more previous lifecycles, including reuse. Recycling characteristics can be determined at any stage of the material or product's lifecycle and can characterize reuse or recycling performance within or up to that stage. Recycling characteristics can be related to technical, mechanical, chemical, and / or biological recycling. Recycling characteristics can include, for example, recycling data, reuse rate, recovery rate, recycling cycles, reuse performance of reused products, quality of reused materials or products, etc. Additional recycling material characteristics can be obtained by combining recycling characteristics.

[0169] Recyclability characteristics can specify or quantify the lifecycle characteristics of a material or product associated with recycling. Recyclability characteristics can include the composition of a material, containing components specifically tailored to make the material suitable for recycling. Recyclability characteristics can be or can be generated from measurements taken during the lifecycle of one or more materials or products. Recyclability characteristics can be or can be generated from recycling data recorded in one or more previous lifecycles. Recyclability characteristics can be determined at any stage of the material or product's lifecycle and can characterize recycling performance within or up to that stage. Recyclability characteristics can include, for example, recycling data, recyclability data, recycling efficiency, etc.

[0170] As used in this disclosure, the term "input material" can refer to any good purchased from a supplier and brought to the corresponding production plant. Input materials can include starting materials used in the production process at the production plant to produce the product. Like the product described above, input materials can be located at any step in the value chain. This means that the product of one production plant can be the input material of another production plant. Input materials can include recycled materials. Input materials can include or be any input material that enters chemical production. Input materials can include or be any input material provided at any entry point in chemical production.

[0171] Chemical products produced from input materials can include any chemical product produced by a chemical network using the input materials. Chemical products can be produced via one or more process steps. Process steps can involve chemical reactions and / or physical processes. Input materials can be used in one or more such production steps. Chemical products can include or are produced by chemical production and provided at any exit point of the chemical production network. Chemical products can be intermediate or final chemical products.

[0172] Input materials related to recyclable materials may include input materials containing or composed of chemical compounds corresponding to or composed of recyclable materials. Input materials related to recyclable materials may also include input materials containing or composed of chemical compounds similar to or composed of recyclable materials. Chemical compounds similar to recyclable materials may include chemical compounds having a similar chemical structure to or at least a portion of a chemical structure common to recyclable materials. For example, a recyclable material may correspond to a recyclable metal A contained within a battery or its components. In this case, the input material related to the recyclable material may correspond to metal A or a metal compound comprising metal A.

[0173] A chemical product pass can refer to a dataset with a defined semantic structure. The defined semantic structure can be obtained by applying a semantic model (such as an aspect model) to collected chemical product data associated with the corresponding chemical product. A chemical product pass may include a chemical product identifier, at least one distributed identifier, data associated with the produced chemical product (e.g., chemical product data), and data related to the amount of recyclable material allocated to the chemical product identifier. A chemical product pass may include one or more authentication mechanisms associated with the distributed identifier, the chemical product data, and the data related to the amount of recyclable material allocated to the chemical product identifier. A chemical product pass may involve one or more authorization mechanisms associated with the distributed identifier, the chemical product data, and the data related to the amount of recyclable material allocated to the chemical product identifier. One or more authorization mechanisms may include authorization rules that determine whether to grant access to at least a portion of the chemical product data and the data related to the amount of recyclable material allocated to the chemical product identifier. A chemical product pass may be associated with one or more digital representations of the chemical product data. A digital representation can be considered an access element providing access to the chemical product pass or a portion thereof. A digital representation may include a distributed identifier and access data. Access data may include locators or pointers, such as URLs or URIs, to a dedicated storage device (e.g., a dedicated storage address) associated with the data owner of the chemical product pass. The pointer or locator may directly point to the dedicated storage device. The pointer or locator may also point to a data-providing network node associated with the dedicated storage device. Access elements may include one or more authentication mechanisms associated with the decentralized identifier and access data. Access elements may be associated with one or more authentication mechanisms associated with the decentralized identifier and access data. Access elements may be provided to a decentralized registry storing the access elements. The decentralized registry may be associated with a data-providing network node. This allows control over access to such a registry and access to the access elements stored in such a registry via the data-providing network node. The decentralized registry may be associated with participants in the product ecosystem. The decentralized registry may be associated with the data owner of the chemical product pass. The decentralized registry may be part of a decentralized network but may not be associated with a specific participant in the production chain; for example, it may be considered an infrastructure node of the decentralized network.

[0174] Decentralized identifiers can include any unique identifier that uniquely associates with the producer of a chemical product and the corresponding chemical product. Decentralized identifiers can include one or more Universally Unique Identifiers (UUIDs) or one or more Digital Identifiers (DIDs). Decentralized identifiers can be issued by centralized or decentralized identity issuing authorities. Decentralized identifiers can include authentication information. Through the decentralized identifier and its unique association with the producer of the chemical product and the chemical product, the producer of the chemical product can control access to the chemical product's credentials. This contrasts with centralized agency schemes, where identifiers are provided by such a centralized agency, and access to the data is controlled by such a centralized agency. In this context, decentralized refers to the control of identifier use by the data owner.

[0175] A data owner can be an entity capable of accessing and controlling access to a chemical product pass through data consumption services on a decentralized network. A data owner can be a chemical product producer. Access to the chemical product pass can be controlled by the data owner through a decentralized identifier and its unique association with both the data owner and the chemical product pass. The chemical product pass can be accessible to the data owner. Therefore, the data owner can directly or indirectly own the chemical product pass. The chemical product pass can be stored in the data owner's database or a database associated with the data owner. The chemical product pass can be stored in a database accessible to the data owner. The data owner can control access to the chemical product pass by providing services through the data owner's data. The data owner can control access to the chemical product pass. The chemical product pass can be associated with the data owner. The data owner can be the owner of the chemical product pass or the holder of the chemical product pass. The chemical product pass can be stored in the data owner's database or under the data owner's control.

[0176] In embodiments of a method for allocating quantities of recyclable material associated with a material owner to a virtual material account, the data associated with the material owner includes a decentralized participant identifier, a material owner ID, a material owner name, or a combination thereof. The owner-related data may include an owner identifier that uniquely identifies a material owner within a product ecosystem. The owner identifier may include a decentralized participant identifier associated with the material owner and / or a unique material owner ID. Using data associated with the material owner (e.g., material owner data) allows for selective querying of the decentralized network for data related to a final product or components thereof that include recyclable material owned by such a material owner, thereby reducing the amount of data that needs to be collected from the decentralized network. For example, queries to the decentralized network may be limited to producers of machines (e.g., electric vehicles) that include at least one battery and own one or more final product producers containing that battery.

[0177] The material owner can be a participant in the decentralized network. Participants in the decentralized network can be associated with decentralized participant identifiers. Decentralized participant identifiers can include any identifier uniquely associated with a participant in the decentralized network and / or with a production site of that participant. Decentralized participant identifiers can include letters and / or numbers. Decentralized participant identifiers can include one or more Universally Unique Identifiers (UUIDs) and / or one or more Distributed Identifiers (DIDs). Decentralized participant identifiers can be associated with or include verifiable claims or credentials. Verifiable claims can be issued by a centralized or decentralized identity issuing authority that makes one or more claims to a subject, such as a consumer entity being a trusted participant in the decentralized network. For example, an issuing authority can make claims to consumers (e.g., entities operating data-consuming network nodes) associated with a decentralized participant identifier. Verifiable claims can include these claims along with proof that the claims have not been tampered with and were indeed issued by the claim issuing authority. Verifiable claims can also include duration information metadata that defines the valid period of use of the verifiable claim or defines a specific number of times the verifiable claim is authorized for use. Verifiable claims may also include the DID of the claim issuer and / or entity (such as a consumer entity). Verifiable claims may be signed by the claim issuer. The claim issuer may provide verifiable claims to claim holders (such as consumers) to present to any dependent parties relying on the authenticity of these claims, such as decentralized data providers. The signature of the verifiable claim can be verified using the public key associated with the claim issuer to determine if the customer entity is a trusted entity within the decentralized network. Verifiable credentials may be presented by decentralized data consumer network nodes and may be used by decentralized data provider network nodes to verify that the decentralized participant associated with the decentralized data consumer network node is a trusted entity within the decentralized network before providing access to digital twin data (such as feature data), thereby ensuring that digital twins can be exchanged securely and in a controlled manner within the decentralized network.

[0178] In embodiments of a method for allocating quantities of recyclable materials associated with a material owner to a virtual material account, data associated with a final product or its components containing recyclable materials includes final product type, component type, final product identifier, component identifier, waste identifier, key-value pairs of a dataset storing composition data, or combinations thereof. The final product identifier, component identifier, and / or waste identifier may include numeric identifiers associated with the final product, its components, and / or production waste. Such numeric identifiers may be associated with identifier elements physically linked to the final product, its components, and / or production waste. Composition data may include the quantity of recyclable materials contained within the final product, its components, and / or production waste. Components of the final product may include discrete components or chemical products. Production waste may be generated during the production of the final product or its components. Production waste may include waste materials. Production waste may include waste electrode materials. Electrode materials may be generated during the production of battery cells. Composition data may include the absolute quantity of recyclable materials present in the final product, its components, and / or production waste. Composition data may include the relative quantity of recyclable materials present in the final product, its components, and / or production waste. The composition data can be part of a final product pass, component pass, and / or production waste pass. The composition data can be part of a digital twin of the final product, its components, and / or production waste. The digital twin can be a digital representation of the physical entity of the final product, its components, and / or production waste. The digital twin can include final product data, component data, and / or production waste data separately. The data can be split into multiple datasets. Key-value pairs storing the composition data dataset can include key-value pairs of access elements associated with at least a portion of the digital twin. Access elements can be stored in a decentralized registry associated with data-providing network nodes. The use of data associated with the final product or its components allows querying the decentralized network for final product data or component data associated with the final product or its components, including recyclable materials associated with the material owner. This reduces the amount of data that needs to be transferred via the decentralized network and avoids unnecessary data transfer.

[0179] In embodiments of a method for allocating quantities of recyclable materials associated with a material owner to a virtual material account, collecting final product data and / or component data includes determining a decentralized identifier associated with the final product, its components, and / or production waste based on provided data related to the final product or its components, and collecting the final product data and / or component data from a decentralized data providing network node associated with the final product data and / or component data using at least a portion of the determined decentralized identifier. The decentralized identifier can be determined by parsing access element data received from the data providing network node in response to query data provided to the decentralized network. Query data may include material owner data and data associated with the final product or its components as described above. Final product data can be collected from a decentralized data providing network node associated with the final product data (e.g., associated with a dedicated storage device storing the final product data). Such a data providing network node can be identified using access data contained in access elements received in response to query data provided to the decentralized network. Distributed identifiers associated with components of the final product can be determined based on a relational dataset specifying the relationship between the final product (parent distributed identifier) ​​and the components used to produce the final product (child distributed identifiers). The relational dataset can be accessed via access data included in the access elements associated with the final product. The bill of materials tree for the final product can be determined by recursively determining the child relational identifiers of the corresponding parent identifier. This allows for the determination of distributed identifiers for all chemical products and discrete products used in the production of the final product. Using these distributed identifiers, corresponding compositional data can be collected from the corresponding data-providing network nodes. This recursive determination may be necessary when the final product data collected using the distributed identifiers associated with the final product does not include compositional data including the amount of recyclable materials.

[0180] In embodiments of a method for allocating quantities of recyclable materials associated with a material owner to a virtual material account, final product data includes data associated with the material configuration of the final product. In embodiments, composition data includes data associated with the material configuration of components and / or production waste. Material configuration may relate to or correspond to the chemical composition of the final product, its components, and / or production waste. Material configuration may include data regarding the chemical compounds present in the final product, its components, and / or production waste and the associated quantities. These quantities may be absolute or relative.

[0181] In embodiments of a method for allocating quantities of recyclable materials associated with a material owner to a virtual material account, the at least one aggregation rule is configured to aggregate collected data or quantities of recyclable materials based on at least one predefined criterion. The at least one aggregation rule may specify the aggregation of collected data. The at least one aggregation rule may specify the aggregation of quantities of recyclable materials stored in the virtual material account. The at least one aggregation rule may include instructions for aggregating collected data or for aggregating quantities of recyclable materials stored in the virtual material account. The at least one aggregation rule may be associated with the type of material to be aggregated. The at least one aggregation rule may be associated with the material type and a given recyclable material content. The at least one aggregation rule may be associated with the characteristics of a final product or its components. The at least one aggregation rule may be associated with the characteristics of recyclable materials contained in the final product or its components. The at least one aggregation rule may be associated with environmental properties related to the final product or its components.

[0182] In an embodiment of a method for allocating quantities of recyclable materials associated with a material owner to a virtual material account, the at least one transformation rule is configured to transform aggregated or collected data into quantities of recyclable materials. The at least one transformation rule may specify a transformation of collected data or entries stored in the virtual material account. Entries stored in the virtual material account may be associated with or related to the quantity of recyclable materials stored therein. The transformation rule may be associated with the total yield of a recycling process used to process a final product or its components to obtain recyclable materials contained therein as recycled materials. The total yield of the recycling process may be associated with or correspond to the yield of each recycling step of the recycling process. The transformation rule may be associated with collected data including absolute quantities of recyclable materials. The transformation rule may be associated with collected data including relative quantities of recyclable materials. The transformation rule may be associated with recyclable material types and / or recyclable material identifiers. This may allow entries stored in the virtual material account to be collected based on such material types and / or material identifiers.

[0183] In an embodiment of the method for allocating the quantity of recyclable material associated with a material owner to a virtual material account, allocating the determined quantity of recyclable material to at least one virtual material account includes selecting at least one virtual material account based on at least one allocation rule specifying the allocation of the quantity of recyclable material to the virtual material account. The virtual material account used to balance the quantity of recyclable material and the at least one allocation rule may be at least partially associated with corresponding metadata. The metadata dataset associated with the virtual material account used to balance the quantity of recyclable material and the at least one allocation rule may be associated with corresponding metadata. The metadata dataset associated with the virtual material account used to balance the quantity of recyclable material and the at least one allocation rule may be matched across all data points in the metadata. The metadata dataset associated with the virtual material account and the at least one allocation rule may relate to at least one recyclable material. The recyclable material may be identified by a recyclable material identifier. The metadata dataset associated with the virtual material account and the at least one allocation rule may relate to at least one recyclable material and an associated material owner. The material owner may be associated with a material owner identifier, a distributed participant identifier, a material owner name, or a combination thereof. The metadata associated with the virtual material account and the at least one allocation rule may involve at least one type or category of recyclable material. The metadata associated with the virtual material account and the at least one allocation rule may involve at least one type of recyclable material and the associated material owner.

[0184] Allocation rules may include instructions, particularly executable instructions, for determining one or more virtual material accounts for allocating the determined amount of recyclable material. Allocation rules may include instructions for determining virtual material accounts for each determined amount of recyclable material. Allocation rules may be associated with metadata representing one or more accounts used to allocate the determined amount of recyclable material. Allocation rules may include instructions for matching the metadata of virtual material accounts with the metadata of the recyclable material or with the metadata of the recyclable material and its associated material owner, as previously described. Allocation rules may include instructions for verifying or confirming one or more virtual material accounts used to allocate the determined amount of recyclable material. Allocation rules may include instructions for determining, verifying, and / or confirming one or more virtual material accounts. To verify one or more virtual material accounts, allocation rules may be associated with the metadata of the recyclable material and one or more virtual material accounts. To verify one or more virtual material accounts, allocation rules may be associated with the metadata of the recyclable material, the associated material owner metadata, and one or more virtual material accounts. During verification, one or more virtual material accounts may be determined and compared with one or more virtual material accounts associated with the allocation rule. To confirm one or more virtual material accounts, allocation rules may be associated with the recyclable material metadata and one or more virtual material accounts. To verify one or more virtual material accounts, allocation rules can be associated with recyclable material metadata, associated material owner metadata, and one or more virtual material accounts. During verification, the availability of valid access to the metadata of one or more virtual material accounts can be checked.

[0185] In embodiments of a method for allocating quantities of recyclable materials associated with a material owner to a virtual material account, the recyclable materials are recyclable metals obtainable by recycling batteries or their components and / or by recycling production waste generated during the production of batteries or their components. Recyclable materials may be obtained in the form of metals or metal compounds (such as metal salts) when recycling steps are performed on the final product containing batteries, batteries, their components (such as electrodes), and / or production waste. Metals or metal compounds can be obtained by extracting metal compounds from black powder generated by shredding batteries, their components, and / or production waste.

[0186] In embodiments of a method for assigning or conferring at least one environmental property related to a material associated with a material owner, or one or more produced chemical products, the chemical product is produced from one or more input materials through chemical production, and at least a portion of the input materials is associated with recyclable materials associated with the material owner. The chemical product may be produced at least partially from input materials associated with recyclable materials associated with the material owner. For example, the chemical product may be produced at least partially from a metal salt. This metal salt may be associated with recyclable metals owned by the material owner and balanced in one or more virtual material accounts in a material accounting system. The chemical product may be produced from the input materials via one or more production steps.

[0187] Chemical products can be produced from input materials by a chemical production network. A chemical production network may include one or more inlet points where input materials are supplied to the network. A chemical production network may include one or more outlet points where the produced chemical products are supplied from the network. A chemical production network may include multiple chemical processes for producing one or more chemical products from one or more input materials. A chemical production network may include a complex production network that produces multiple chemical products across multiple production chains or value chains. One or more chemical products may include chemical products produced from input materials that are at least partially associated with recyclable materials. A production chain or value chain may include one or more processes configured to produce a chemical product or class of chemical products from one or more input materials. A chemical production network may include connected, interconnected, and / or disconnected production chains. A chemical production network may produce multiple intermediates from input materials and may produce one or more chemical products from intermediates.

[0188] A chemical production network can include multiple production steps in each production chain. The production steps included in a chemical production network can be defined by the physical system boundary of the network. The system boundary can be defined by the location or control of the production processes. The system boundary can be defined by the sites within the chemical production network. The system boundary can be defined by production processes jointly controlled by one or more entities. The system boundary can be defined by a production chain or value chain with interleaved production processes leading to the final product, which can be separately controlled by multiple entities.

[0189] A chemical production network can transform one or more input materials into one or more chemical products through one or more processes. These processes can transform one or more input materials chemically, physically, mechanically, and / or thermally into one or more chemical products.

[0190] In embodiments of a method for assigning or affixing at least one environmental property related to a material associated with a material owner to one or more produced chemical products, data associated with the produced chemical product includes input material data associated with input materials used to produce the chemical product. Input material data may include an input material identifier and / or quantity of the input material used to produce the chemical product. Input material data may include an input material identifier and an input material quantity associated with the input material used to produce the chemical product. Input material data may be provided for each produced chemical product. An input material identifier may include a numerical identifier for the input material.

[0191] In embodiments of a method for assigning or assigning at least one environmental attribute related to a material associated with a material owner to one or more produced chemical products, a virtual material account includes at least one allocation rule. This at least one allocation rule may specify an allocation scheme associated with the virtual material account for balancing the amount of recyclable material. This at least one allocation rule may specify the allocation of the amount of recyclable material stored in the virtual material account to a chemical product identifier associated with the produced chemical product. This at least one allocation rule may depend on the chemical product identifier. This at least one allocation rule may include instructions for deducting such an amount from at least one virtual material account when the amount of recyclable material is assigned to the chemical product identifier. This at least one allocation rule may include instructions for assigning the amount of recyclable material from the virtual material account to a chemical product or a chemical product identifier.

[0192] The at least one allocation rule may be associated with at least one chemical production network that produces a chemical product. The at least one allocation rule may be associated with at least one chemical production network that includes one or more process steps that convert input materials related to recyclable materials into one or more intermediates and / or one or more chemical products.

[0193] The at least one allocation rule may be associated with at least one type of chemical product leaving the chemical production network. The at least one allocation rule may be associated with at least one type of chemical product produced from one or more input materials that are at least partially associated with recyclable materials.

[0194] As previously mentioned, the virtual material account used to balance the amount of recyclable materials and at least one allocation rule can be at least partially associated with corresponding metadata. The metadata associated with such a virtual material account and at least one allocation rule can involve at least one chemical product type, at least one chemical production network, at least one production chain, at least one input material type, or a combination thereof. The input material type can involve recyclable materials. For example, the input material type can involve or correspond to a recyclable material type.

[0195] Allocation rules may include instructions for determining one or more virtual material accounts accessible to at least one chemical product (e.g., accessible for allocating amounts of recyclable material to chemical product identifiers). The at least one allocation rule may include instructions for determining one or more virtual material accounts accessible to at least one chemical product and / or the amount of recyclable material. Allocation rules may be associated with metadata representing one or more virtual material accounts. To determine one or more virtual material accounts, allocation rules may be associated with chemical products. To determine one or more virtual material accounts, allocation rules may be associated with chemical products and chemical product producers. To determine one or more virtual material accounts, allocation rules may be associated with chemical products, chemical product producers, and chemical product users to whom the produced chemical products are supplied. Allocation rules may include instructions for verifying or confirming one or more virtual material accounts. Assignment rules may include instructions for determining, verifying, and / or confirming one or more virtual material accounts.

[0196] Allocation rules may include instructions for determining input materials used in the production of chemical products. Allocation rules may also include instructions for accessing a materials list, which includes input material data, chemical product data, and process data. Based on the materials list, recyclable materials or material types accessible for at least one chemical product can be determined. Based on the recyclable materials or material types, one or more virtual material accounts accessible for at least one chemical product can be determined.

[0197] Allocation rules may include instructions for matching the metadata of a virtual material account with the chemical product type corresponding to the chemical product. Allocation rules may also include instructions for matching the metadata of a virtual material account with the chemical product type and chemical product producer corresponding to the chemical product. Allocation rules may further include instructions for matching the metadata of a virtual material account with the chemical product type, chemical product producer, and chemical product user corresponding to the chemical product. To determine one or more virtual material accounts accessible for at least one chemical product, allocation rules may be associated with a chemical product type, with a chemical product type and chemical product producer, or with a chemical product type, chemical product producer, and chemical product user. Assignment rules may include instructions for matching the metadata of a virtual material account with such data. This metadata matching may be performed against any combination of the metadata associated with the virtual material account and the allocation rules described above.

[0198] To verify one or more virtual material accounts accessible for at least one chemical product, allocation rules can be associated with a chemical product type and one or more virtual material accounts. To verify one or more virtual material accounts accessible for at least one chemical product, allocation rules can be associated with a chemical product type, a chemical product producer, a chemical product user, and one or more virtual material accounts. During verification, one or more virtual material accounts accessible for at least one chemical product can be identified and compared with one or more virtual material accounts associated with the allocation rules.

[0199] To confirm the accessibility of one or more virtual material accounts for at least one chemical product, allocation rules can be associated with the chemical product type and one or more virtual material accounts. To confirm the accessibility of one or more virtual material accounts for at least one chemical product, allocation rules can be associated with the chemical product type, the chemical product producer, the chemical product user, and one or more virtual material accounts. During confirmation, metadata and / or the balances of the one or more virtual material accounts accessible for at least one chemical product can be checked to ensure valid accessibility.

[0200] In embodiments of a method for assigning or affixing at least one environmental attribute related to a material associated with a material owner to one or more produced chemical products, determining a virtual material account includes...

[0201] • Determine potentially accessible virtual materials accounts based on the input materials used to produce the chemical product.

[0202] • For each potentially accessible virtual material account, determine the amount of available recyclable material stored within that virtual material account.

[0203] • Select the accessible virtual material account based on the amount of available recyclable material and optionally the amount of input material associated with that input material.

[0204] As previously mentioned, allocation rules can be used to determine potentially accessible virtual material accounts. For example, allocation rules can be used to determine input materials for the production of chemical products based on bill of materials data. The amount of recyclable material available can be determined by determining the corresponding account balance. The account balance can be determined by subtracting the sum of all amounts associated with inbound transactions (e.g., allocating a quantity of recyclable material to a virtual material account) from the sum of all amounts associated with inbound transactions (e.g., allocating a quantity of recyclable material from a virtual material account to a chemical product identifier). Accessible accounts can be selected based on the available quantities stored in the determined accounts. Accessible quantities can be selected based on the available quantities stored in the determined accounts and the quantities of input materials associated with the input materials. For example, the quantity of input materials can determine the amount of recyclable material that needs to be deducted from the virtual material account. In this case, the virtual material account needs to have a balance at least equal to the amount of recyclable material that needs to be deducted to be considered "accessible".

[0205] In embodiments of a method for assigning or affixing at least one environmental attribute related to a material associated with a material owner to one or more produced chemical products, the chemical product pass further includes data associated with the produced chemical product and at least one decentralized identifier associated with the data associated with the produced chemical product. The data associated with the produced chemical product may be collected before, during, and / or after the production of the chemical product. The data associated with the produced chemical product may include data related to the characteristics of the chemical product, data related to the use of the chemical product, and / or production data. Data related to the characteristics of the chemical product may include measured chemical and / or physical properties. Data related to the characteristics of the chemical product may be determined based on the collected data and / or the use of the produced chemical product. Data may be collected before, during, and / or after the production of the chemical product. The collected data may be used to determine at least one physical and / or chemical characteristic of the produced chemical product. For example, as described above, at least one physical and / or chemical characteristic may be determined based on sensor data. Data associated with the use of the chemical product may be collected via at least one identifier associated with the chemical product. Data may be collected during and / or after the use of the chemical product. The collected data may include at least one measured physical and / or chemical property of the chemical product used. The measured physical and / or chemical properties may include the previously described chemical and / or physical properties. Data may be collected using a suitable sensor configured to measure the chemical and / or physical properties.

[0206] Chemical properties can be characteristics of a chemical product that become apparent during or after a chemical reaction. Therefore, chemical properties can be any quality that can only be established by altering the chemical identity of the output product, a previous output product, or a component thereof. Examples of chemical properties include heat of combustion, enthalpy of formation, toxicity, chemical stability in a given environment, flammability, oxidation state, corrosiveness, combustibility, acidity and alkalinity, chemical composition, content of recyclables used in the production or manufacture of the product, bio-based content used in the production or manufacture of the product, recyclable content used in the production or manufacture of the product, and / or pH value. Physical properties can be any measurable characteristic of a chemical product. Therefore, the values ​​of physical properties describe the state of the output product, a previous output product, or a component thereof. Examples of physical properties include absorption, brittleness, boiling point, capacitance, color, concentration, density, ductility, distribution, efficacy, elasticity, charge, conductivity, impedance, potential, flow rate, fluidity, hardness, heat capacity, inductance, intrinsic impedance, brightness, luminosity, gloss, mass, melting point, opacity, permeability, permittivity, plasticity, pressure, emissivity, resistivity, reflectivity, refractive index, solubility, specific heat, strength, stiffness, temperature, tensile strength, thermal conductivity, thermal resistance, viscosity, volume, and / or wave impedance. At least one physical and / or chemical property being measured can be obtained by a sensor configured to measure such property. The sensor can be included in a measuring device. The sensor can correspond to the measuring device.

[0207] Data related to the use of a chemical product may include data related to further processing of the chemical product (e.g., using the chemical product as a reactant in a further chemical reaction) and / or data related to the use of the chemical product (e.g., data related to the use of the chemical product during processing and / or during manufacturing).

[0208] Data associated with the produced chemical products can have a defined semantic structure. This defined semantic structure can be obtained by applying a semantic model to the collected chemical product data. The semantic model can contain a semantic description that includes data structure and / or characteristics, such as data type, possible or permissible ranges and / or values, and / or the physical units of parameters described by those values. The use of a semantic model ensures that chemical product passes contain data with a defined semantic structure, thereby allowing for the exchange of chemical product pass data in a standardized and harmonized manner.

[0209] In embodiments of a method for assigning or affixing at least one environmental property related to a material associated with a material owner to one or more produced chemical products, generating a chemical product pass includes...

[0210] • Provide data related to the chemical products produced.

[0211] • Provide at least one decentralized identifier associated with the data provided that relates to the chemical products produced.

[0212] • Provide data related to the amount of recyclable material allocated.

[0213] • Generate the chemical product pass, which includes a chemical product identifier, a distributed identifier, at least a portion of the data provided associated with the chemical product produced, and data related to the amount of recyclable material allocated.

[0214] Therefore, a chemical product pass can correspond to a dataset including a chemical product identifier, a distributed identifier, at least a portion of the provided data associated with the produced chemical product, and data related to the amount of recyclable material allocated. The chemical product identifier, the distributed identifier, at least a portion of the provided data associated with the produced chemical product, and data related to the amount of recyclable material allocated can correspond to chemical product pass data. As previously described, chemical product pass data can have a defined semantic structure. The generated chemical product pass can be stored in a dedicated data storage device. The dedicated data storage device can be associated with a data owner of the chemical product pass. The data owner can be a chemical product producer. At least one distributed identifier can be provided by a distributed identifier generator configured to generate and provide distributed identifiers. The distributed identifier can include one or more UUIDs or DIDs as previously described. The distributed identifier can be further associated with the produced chemical product. The distributed identifier can be used by participants in a distributed network to access the chemical product pass via a data-providing network node associated with the dedicated storage device storing such a chemical product pass.

[0215] In an embodiment of a method for assigning or assigning at least one environmental attribute related to a material associated with a material owner to one or more produced chemical products, the method further includes the step of generating at least one access element associated with the produced chemical product, the access element including at least one distributed identifier associated with the produced chemical product and access data associated with a chemical product pass. The distributed identifier may be associated with or correspond to a distributed identifier included in a chemical product pass. The distributed identifier may further be associated with data associated with the produced chemical product included in the chemical product pass. The access data may further be associated with data associated with the produced chemical product included in the chemical product pass. The access data may be provided to a distributed network. The access data may include a locator or pointer, such as a URL or URI, pointing to a dedicated storage device (e.g., a dedicated storage address) associated with the data owner of the chemical product pass. The pointer or locator may directly point to the dedicated storage device. The pointer or locator may point to a data-providing network node associated with the dedicated storage device. This improves data security because the dedicated storage address is not exposed to other participants in the decentralized network, thus avoiding the risk of direct access to the dedicated storage device without access control via the data-providing network nodes. Access to data may include one or more digital links to chemical product pass data, such as data associated with the produced chemical product and data related to the amount of recyclable material allocated.

[0216] The access element may further include a representation of chemical product pass data. The access element may include one or more authentication mechanisms associated with the distributed identifier and the access data. The access element may involve one or more authorization mechanisms associated with the distributed identifier and the chemical product pass data. One or more authorization mechanisms may include authorization rules for determining whether to grant access to the chemical product pass data. One or more authorization mechanisms may be associated with a data-providing network node associated with the chemical product pass.

[0217] Access elements can be provided to a decentralized registry that stores them. The decentralized registry can be associated with data-providing network nodes. This allows control over access to such a registry and access to the access elements stored within it, via the data-providing network nodes. The decentralized registry can be associated with the data owner of a chemical product pass. The decentralized registry can be part of a decentralized network but may not be associated with a specific participant in the product ecosystem; for example, it can be considered an infrastructure node of the decentralized network. Queries including query data can be sent to the decentralized registry via data-consuming network nodes to determine if the decentralized registry stores access elements matching the query data. Queries can be executed via data-providing network nodes associated with the decentralized registry to ensure that only authorized data-consuming network nodes can query the data contained in such a decentralized registry.

[0218] In embodiments of a method for assigning or attributing at least one environmental attribute related to a material associated with a material owner to one or more produced chemical products, data related to the amount of recyclable material allocated includes a recycling content associated with the produced chemical product. The recycling content can be determined based on the amount of recyclable material allocated to the produced chemical product and the amount of the produced chemical product. The recycling content can include the recycling content of each type of recyclable material allocated to the produced chemical product. The recycling content can include the total recycling content associated with the total amount of recyclable material allocated to the chemical product. The recycling content can represent the environmental attributes of the produced chemical product. The recycling content can reduce the environmental impact of the produced chemical product. The recycling content can reduce the environmental impact associated with the final product produced from such chemical product.

[0219] In embodiments of a method for assigning or affixing at least one environmental attribute related to a material associated with a material owner to one or more produced chemical products, data related to the amount of recyclable material allocated is determined based on the amount of recyclable material allocated and data associated with the produced chemical products. The data associated with the produced chemical products may include the amount of the produced chemical products. Data associated with each produced chemical product may be provided and may be used to determine data related to the amount allocated to each produced chemical product. Attached Figure Description

[0220] The disclosure will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings and the disclosure, the same reference numerals are intended to refer to the same or similar elements, components and / or portions.

[0221] Figure 1An example of a participant network in a product ecosystem is shown, which includes material recycling and is associated with a decentralized peer-to-peer network for exchanging data related to raw materials, chemical products, discrete products, final products, and recycled materials.

[0222] Figure 2 An example of a participant network in the battery ecosystem is shown, which includes material recycling and is associated with a decentralized peer-to-peer network for exchanging data related to raw materials, chemicals, batteries, end products, and recycled materials.

[0223] Figure 3 The illustration shows batteries with battery identification elements as end-of-life products.

[0224] Figure 4 The illustration shows battery components with identification elements as scrapped parts.

[0225] Figure 5A An example of the recycling process for end-of-life batteries is shown.

[0226] Figure 5B Shown in Figure 4 The separation steps are described in the context of A.

[0227] Figure 6 A decentralized system for accessing data associated with materials and products in the product ecosystem is demonstrated.

[0228] Figure 7A A first example of an accounting system for allocating quantities of recyclable materials associated with a material owner to a virtual material account, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, is shown.

[0229] Figure 7B A second example of an accounting system for allocating the amount of recyclable material associated with a material owner to a virtual material account, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, is shown.

[0230] Figure 8A This is the first example showing a virtual materials account and its associated metadata.

[0231] Figure 8B A second example shows a virtual materials account and its associated metadata.

[0232] Figure 9 A flowchart illustrating a first example method for allocating a quantity of recyclable material associated with a material owner to a virtual material account, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, is shown.

[0233] Figure 10A flowchart illustrating a second example method for allocating the amount of recyclable material associated with a material owner to a virtual material account, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, is shown.

[0234] Figure 11 An example of a component pass data structure based on distributed product identifiers is shown.

[0235] Figure 12 A first example of a system for assigning or affixing at least one environmental property associated with a production input to one or more produced chemical products is shown, according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[0236] Figure 13 A second example of a system for assigning or affixing at least one environmental property associated with a production input to one or more produced chemical products is shown, according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

[0237] Figure 14 An example of a chemical product pass generator according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0238] Figure 15A This demonstrates the first example of a digital access element that includes a distributed identifier and access data.

[0239] Figure 15B A second example is shown, which includes a distributed identifier and access data digital access elements.

[0240] Figure 16A A first example of a method for assigning or attributing at least one environmental property associated with a recyclable material related to a material owner or one or more produced chemical products is shown according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[0241] Figure 16B A first example of a method for assigning or attributing at least one environmental property associated with a recyclable material related to a material owner or one or more produced chemical products is shown according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[0242] Figure 17 An example is shown whereby the amount of recyclable material stored in a virtual materials account is assigned to a chemical product identifier by generating chemical product passes for different batches of chemical products.

[0243] Figure 18A An example of a set of allocation rules for allocating quantities of recyclable materials to virtual material accounts is shown.

[0244] Figure 18B An example of an aggregation rule set is shown for aggregating data collected via a distributed network.

[0245] Figure 18C An example is shown for generating a set of transformation rules for the amount of recyclable material based on the collected or aggregated data.

[0246] Figure 18D An example of a set of depolymerization rules for assigning the amount of recyclable material to chemical product identifiers is shown.

[0247] Figure 18E The depolymerization rule directive is presented to determine the amount of recyclable material to be assigned to a chemical product identifier.

[0248] Figure 19 An example of an accounting system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is shown for assigning or affixing at least one environmental attribute related to recyclable materials associated with a material owner to one or more produced chemical products.

[0249] Figure 20A A first example of a system for managing and / or controlling the assignment of environmental attributes related to recyclable materials to produced chemical products via an accounting system, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, is shown.

[0250] Figure 20B A second example of a system for managing and / or controlling the assignment of environmental properties related to recyclable materials to produced chemical products via an accounting system, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, is shown.

[0251] Figure 20C A first example of a system for managing and / or controlling the assignment of environmental properties related to recyclable metals to the produced precursor cathode active material or cathode active material via an accounting system, according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, is shown.

[0252] Figure 20D A second example of a system for managing and / or controlling the assignment of environmental properties related to recyclable metals to the produced precursor cathode active material or cathode active material within a material cycle, according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, is shown.

[0253] Figure 21 A graphical user interface was shown, displaying the balance of recyclable materials owned by the material owner and stored in one or more virtual material accounts.

[0254] Figure 22 A flowchart illustrating an example method for managing and / or controlling the assignment of environmental properties related to recyclable materials to produced chemical products, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, is shown. Detailed Implementation

[0255] Figure 1 An example of a participant network in a product ecosystem is illustrated, which is associated with a decentralized peer-to-peer network for exchanging environmental footprint data associated with raw materials, chemical products, discrete products, end products, and recycled materials. Decentralized participant network 130 may include one or more decentralized network participants 102 to 114. Decentralized network participants may be part of a product ecosystem that includes chemical products. The product ecosystem may include a production chain that produces the end product. The product ecosystem may include a recycling chain to recover at least a portion of the end-of-life products generated from the use of the end product. The product ecosystem may include raw material producers 104, chemical product producers 102, chemical product users 106, end-of-life product producers 108, end-of-life product users 110, EOL product collectors 112, and recyclers 114. Decentralized participant network 130 may be a chemical supply chain. The product ecosystem may allow the production of new products, such as chemical products, using materials generated from the recycling of end-of-life products. The product ecosystem may be associated with the production and / or recycling of physical products. Products can be chemical products, intermediate chemical products, components, component assemblies, final products, scrapped products, or recycled materials.

[0256] Participants in the decentralized participant network 130 may be associated with the production and / or recycling of products. Decentralized network participants 102 through 114 may refer to manufacturers of physical products, such as raw material producers 104, chemical product producers 102, chemical product users 106, final product producers 108, users of physical goods (such as final product users 110), and / or participants in recycling chains associated with physical products (such as EOL product collectors 112 and recyclers 114). Decentralized network participants may be associated with decentralized participant identifiers. Decentralized participant identifiers uniquely identify decentralized network participants within the decentralized participant network 130.

[0257] Participants in the decentralized participant network 130 can be connected via material flows. A material flow can be a circular material flow 136. A circular material flow 136 can be a closed-loop material flow. A closed-loop material flow can refer to a material cycle from which recycled material is used to produce the same final product, the recycled material being obtained from that material cycle via recycling. A circular material flow 136 can also be an open-loop material flow. An open-loop material flow can refer to a material cycle from which recycled material is used to produce a different final product compared to the material flow from which recycled material is obtained. A material flow can be a linear material flow (e.g., excluding recycling). Material flows 136, 138 can correspond to the flow of product from one participant in the decentralized participant network 130 to a downstream participant in the decentralized participant network 130. Material flows 136, 138 can refer to continuous or discontinuous flow of product. The flow of product can include any mode of transport suitable for transporting product from a participant to a downstream participant. Transport modes can include pipes, containers, barrels, and packaging. Material flow 138 can be associated with raw materials (e.g., virgin raw materials) used to produce the chemical product. Raw materials can be supplied to chemical product producer 102 for the production of chemical products and / or intermediate chemical products (not shown). A recycled material stream 136 can be associated with chemical products. Chemical products can be supplied from chemical product producer 102 to chemical product user 106 for the production of discrete products. The discrete products produced are different units sold as individual products, as opposed to chemical production. The recycled material stream 136 can be associated with recycled materials. Recycled materials can be supplied from recycler 114 to chemical product producer 102 for the production of chemical products.

[0258] At least some of the participants in the distributed participant network 130 may be associated with distributed participant network nodes 116 to 128. Distributed participant nodes 116 to 128 may be under the control of the corresponding distributed participant associated with the respective distributed participant node. Distributed participant nodes 116 to 128 may form a distributed network 134. Distributed network 134 may be a peer-to-peer communication network. Distributed network 134 may be configured to execute data transactions 132. Data transactions 132 may be based on a transaction protocol including authentication and / or authorization mechanisms. Based on authentication and / or authorization mechanisms, peer-to-peer communication may be established between distributed network nodes 116 to 128 associated with distributed network participants 102 to 114. One or more authentication mechanisms may be associated with or linked to a distributed identifier, such as in... Figure 6 The context described above. One or more authentication mechanisms associated with the decentralized identifier can be accessed by decentralized participant nodes, as in... Figure 6 As described in the context, distributed configurations allow for more efficient use of computing resources and strengthen the control of data owners in distributed networks.

[0259] Data transactions between participating nodes in a decentralized network can be based on decentralized identifiers associated with the corresponding product data to be accessed, for example, as in... Figure 6 As described in the context of [the document / concept]. A distributed identifier can be uniquely associated with the physical entity of a product and the associated product data. A distributed identifier can uniquely identify a corresponding product within a distributed network. A distributed identifier can be associated with other distributed identifiers, such as the distributed identifier of the product used to produce that product. This allows for tracking of the products used to produce the product (such as the final product). Distributed identifiers can be included in the digital access elements associated with the product, for example, as in [the document / concept]. Figure 15A and Figure 15B As described in the context.

[0260] Data flows 132 (e.g., transactions depicted by dashed lines) between distributed network participant nodes can be directly or indirectly associated with material flows 136, 138 (depicted by thick solid lines) between distributed network participants. For example, if data associated with input materials supplied from raw material producer 104 to chemical product producer 102 is accessed by a distributed participant node 118 associated with said chemical product producer 102, then data flow 132 can be directly associated with material flows 136, 138. For example, if data associated with chemical products produced by chemical product producer 102 is accessed by a distributed participant node 128 associated with recycler 114, then data flow 132 can be indirectly associated with material flows 136, 138.

[0261] Distributed participant nodes 116 to 128 may be distributed computing nodes. A distributed computing node may be any device or system comprising at least one physical tangible processor and physical tangible memory capable of having computer-executable instructions executed by the processor thereon. The memory may take any form and depends on the nature and form of the computing node.

[0262] At least some of the distributed participant nodes 116 to 128 may be distributed data providing network nodes. At least some of the participant nodes 116 to 128 may be distributed data consuming network nodes. Participants in the distributed participant network 130 may be associated with distributed data providing network nodes and / or distributed data consuming network nodes, depending on whether the data is provided to downstream participants or consumed from upstream participants. For example, final product producer 108 may be associated with a distributed data providing network node configured to provide product data to downstream participants (e.g., recycler 114), for example, as in Figure 6As described in the context. Alternatively, the final product producer 108 may be associated with a distributed data consumption network node configured to access data associated with discrete products produced by upstream participants (e.g., chemical product user 106).

[0263] The distributed network 134 may include additional distributed network nodes. These additional distributed network nodes may be distributed infrastructure service nodes (...). Figure 1 (Not shown in the image). Distributed infrastructure service nodes may not be associated with participants in the product ecosystem. Distributed infrastructure service nodes can provide services to distributed participant nodes 116 to 128, such as verifying the identity of distributed network participant nodes 116 to 128 before performing data exchange. Distributed network participant nodes 116 to 128 may be associated with or include certificates, such as X.509 certificates. Certificates may be associated with distributed infrastructure service nodes that include, for example, certificate issuance services and / or dynamic provisioning services that provide dynamic attribute tokens (e.g., OAuth access tokens). Thus, distributed network participant nodes 116 to 124 have a unique identifier embedded in the X.509 certificate that identifies the corresponding distributed network participant node 116 to 128. The information required to verify the certificate can be provided via a certification registry associated with the certificate issuance service and / or dynamic provisioning service. For example, in the IDSA Reference Architecture Model version 3.0 in April 2019, decentralized data provisioning network nodes associated with data owners, Certificate Authorities (CAs), Dynamic Attribute Provisioning Services (DAPS), and decentralized data consuming network nodes associated with data consumers verify identities (not shown) before performing data exchange.

[0264] Figure 2An example of a participant network for a battery ecosystem is shown, which includes material recycling and is associated with a decentralized peer-to-peer network for exchanging data related to raw materials, chemical products, batteries, end products, and recycled materials. Decentralized participant network 216 may include one or more decentralized network participants 108, 112, and 202-212. The battery ecosystem may include a production chain to produce end products, such as machines containing batteries. The battery ecosystem may include a recycling chain to recycle at least a portion of end-of-life batteries generated from the use of end products. The battery ecosystem may include miners 202, refiners 204, precursor cathode active material (PCAM) and cathode active material (CAM) producers 206, battery producers 208, end-of-life product producers 108, EOL product collectors 112, black powder producers 210, and metal extractors 212. The battery ecosystem may allow the production of new products, such as PCAM and CAM, using materials (such as metals and metal salts) generated from the recycling of end-of-life batteries or their components. A product ecosystem may be associated with battery production and / or recycling.

[0265] Participants in the decentralized participant network 216 can be associated with the production of products and / or the recycling of batteries. Decentralized network participants can be manufacturers of physical products, such as miners 202, refiners 204, PCAM and CAM producers 206, chemical product producers 102, chemical product users 106, end-product producers 108, and / or participants in recycling chains associated with end-of-life batteries (such as EOL product collectors 112, black powder producers 210, and metal extractors 212). For example, metal extractor 212 and PCAM and CAM producers 206 can be single entities performing recycling operations to obtain recycled materials (such as recycled metals and / or metal salts) and using the recycled metals and / or metal salts to produce new chemical products (such as PCAM and / or CAM). Decentralized network participants can be associated with decentralized participant identifiers. Decentralized participant identifiers can uniquely identify decentralized network participants within the decentralized participant network 216.

[0266] Participants in the decentralized participant network 216 can be connected via material flow, such as in Figure 1 As described in the context. Raw materials (such as metals) can be supplied to refiner 204 for refining. Refined metals can be supplied to PCAM and CAM producers 206 for the production of cathode active materials. CAM can be used, for example, by battery producer 208 to produce battery cells. Battery cells can be used to produce batteries. Batteries can be supplied to end-product producer 108 to produce battery-containing end products, such as electric vehicles. Waste generated from battery production can be supplied to black powder producer 210.

[0267] At least some of the participants in distributed participant network 216 can be associated with distributed participant network nodes 218 to 232, as in Figure 1 The context described above. Distributed participant nodes 218 to 232 can form a distributed network 134. The distributed network 134 can be as follows: Figure 1 The context describes a peer-to-peer communication network. Decentralized configurations allow for more efficient use of computing resources and strengthen the control of data owners in decentralized networks.

[0268] Data transactions between participating nodes in a decentralized network can be based on decentralized identifiers associated with the corresponding data to be accessed, for example, as in... Figure 6 As described in the context, a distributed identifier can be uniquely associated with a physical entity of a chemical product or discrete product and the associated data. A distributed identifier can uniquely identify a corresponding chemical product or discrete product within a distributed network. A distributed identifier can be associated with other distributed identifiers, such as distributed identifiers used for production inputs to produce the chemical product or discrete product, such as... Figure 1 As described in the context of [the document / reference], distributed identifiers can be included in the digital access elements associated with chemical products or discrete products, for example, as in [the document / reference]. Figure 15A and Figure 15B As described in the context.

[0269] Data flows 132 between distributed network participant nodes (e.g., transactions depicted by dashed lines) can be directly or indirectly associated with material flows 136 and 138 (depicted by thick solid lines) between distributed network participants, such as... Figure 1 As described in the context.

[0270] Distributed participant nodes 218 to 232 can be distributed computing nodes, such as in... Figure 1 Described in the context of.

[0271] At least some of the distributed participant nodes 218 to 232 may be distributed data providing network nodes. At least some of the participant nodes 116 to 128 may be distributed data consuming network nodes. Participants in the distributed participant network 130 may be associated with distributed data providing network nodes and / or distributed data consuming network nodes, depending on whether the data is provided to downstream participants or consumed from upstream participants (see also...). Figure 1 ).

[0272] The distributed network 134 may include additional distributed network nodes, such as in Figure 1 Described in the context of.

[0273] Figure 3A battery 302 with identifying elements 304 and 306 is illustrated schematically. The battery can be used in a machine (such as a car). The battery can be used until the end of its lifespan. End-of-life batteries may have a state of health (SoH) below a predefined threshold. SoH can be a measurement indicating the level of degradation and remaining capacity of a battery. It can be defined as the ratio of maximum battery capacity to its rated capacity. SoH can be determined using the battery's battery management system (BMS). SoH can be determined using battery capacity determination (BCD). A battery is any example of an end-of-life product. Any plastic packaging, electronic device, or other end-of-life product can be used equivalently, and the use of a battery as an example should not limit the scope of the basic concepts presented herein.

[0274] Battery 302 may include a battery management system 308 and a plurality of battery cells 310 disposed inside battery housing 312. Battery cells 310 may be disposed in a battery pack or module including a plurality of battery cells 310. Battery cell 310 may include an electrolyte 314, an anode element 316, a cathode element 318, and a separator 320.

[0275] Depending on the application, different components of the battery may include different material compositions. For example, the battery may be a lithium-ion battery. The cathode element 318 may include a cathode active material (CAM) coated on a current collector foil (such as aluminum or copper foil). The cathode active material may comprise layered oxides (LiMO2, where M = Co, Ni, Mn, Al), such as LCO (LiCoO2) or NCM (LiNiO2). x Mn y Co z O2), NCA (LiNi) x Co y Al z O2); spinel (LiM2O4, where M = Mn, Ni, such as LMO (LiMnO4)); or phosphate (LiMPO4, where M = Fe, Mn, Co, Ni, such as LiFePO4). CAM may further include a binder, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), and carbon as a conductive agent.

[0276] The anode element 316 may include an anode active material coated on a current collector foil (such as aluminum or copper foil). The anode active material may comprise artificial graphite, natural graphite, or a combination thereof. Further, the anode active material may include silicon, SiO2, lithium titanate (LTO), or a combination thereof. Further, the anode active material may include a binder, such as styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), a polymer thickener (such as carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)), and carbon as a conductive agent.

[0277] Electrolyte 314 may include salts, solvents (such as carbonates, esters, or ethers) for providing conductivity, and additives (such as alkyl sulfites and sulpholipids, e.g., vinyl sulfite and propylene sulpholipid) for supporting the formation of the SEI layer. It may include mixtures of cyclic carbonates (such as ethylene carbonate (EC) or propylene carbonate (PC)) and open-chain carbonates (such as dimethyl carbonate (DMC)). As conductive salts, lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF6), lithium bis(trifluoromethyl)sulfonylimide (LiTFSI) and its derivatives (e.g., lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (LiFSI)), or lithium [tris(pentafluoroethyl)-trifluorophosphate] (LiFAP), lithium 4,5-dicyano-2-trifluoromethyl-imidazolium (LiTDI), lithium bis(oxalate)borate (LiBOB), ethyl methyl carbonate (EMC), and / or diethyl carbonate (DEC) may be used.

[0278] The separator 320 separates the space between the electrodes and allows ions to permeate. Separator types include microporous membranes, ceramic-coated membranes, nonwoven pads, and solid inorganic or polymer electrolytes. Polyolefin-based membranes coated with, for example, PVDF or ceramic can be used.

[0279] Identification elements 304 and 306 can be physically associated with battery 302. Identification elements 304 and 306 can be physically attached to battery housing 312 or are part of battery management system 308. Identification elements 304 and 306 can be disposed inside or outside battery housing 312. Identification elements 304 and 306 can be passive identification elements. Passive elements 304 and 306 can be disposed on the outer surface of battery housing 312. Passive elements 304 and 306 can be based on markings embedded in material. Passive elements 304 and 306 can include printed codes, such as barcodes or QR codes. Identification elements 304 and 306 can also be active identification elements. Active elements 304 and 306 can be transmitter or transceiver tags, such as RFID tags capable of communicating via, for example, NFC, Bluetooth, Zigbee, or other suitable short-to-mid-range communication protocols. Identification elements 304 and 306 can be part of battery management system 308.

[0280] Identification elements 304 and 306 can be associated with a battery identifier. The battery identifier can be stored within the battery management system 308. The battery identifier can be unique for a discarded battery. The battery identifier can be further associated with battery-related data (e.g., battery data). This data can include any data collected during the production or lifespan of the battery 302. For example, this data can include material data, such as material configuration data collected during battery production, or monitoring data associated with a distributed battery identifier collected during battery use.

[0281] A battery identifier may be associated with or include at least one decentralized battery identifier. A decentralized battery identifier may include any unique identifier uniquely associated with the battery-related data and the identified battery 302. The decentralized battery identifier may further be associated with the data owner of the battery-related data. The decentralized battery identifier may include at least one universally unique identifier (UuID) and / or at least one digital identifier (DID). The decentralized battery identifier may be issued by a centralized or decentralized identity issuing authority. The decentralized battery identifier may include authentication information used to authenticate the data related to the identified battery. Access to the battery data can be controlled by the data owner of the battery data through the decentralized battery identifier and its unique association with battery 302. This contrasts with a centralized authority scheme, where identifiers are provided by a centralized authority and access to the data is controlled by such a centralized authority. In this context, decentralized means that the use of the identifier is controlled by any data owner. Identification elements 304 and 306 may be configured to provide a decentralized battery identifier for accessing the data related to the identified battery.

[0282] A data owner can include any entity that generates data, particularly data related to the identified battery. A generating node can be coupled to an entity that owns a physical product from which data (particularly data related to the identified battery) is generated. This data (particularly data related to the identified battery) can be generated by a third-party entity representing an entity that owns a physical product from which data is generated. The data owner can be a producer of materials and / or components contained in the battery, a battery manufacturer, or a producer of a final product containing the battery. Access to the corresponding data can be controlled by the data owner through a decentralized identifier and its unique association with the data owner and the data related to the identified product. The data related to the identified product can be accessible to the data owner. Therefore, the data owner can directly or indirectly own or control the data related to the identified product. The data related to the identified product can be stored in the data owner's storage environment or a storage environment associated with the data owner. The data related to the identified product can be stored in a storage environment accessible to the data owner. The data owner can control access to the data related to the identified product by providing services through the data owner's data. A data owner can control access to data related to the identified product. Data related to the identified product can be associated with a data owner. A data owner can be the owner or controller of data related to the identified product or data related to the owner of the identified product. Data related to the identified product can be stored in the data owner's storage environment or a storage environment controlled by the data owner. In this sense, a data owner can refer to an entity capable of accessing data related to the identified product or its parts and controlling access to data related to the identified product or its parts provided by network nodes through distributed data in a distributed computing environment.

[0283] Specifically, the distributed identifier may relate to material data specifying the material composition of one or more components of the product. The distributed product identifier may be associated with battery 302, and the material data may specify the material composition of one or more components of battery 302.

[0284] Distributed battery identifiers may include one or more identifiers used in a distributed computing environment and allowing data exchange via the distributed computing environment (such as a peer-to-peer communication channel). Data exchange may include distributed battery identifiers for discovering participant nodes in the distributed computing environment, authenticating participant nodes in the distributed computing environment, and / or authorizing data transfer via peer-to-peer communication between participant nodes in the distributed computing environment.

[0285] Figure 4 The diagram illustrates battery components with identifying elements. For example... Figure 3 The examples of choosing battery components as end-of-life products mentioned in the context are arbitrary and should not be considered as limitations.

[0286] A component may include one or more sub-components of a product. In this example, a component may include a battery housing 312. Sub-components may include a battery management system 308, a battery module or battery pack having multiple battery cells 310, battery cells 310, or a combination of such sub-components. Component identification elements 304 and 306 may be associated with component 310. Identification elements 304 and 306 may be physically attached to component 310. Identification elements 304 and 306 may be arranged inside or outside the product component 310. Identification elements 304 and 306 may be as shown in... Figure 3 The passive or active identification elements 304 and 306 are described in the context of [the relevant context]. Identification elements 304 and 306 may be associated with distributed component identifiers. Distributed battery identifiers may include or relate to [the relevant context]. Figure 1 The identification elements 304 and 306 may be configured to provide a distributed component identifier associated with the identified product component 310 as described in the context of the identification. In particular, the identification elements 304 and 306 may be configured to provide a distributed component identifier for accessing data (such as component data) associated with the identified product component.

[0287] Figure 5A An example of the recycling process for end-of-life (EOL) batteries is shown. This is an optional choice and should not be considered a limitation.

[0288] Batteries may include, for example Figure 3 and Figure 4 The different material parts described in the context. The recycling process may include different steps and may have different designs. The first step may be disassembly step 502. This step may include discharging the EOL battery 504. This step may include disassembling the EOL battery or the discharged EOL battery 506 into separate components. Disassembly may include separating the housing, frame, cables, and BMS from the battery module contained within the EOL battery. The components resulting from disassembly 506 may be sent to subsequent recycling steps. For example, the module may be sent to mechanical processing step 514 or pyrometallurgical processing step 508.

[0289] Pyrometallurgical processing step 508 may include smelting 510. Smelting 510 may include feeding the module into a heating furnace. The heating furnace includes different heating zones to prevent the fed module from exploding. For example, the heating furnace may include a preheating zone at a temperature below 300°C to ensure complete evaporation of the electrolyte without explosion, a pyrolysis zone at a temperature above 700°C to evaporate the plastic components of the module, and a smelting reduction zone (whereby the remaining material is smelted into an alloy of Cu, Co, Ni, Mn, and Fe, while producing Li, Al, Si, Ca, Mn, and some Fe slag). This method is typically used only to recover Cu, Co, Ni, and small amounts of Mn and Fe. Pyrometallurgical processing step 508 may include extraction 512 for extracting the alloy from the slag. The extracted alloy may be used in hydrometallurgical processing step 520 as described later. Smelting 510 may include selective pyrolysis in an electric arc furnace to obtain the alloy and Li-containing slag. The Li slag may be extracted (not shown) by hydrometallurgical process 520 as described later. Selective pyrolysis can also be used to recover electrolyte components, such as Li and Fe, which can greatly improve recovery efficiency.

[0290] Mechanical processing step 514 may include chopping 516. The mechanical processing step may include separating the chopped material 516. Separation may produce metals, such as Al, Cu, and Fe, as well as black powder materials. Black powder materials may include various metals, such as Co, Ni, Mn, Li, Mg, and carbon. Depending on the conditions used during separation, the oxidation state of the metal may be >2 or ≤2. Electrolyte residues may be removed by drying or pyrolysis before performing further separation steps. Separation step 518 may include, as in... Figure 5B The steps described in the context of [the document / context].

[0291] The hydrometallurgical treatment step 520 may include a leaching step 522. The leaching step may include a separation step of the leached metal ion solution. Therefore, separation can produce a metal ion solution containing a single metal ion, counterions, and a solvent. This allows the metals to be separated from each other, thereby facilitating the production of metal precursors 524. The leaching step can be performed using an alloy obtained from pyrometallurgy 508 or using a black powder material produced by mechanical treatment 518. If the leaching step is performed using an alloy, the leaching can achieve the extraction of Cu, Fe, Co, and Mn. If the leaching step is performed using a black powder material, the leaching can achieve the extraction of Cu, Fe, Co, Mn, Li, and Ni. The leaching step can be performed using inorganic acids such as hydrochloric acid (HCl), sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄), nitric acid (HNO₃), and phosphoric acid (H₃PO₄). After leaching, the leached metal can be recovered from the solution through a series of continuous processes, such as selective precipitation, solvent extraction, ion exchange, or electrolytic deposition.

[0292] Recovered metal salts obtained after leaching can be used to produce precursor cathode active materials (PCAM) for the production of cathode active materials (see 524). The precursor can be synthesized using carbonate or hydroxide process routes. For example, the precursor can be synthesized from the metal salt solution by mixing the appropriate metal salt solution and precipitating PCAM using a pH adjuster and a complexing agent. The PCAM can be washed and dried. The cathode active material can be prepared from PCAM by mixing the precursor with a lithium salt, calcining the mixture, grinding, and sorting according to size.

[0293] Figure 5B Shown in Figure 5A The separation step 518 is described in the context of the previous step. This can be applied to chopping (see [link to previous step]). Figure 5A The material obtained after step 516) is dried 526 and mixed 528. Then, sorting 530 can be performed to separate the metals in the conductive foil, diaphragm components, and cables from materials containing transition metals. The separated materials may include Al, Fe, and Cu. After separation 530, there may be a further crushing step 532 and a sieving step 534. Then, a second sorting step 536 can be performed. The materials can be sorted or classified according to their physical properties (such as particle size, form, density, and electrical and magnetic properties). Pyrolysis 538 can be performed at 700°C to remove any remaining electrolytes and fluorine-containing components that are potentially harmful to health. After pyrolysis, black powder material 540 can be obtained.

[0294] Figure 6 A decentralized system is demonstrated for accessing data associated with materials and products within a product ecosystem. Products can be batteries. Products can be chemical materials, such as PCAM or CAM. Products can be battery components, such as battery cells. Products can be production waste, such as production waste generated during the production of battery cells. The decentralized system can be, for example, […]. Figure 1 and Figure 2 The context of the distributed peer-to-peer network 134.

[0295] An asset can be associated with data related to the asset (e.g., asset data). The data associated with the asset can represent at least a portion of a digital twin of the physical entity of the asset. The digital twin can be a digital representation of the physical entity. The digital representation can correspond to a semantic description of the definition of the physical entity. Therefore, a digital twin can represent a digital version of the physical entity. Once created, a digital twin can be used to represent the physical entity of the asset in a digital representation of a real-world system. A digital twin can contain one or more datasets (hereinafter also referred to as assets or aspects). A dataset can represent a portion of the digital twin. A dataset can be associated with a distributed dataset identifier to allow identification of the corresponding dataset within the digital twin.

[0296] Decentralized systems can be used to collect data associated with products containing recyclable materials, such as Figure 9 and Figure 10 As described in the context of [the document / concept]. A decentralized system can be used to determine decentralized identifiers associated with raw materials, intermediate chemicals produced, chemical products produced, and discrete products produced. Discrete products can include components, component assemblies, and final products. Chemical products and discrete products can be produced from one or more production inputs. Production inputs can be received from the corresponding upstream participants. Raw materials, intermediate chemicals produced, chemical products produced, and discrete products produced are associated with access elements that include decentralized identifiers and access data that allows access to the corresponding data associated with the raw materials, intermediate chemicals, chemical products, or discrete products, respectively. Access elements can be as follows: Figure 12 and Figure 13 It is generated as described in the context. An example of this access to elements is... Figure 15A and Figure 15B The access element may further include or relate to authentication and / or authorization information linked to the decentralized identifier. The access element may be provided to the decentralized registry. The decentralized registry may store the access element and may use query data to query for identifying desired data related to the corresponding raw material, intermediate chemical product, chemical product, or discrete product.

[0297] Participants in a decentralized network can be associated with decentralized participant identifiers. Each participant in a decentralized network can be associated with one or more decentralized participant identifiers. Decentralized participant identifiers can include any identifier that uniquely associates with a participant in the decentralized network and / or with a production site of a participant in the decentralized network. Decentralized participant identifiers can include letters and / or numbers. Decentralized participant identifiers can include one or more Universally Unique Identifiers (UUIDs) and / or one or more Distributed Identifiers (DIDs). Decentralized participant identifiers can be associated with or include verifiable claims or credentials. Verifiable claims can be issued by a centralized or decentralized identity issuing authority that makes one or more claims to a subject, such as an entity that is a trusted participant in the decentralized network. For example, an issuing authority can make claims about consumers (e.g., entities operating data-consuming network nodes) or providers (e.g., entities operating data-providing network nodes) associated with a decentralized participant identifier. Verifiable claims can include these claims along with proof instructions demonstrating that the claims have not been tampered with and were indeed issued by the claim issuing authority. Verifiable claims may also include duration information metadata, which defines the valid period of use of the verifiable claim or the specific number of times the verifiable claim is authorized for use. Verifiable claims may also include the DID of the claim issuing authority and / or subject (such as an entity). Verifiable claims may be signed by the claim issuing authority. The claim issuing authority may provide verifiable claims to claim holders (such as entities) to present them to any dependent parties that rely on the authenticity of these claims, such as decentralized data providers. The signature of the verifiable claim can be verified using the public key associated with the claim issuing authority to determine that the corresponding entity is a trusted entity within the decentralized network. Verifiable credentials may be presented by decentralized data consuming network nodes and may be used by decentralized data providing network nodes to verify that the decentralized participant associated with the decentralized data consuming network node is a trusted entity within the decentralized network before providing access to data (such as product data), thereby ensuring that product data can be exchanged securely and in a controlled manner within the decentralized network.

[0298] Distributed systems can include data consumers and data providers. Data consumers and data providers can communicate via distributed networks (such as distributed peer-to-peer networks, see e.g., see [link to e.g.]). Figure 1 and Figure 2 Data providers can offer data consumers data associated with a product, such as product data. Data consumers can request data from data providers, such as product data. Data providers can correspond to entities that produce chemical products or discrete products. Data consumers can correspond to entities that use the produced products and / or perform [activities / operations]. Figure 9 and Figure 10The entities disclosed in the method. A data provider may be associated with a data provider environment 608. A data consumer may be associated with a data consumer environment 602. These environments may include one or more nodes. Nodes may be connected via peer-to-peer communication channels to allow data transfer between nodes, as in... Figure 1 and Figure 2 Decentralized systems can include more than [the context described]. Figure 6 The environment shown is more or less.

[0299] Data consumer environment 602 may include consumer node 232 (e.g., distributed data consumer network node 232) and consumer backend 604. Consumer node 232 may be configured to communicate with consumer backend 604. Consumer node 232 may be configured to receive data from consumer backend 604. Consumer node 232 may be configured to receive data from provider node 226. Consumer node 232 may be configured to request data from provider node 226. Consumer node 232 may be configured to receive data from consumer backend 604 and to receive and / or request data from provider node 226. Consumer node 232 may be configured to collect data stored within the distributed network, such as endpoints of provider nodes, access elements stored in distributed registry 612, and / or data stored in dedicated storage device 614 associated with provider node 226, the data owner. Consumer node 232 may be configured to determine the provider node associated with the producer of the material or product associated with that identifier based on an identifier (e.g., a product identifier). For example, consumer node 232 can be configured to use an identifier to query the infrastructure environment ( Figure 6 (Not shown in the image) to determine the distributed participant identifier associated with the identifier. Consumer node 232 can then use the determined distributed participant identifier to query the infrastructure environment to determine the provider node associated with the distributed participant identifier. Consumer backend 604 can be configured to send a request for data to consumer node 232. Consumer backend 604 can be configured to store the data received from consumer node 232 in a data storage device (e.g., storage device 606). Consumer backend 604 can be configured to credit the recyclable amount of material to a virtual material account, for example, as... Figure 7A , Figure 7B , Figure 9 and Figure 10 As described in the context.

[0300] Data consumer environment 602 can be related to product ecosystem (e.g.) Figure 1This is related to participants in the product ecosystem shown. For example, data consumer environment 602 may be associated with output product producers (such as chemical product producer 102 or chemical product user 106) who receive input materials and use them to produce output products. In another instance, data consumer environment 602 may be associated with recycler 114 who receives old output products or components from collector 112.

[0301] Data consumer environment 602 can be integrated with the battery ecosystem (e.g. Figure 2 This relates to participants in the battery ecosystem shown. For example, data consumer environment 602 could be associated with output product producers (such as chemical product user 106) who receive and use chemical products to produce batteries. In another instance, data consumer environment 602 could be associated with... Figure 9 , Figure 10 and Figure 22 The method disclosed in the paper is associated with metal extractor 212.

[0302] Data provider environment 608 may include provider node 226, decentralized registry 612, and provider backend 610. Data provider environment 608 may be associated with a data owner (such as a manufacturer producing output products from one or more input materials). Data provider environment 608 may include a digital twin storage device 614 storing digital twins of the produced output products (e.g., assets and one or more associated aspects). The digital twin storage device may be a dedicated storage device associated with the data owner. The data owner may own such a dedicated storage device. The data owner may access such a dedicated storage device. Provider node 226 may be configured to provide data, such as access elements stored in decentralized registry 614, and aspects and associated assets stored in digital twin storage device 606. Provider node 226 may be configured to perform authentication and authorization steps before providing data, for example, as referred to later. Figure 9 and Figure 10 As described, the distributed registry 612 can be configured to store access elements associated with the digital twin and provide such access elements to the provider node 226. The provider backend 610 can be configured to generate access elements, for example, as in... Figure 14 As described in the context. The provider backend 610 can be configured to generate passes, for example, as in... Figure 12 and Figure 13 As described in the context.

[0303] Figure 7A and Figure 7BAn example of an accounting system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is shown for allocating the quantity of recyclable material associated with a material owner to a virtual material account. Dashed lines may represent data transmission. The quantity of recyclable material may also be considered as the amount of recyclable material or the recyclable quantity of material. The material may be owned by the material owner. The recyclable quantity of the material may be owned by the material owner. The material owner may be a final product producer. The material owner may be a chemical product producer. The quantity of recyclable material can be obtained by performing a recycling process on end-of-life products and / or components thereof and / or production waste (e.g., production waste) containing such material. The quantity of recyclable material may be associated with the quantity of recycled material. The recycling process may include one or more steps. For example, the recycling process may include collection and / or sorting steps. Alternatively or additionally, the recycling process may include at least one step of obtaining material from end-of-life products or components thereof. Such steps may include physical and / or chemical methods. For example, such steps may include black powder production and the recovery of metals and / or metal salts from such black powder (see also...). Figure 5A and Figure 5B The amount of recyclable material can be defined by the recovery rate associated with the steps performed.

[0304] Scrap products, their components, and / or production waste may contain materials in reactive form. Materials (such as metals) may exist as chemical compounds within the scrap products, their components, and / or production waste, for example, they may undergo at least one chemical reaction during the production of the scrap products or their components. Materials (such as metals) may also exist in the scrap products, their components, and / or production waste in an unreacted form, for example, they may not have undergone at least one chemical reaction during the production of the scrap products or their components.

[0305] The amount of recyclable material can represent the amount of recycled material generated through a recycling process on end-of-life products and / or their components and / or production waste containing such material. The amount of recyclable material allocated to a virtual materials account can at least partially represent the amount of recycled material that is physically usable for the production of new chemical intermediates (such as PCAM). Therefore, the amount of recyclable material allocated to a virtual materials account can at least partially correspond to the amount of recycled material that is physically usable for the production of chemical intermediates using such recycled material. For example, PCAM can be produced using recycled metals and metal salts (see [link to relevant documentation]). Figure 2 A virtual balancing account can store quantities of recyclable materials, wherein at least a portion of the stored quantities may correspond to quantities of recyclable materials that are physically available as production inputs, and at least another portion of the stored quantities may correspond to quantities of recyclable materials (e.g., recycled materials) that will become available in the future. Recyclable materials that will become available in the future may refer to materials present in the final product or its components that have not yet undergone a recycling process.

[0306] Accounting system 708 can be connected to consumer node 128. Consumer node 128 can be associated with an entity that performs at least one recycling step. For example, consumer node 128 can be associated with metal extractor 212 that extracts metals or metal salts from black powder produced by black powder producer 210 (see [link to relevant documentation]). Figure 2 Consumer node 128 can be configured to collect data (e.g., product data) associated with products containing a recyclable amount of material (e.g., products containing components or chemical compounds that can be recycled to obtain material). This data can be collected from one or more data providing nodes 122 via a distributed network, for example, as... Figure 6 and Figure 9 As described in the context. Product data for a given final product or its components (such as batteries) and / or production waste generated from the production of battery cells can be collected from a data provider associated with the corresponding data. Product data can be collected manually, for example, by scanning physical identifier elements attached to the final product or its components. The physical identifier elements can encode data associated with a decentralized identifier associated with such a final product or component. Product data can be automatically collected and / or provided by the corresponding data provider when delivering components (such as batteries and / or production waste) to a data consumer associated with a delivery location. Product data can be automatically collected and / or provided by the corresponding data provider when performing a recycling process on end-of-life products generated from the use of the final product. The recycling process may include collecting and / or sorting end-of-life products or their components and / or recycling end-of-life products or their components to obtain recycled materials. The data provider associated with such corresponding data can be associated with the final product producer that produces the final product. Such a data provider can be provided by consumer node 128 through the infrastructure environment of the decentralized network (see also...). Figure 6 This is determined by querying the distributed participant identifiers associated with this final product or its components. The distributed participant identifiers can then be used to identify the provider node, such as... Figure 6 As described in the context of [the above]. Product data may include product composition data associated with the composition of a product. Product data may include component composition data associated with the composition of a product component. Product data may include material composition data associated with the composition of a chemical product used to produce the product or its components. Product data may include product composition data, component composition data, material composition data, or a combination thereof.

[0307] Consumer node 128 can be configured to provide collected product data to material accounting system 710. Material accounting system 710 may include material data aggregator 704 and quantity generator 706. Material accounting system 710 can be configured to transform the collected data into quantities of recyclable materials. Material accounting system 710 can be configured to generate accounting transactions including the quantities of recyclable materials and provide these accounting transactions to virtual material account 702. Accounting transactions can be performed as follows: Figure 9 and Figure 10 The accounting transaction is generated as described in the context. The accounting transaction can be a dataset including a material identifier and the quantity of recyclable material. This dataset may further include an owner identifier, timestamp and / or date, virtual material account identifier, or a combination thereof. The accounting transaction can be stored within virtual material account 702. (See rule set). Figure 18A A virtual material account 702 can be used to determine the appropriate virtual balancing account in which the amount of recyclable material should be stored. A virtual material account 702 can allow balancing the amount of recyclable material across one or more accounts. An example structure for a virtual material account is shown in... Figure 8A and Figure 8B The virtual material account 702 may include an accounting table that stores or records the accounting transactions provided. The accounting table may include a material identifier and the quantity of recyclable material associated with that material identifier. The accounting table may further include an owner identifier, a timestamp and / or date of the accounting transaction, the sender of the accounting transaction, or a combination thereof. The material identifier may include a material name, a material ID, a batch ID or number, or a combination thereof.

[0308] Figure 7A This demonstrates the first example of the accounting system 708. Dashed lines can represent data transmission. Figure 7A In this example, data collected by data consumer 128 is provided to material data aggregator 704. Material data aggregator 704 can be configured to aggregate the collected data received from consumer node 128, for example, as... Figure 9 and Figure 10 The material data aggregator 704 can be configured to aggregate data according to aggregation rules (e.g., in the context described above). Figure 18B The aggregated data is aggregated using the aggregation rules described in the context. The material data aggregator 704 can be configured to determine whether the collected data contains datasets that have already been processed (e.g., aggregated). This allows for avoiding duplicate counting of recyclable material quantities, thus ensuring that the amount of recyclable material allocated to the virtual balance account corresponds to the amount of recycled material obtained from the recycling of end-of-life products or components containing such material.

[0309] The quantity generator 706 can be configured to transform the aggregated data received from the material data aggregator 704, for example, as Figure 9 The quantity generator 706 can be configured to, according to the transformation rule (e.g., in the context described above), generate quantity 706. Figure 18C The aggregation rules described in the context transform or convert the aggregated data into a recyclable quantity of material. Quantity generator 706 can be configured to generate accounting transactions containing the quantity of recyclable material. Quantity generator 706 can be configured to provide the generated accounting transactions to virtual material account 702.

[0310] and Figure 7A In contrast, the product data collected by consumer node 128 is not provided to material data aggregator 704, but rather to quantity generator 706. Quantity generator 706 can be configured to transform or convert the data collected for each product or component containing that material, for example, as in... Figure 10 As described in the context. It can be based on, for example... Figure 18C The transformation rules shown are used to transform or convert the data collected for each product or component. Therefore, quantity generator 706 can be configured to transform or convert the data collected for each product or component into a recyclable quantity contained in the corresponding product or component. Quantity generator 706 can be configured to generate accounting transactions, as previously described. Quantity generator 706 can be configured to provide the generated accounting transactions to virtual material account 702, as previously described. Accounting transactions can be recorded as entries in the accounting table of virtual material account 702.

[0311] A single entry associated with the recyclability of a given material can be aggregated by the material data aggregator 704, for example, such as Figure 10 As described in the context above. Material data aggregator 704 can be configured to collect accounting transactions associated with a given material from virtual material account 702 and aggregate the amount of recyclable material contained in the collected accounting transactions. Material data aggregator 704 can be configured to query virtual material account 702 for entries in the accounting table associated with the given material. The data returned from the query may contain accounting table entries associated with the given material and including the corresponding amount of recyclable material. Material data aggregator 704 can be configured to sum the amounts contained in the collected data or query response to determine the total amount of the given recyclable material. Material data aggregator 704 can be configured to generate accounting transactions including the total amount as described above. Material data aggregator 704 can be configured to provide accounting transactions to virtual material account 702. The total accounting transactions may be stored within virtual material account 702, for example, as entries within the accounting table of virtual material account 702.

[0312] Figure 8A and Figure 8BAn example of a virtual materials account and associated metadata is shown. The metadata may relate to environmental attribute types associated with materials balanced in the corresponding account. The environmental attribute type "recycling" may indicate that the amount of material stored in this virtual balancing account is associated with the amount of recycled and / or recyclable materials. The metadata may further relate to the materials balanced in the corresponding account. For example, the metadata may include a material identifier representing the material. The metadata may further relate to the unit associated with the amount of recyclable material balanced in the corresponding account. For example, the metadata may include units representing the amount, such as grams, kilograms, or tons. The metadata may further relate to the owner of the recyclable material. For example, the metadata may include owner identifiers, such as decentralized participant identifiers, owner IDs, owner names, or combinations thereof. The virtual materials account may be associated with an account balance that quantifies the amount of recyclable material stored in the corresponding account. The metadata can be used to allocate the amount of recyclable material to the produced chemical intermediates and / or chemical products, such as... Figure 16A and Figure 16B As described in the context. For example, account metadata can be matched with collected product data (such as material composition data included in the product data). Once a matching match is found, the amount of transformed or converted recyclable material can be allocated to the matching account. Allocating the appropriate amount of recyclable product can result in an increase in the balance of the corresponding matching virtual material account.

[0313] Accounting system 708 may include virtual material accounts with static or dynamic metadata. For example, if the metadata provided via an accounting transaction does not correspond to any metadata of an existing virtual material account, a new account associated with such metadata may be generated. Alternatively or additionally, the amount of recyclable material may be allocated to the virtual material account associated with the largest match in the metadata. Here, "largest" may refer to the largest number of matching metadata points, particularly the number of account metadata points that at least partially match the metadata points of the accounting transaction. For example, an accounting transaction may provide more metadata than any virtual material account. In this case, a virtual material account with metadata points that at least partially match the metadata points of the accounting transaction may be selected for allocation.

[0314] exist Figure 8AIn the example, accounting system 708 may include multiple different virtual material accounts 802a to 802d. Each virtual material account is associated with a specific recyclable material. Each virtual material account is further associated with a specific material owner. Each virtual material account may include an accounting table storing entries. Each entry may include data contained within an accounting transaction provided to the corresponding account. Data entries may be associated with allocating a quantity of recyclable material to the corresponding account, resulting in an increase in the account balance (e.g., the quantity of recyclable material stored in the corresponding account). Data entries may be associated with deducting the quantity of recyclable material as a recovery content from the produced chemical product, resulting in a decrease in the account balance.

[0315] Figure 8B Another example is shown. In this example, a virtual material account can be associated with metadata related to the material category (such as "metal") balanced within that account. The virtual material account can further be associated with metadata related to the material owner. Therefore, the virtual material account allows for balancing the quantities of various recyclable materials owned by or associated with the material owner. The virtual material account can include various sub-accounts 840, 846, 852, and 858. Each sub-account can be associated with a specific material, such as a specific metal (e.g., lithium, nickel, cobalt, etc.). Each sub-account can further be associated with a corresponding unit as described above.

[0316] Figure 9 A flowchart illustrating a first example method for allocating a quantity of recyclable material associated with a material owner to a virtual material account, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, is shown. Figure 9 The method shown can be derived from Figure 7A The accounting system 708 shown is used for implementation. The amount of recyclable material may be present in the final product or its components and / or in the production waste generated during the production of the final product or its components. The amount of recyclable material can be obtained by performing a recycling process on the end-of-life product or its components and / or production waste containing such material, such as... Figure 7A As described in the context of [the relevant document / reference], the amount of recyclable material allocated to a virtual material account may correspond to or relate to the amount of future recyclable material, for example, the amount of recyclable material obtained through future recycling processes of end products, their components, and / or production waste containing that material. Therefore, the amount of recyclable material allocated to a virtual material account can represent the future supply of recyclable material. The amount of recyclable material may be allocated to one or more virtual material accounts associated with the corresponding material (see [reference]). Figure 8A ) or one or more sub-accounts of the virtual materials account (see Figure 8BThe material can be a metal. The material can be included as a metal compound in the final product, its components, and / or production waste. The final product can be a battery. The component can be a battery contained within a machine (such as an electric vehicle). The component can be a part of the battery, such as a battery module or a battery cell. The production waste can be production waste generated from the production of the battery cells included in the battery.

[0317] Data related to the material owner and data related to the final product or components containing recyclable materials associated with the material owner can be provided (see box 902). This data can be provided from a computing system connected to consumer node 128. This data can also be provided to consumer node 128 by a user via a communication interface. The material owner can own at least a portion of the recycled materials generated by performing a recycling process on the end-of-life product or its components. The material owner can own at least a portion of the recyclable materials. The amount of recyclable materials generated by such a recycling process can be owned by the material owner. The material owner can be any participant in the product ecosystem (see...). Figure 1 The material owner can be a final product producer. The material owner can be a component producer. The material owner can be a parts assembly producer. The material owner can be a chemical product producer. The material owner can be a recycler. Data associated with the material owner may include a decentralized participant identifier associated with the material owner, the material owner ID, the material owner name, or a combination thereof. Data associated with the final product or its components containing recyclable materials associated with the material owner may include final product type, component type, waste type, final product identifier, component identifier, waste identifier, key-value pairs storing asset or aspect data, or a combination thereof. A component type may represent a battery. A waste type may represent production waste from the production of battery cells. A final product type may represent an electric vehicle.

[0318] Final product data or component data can be collected via a distributed network based on the provided data (see box 904). Component data may include component data associated with a component and / or waste data associated with production waste used to produce the component. The distributed network can be... Figure 1 and Figure 2 The distributed network 134 is shown below. (Return to reference) Figure 6 It can be achieved through execution Figure 9 The method involves collecting data from consumer nodes associated with entities. This data can also be collected from provider nodes associated with producers of the final product or its components. The accounting system 708 can be in... Figure 6 This is part of the consumer backend 604 described in the context.

[0319] Continue to refer to Figure 6 The consumer backend 604 can be configured to request distributed participant identifiers from distributed infrastructure nodes. This request can include keys and / or values. For example, the request could contain the final product type, component type (such as "battery"), or waste type. In another instance, the request could contain the name of an asset or aspect storing composition data (such as product composition data and / or component composition data and / or waste composition data). The request can be authenticated. Upon successful authentication, the distributed infrastructure node can provide one or more distributed participant identifiers that match the data contained in the received request.

[0320] Continue to refer to Figure 6 Upon receiving a distributed participant identifier, consumer backend 604 can be configured to request an endpoint of a provider node associated with the received distributed participant identifier from another distributed infrastructure node. This request may include one or more received distributed participant identifiers. The request can be authenticated. Upon successful authentication, the other distributed infrastructure node can provide one or more endpoints associated with the received distributed participant identifier. The distributed infrastructure node can provide more than one endpoint for each distributed participant identifier. The endpoint may be a URI, such as the URL of the corresponding provider node. In another embodiment, consumer backend 604 can be configured to send a request for such an endpoint to an associated consumer node 232, and consumer node 232 can be configured to request such an endpoint from another distributed infrastructure node. This request may include at least a portion of the received distributed participant identifier. Consumer node 232 can be configured to provide the received endpoint to consumer backend 604.

[0321] Continue to refer to Figure 6Consumer backend 604 can be configured to generate query data to query a decentralized registry, such as decentralized registry 612, associated with the obtained endpoint. The query data may include data related to a specific aspect of the digital twin (e.g., a dataset). A specific asset may include an asset associated with a component of the final product (e.g., a battery). An asset (also referred to hereinafter as a battery pass) may be included in a digital twin containing the corresponding battery (e.g., a vehicle). Data related to a specific aspect may include key-value pairs defining such an aspect in access elements associated with the final product and stored within the decentralized registry. Consumer backend 604 can be configured to generate a request to collect decentralized identifiers associated with the final product or its components. This request may include at least a portion of the received endpoint and the query data. This request may be provided to consumer node 232. Consumer node 232 can be configured to generate one or more requests in response to a request from consumer backend 604. These one or more requests may include query data and decentralized participant identifiers associated with consumer node 232. Consumer node 232 can be configured to send such a request to the endpoint included in the request received from the consumer backend 604. This request can be authenticated. This authentication can be based on data associated with an authentication mechanism. The authentication mechanism can be based on certificates and / or tokens associated with the respective distributed participant nodes (e.g., consumer node 232 and provider node 226), such as device certificates (X.509v3), TLS connection certificates (X.509v3), and 'Dynamic Attribute Tokens' (OAuth access tokens). If authentication fails, the corresponding data provider may not provide data.

[0322] Continue to refer to Figure 6The provider node can be configured to query the associated decentralized registry 612 to determine whether the associated decentralized registry 612 includes a decentralized identifier associated with the query data contained in the request received from the consumer node 232. If authentication is valid, such a query can be performed. A provider node that does not have the determined decentralized identifier associated with the query data can send a corresponding response to the consumer node 232. A provider node that does not have the determined decentralized identifier associated with the query data can not send any response to the consumer node 232. A provider node 226 that has the determined decentralized identifier associated with the query data can initiate contract negotiation with the consumer node 232. The provider node 226 can provide an electronic contract to the consumer node 232. The electronic contract may include one or more authorization rules associated with the decentralized identifier. The electronic contract can be provided to the consumer backend 604. The consumer backend 604 can parse the received electronic contract to determine the authorization rules. The determined authorization rules can be provided to the user to obtain consent. The consumer backend 604 can be configured to automatically accept electronic contracts provided by predefined provider nodes. Consumer backend 604 can provide consumer node 232 with data indicating signing, such as a token. If the electronic contract is not signed, consumer backend 604 can also forward data indicating contract rejection to consumer node 232. Consumer node 232 can then forward this data to provider node 226. Upon contract rejection, provider node 226 can terminate the connection and may not provide any data. The use of electronic contracts ensures that consumer node 232 and other systems processing the data (such as consumer backend 604) adhere to at least one policy associated with that data.

[0323] The provider node, possessing a distributed identifier associated with the queried data, can provide such a distributed identifier to the consumer node 232. This identifier can be provided upon successful contract negotiation. The consumer node 232 can then provide the received distributed identifier to the consumer backend 604.

[0324] Continue to refer to Figure 6Upon receiving a distributed identifier, the consumer backend 604 can be configured to generate a request for collecting access elements associated with at least a portion of the received distributed identifier. This request may include the corresponding distributed identifier. This request can be provided to consumer node 232. Consumer node 232 can be configured to request the corresponding access element from a provider node that provides the distributed identifier included in the request received from consumer backend 604. The request to the corresponding provider node may include the distributed identifier and a distributed participant identifier associated with consumer node 232. Upon receiving the request, provider node 226 can collect access elements from the associated distributed registry 612 based on the distributed identifier included in the received request. The collected access elements can then be provided to consumer node 232. Consumer node 232 can provide the received access elements to consumer backend 604. Consumer backend 604 can store the access elements in storage device 606.

[0325] Continue to refer to Figure 6 The consumer backend 604 can be configured to parse received access elements (e.g., received access element data). Access elements can include, for example, in... Figure 15A and Figure 15B The consumer backend 604 can be configured to match aspect data contained in the received access element with the data provided in box 902 (e.g., key-value pairs) based on the data provided in box 902 to determine a decentralized identifier associated with such aspect data. Upon determining a match, a corresponding request can be generated to retrieve such an aspect associated with such a decentralized identifier. This request may include the decentralized identifier of the digital twin and the associated decentralized identifier of the matching aspect. This request may be forwarded to consumer node 232. Consumer node 232 may generate a request to collect the aspect from the corresponding provider node. This request may include the decentralized identifier included in the request received from consumer backend 604 and the decentralized participant identifier associated with consumer node 232. This request may be provided to the corresponding provider node 226. Consumer node 232 and provider node 226 may authenticate as described above.

[0326] Provider node 226 may initiate contract negotiation with consumer node 232, as previously described. Contract negotiation may be initiated upon successful authentication. Provider node 226 may collect the requested aspect from digital twin storage device 614 storing the digital twin and associated aspects based on the distributed identifier and the associated distributed identifier of the aspect. The aspect may be collected upon successful contract negotiation. If the electronic contract is not signed, the peer-to-peer communication channel may be terminated, and the aspect may not be provided. The collected aspect may be provided to consumer node 232. Consumer node 232 may forward the received aspect to consumer backend 604. The received aspect may correspond to a dataset with a defined semantic structure. The received aspect may include data associated with the material configuration of the final product (e.g., final product composition data). The received aspect may include data associated with the material configuration of components (e.g., component composition data). The received aspect may include data associated with the material configuration of production waste (e.g., waste composition data). The corresponding composition data may be associated with the amount of recyclable material contained in the final product, its components, and / or production waste. The composition data may include the amount of recyclable material. Composition data may include the amount of chemical compounds containing recyclable materials in reactive or unreacted forms. Figure 11 The example shown is a battery pass data (e.g., aspect data) associated with different batteries that can be provided by a data provider.

[0327] The consumer backend 604 can be configured to store received aspects (e.g., received datasets) in data storage device 606. The aspects can be stored according to the rules stipulated in the signed electronic contract.

[0328] Consumer backend 604 can be further configured to generate a request for collecting decentralized identifiers associated with discrete components used to produce the final product, based on decentralized identifiers associated with the final product. Consumer backend 604 can be further configured to generate requests for collecting decentralized identifiers associated with chemical products used to produce the final product or its components, respectively, based on decentralized identifiers associated with the final product or its components. Such a request can be generated if the received aspect does not contain sufficient data regarding the amount of recyclable material contained within the final product or its components. Decentralized identifiers associated with discrete components used to produce the final product and / or with chemical products used to produce discrete components or the final product can be collected based on aspects defining the relationship between decentralized identifiers of the final product (e.g., parent identifiers) and decentralized identifiers of production inputs used to produce the final product (e.g., child identifiers). Recursive queries for child identifiers of a given decentralized identifier (e.g., parent identifier) ​​allow determination of a bill of materials for the final product or its components. The determined child identifiers can then be used to collect desired data indicating the amount of recyclable material as described above.

[0329] The collected data can be aggregated by applying at least one aggregation rule to the data associated with the final product or its components (see box 906). The collected data may include compositional data as described above, and at least one aggregation rule can be applied to such compositional data. Data aggregation can be performed by the material data aggregator 704 of the accounting system 708 (see...). Figure 7A ) Execute. It can be based on Figure 18B At least one aggregation rule is shown to perform data aggregation.

[0330] refer to Figure 18B The aggregation of collected data can include generating a list of all datasets (e.g., aspects) containing products (e.g., final products or components thereof) of a given material. For example, a list of all nickel-containing batteries can be generated from collected battery passport data (which contains the composition of the cathode and anode active materials present within the battery) (see, for example...). Figure 11 ).

[0331] Continue to refer to Figure 18B The aggregation of collected data can include selecting all aspects of products (e.g., final products or components thereof) from the collected data that contain a material content greater than a given value. A list can be generated from the selected assets. This list can include distributed battery identifiers for the batteries associated with the selected assets. The list can include aspect data for all selected batteries. For example, all batteries with a nickel content greater than 15% can be selected from the collected battery pass data.

[0332] Continue to refer to Figure 18B The aggregation of collected data can include selecting all aspects of products (e.g., final products or components thereof) from the collected data whose material content is less than a given value. A list can be generated from the selected assets. This list can include decentralized battery identifiers for the batteries associated with the selected assets. The list can include aspect data for all selected batteries. For example, all batteries with a cobalt content of less than 10% can be selected from the collected battery pass data.

[0333] Continue to refer to Figure 18B The aggregation of collected data can include all aspects of selecting products (e.g., final products or components thereof) deemed unsuitable for reuse from the collected data. Such aspects can be selected based on health status data contained within these aspects. Such aspects can be selected by a data-driven model trained on historical (e.g., existing) aspect data. The trained data-driven model can be configured to predict which products are deemed unsuitable for reuse based on aspect data associated with such products (e.g., based on health status data contained in a battery pass). A list can be generated from assets deemed unsuitable for reuse. This list can include decentralized battery identifiers for batteries associated with the selected assets. The list can include aspect data for all selected batteries. For example, all batteries with a cobalt content of less than 10% can be selected from the collected battery pass data.

[0334] Continue to refer to Figure 18B The aggregation of collected data can include all aspects of products (e.g., final products or their components) that have environmental attributes (such as carbon footprint values) greater than a given value, selected from the collected data. The carbon footprint can be given in kilograms of CO2 equivalent per kilogram of product. A list can be generated from the selected assets. This list can include decentralized battery identifiers for the batteries associated with the selected assets. The list can include aspect data for all selected batteries. For example, all batteries with a carbon footprint greater than 140 kilograms of CO2 equivalent per kilogram of product can be selected from the collected battery pass data.

[0335] The total amount of recyclable material can be determined by applying at least one transformation rule to the aggregated data in box 906 (see box 908). Data transformation can be performed by the quantity generator 706 of the accounting system 708 (see...). Figure 7A ) Execute. It can be based on Figure 18CAt least one aggregation rule is shown to perform data aggregation. Quantity generator 706 can be configured to store identifiers associated with the aggregated data, such as distributed identifiers. Quantity generator 706 can be configured to compare such stored identifiers with identifiers contained in additional aggregated data received from material data aggregator 704. This allows data contained in the aggregated data received from material data aggregator 704 to be avoided being used more than once to determine the total amount of recyclable material, thereby ensuring that the amount of recyclable material is correctly determined based on data available within the distributed network. This allows ensuring that the amount of recyclable material is reliably determined based on data available within the distributed network, thereby reliably accounting for recyclable material in the virtual material account.

[0336] refer to Figure 18C The total amount of recyclable material can be determined from the aggregated data by summing the absolute amounts of recyclable material (e.g., variable X) of each product included in the aggregated data and multiplying that sum by the total yield of the recycling process. The absolute amount of recyclable material for each product can be collected from the corresponding aspects associated with it. For example, the total amount of recyclable nickel metal from batteries owned by a material owner can be determined by summing the absolute mass of nickel included in or associated with the aggregated data. The absolute amount of recyclable material for each product included in the aggregated data can be determined by multiplying the total weight of the corresponding product by the relative amount of recyclable material present in the corresponding product. For example, the absolute amount of recyclable nickel metal for each battery can be determined by multiplying the total weight of the corresponding battery included in the battery pass by the relative amount of nickel present in the corresponding battery. The total yield of the recycling process can be determined by multiplying the yield of each recycling step required to produce recyclable material from the final product or its components. For example, the overall yield of a battery recycling process used to obtain recycled metals or metal salts can be obtained by multiplying the yield of black powder by the yield of metal extraction associated with the corresponding metal.

[0337] The total amount of recyclable materials can be allocated to at least one virtual material account via accounting transactions associated with the identified recyclable materials (see box 910). An exemplary virtual material account is... Figure 8A and Figure 8B The data is displayed in the middle. Accounting transactions may include the determined total quantity and material identifiers, such as... Figure 7A As described in the context of [the document / concept]. Accounting transactions may further include the material owner, timestamp and / or date associated with the recyclable material, accounting transaction provider, or a combination thereof. Accounting transactions may be provided to at least one virtual material account. The appropriate virtual material account may be selected based on allocation rules or assignment rules. An exemplary assignment rule is described in [the document / concept]. Figure 18A It is displayed in the middle.

[0338] refer to Figure 18A You can select the corresponding virtual material account based on the material. For example, and as in... Figure 8A and Figure 8B As described in the context, the metadata of a virtual materials account can be matched with data contained in accounting transactions, such as a material identifier representing a given material. For example, a material identifier representing a given metal (such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, or aluminum) can be matched with metadata associated with that metal.

[0339] Continue to refer to Figure 18A The appropriate virtual material account can be selected based on the material and its associated material owner. For example, and as in... Figure 8A and Figure 8B As described in the context, the metadata of a virtual material account can be matched with data contained in accounting transactions, such as a material identifier representing a given material and an owner identifier representing the associated material owner. This allows the allocation of a quantity of a given recyclable material (such as a given metal) to virtual balancing accounts associated with different material owners.

[0340] Continue to refer to Figure 18A You can select the appropriate virtual material account based on material type or material category. For example, and as in... Figure 8A and Figure 8B As described in the context, the metadata of a virtual materials account can be matched with data contained in accounting transactions, such as a material identifier representing a given material category. For example, a material identifier representing a metal can be matched with metadata associated with a given material category that is a metal.

[0341] Continue to refer to Figure 18A The appropriate virtual material account can be selected based on the material category and the material owner associated with materials belonging to that category. For example, and as in... Figure 8A and Figure 8B As described in the context, the metadata of a virtual material account can be matched with data contained in accounting transactions, such as material identifiers representing a given material category and owner identifiers representing the associated material owners. This allows the allocation of a quantity of a given recyclable material (such as a given metal) to virtual balancing accounts associated with different material owners.

[0342] By allocating the amount of recyclable material contained in a virtual materials account based on data contained in a digital twin of the final product, its components, and / or production waste, the amount of recyclable material present in the final product, its components, and / or production waste, and therefore the amount of available recyclable material, becomes accountable. This allows material owners to track and / or monitor the amount of available recyclable material. Furthermore, this allows for control over the flow of such recyclable material. For example, material owners can control the use of such recyclable material during the production of new chemical intermediates and / or chemical products, enabling them to selectively assign the amount of recyclable material allocated to the virtual balance account to the produced chemical intermediate (e.g., PCAM) or chemical product (e.g., CAM). This allows material owners to increase the rate of recycling present in products (e.g., batteries and machines containing such batteries) and reduce the associated environmental footprint. Additionally, this allows material owners to ensure access to the required amount of recyclable material by retaining ownership of the material throughout the production and recycling chain of the product ecosystem.

[0343] Figure 10 A flowchart illustrating a second example method for allocating the amount of recyclable material associated with a material owner to a virtual material account, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, is shown. Figure 10 The method shown can be derived from Figure 7B The accounting system 708 shown is used for implementation. The amount of recyclable material can be present in the final product, its components, and / or in production waste generated during the production of the final product and / or its components. The amount of recyclable material allocated to the virtual material account can represent the future supply of recyclable material, such as... Figure 9 As described in the context, the amount of recyclable material can be allocated to one or more virtual material accounts associated with the corresponding material (see [reference]). Figure 8A ) or one or more sub-accounts of the virtual materials account (see Figure 8B The material can be a metal. It can be contained as a metallic compound within the final product, its components, and / or production waste generated during the production of the final product and / or its components. The final product can be a battery. The component can be a battery contained within a machine (such as an electric vehicle). The component can be a battery part, such as a battery module or a battery cell. Production waste can be generated during the production of the battery cell.

[0344] Data related to the material owner and data related to the final product or its components containing recyclable materials associated with the material owner can be provided (see box 1002), for example, such as Figure 9 As described in the context.

[0345] Data associated with the final product or its components can be collected via a distributed network based on the provided data (see box 1004), for example, such as Figure 9 As described in the context.

[0346] The amount of recyclable material for each final product, its component, and / or production waste can be determined by applying at least one transformation rule to data collected for each final product or its component (see box 1006). Data transformation can be performed by the quantity generator 706 of the accounting system 708 (see...). Figure 7B ) Execute. It can be based on Figure 18C At least one transformation rule is shown to perform data transformation. (Reference) Figure 18C The amount of recyclable material can be selected for each collected asset or aspect associated with the final product, its components, and / or production waste. For example, the amount of recyclable metal can be selected for each collected battery pass associated with a battery and / or for each collected cathode active material pass associated with production waste. This amount can be selected by parsing the collected aspect or asset data to determine the amount of a given recyclable material contained within that aspect or asset data.

[0347] The amount of recyclable material determined for each end product, its components, and / or production waste can be allocated to at least one virtual material account via accounting transactions associated with the recyclable material (see box 1008), for example, such as Figure 9 As described in the context, accounting transactions can be generated for each quantity of recyclable material. Accounting transactions can also be generated for multiple quantities of different recyclable materials.

[0348] It is possible to aggregate at least a portion of the amount of recyclable materials stored in at least one virtual material account (see box 1010). Data aggregation can be performed by the material data aggregator 704 of the accounting system 708 (see...). Figure 7B ) Execute. It can be based on Figure 18B At least one aggregation rule is shown to perform data aggregation.

[0349] refer to Figure 18B The aggregation of a given amount of recyclable material stored can include selecting all amounts of a given recyclable material stored in the account and determining the total amount by summing all selected amounts. For example, the total amount of recyclable nickel stored in a virtual material account can be generated by selecting all amounts of recyclable nickel stored in the virtual material account and summing all selected nickel amounts.

[0350] The aggregated quantity or total amount of the recyclable materials can be allocated to at least one virtual materials account via a separate accounting transaction associated with the recyclable materials (see box 1012), for example, such as Figure 9 As described in the context, accounting transactions can be generated for the aggregated amount of each recyclable material. Accounting transactions can also be generated for multiple aggregated amounts of different recyclable materials.

[0351] By allocating the amount of recyclable material contained in the final product, its components, and / or production waste generated during the production of the final product and / or its components to a virtual materials account based on data contained in a digital twin of the final product, its components, and / or production waste, the amount of recyclable material present in the final product, its components, and / or production waste, and therefore the amount of available recyclable material, becomes accountable. This allows material owners to monitor the amount of available recyclable material. Furthermore, it allows for control over the flow of such recyclable material. For example, material owners can control the use of such recyclable material in the production of new chemical intermediates and / or chemical products, enabling them to selectively assign the amount of recyclable material allocated to the virtual balance account to the produced chemical intermediate (e.g., PCAM) or chemical product (e.g., CAM). This allows material owners to increase the rate of recycling present in products (e.g., batteries and machines containing such batteries) and reduce the associated environmental footprint. Moreover, this allows material owners to ensure access to the required amount of recyclable material by retaining ownership of the material throughout the production and recycling chain of the product ecosystem.

[0352] Figure 11 This demonstrates an example component pass data structure based on distributed identifiers. The example pass data structure can be associated with a final product or its components. A component can be a battery or its parts. A final product or component can be associated with a physical identifier (such as ID1 or ID2). The physical identifier can correspond to an identifier element physically attached to the final product or its components, for example, as shown in... Figure 3 and Figure 4 The context is described below. Each data structure may include a distributed identifier, such as a UUID or DID. The distributed identifier can be associated with a physical identifier (such as ID1, ID2) of the final product or its components. This allows linking the physical entity of the final product or its components to the corresponding data structure.

[0353] Data structures can correspond to aspects or assets of products collected via distributed networks, such as Figure 6 , Figure 9 and Figure 10 The data structure can be stored on the storage environment of the data structure's data owner or on the storage environment associated with the data structure's data owner. The data owner can be, for example... Figure 1The data owner is described in the context of the data. A data structure can describe the characteristics of an associated final product or its components. A data structure can be viewed as a digital twin of or a part of the physical entity of the final product or its components.

[0354] In this example, the data included in the data structure may include battery manufacturing data, chemical and / or physical property data, emissions data, battery identifiers, and battery life data. Manufacturing data may include information about the battery manufacturer (e.g., name and / or address), manufacturing location and date (e.g., address of the manufacturing location and manufacturing date), and warranty information. Battery chemical property data may include information about the composition, electrochemical characteristics, and presence of critical raw materials of the battery or its components (e.g., cathode active material, anode active material, and electrolyte). Physical property data may include information about the battery's dimensions and its temperature range in idle state. Emissions data may include carbon dioxide footprint information associated with the battery. Battery life data can be obtained from the battery's BMS and can be used to update the data included in the data structure. Thus, the data structure reflects the battery's current state, representing a digital twin of the battery throughout its entire lifespan. Lifespan data may include state of health, state of charge, battery state (e.g., first life, waste, repair, reuse, recycling), and battery life cycle. Battery identifiers may include data related to battery type, such as LFP, sodium, Na-ion, Li-ion, NMC, NCA, solid-state, and battery identifiers that include strings and / or numbers.

[0355] Figure 12 and Figure 13 An example of a system according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention for assigning or affixing at least one environmental attribute related to a production input to one or more produced chemical products is illustrated. The environmental attribute may represent the recycled content of the produced chemical product. The environmental attribute may represent the recycled metal content of the produced chemical product. The produced chemical product may be an intermediate chemical product, such as pCAM. The produced chemical product may be a cathode active material (CAM). The environmental attribute assigned or affixed to the produced chemical product may be derived from the amount of recyclable material stored in a virtual material account. The recyclable material may correspond to or relate to at least one production input used to produce the chemical product. For example, the recyclable material may be associated with a metal salt that can be recovered from batteries, their components, and / or production waste and used to produce pCAM. Figure 12 and Figure 13 The device shown can be configured to perform Figure 16A and Figure 16B The method shown.

[0356] The system may include a chemical production 1204 that produces one or more chemical products (hereinafter also referred to as output product 1206) from one or more production inputs (e.g., input material 1202). The system may further include an operating system comprising an accounting system 708.

[0357] To produce one or more chemical products 1206, different input materials (raw materials) 1202 can be provided from material providers or suppliers as physical inputs (see [link to relevant documentation]). Figure 1 , Figure 2 Chemical product 1206 produced from input material 1202 can be supplied to chemical product user 106, for example, as in Figure 1 As described in the context. The pCAM produced from input material 1202 can be supplied to CAM producers, for example, as... Figure 2 As described in the context. Chemical production 1204 can be a chemical production network. A chemical production network can include multiple interconnected processing steps. A chemical production network can be an integrated chemical production network with connected or interconnected production chains. A chemical production network can include multiple different production chains having at least one common intermediate product. A chemical production network can include multiple stages of a chemical value chain. A chemical production network can include the production, refining, processing, and / or purification of chemical products. A chemical production network can include multiple production chains that produce chemical products leaving the chemical production network from one or more input materials. A chemical production network can include multi-layered chemical value chains. A chemical production network can include physically connected or interconnected supply chains and / or production sites. Production sites can be located in the same location or in different locations. In the latter case, production sites can be connected or interconnected via dedicated transportation systems such as pipelines, supply chain vehicles (e.g., trucks), ships, or other cargo transport vehicles.

[0358] Chemical production 1204 can chemically convert input material 1202 into one or more chemical products 1206 leaving chemical production 1204 via chemical intermediates. Chemical production 1204 can convert input material 1202 into one or more chemical products through chemical transformation.

[0359] Input material 1202 can be fed into chemical production 1204 at any entry point. Input material 1202 can be fed into chemical production 1204 at the starting point of chemical production 1204. Input material can, for example, constitute the raw material of a plant that performs the first production step of a production chain associated with a chemical product.

[0360] Chemical production 1204 can produce chemical product 1206 through multiple production steps. These production steps can be defined by the system boundary of chemical production 1204. The system boundary can be defined by the location or control of the production processes. The system boundary can be defined by the site of chemical production 1204. The system boundary can be defined by a production process jointly controlled by one or more entities. The system boundary can be defined by a value chain with interleaved production processes leading to the final product, which can be separately controlled by multiple entities. Chemical production 1204 may include waste collection and sorting steps, recycling steps (e.g., pyrolysis), cracking steps (e.g., steam cracking), chemical reaction steps, separation steps for separating the outputs of a process step, and further processing steps for converting such outputs into chemical products leaving the system boundary of chemical production 1204.

[0361] refer to Figure 12 The operating system 1208 of the chemical production 1204 can monitor and / or control the chemical production 1204 based on operating parameters of different processes. One process step monitored and / or controlled may be the feeding of input materials or the discharge of chemical products. Another process step monitored and / or controlled may be selecting a virtual material account for storing the amount of recyclable material. Yet another process step monitored and / or controlled may be allocating the amount of recyclable material stored in the selected virtual material account to a chemical product identifier associated with the chemical product. Yet another process step monitored and / or controlled may be generating a product pass associated with the produced product and including a chemical product identifier and data related to the allocated amount of recyclable material.

[0362] The operating system can be configured to run on Figure 16A and Figure 16B At least a portion of the steps described in the context. The operating system may include an accounting system 708. The accounting system 708 may be configured to select a virtual material account storing the amount of recyclable material. The accounting system 708 may include a material quantity allocator 1210. The material quantity allocator 1210 may be configured to select the virtual material account using at least one allocation rule, such as... Figure 16A and Figure 16B The at least one allocation rule can be stored in database 1214 and can be collected by material quantity allocator 1210. Material quantity allocator 1210 and database 1214 can be... Figure 19 This is part of the material disbursement system 1902 shown. Examples of allocation or deaggregation rules stored in database 1214 are shown in... Figure 18D and Figure 18E It is displayed in the middle.

[0363] Material quantity allocator 1210 can be configured to allocate quantities of recyclable materials stored in a selected virtual material account to chemical product identifiers associated with the produced chemical products, such as... Figure 16A and Figure 16B The assignment can be performed based on a set of assignment rules (also referred to as a set of de-aggregation rules below). Examples of assignment rules are provided in [the relevant section]. Figure 18D The material quantity allocator 1210 can be configured to convert the allocated quantity into an environmental attribute, such as a recycling content. The allocated quantity can be converted into an environmental attribute based on the quantity of production inputs associated with the allocated quantity of recyclable material. For example, the allocated quantity of recyclable metal can be converted into the environmental attribute "recycled metal content." The amount of recycled metal content can be determined based on the amount of metal salt used to produce the chemical product (e.g., pCAM) and the allocated quantity. The material quantity allocator 1210 can be configured to provide environmental attributes to the pass generator 1218.

[0364] The operating system may further include a product data provider 1216. The product data provider 1216 may be configured to provide data associated with the chemical product. The product data provider 1216 may be configured to request the allocation of a quantity of recyclable material stored in the virtual materials account 702 to a chemical product identifier. This request may include data associated with the chemical product. The data associated with the chemical product may include a chemical product identifier associated with the produced chemical product. The chemical product identifier may include a chemical product ID, chemical product name, batch number, LOT number, order number, or a combination thereof. The data associated with the chemical product may further include data associated with production inputs used to produce the chemical product. This can be as follows: Figure 14 This data shall be collected in the manner described in the context. Data associated with chemical products may further include data associated with chemical product producers and / or chemical product users.

[0365] The operating system may further include a pass generator 1218 configured to generate chemical product passes associated with the produced chemical products. The chemical product pass may correspond to at least a portion of a digital twin of the chemical product. The digital product pass may correspond to a data structure with a defined semantic structure. The digital product pass generator may be configured to generate product passes, such as... Figure 14The generated product pass may include a chemical product identifier provided by product data provider 1216 and data relating to the amount of recyclable material allocated by material quantity dispenser 1210. The data relating to the amount of recyclable material allocated may be provided by material quantity dispenser 1210. This data may include the recovery content associated with at least one production input used to produce the chemical product. The generated product pass may be stored in pass storage device 1212.

[0366] The pass generator 1218 can be further configured to generate access elements, such as Figure 14 The following describes the process in more detail. Access elements can be associated with the produced chemical product, and therefore also with the corresponding generated chemical product pass. Access elements can include a distributed chemical product identifier and access data. The access data can point to a database storing the corresponding aspect or asset (such as pass storage device 1212). Pass generator 1218 can be configured to provide the generated access elements to distributed registry 1220 for storage. Passes generated by pass generator 1218 can be accessed via distributed data providing network node 116. Distributed data providing network node 116 can be configured to collect access elements from distributed registry 1220 upon request from consumer nodes, for example, such as... Figure 6 , Figure 9 and Figure 10 As described in the context, the distributed data providing network node 116 can be configured to collect product tokens from the token storage device 1212 upon request from consumer nodes, for example, as... Figure 16A and Figure 16B As described in the context.

[0367] and Figure 12 In comparison, accounting system 708 is not Figure 13 The accounting system 708 is part of the operating system 1208 of the chemical production 1204. The accounting system 708 can be operated by a third party independent of the entity running the chemical production 1204. The accounting system 708 can be configured to provide data related to the allocated amount of recyclable material to the pass generator 1218 of the operating system 1208, such as... Figure 12 As described in the context.

[0368] Figure 14 An example of a chemical product pass generator according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is shown. The chemical product pass generator can correspond to... Figure 12 and Figure 13 The pass generator 1218 is described in the context of the passage.

[0369] Chemical production 1204 can produce one or more chemical output products 1206 from at least one input material 1202, such as... Figure 12 and Figure 13 As described in the context. Data related to the production of chemical products can be collected and stored in database 1412. Data related to the production of discrete components can be collected before, during, and / or after the production of output product 1206. This data can be collected by product data collector 1402 of pass generator 1218. Production-related data may include input material data. Input material data can be collected from miner 202 or recycler 212 via distributed network 134 using data consumption network node 124A associated with chemical product producer 206 (see also...). Figure 2 Input material data can be generated in association with one or more network nodes, such as with data generation nodes associated with corresponding producers. Collecting input material data may include gathering distributed identifiers associated with one or more production inputs used to produce discrete parts. Distributed identifiers associated with one or more production inputs used to produce discrete parts can be collected by reading identifier elements (such as barcodes or QR codes) connected to the input material 1202. The identifier elements can encode product identifiers, which can be used to collect input material data, for example, using... Figure 6 The principle is illustrated. The collected input material data can be stored in database 1410. Production-related data may include production process data. Production-related data may include at least one chemical and / or physical property of the produced chemical product. Chemical and / or physical properties may include measured properties. Chemical and / or physical properties may include properties determined based on measured data. Production-related data may further include chemical product contrast data, safety data, technical data, or combinations thereof.

[0370] One or more decentralized identifiers associated with the produced output product 1206 may be provided by ID provider 1404. One or more decentralized identifiers may be uniquely associated with the physical entity of output product 1206. One or more decentralized identifiers may be uniquely associated with any entity produced by any participant in the production chain. One or more decentralized identifiers may include any unique identifier uniquely associated with output product 1206, production participants in the production chain of the production entity, and / or data related to the production of output product 1206. Decentralized identifiers may include one or more Universally Unique Identifiers (UUIDs) or one or more Digital Identifiers (DIDs), or associated with these identifiers. Through decentralized identifiers and unique associations with output product 1206, producers and / or access to product access may be controlled by the chemical product producer. This contrasts with a centralized agency scheme, in which identifiers are provided by such a centralized agency, and access to such data is controlled by such a centralized agency. In this context, decentralized means that the use of identifiers is controlled by the data owner at the time of implementation.

[0371] Product tokens can be generated by 1408. Product tokens can be generated by applying the corresponding aspect model to the data stored in 1410 and 1412. A product token can be considered a digital twin aspect or asset of a chemical product. The generated product token can be provided to token storage device 1212, such as... Figure 12 and Figure 13 As described in the context, a chemical product user 208 can access a product pass via a data providing node 124B associated with a chemical product producer 206, for example, via an identifier element physically attached to the produced output product. The identifier element can encode a digital chemical product identifier that can be used to collect product passes via a distributed network. The identifier element can represent an identifier that can be used to collect product passes via a distributed network.

[0372] The pass generator 1218 may further include an access element generator (not shown) configured to generate access elements. The access element generator may be separate from the pass generator 1218. Access elements may include a distributed identifier and access data. The distributed identifier may be associated with or include a distributed identifier provided by the ID provider 1404. Access data may be associated with a product pass. Access data may be generated for each product pass or asset generated. Access data may point to a product pass or a portion thereof. Access data may relate to a dedicated storage device associated with and storing product passes in chemical production 1204. Access data may include a locator or pointer to the dedicated pass storage device 1212. Access data may include one or more digital links to the product pass. Access data may include a locator or pointer, such as a URL or URI, to a dedicated storage address of the pass storage device 1212. Access data may include at least one interface to a data providing network node. Access data may include at least one interface to a data consuming network node. Access data may include endpoints (resource endpoints) used for data exchange or sharing, or endpoints (service endpoints) used for service interaction, which can be uniquely identified via a data transaction protocol. Access data pointing to the collected data or a portion thereof can be uniquely associated with a distributed identifier. The distributed identifier can be linked to the access data of the collected data or a portion thereof.

[0373] Access elements can be associated with the produced chemical product. Access elements can be provided to a decentralized registry 1220. The decentralized registry 1220 can be associated with a decentralized data providing network node (e.g., node 124B) associated with the producer of the output product 1206. Access elements can be accessed by other participants in the decentralized network (e.g., recycler 212) via associated decentralized data consuming network nodes (e.g., node 214), for example, as... Figure 2 As described in the context of [the above]. Access elements can be retrieved from such a distributed registry by a distributed data provisioning network node (e.g., one with access to such a distributed registry) associated with it, and access elements can be provided to a data consuming network node upon request from such a data consuming network node (see [link to relevant documentation]). Figure 6 Access elements can be associated with artifact passes. An example access element is shown in... Figure 15A and Figure 15B The access element can include access data for one or more passes or aspects.

[0374] The access element may further include one or more authentication mechanisms associated with the decentralized identifier and the access data. These authentication mechanisms may be associated with or linked to the decentralized identifier (e.g., a decentralized chemical product identifier). The one or more authentication mechanisms associated with the decentralized identifier can be accessed by decentralized participant network nodes. The digital access element may further involve authorization information linked to the decentralized identifier. This authorization information may be associated with the decentralized identifier and the access data. The authorization information may include access rules depending on the dataset to be accessed and the role of the network node consuming the access data.

[0375] Figure 15A This section presents a first example of a digital access element, including a decentralized identifier and access data. The digital access element can be stored within a decentralized identity infrastructure. This decentralized identity infrastructure allows the retrieval of the access element using the decentralized identifier.

[0376] Distributed identifiers may include Distributed Identifiers (DIDs). In this case, the digital access element based on the distributed identifier can be a DID document 1504 associated with the DID. In addition to the DID document 1504 used as a digital access element, Figure 15A Also shown is a DID owner data element 1502 including owner data based on a decentralized identifier. Typically, owner data based on a decentralized identifier can include a decentralized identifier associated with a subject (such as a final product or a portion thereof) and can include one or more authentication mechanisms. Owner data based on a decentralized identifier 1502 can include owner data electronically owned and controlled by the DID owner. In this context, electronic ownership can refer to data stored in an owner's repository or wallet. Such data can be securely stored and / or managed on an organization's server or client device. Owner data based on a decentralized identifier 1502 can include a DID, a private key, and a public key. The DID owner can own and control the DID representing the identity associated with the DID subject, and the private and public key pair associated with the DID. A DID can be understood as an identifier and authentication information associated with or uniquely linked to that identifier.

[0377] A DID entity can be a raw material, base substance, chemical product, component, final product, or recycled material. A DID entity can be a machine, system, or equipment used to produce a raw material, base substance, chemical product, component, final product, or recycled material, or a collection of such machines, equipment, and / or systems. A DID owner can be a supply chain participant or manufacturer, such as a chemical manufacturer that produces chemicals. A DID owner can be an upstream participant of recycler 114, such as final product producer 108. A DID owner can be a downstream participant of recycler 114, such as chemical product producer 102. A DID owner can be any participant in the product ecosystem, including raw material chemical suppliers, intermediate chemical product producers, chemical product producers, intermediate component producers, component producers, component assembly producers, final product producers, final product users, EOL collectors, or recyclers.

[0378] A DID can be any identifier associated with the DID subject and / or the DID owner. Preferably, the identifier is unique to the DID subject and / or the DID owner. The identifier can be unique at least within the scope of the intended use of the DID. The identifier can be a locally or globally unique identifier for raw materials, base substances, chemical products, components, final products, recycled materials, or a collection thereof; a machine, system, or equipment used to produce raw materials, base substances, chemical products, components, final products, recycled materials, or a collection of such machines, equipment, and / or systems; a chemical manufacturer that produces chemicals, an upstream participant of a chemical manufacturer, a downstream participant of a chemical manufacturer, or a collection thereof; any participant in the materials ecosystem, including raw material chemical suppliers, intermediate chemical producers, chemical product producers, intermediate component manufacturers, component producers, component assembly producers, final product producers, final product users, EOL collectors, or recyclers.

[0379] A DID can be any identifier associated with a DID subject and a DID owner. Preferably, a DID is unique to both the DID subject and / or the DID owner. A DID can be unique at least within the scope of its intended use. A DID can be a locally or globally unique identifier for any of the aforementioned possible DID subjects. A DID can also be a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), such as a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). Furthermore, 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 128-letter string of letters and numbers, for example, according to the scheme `did:methodName:methodSpecificDID`, such as `did:example:ebfeb1f712ebc6f1c276e12ec21`. A DID can be a decentralized ID independent of a centralized third-party management system and under the control of the DID owner.

[0380] The digital access element of DID document data 1504 can be associated with a DID (i.e., the DID included in the owner data 1502 based on a distributed identifier). Therefore, the digital access element can include a reference to a DID associated with the subject of the DID described by DID document 1504. DID document 1504 can also include authentication information such as a public key. The public key can be used by a third-party entity granted access 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. The DID document can include authentication information and authorization information, for example, to authorize a third-party entity to read the DID document or certain portions of the DID document, without granting the third party the right to prove ownership of the DID.

[0381] Digital access element 1504 may include access data, which is digitally linked, for example, via a service endpoint, to data included in the digital twin associated with the digital access element. The data included in the digital twin may correspond to one or more datasets or aspects with a defined semantic structure. Each aspect may be associated with access data pointing to the corresponding dataset. This allows for the retrieval of specific aspects without having to retrieve the entire digital twin, thus avoiding necessary data transfers within the distributed network. The service endpoint may include a network address running a service on behalf of the DID owner. In particular, the service endpoint may refer to a service that grants access to data (such as compositional data associated with the final product or its components) to the DID owner, such as a distributed data provision network node. Such a service may include services for reading or analyzing data contained within the product data.

[0382] Digital access element 1504 may include additional identifiers, such as dataset identifiers associated with datasets (e.g., aspects) included in the digital twin data.

[0383] The digital access element 1504 may include various other information, such as metadata specifying the creation time of the digital access element, the last modification time of the digital access element, and / or the expiration time of the digital access element.

[0384] DID and digital access element 1504 can be associated with data registration nodes, such as a centralized data service system or a decentralized data service system 1506 (e.g., a distributed ledger, blockchain, or decentralized file system). The distributed ledger or blockchain can be used to store a representation pointing to the DID of digital access element 1504. The representation of the DID can be stored on distributed computing nodes of the distributed ledger or blockchain 1506. For example, a DID hash can be stored on multiple computing nodes of the distributed ledger and point to the location of digital access element 1504. In some embodiments, digital access element 1504 can be stored on the distributed ledger 1506. Each of the computing nodes can store a copy of the distributed ledger 1506. This allows for redundant storage of each DID hash, thereby enabling improved data security. DIDs associated with multiple different digital access elements 1504 can be included in the distributed ledger 1506.

[0385] In some embodiments, the digital access element 1504 may be stored on the distributed ledger 1506, i.e., as a supplement to or alternative to storing the associated DID representation on the distributed ledger 1506. In other embodiments, the digital access element 1504 may be stored in a data storage device (not shown) associated with a distributed ledger, blockchain, or decentralized file system.

[0386] The distributed ledger or blockchain 1506 can be any decentralized distributed network comprising various computing nodes communicating with each other. For example, the distributed ledger 1506 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 (not shown). The distributed ledger or blockchain 1506 may include known technology stacks such as Bitcoin (see, for example, the Bitcoin documentation published November 11, 2022: https: / / en.bitcoin.it / wiki / Protocol_documentation), Ethereum (see, for example, the Ethereum documentation published August 15, 2022: https: / / ethereum.org / en / developers / docs / ), Solana (see, for example, the Solana documentation published November 11, 2022: https: / / spl.solana.com / ), Polygon (see, for example, the Polygon documentation published November 11, 2022: https: / / wiki.polygon.technology / ), or other implementations that perform data transactions to varying degrees on the distributed ledger. The description of the example framework is for illustrative purposes only and should not be considered limiting.

[0387] Figure 15B A second example of a digital access element, including a decentralized identifier and access data, is shown. The digital access element can be stored within a decentralized registry associated with participants in the decentralized network, such as... Figure 6 A distributed registry 612. Access elements stored in such a distributed registry can be retrieved by network nodes using distributed identifiers via associated distributed data.

[0388] Distributed identifiers may include one or more Universally Unique Identifiers (UUIDs). Distributed identifiers may include a first distributed identifier and a second distributed identifier. The first distributed identifier and the second distributed identifier may be different from each other. The first distributed identifier may represent a distributed identifier associated with a digital twin of the output product, while the second distributed identifier may represent a distributed identifier associated with a dataset (e.g., an aspect) contained in the digital twin that is associated with the output product or its components. The output product may be any product produced within a product ecosystem. The output product may be a chemical intermediate or a chemical product. The output product may be a component. The output product may be a final product. Access elements may be as follows: Figure 14 It is generated as described in the context.

[0389] A UUID can be unique, at least within the scope of its intended use. A UUID can be a locally or globally unique identifier for raw materials, base substances, chemical products, components, final products, or recycled materials. In one embodiment, a UUID can be a 128-letter string of letters and numbers, for example, according to the scheme [0-9a-fA-F]{8}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{12}. A UUID can be a decentralized ID independent of a centralized third-party management system and under the control of the data owner who owns the data associated with the UUID.

[0390] The numeric access element 1508 based on a distributed identifier can be a JSON data structure that includes a distributed identifier. The JSON data structure can include one or more key-value pairs. The JSON data structure can include one or more arrays. At least a portion of these arrays can include one or more objects. Objects can include one or more key-value pairs.

[0391] Digital access element 1508 may include access data, such as aspects, digitally linked to data associated with the digital access element via a service endpoint. The service endpoint may include a network address running a service on behalf of the data owner. Specifically, the service endpoint may refer to a service that grants access rights to product data (such as compositional data associated with a final product or its components) granted by the data owner, such as a distributed data delivery network node. This service may include services for reading or analyzing data contained within the product data.

[0392] The digital access element 1508 may include various other information, such as metadata specifying the creation time of the digital access element, the last modification time of the digital access element, and / or the expiration time of the digital access element. Figure 15B (Not shown in the image).

[0393] Digital access element 1508 can be associated with data registry nodes (such as distributed registries (not shown, see example)). Figure 6 This is related to the example distributed registry 612 in the example. The distributed registry can be a distributed database. The distributed database can be associated with the data owner of the digital twin. The distributed registry can be used to store digital access elements, such as digital access element 1508.

[0394] Figure 16A and Figure 16B Examples of methods for assigning or attributing at least one environmental property associated with recyclable materials related to a material owner or one or more produced chemical products are shown according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention. Figure 16A and Figure 16B The methods described in [the document] can be respectively derived from [the methods described in the document]. Figure 12 and Figure 13 The system is implemented within the context described. Specifically, Figure 16A and Figure 16B The method described in the text can be derived from... Figure 12 The operating system 1208 or by Figure 13 The accounting system 708 and operating system 1208 described in the context are used for implementation. Production inputs can be metals or metal salts. Chemical products can be precursor cathode active materials. Environmental attributes can represent properties associated with the recycling of materials. Environmental attributes can indicate that the material is recyclable. The material may be owned by a material owner. The material owner can be any participant in the product ecosystem. The material owner can be a chemical product producer. The material owner can be a component producer. The material owner can be a final product producer.

[0395] Chemical products can be produced from input materials that enter chemical production processes, such as in... Figure 12 and Figure 13 As described in the context. When input material arrives, the corresponding input material data can be provided to the operating system's interface via the network (see, for example, see...). Figure 14 Input material data may include an input material identifier and data related to the input material (see, for example, see...). Figure 14 The data provider can be configured to provide input material data to a computational interface configured to store the collected input material data (see [link to relevant documentation]). Figure 14 Input material data can be provided at the entry point of chemical production, either before, after, or when one or more input materials are provided. This can be, for example, provided by product data provider 1216 (see product data provider 1216). Figure 12 and Figure 13 This provides data associated with the produced chemical product, including a chemical product identifier (e.g., chemical product data) (see box 1602). The product data provider 1216 can be configured to provide chemical product data after the production of the chemical product. The product data provider 1216 can be configured to generate chemical product data based on input material data and data collected before, during, or after the production of the chemical product (see box 1602). Figure 14 Chemical product data may further include data related to the chemical product data, such as chemical product specification data, chemical product quantity, or a combination thereof. Product data provider 1216 may be configured to request a chemical product identifier to allocate the quantity of recyclable material to the produced chemical product. This request may include data associated with the chemical product.

[0396] One or more allocation rules can be provided for allocating quantities of recyclable materials stored in a virtual materials account to the chemical products produced. These allocation rules can be stored in a database associated with at least a portion of the system executing the method (see, for example...). Figure 12 and Figure 13 Examples of allocation rules are in Figure 18E The virtual materials account can store the amount of recyclable materials allocated to this account, such as... Figure 9 and Figure 10 As described in the context, recyclable materials balanced on such a virtual material account can correspond to or be associated with production inputs used to produce chemical products. For example, recyclable materials balanced on such an account could correspond to metals or metal salts used as production inputs to produce precursor cathode active materials and cathode active materials.

[0397] Through one or more of the provided allocation rules, it can be done, for example, via material quantity distributor 1210 (see Figure 12 and Figure 13 This determines the virtual material account for storing the amount of recyclable material (see box 1606). The virtual material account for storing this amount can be as follows: Figure 9 and Figure 10 The provision described in the context involves allocating the recyclable amount of material to such an account. The amount of recyclable material stored in such an account can represent the amount of recyclable material available when recycling recyclable materials. Determining a virtual material account may include selecting or determining at least one provided allocation rule. The allocation rule may be selected or determined based on provided data related to the produced chemical product. For example, a chemical product identifier may be used to select or determine the allocation rule. (Reference) Figure 18E The allocation rules may include instructions for selecting one or more virtual material accounts for storing quantities of recyclable materials. The allocation rules may include instructions for determining potentially accessible virtual material accounts based on input materials used to produce the chemical product. For example, input material data may be parsed by the material quantity allocator 1210 to determine the input materials used to produce the chemical product and the associated quantities. The determined input materials may be matched against virtual material account metadata to determine potentially accessible accounts (e.g., accounts associated with metadata that at least partially matches the input material data) (e.g., see [link to relevant documentation]). Figure 8A and Figure 8B For example, the identified input material name can be matched with account metadata indicating the name of the recyclable material associated with this virtual material account. (Reference) Figure 8A and Figure 8BThe determined input material name "Material 1" can be matched with the metadata of the virtual material account 802a associated with "Material 1" (e.g., balancing the amount of recyclable Material 1). Alternatively or additionally, the maximum match in the metadata can be determined. Here, maximum can refer to the maximum number of matching metadata points, particularly the number of account metadata points that at least partially match the input material data points. For example, the input material data may provide more data points than the metadata of any virtual material account. In this scenario, the virtual material account with metadata points that at least partially match the data points included in the input material data can be selected as potentially accessible.

[0398] Continue to refer to Figure 18E The allocation rules may further include instructions for determining the amount of available recyclable material (e.g., the amount of recyclable material stored in such an account) for each potentially accessible virtual material account. The amount of available recyclable material within each potentially accessible account can be determined based on the account balance. The account balance can be determined by subtracting the sum of recyclable material allocated to the corresponding account from the sum of recyclable material deducted from the corresponding account. The allocation rules may further include instructions for selecting accessible virtual material accounts from a list of accounts based on the determined amount of available recyclable material stored in the potentially accessible accounts and the determined amount of input material for producing chemical products. This may include comparing the determined amount of available recyclable material stored in each potentially accessible account with the amount of corresponding input material determined based on the provided input material data. A conversion factor may be used where the input material has a different chemical form than the recyclable material balanced in such an account. For example, if the potentially related account balances a metal rather than an associated metal salt, the amount of metal present in the metal salt used as input material to produce pCAM or CAM can be determined. An account that is potentially accessible can be described as “accessible” if it stores a sufficient amount of recyclable material (e.g., if the amount of recyclable material stored in such an account is equal to or greater than the determined amount of input material). An account that is potentially accessible can be described as “inaccessible” if it stores an insufficient amount of recyclable material (e.g., if the amount of recyclable material stored in such an account is less than the determined amount of input material).

[0399] Continue to refer to Figure 18E The allocation rules may further include instructions for selecting accessible virtual material accounts and the associated amount of recyclable material. The associated amount of recyclable material may refer to the amount of recyclable material determined based on the provided input material data (e.g., the amount of recyclable material to be deducted from the accessible virtual material account when allocating such amount to a chemical product identifier).

[0400] Return to reference Figure 16A And continue to refer to Figure 18E The amount of recyclable material stored in a defined virtual material account can be allocated to a chemical product identifier based on chemical product data and provided allocation rules (see box 1612). Allocation can be performed by generating a chemical product pass associated with the product produced. The amount of recyclable material allocated to a chemical product identifier can correspond to the amount of input material associated with the recyclable material and used in the production of the chemical product. Input material associated with the recyclable material can include input materials corresponding to the recyclable material. For example, recyclable material balanced in the virtual material account can correspond to a metal or metal salt used as input material to produce a precursor cathode active material. Allocating the amount of recyclable material stored in an accessible virtual material account can result in the deduction or release of such allocation from the virtual material account, for example, reducing the allocated amount of recyclable material in the account's balance. The amount of recyclable material allocated to a chemical product identifier can be associated with the amount of input material. For example, a given percentage of the amount of input material can be allocated. This percentage can be predefined or can be given by the user when generating an allocation request.

[0401] The allocation of recyclable material quantities can be performed by generating an accounting transaction and providing it to the corresponding virtual material account. The accounting transaction can specify the quantity of recyclable material to be allocated to each virtual material account and its chemical product identifier.

[0402] Allocation rules can be used to assign quantities of recyclable materials to chemical product identifiers. This allows for control over the allocation, ensuring that the quantity of recyclable material balanced on such an account can only be assigned to a specific chemical product. For example, allocation can use... Figure 18D The allocation rules shown are used to perform the allocation. Allocation can only be performed if at least one allocation rule is met. Otherwise, the request to allocate an amount of recyclable material to the chemical product identifier may be rejected. (See reference) Figure 18DThe allocation rules can depend on the input material type, such as metal or metal salt or pCAM. The allocation rules can depend on the chemical product type, such as pCAM or CAM. The allocation rules can depend on the input material type and the chemical product producer. The allocation rules can depend on the chemical product type and the chemical product producer. This allows control or definition of allowing only a given chemical product producer to allocate the amount of recyclable material to a given chemical product they produce. The allocation rules can depend on the input material type and the chemical product producer. The allocation rules can depend on the chemical product type and the chemical product user, such as an entity that consumes the chemical product to produce another product (such as another chemical product or discrete products). This allows control or definition of allowing only the chemical product producer that produces for a given chemical product consumer to allocate the amount of recyclable material. The allocation rules can depend on the input material type, as well as the chemical product producer and the chemical product user. The allocation rules can depend on the chemical product type, as well as the chemical product producer and the chemical product user. This allows control or definition of allowing only the chemical product producer that produces for a given chemical product type that produces for a given chemical product consumer to allocate the amount of recyclable material to a given chemical product.

[0403] refer to Figure 16A The allocation process may include determining whether the balance of the identified virtual material account is sufficient (see [link to relevant documentation]). Figure 16B (Decision box 1608). This may include determining whether any virtual material account in the virtual material accounts storing the amount of recyclable material associated with the input materials used to produce the chemical product is represented as accessible in box 1606. If the balance is insufficient, a request to allocate the amount of recyclable material to the chemical product may be rejected (see box 1620). Such rejection may be indicated to the user, for example. If the balance is sufficient, the amount of recyclable material stored in the determined virtual material account may be allocated as described above.

[0404] Product passes can be generated by pass generator 1218 (see...) Figure 12 and Figure 13The product pass can be generated by applying a semantic model to the chemical product data. The chemical product data can include data related to the amount of recyclable material allocated. The product pass can be associated with the physical entity of the chemical product via the chemical product identifier. The product pass can further include one or more distributed identifiers. The distributed identifiers can be associated with data related to the produced chemical product. The chemical product pass can further include data associated with the produced chemical product. The chemical product pass can be generated by applying a semantic model to the chemical product data. The chemical product data can include data related to the amount of recyclable material allocated. Therefore, the product pass can include a defined semantic structure. The generation of chemical product passes can allow the conversion of the amount of recyclable material stored in a virtual material account into a chemical product pass associated with the produced chemical product, for example, as... Figure 17 As shown. Additionally, the generation of chemical product passes can allow the conversion of the amount of recyclable material and thus the associated environmental attributes (such as recycling content) into digital assets (e.g., chemical product passes) associated with the produced chemical product. Data associated with the allocated amount of recyclable material may include the recycling content of the final product produced. The recycling content of the chemical product can be determined based on the recycling content of all input materials used to produce the chemical product. Recycling content can represent the recycling content of the input materials used to produce the chemical product. The recycling content of the input materials can be associated with or correspond to the allocated amount of recyclable material. Recycling content can represent the recycling content of the chemical product and the recycling content of the input materials used to produce the chemical product. The generated chemical product passes can be stored in a database, such as pass storage device 1212 (see...). Figure 12 and Figure 13 )middle.

[0405] The generated chemical product tokens can be provided for access via a decentralized network, under the control of the token's data owner (see Box 1614). The data owner can be the chemical product producer. The decentralized network can be... Figure 1 and Figure 2 The decentralized network 134 described in the context of this study can provide product passes for access via access elements stored in the decentralized registry 1220 (see also...). Figure 15A , Figure 15B For example, as in Figure 6 As described in the context.

[0406] and Figure 16A In comparison, execution Figure 16B The system using this method does not generate chemical product passes. This could be the case, for example, if a separate accounting system 708 is used alongside the operating system that generates chemical product passes (see, for example...). Figure 13 In this case, the allocation can be performed as described above, and the chemical product identifier and the amount of recyclable material allocated can be provided to the chemical product pass generator for generating chemical product passes based on the received chemical product identifier and the amount of recyclable material allocated, as described above.

[0407] By allocating the amount of recyclable material stored in a virtual materials account to the produced chemicals and generating chemical product passes for these produced chemicals, conversion between different semantic domains can be achieved. For example, chemical product passes associated with the final product, its components (such as batteries), and / or production waste (such as production waste generated during the production of battery cells) can be converted into the amount of recyclable material (e.g., an indexable quantity) and stored in the virtual materials account. This enables the conversion of physical products into accountable materials and the trading of such accountable materials. When producing chemicals using production inputs associated with such recyclable material balanced in such an account, the amount of recyclable material stored in such an account can be converted back into chemical product passes for the produced chemicals. Indexable quantities can serve as a "common language" that allows the two semantic domains to form an intersection with shared meaning. The validity of transactions in this intersection (e.g., the validity of accounting transactions that credit or credit the corresponding virtual materials account) can be easily monitored by all relevant parties. Additionally, this validity can also be easily monitored by a third party for auditing purposes. The use of allocation rules allows for control over the distribution of this amount of recycled material stored in a virtual materials account, ensuring that allocation is performed only if a given set of criteria is met. These criteria can be defined by the material owner (e.g., the final product producer), allowing the material owner to control the allocation of recycled content to the produced chemicals, and therefore also to components and / or final products derived from those chemicals. In this way, the material owner can control the degree of recycled content within the final product. This can allow for increasing the recycled content of the final product, thus enabling the material owner (e.g., the final product producer) to manipulate the recycled content within their products to improve the environmental impact of their products.

[0408] Figure 17 This demonstrates an example of allocating quantities of recyclable materials stored in a virtual materials account to chemical product identifiers by generating chemical product passes for different batches of chemicals. Chemical product passes can be used as follows: Figure 16A and Figure 16B The chemical product pass can be generated as described in the context. It may include data related to the amount of recyclable material assigned to the chemical product identifier from the corresponding virtual material account. The chemical product may be an intermediate chemical product, such as pCAM. The chemical product may be a CAM.

[0409] exist Figure 17 In the illustrated embodiment, virtual material account 802a is used to allocate quantities of recyclable material to multiple batches of chemical products produced. Virtual material account 802a may be part of a material accounting system comprising multiple virtual material accounts. Virtual material account 802a may be associated with recyclable material 1. This account may store 500 kg of this recyclable material 1, such as 500 kg of recyclable metal. Recyclable metal may include lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and aluminum. This account may be associated with the material owner (in this case, the final product producer OEM1). This example is for illustrative purposes only and should not be considered a limitation on the number of accounts that can exist within a virtual balance system. For example, a material accounting system may include more accounts or sub-accounts for a variety of different materials, such as... Figure 8A and Figure 8B As shown.

[0410] This account is used to allocate the amount of recyclable material stored therein to chemical product identifiers associated with different batches of the produced material (such as pCAM or CAM). For allocation, the amount of recyclable material can be assigned to a chemical product identifier associated with the corresponding batch. The chemical product identifier can be uniquely linked to the physical entity of that batch. The chemical product identifier may include a batch identifier and / or an order identifier. In other embodiments, the chemical identifier can be linked to the physical entity of the batch by means of an encoded chemical product identifier that is physically linked to the batch. For example, a label or QR code can be physically linked to the batch, and the chemical product identifier can be encoded into the label or QR code. In this way, the chemical product identifier can be uniquely linked to the physical entity of the batch leaving the chemical production site.

[0411] Chemical product permits 1724, 1726, and 1732 can be generated for each batch of chemicals produced, and can include data indicating such assignment. For example, the permit may include data related to the amount of recyclable material allocated, such as recovery content data. Recovery content can be, for example... Figure 16A and Figure 16BThe recovery content can be determined as described in the context. The amount of recyclable material allocated to the corresponding chemical product identifier can depend on the amount of input material used. For example, a percentage can be used to define the share of the allocated recyclable amount as less than the share determined based on the amount of input material. This allows for adjustments to the allocated amount, and therefore also allows for adjustments to the resulting recovery content of the produced chemical product. The amount of recyclable material allocated to the chemical product identifier can be given, for example, the defined amount of recyclable material can be allocated to the chemical product identifier each time an allocation is requested. This allows for the uniform distribution of the amount of recyclable material, and therefore the associated recovery content, to the produced chemical product. Allocating the amount of recyclable material stored in virtual material account 802a can result in the deduction of this amount from the account balance. For example, when 200 kg of recyclable material stored in virtual material account 802a is allocated to the chemical product identifier (ID1) of the first batch of chemical products, the remaining account balance of virtual material account 802a can correspond to 300 kg. The deductions ensure that double counting does not occur; for example, the amount of recyclable material stored in virtual material account 802a can only be assigned to the chemical product identifier once. This allows for reliable accounting of recyclable materials in the virtual balance system, and therefore also allows for the reliable assignment of the environmental properties associated with such recyclable materials to the chemical products produced.

[0412] The remaining balance can be used for further allocation and pass generation. However, if the balance in virtual material account 802a has reached 0, for example, if the amount of all recyclable material stored therein has already been allocated, further allocation cannot be performed. If the balance in virtual material account 802a has reached 0, additional product passes can be generated for additional batches of the chemical product. However, such product passes may not contain data associated with the allocated amount of recyclable material. The chemical product associated with such a pass may have a lower recovery rate compared to the chemical product associated with a product pass that includes such data associated with the allocated amount of recyclable material.

[0413] Figure 19 An example of a material accounting system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is shown for assigning or affixing at least one environmental property related to recyclable materials associated with a material owner to one or more produced chemical products. A portion of the accounting system 708 can be used for implementation in... Figure 9 and Figure 10 The methods described in the context of this accounting system. Parts of this accounting system can be further used to implement... Figure 16A and Figure 16BThe methods described in the context of this accounting system can be further used to implement [the system]. Figure 22 The method described in the context.

[0414] Accounting system 708 may include material receipt system 710 and material disbursement system 1902. Material receipt system 710 may be connected to consumer node 128. Consumer node 128 may be part of a distributed network, such as in... Figure 1 and Figure 2 The decentralized network 134 is described in the context of the network. Consumer node 128 can be configured to consume data from data providers via the decentralized network, such as product data associated with the final product or its components, for example, such as... Figure 6 , Figure 7A and Figure 7B The material accounting system 710 can correspond to the context described above. Figure 7A and Figure 7B The material accounting system 710 is described in the context of [the relevant context]. The material accounting system 710 can be configured, for example, to be used in [the relevant context]. Figure 9 and Figure 10 The method described in the context allocates the amount of recyclable materials to the virtual material account 702 based on data collected by consumer node 128. The material billing system 1902 can be configured, for example, to be used in... Figure 16A and Figure 16B The method described in the context allocates (e.g., bills out) the amount of recyclable material from virtual material account 702 to chemical product identifiers. Chemical product identifiers can be provided by product data provider 1216 (see, for example...). Figure 12 , Figure 13 )supply.

[0415] Figure 20A Figure 20 illustrates an example of a system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention for managing and / or controlling, via an accounting system, the assignment of environmental properties associated with recyclable materials to produced chemical products. The material may be, for example, in... Figure 9 The recyclable material is described in the context of [the relevant context]. This material may be associated with a material owner. The material owner may possess the material. The material owner may possess recycled material generated through at least one recycling operation involving end products, components thereof, and / or production waste containing the material. The material owner may control the use or assignment of chemical products produced from the environmental properties associated with the material. The chemical product may be produced from one or more production inputs, such as [examples of inputs]. Figure 12 and Figure 13 As described in the context.

[0416] Material recycling can include various participants involved in the production of the final product and the recycling of the resulting end-of-life products or their components (see also...). Figure 1 In this example, the material cycle may include chemical product producers, chemical product users, end-product producers, and recyclers. Chemical product producers can use recycled materials produced by one or more recyclers to produce new chemical products. Chemical product users can use this new chemical product to produce discrete products, such as parts or component assemblies. The transfer of produced output products from one participant in the material cycle to subsequent participants is shown with thick solid lines. Products produced by chemical product user 106 can be transported to and used by end-product producer 108 to produce end-products. End-products can be provided to end-product users 110 who can use them. At the end of their lifespan, end-product users 110 can discard the products. End-of-life products can be collected and / or sorted and can be recycled by recycler 114 to obtain recycled materials. Recycled materials can be provided to chemical product producers 102 to produce chemical products using the recycled materials obtained from recycler 114.

[0417] exist Figure 20A and Figure 20B In the example, the final product producer is the material owner. However, this is for illustrative purposes only and should not be considered restrictive. In principle, every participant in a product ecosystem that includes material cycling can be a material owner. Accounting systems (such as in...) Figure 19 The accounting system 708 described in the context can be used to allocate the amount of recyclable material associated with the material owner to a virtual balancing account, and to debit such amount when allocating it to the chemical products produced, for example, as... Figure 22 As described in the context. Accounting system 708 may include one or more virtual material accounts, such as... Figure 8A and Figure 8B The context described (for simplicity) Figure 20A and Figure 20B Only one account was shown in the image, which should not be considered a restriction.

[0418] Accounting system 708 can be run by any participant in the material cycle. In this example, accounting system 708 is run by a recycler (e.g., recycler 114). In another example, accounting system 708 can be run by a final product producer 108, a chemical product producer, or a chemical product user. The material owner can access virtual material account 702. Therefore, virtual material account 702 can be shared (e.g., accessible) by at least two parties in the product ecosystem. The material owner can determine the balance of virtual material account 702, for example, via an application. The application can access virtual material account 702 and can determine the balances of all virtual material accounts associated with the material owner. For example, data indicating the material owner can be provided to the application, and the application can query accounting system 708 for virtual material accounts associated with such data. The application can display a graphical user interface, such as... Figure 21 The graphical user interface 2106 shown is used to display the account balances of all accounts owned by a user (e.g., a material owner). The user can view details of each balance, such as incoming and outgoing transactions. The user interface can also allow the user to deduct the amount of recyclable metal stored in an account (not shown). The material owner can withdraw the amount of recyclable material from this virtual material account 702. The accounting system 708 can be configured to perform... Figure 22 At least a portion of the methods described in the context.

[0419] The material accounting system 710 of the accounting system 708 can be configured to allocate the quantity of recyclable materials to virtual material accounts 702 based on data collected via a distributed network, for example, such as Figure 6 , Figure 7A and Figure 7B As described in the context. This data can be collected from a data provider associated with the final product producer 108. This data can also be collected from a data provider that provides the data required for allocating the amount of recyclable materials to the virtual material account 702, which is associated with any participant in the product ecosystem. For example, the data provider could be associated with chemical product user 106 and / or chemical product producer 102 and / or chemical product producer 2004.

[0420] The materials disbursement system 1902 can be configured to allocate (e.g., disburse) quantities of recyclable materials to chemical product identifiers associated with products produced by chemical product producer 102 or chemical product producer 2004, such as... Figure 16A and Figure 16B As described in the context, the allocation of this quantity can be controlled using allocation rules. Figure 20A and Figure 20BIn the example shown, allocation rules can be used to control the allocation of recyclable amounts of material to chemicals produced by chemical producers, for example, such as... Figure 16A and Figure 16B As described in the context. Figure 20A In the example, chemical product producer 102 or chemical product producer 2004 delivers chemical products to chemical product user 106, who in turn produces products for final product producer 108, who is the material owner. Therefore, chemical product producer 102 or chemical product producer 2004 is allowed to allocate the recyclable amount of material to the chemical products they produce, because this allows the material owner and final product producer 108 to produce final products with improved environmental impacts (such as increased recycling content), improvements resulting from the allocation performed by chemical product producer 102 or chemical product producer 2004.

[0421] and Figure 20A Compared to the scenario described in the text, Figure 20B This illustrates a scenario where chemical product producers 102 and / or 2004 do not deliver their products to the chemical product user 106 associated with the final product producer 108. Instead, chemical producer 2004 delivers the produced chemical products to another chemical user 106. Since allocating the amount of recyclable material from the virtual material account 702 to the chemical products produced by chemical product producers 102 and / or 2004 may not benefit the environmental impact of the final product produced by the material owner, the material owner (in this case, the final product producer 108) may not allow the allocation of the amount stored in the virtual material account 702. Therefore, chemical product producers 102 and 2004 may be unable to allocate the amount of recyclable material stored in the virtual material account 702 of the accounting system 708 to the products they produce. The accounting system 708 may reject such a request from chemical product producers 102 and 2004 based on this allocation rule.

[0422] By allocating the quantity of recyclable materials to a virtual balancing account based on data collected via a decentralized network (such as data stored in product passes associated with end products, their components, and / or production waste), the quantity of recyclable materials contained in such end products, their components, and / or production waste becomes accountable. Accounting can be performed prior to actual recycling, allowing the balance of such an account to represent the quantity of recyclable materials available in the future. This accounting allows the allocation of the accounted-upon quantity of recyclable materials to chemical products produced using production inputs associated with such recyclable materials, for example, to chemical products produced from such recyclable materials. Through this accounting, the environmental attributes of such accounted-upon materials (such as the recycling content associated with such accounted-upon materials) can be allocated to the chemical products produced. By using allocation rules, the owners of the recyclable materials, and therefore also the owners of the recyclable materials generated from the recycling of end-of-life products, their components, and / or production waste containing recyclable materials, can control the allocation of such environmental attributes to the chemical products. This allows control over the environmental impact of the produced end products, as this environmental impact is closely related to the environmental impact of the production inputs used to produce the end products.

[0423] Figure 20C and Figure 20D An example of a system according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention for managing and / or controlling the assignment of environmental attributes related to recyclable metals to produced precursor cathode active material (pCAM) or cathode active material (CAM) via an accounting system. The metal may be present within the battery. The metal may be present within the cathode active material of the battery. The metal may be present within production waste generated during the production of the battery cell. The battery may be included in the final product (e.g., an electric vehicle). The metal may be associated with a material owner. The material owner may own the metal. The material owner may own the recycled metal or metal salt generated by performing at least one recycling operation on production waste containing metals in the battery and / or cathode active material. The material owner may control the use or assignment of environmental attributes related to the metal to the produced pCAM and CAM. pCAM may be produced from metals or metal salts obtained by an extraction step on black powder (see [link to documentation]). Figure 5A , Figure 5B CAM can be produced by pCAM. pCAM and / or CAM can be produced by PCAM and CAM producer 206.

[0424] Material recycling can include various participants involved in the production of battery-containing end products and the recycling of resulting end-of-life products or their components (see also...). Figure 2In this example, the material cycle may include PCAM and CAM producer 206, battery producer 208, final product producer 108, black powder producer 210, and metal extractor 212. The transfer of produced output products from one participant in the material cycle to subsequent participants is shown with thick solid lines. Metal extractor 212 and PCAM and CAM producer 206 may be a single entity; for example, a single entity may extract metals from black powder and produce pCAM and CAM. Recycled metals or metal salts produced by metal extractor 212 may be delivered to PCAM and CAM producer 206 and used by it to produce new CAM. This new CAM may be delivered to battery producer 208 and used by it to produce new batteries. The production of new batteries may result in production waste including cathode active materials. Batteries produced by battery producer 208 may be delivered to final product producer 108 and used by it to produce battery-containing final products (such as electric vehicles). Production waste may be provided to black powder producer 210. Final products may be provided to final product users 110 who can use such final products. Upon reaching the end of its lifespan, the end-of-life (EOL) user 110 may discard the EOL. The EOL collector 112 may collect and / or sort the EOL. The collected and / or sorted batteries and / or production waste may be provided to the black powder producer 210 and processed into black powder, for example, such as... Figure 5A and Figure 5B As described in the context above. The produced black powder can be supplied to metal extractor 212. Metal extractor 212 can perform a leaching process to extract one or more metals from the black powder. The metals can be extracted in the form of a metal salt solution. The extracted metals or metal salt solution can be used to produce pCAM (see [link to pCAM]). Figure 5A ).

[0425] exist Figure 20C and Figure 20D In the example, the final product producer 108 is the material owner. However, this is for illustrative purposes only and should not be considered restrictive. In principle, every participant in a product ecosystem that includes material cycling can be a material owner. Accounting systems (such as in...) Figure 19 The accounting system 708 described in the context can be used to allocate the amount of recyclable metal associated with the material owner to a virtual balancing account, and to debit such amount when allocating it to the produced pCAM or CAM, for example, as Figure 22 As described in the context. Accounting system 708 may include one or more virtual material accounts, such as... Figure 8A and Figure 8B The context described (for simplicity) Figure 20A and Figure 20B Only one account was shown in the image, which should not be considered a restriction.

[0426] Accounting system 708 can be run by any participant in the material cycle. In this example, accounting system 708 is run by metal extractor 212. In another example, accounting system 708 can be run by final product producer 108, PCAM and CAM producer 206, or battery producer 208. The material owner can access virtual material account 702. The material owner can determine the balance of virtual material account 702. The material owner can draw down the amount of recyclable metal from this virtual material account 702. The material owner can determine the balance of virtual material account 702, for example, via an application, such as... Figure 20A and Figure 20B The context described herein. The accounting system 708 can be configured to execute in... Figure 22 At least a portion of the methods described in the context.

[0427] The material accounting system 710 of the accounting system 708 can be configured to allocate the quantity of recyclable metal to virtual material accounts 702 based on data collected via a distributed network, for example, as... Figure 6 , Figure 7A and Figure 7B As described in the context. This data can be collected from a data provider associated with the final product producer 108. This data can also be collected from a data provider that provides the data required for allocating the amount of recyclable metals to the virtual material account 702, which is associated with any participant in the product ecosystem. For example, the data provider could be associated with battery producer 208 and / or PCAM and CAM producers 206.

[0428] The material disbursement system 1902 can be configured to allocate (e.g., disburse) quantities of recyclable metals to chemical product identifiers associated with pCAM or CAM produced by PCAM and CAM producers 206, such as... Figure 16A and Figure 16B As described in the context, the allocation of this quantity can be controlled using allocation rules. Figure 20C and Figure 20D In the example shown, allocation rules can be used to control the allocation of recyclable metal quantities to pCAM or CAM produced by PCAM and CAM producer 206, for example, as Figure 16A and Figure 16B As described in the context. Figure 20CIn the example, PCAM and CAM producer 206 delivers CAM to battery producer 208, which in turn produces the final product for final product producer 108, who is the material owner. Therefore, PCAM and CAM producer 206 is allowed to allocate a recyclable amount of metal to the CAM it produces, as this allows the material owner and final product producer 108 to produce final products with improved environmental impacts (such as increased recycling content), such as electric vehicles, and this improvement is precisely what results from the allocation performed by PCAM and CAM producer 206.

[0429] and Figure 20C Compared to the scenario described in the text, Figure 20D This illustrates a scenario where PCAM and CAM producer 206 does not deliver CAM to battery producer 208 associated with final product producer 108. Since allocating the amount of recyclable metal from virtual material account 702 to CAM produced by PCAM and CAM producer 206 may not benefit the environmental impact of the final product produced by the material owner, the material owner (in this case, final product producer 108) may not allow the allocation of the amount stored in virtual material account 702. Therefore, PCAM and CAM producer 206 may be unable to allocate the amount of recyclable metal stored in virtual material account 702 of accounting system 708 to the CAM it produces. Accounting system 708 can reject such a request from PCAM and CAM producer 206 based on this allocation rule.

[0430] By allocating the amount of recyclable metals within a virtual balancing account based on data collected via a decentralized network (such as battery data stored in battery passes associated with batteries and / or waste data stored in passes associated with production waste), the amount of recyclable metals contained in such batteries and / or such production waste becomes accountable. Accounting can be performed prior to actual recycling, allowing the account balance to represent the amount of future available recyclable metals. This accounting allows the allocation of the accounted-upon amount of recyclable metals to pCAMs or CAMs produced using production inputs (such as metal salts or pCAMs) associated with such recyclable metals. Through this accounting, environmental properties of the accounted-upon metals (such as the recycling content associated with such accounted-upon metals) can be assigned to the produced pCAMs or CAMs. By using allocation rules, the material owners of the recyclable metals, and therefore also the material owners of the recyclable metals generated from recycled batteries, can control the allocation of these environmental properties to pCAMs or CAMs. This allows control over the environmental impact of the final product produced, as this environmental impact is closely related to the environmental impact of the production inputs used to produce the final product.

[0431] Figure 22A flowchart illustrating an example method for managing and / or controlling the assignment of environmental properties related to recyclable materials to produced chemical products, according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, is provided. The material may be a recyclable material. This material may be contained within the final product, its components, and / or production waste generated during the production of the final product and / or its components. Environmental properties may be related to the recyclability of the material. The chemical product may be produced through chemical production, for example, such as... Figure 12 and Figure 13 As described in the context. Chemical products can be produced from production inputs related to materials. For example, chemical products can be produced from production inputs corresponding to materials. Figure 22 The method shown can be at least partially derived from an accounting system (e.g., Figure 19 The accounting system 708 shown is used to perform this operation. The accounting system 708 may include one or more virtual material accounts, such as... Figure 8A and Figure 8B As shown in the diagram, the virtual materials account can be configured to balance the amount of recyclable materials.

[0432] The quantity of recyclable materials can be allocated or credited to the balance of at least one virtual materials account (see box 2202). For example, the materials crediting system 710 of accounting system 708 can be configured to allocate or credit such quantities based on data collected from a distributed network, such as... Figure 6 , Figure 7A , Figure 7B , Figure 9 , Figure 10 , Figure 16A and Figure 16B As described in the context of [the relevant context]. Accounting or allocation can result in an increase in the amount of recyclable material present in the corresponding account (e.g., an increase in the account balance). Accounting or allocation can result in the transformation of data used within a semantic domain (such as data contained within a pass associated with the final product or its components) into entries in an accounting table included in the corresponding virtual mater...

Claims

1. A method for allocating quantities of recyclable materials associated with a material owner to a virtual material account, the method comprising the steps of: - Provide data related to the owner of the material and data related to the final product or components containing the recyclable material; - Based on the provided data, collect final product data and / or component data via a distributed network; - Aggregate the collected data by applying at least one aggregation rule to the collected data; - Determine the amount of recyclable material by applying at least one transformation rule to the aggregated data; - The determined amount of recyclable material is allocated to at least one virtual material account via accounting transactions.

2. The method as described in claim 1, wherein, Collecting the final product data and / or the component data includes determining a decentralized identifier associated with the final product, its components and / or production waste based on the provided data related to these final products or their components, and using at least a portion of the determined decentralized identifier to collect the final product data and / or component data from a decentralized data providing network node associated with the final product data and / or component data.

3. The method as described in claim 1 or 2, wherein, The final product data includes data associated with the material configuration of the final product, and / or wherein the composition data includes data associated with the material configuration of the component and / or the production waste.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, The at least one aggregation rule is configured to aggregate the collected data or the amount of recyclable material based on at least one predefined criterion.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein, The at least one transformation rule is configured to transform the aggregated or collected data into an amount of recyclable material.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein, Allocating the determined amount of recyclable material to at least one virtual material account includes selecting at least one virtual material account based on at least one allocation rule that specifies the allocation of the amount of recyclable material to the virtual balance account.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein, The recyclable material is a recyclable metal obtained by recycling batteries or their components and / or by recycling production waste generated during the production of the batteries or their components.

8. An apparatus for allocating quantities of recyclable materials associated with a material owner to a virtual material account, the apparatus comprising: - A data provisioning interface configured to provide data relating to the material owner and data relating to the final product or components containing the recyclable material; - A distributed network interface configured to collect final product data and / or component data via a distributed network based on the provided data; - A material accounting system configured to provide at least one virtual material account for balancing the amount of recyclable materials; -Materials entry system, which is configured as • Aggregate the collected data by applying at least one aggregation rule to the collected data. • The amount of recyclable material is determined by applying at least one transformation rule to the aggregated data, and • The determined amount of recyclable material is allocated to at least one of the provided virtual material accounts via accounting transactions.

9. A method for assigning or assuming at least one environmental property related to recyclable materials associated with a material owner to a produced chemical product, wherein, The chemical product is produced by chemically processing at least in part from one or more input materials associated with the recyclable material, the method comprising: - Provide data associated with the chemical products produced, including chemical product identifiers; - Provide at least one allocation rule for allocating amounts of recyclable materials to chemical products; - A virtual material account that determines the amount of recyclable material stored via this allocation rule; - Based on the provided data associated with the chemical product and the allocation rule, the amount of recyclable material stored in the determined virtual material account is allocated to the chemical product identifier by generating a chemical product pass associated with the chemical product based on the allocated amount of recyclable material, the chemical product pass including the chemical product identifier and data related to the allocated amount of recyclable material; - Optionally, the generated chemical product pass is provided for access via a distributed network under the control of the data owner of the chemical product pass.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein, The chemical product is produced by chemical production from one or more input materials, and at least a portion of the input materials are associated with recyclable materials related to the owner of the materials.

11. The method of claim 9 or 10, wherein, Data associated with the produced chemical product includes input material data associated with the input materials used to produce the chemical product.

12. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 11, wherein, The virtual materials account includes - Determine potentially accessible virtual material accounts based on the input materials used to produce the chemical product. - For each potentially accessible virtual material account, determine the amount of available recyclable material stored within that virtual material account. - Select the accessible virtual material account based on the amount of available recyclable material and optionally the amount of input material associated with that input material.

13. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 12, wherein, Data related to the amount of recyclable material allocated includes the recovery rate associated with the chemical products produced.

14. An apparatus for assigning or assuming at least one environmental property related to recyclable materials associated with a material owner to a produced chemical product, wherein, The chemical product is produced, at least in part, from one or more input materials associated with the recyclable material through chemical production, and the apparatus includes: - A data providing interface configured to provide data associated with the produced chemical product, including a chemical product identifier; - A rule provider configured to provide at least one allocation rule for allocating amounts of recyclable materials to chemical products; - A material accounting system configured to provide at least one virtual material account for storing quantities of recyclable materials; -Materials billing system, which is configured as follows • The virtual material account that provides storage for the amount of recyclable material is determined by the allocation rules, and • Based on the provided data associated with the chemical product and the allocation rule, the amount of recyclable material stored in the determined virtual material account is allocated to the chemical product identifier by generating a chemical product pass associated with the chemical product based on the allocated amount of recyclable material, the chemical product pass including the chemical product identifier and data related to the allocated amount of recyclable material; - Optionally, a distributed network interface is configured to provide generated chemical product passes for access via a distributed network under the control of the data owner of the chemical product pass.

15. A method for managing and / or controlling the assignment of environmental properties related to recyclable materials to produced chemical products, wherein, The chemical product is produced, at least in part, from one or more input materials associated with the recyclable material through chemical production, the method comprising: - The amount of recyclable material is allocated to at least one virtual material account according to the method of any one of claims 1 to 7 or by the apparatus of claim 8; - Provide data associated with the chemical products produced, including chemical product identifiers; - Provide at least one allocation rule for allocating amounts of recyclable materials to chemical products; - A virtual material account that determines the amount of recyclable material stored via this allocation rule; - Based on the provided data associated with the chemical product and the allocation rule, the amount of recyclable material stored in the determined virtual material account is allocated to the chemical product identifier by generating a chemical product pass associated with the chemical product based on the allocated amount of recyclable material, the chemical product pass including the chemical product identifier and data related to the allocated amount of recyclable material; - Optionally, the generated product pass is provided for access via a distributed network under the control of the data owner of the product pass.

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