Balancing environmental attributes in a product ecosystem

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to the field of sustainable industrialization, in particular to monitoring and balancing environmental impacts within product ecosystems, including production chains for producing products and processing chains including recycling chains and / or re-use chains. The present disclosure relates to methods, apparatuses and computer elements for monitoring or confirming environmental attribute(s) associated with output product(s) produced; methods, apparatuses and computer elements for monitoring environmental impacts associated with participants of a product ecosystem; and methods, apparatuses and computer elements for registering environmental attribute data associated with output product(s) resulting from a recycling process as an entry in a distributed ledger of a distributed ledger network.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure pertains to the field of sustainable industrialization, specifically to the monitoring and balancing of environmental impacts within product ecosystems, including production chains for producing products and processing chains including recycling and / or reuse chains. This disclosure relates to methods, apparatus, and computer elements for monitoring or identifying multiple environmental properties associated with the multiple output products produced; methods, apparatus, and computer elements for monitoring environmental impacts associated with participants in product ecosystems; and methods, apparatus, and computer elements for registering environmental property data associated with the multiple output products generated by recycling processes as entries in a distributed ledger network. Background Technology

[0002] Producing ecosystems undergo dynamic changes to mitigate their environmental impacts. Producing ecosystems face dynamic changes regarding the input materials used to produce products within the production chain of a product ecosystem, as well as the processing chains (e.g., via recycling and / or reuse) that can be used to process the produced products. Since input materials and processing chains contribute to the environmental impact of the output products produced by the ecosystem, the produced output products, and the environmental impacts of the product ecosystem participants, transparency regarding environmental impacts can help improve production and / or processing chains to reduce the environmental impacts of the product ecosystem, the produced output products, and the product ecosystem participants. However, this transparency is hampered by the lack of systems capable of reliably and verifiably balancing the environmental impacts of input materials, produced products, and ecosystem participants. Therefore, there is a need for methods and systems that can reliably and verifiably monitor the environmental impacts associated with the produced output products of a product ecosystem. Summary of the Invention

[0003] On one hand, a computer-implemented method for monitoring multiple environmental properties associated with the produced output products is disclosed, wherein the output products are produced from one or more input materials, the method comprising:

[0004] • Collect multiple input material credentials associated with the input material from a distributed network based on the multiple input material identifiers associated with the input material.

[0005] • Based on the collected input material (multiple) credentials, environmental attribute data associated with the input material (multiple) is collected from the distributed ledger of the distributed ledger network.

[0006] • Based on the collected environmental attribute data associated with the input materials (multiple types) and the environmental attribute data associated with the production of the output products (multiple types), determine the environmental attribute data associated with the produced output products (multiple types).

[0007] • Generate transaction data associated with the transfer of the (multiple) output products to one or more output product consumers, including identified environmental attribute data associated with the (multiple) output products produced and (multiple) decentralized participant identifiers associated with the (multiple) output product consumers.

[0008] • Provide the generated transaction data to the distributed ledger network so that environmental attribute data associated with the (multiple) output products can be accessed via the distributed ledger network.

[0009] On the other hand, an apparatus for monitoring multiple environmental properties associated with multiple output products produced, wherein the multiple output products are produced from one or more input materials, is disclosed, the apparatus comprising:

[0010] • A distributed network interface configured to collect input material credentials associated with the input material from a distributed network based on the input material identifier associated with the input material.

[0011] • A distributed ledger network interface configured to collect environmental attribute data associated with the input material(s) from the distributed ledger of the distributed ledger network based on the collected input material(s) token(s).

[0012] • An environmental attribute data determination unit, configured to determine environmental attribute data associated with the produced output products based on collected environmental attribute data associated with the input materials(s) and environmental attribute data associated with the production of the output products(s).

[0013] • A transaction data generator configured to generate transaction data associated with the transfer of the(s) output product(s) to one or more output product consumers, the transaction data including identified environmental attribute data associated with the(s) output product(s) produced and distributed participant(s) identifiers associated with the(s) output product(s) consumers(s).

[0014] • A distributed ledger network interface configured to provide generated transaction data to the distributed ledger network for accessing environmental attribute data associated with the output product(s).

[0015] On another front, a method for identifying multiple environmental property data associated with the produced output products is disclosed, particularly a computer-implemented method, wherein the output products are produced from one or more input materials, the method comprising:

[0016] • Collect (multiple) input material passes associated with the (multiple) input materials and / or (multiple) output product passes associated with the (multiple) output products.

[0017] • Based on the collected credentials, collect environmental attribute data associated with the input materials (multiple) and the output products (multiple) from the distributed ledger of the distributed ledger network.

[0018] • The environmental attribute data is confirmed by comparing the collected environmental attribute data associated with the input materials (multiple types) with the collected environmental attribute data associated with the output products (multiple types).

[0019] • Provide the result of this confirmation.

[0020] On another front, an apparatus is disclosed for confirming environmental property data associated with the produced output product(s), wherein the output product(s) are produced from one or more input materials, the apparatus comprising:

[0021] • A distributed network interface configured to collect multiple input material credentials associated with the input material(s) and / or multiple output product credentials associated with the output product(s).

[0022] • A distributed ledger network interface configured to collect environmental attribute data associated with the input materials (multiple) and output products (multiple) from the distributed ledger of the distributed ledger network based on the collected credentials(s).

[0023] • A data verification unit configured to verify the environmental attribute data by comparing the collected environmental attribute data associated with the input material(s) with the collected environmental attribute data associated with the output product(s).

[0024] • A data provider interface configured to provide the result of this confirmation.

[0025] On another front, a method for identifying multiple environmental property data associated with the produced output products is disclosed, particularly a computer-implemented method, wherein the output products are produced from one or more input materials, the method comprising:

[0026] • Provide transaction data associated with the (multiple) output products.

[0027] • Based on the provided transaction data, collect transaction data associated with the child transactions referenced in the parent transactions associated with the provided transaction data.

[0028] • Collect environmental attribute data associated with the (multiple) output products based on the provided transaction data.

[0029] • Collect environmental attribute data included in the sub-transaction(s) based on the transaction data associated with the sub-transaction(s).

[0030] • The environmental attribute data associated with the output product(s) is identified by comparing the collected environmental attribute data included in (multiple) referenced transactions with the environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) output products(s).

[0031] • Provide the result of this confirmation.

[0032] On another front, an apparatus is disclosed for confirming environmental property data associated with the produced output product(s), wherein the output product(s) are produced from one or more input materials, the apparatus comprising:

[0033] • A data provider interface configured to provide transaction data associated with the (multiple) output products.

[0034] • A distributed ledger network interface configured to collect transaction data associated with the provided transaction data and the child transactions referenced in the parent transaction(s) associated with the provided transaction data.

[0035] • A data collection interface configured to collect environmental attribute data associated with the (multiple) output products based on the provided transaction data, and to collect environmental attribute data included in the (multiple) sub-transactions based on the collected transaction data associated with the (multiple) sub-transactions.

[0036] • A data verification unit configured to verify the environmental attribute data associated with the output product(s) by comparing the collected environmental attribute data included in the referenced transaction(s) with the environmental attribute data associated with the output product(s).

[0037] • A data provider interface configured to provide the result of this confirmation.

[0038] On another front, a method for monitoring environmental impacts associated with participants in a product ecosystem is disclosed, particularly a computer-implemented method, wherein the product ecosystem comprises multiple production chains for producing multiple output products and / or recycling chains for recycling multiple end-of-life products, and wherein the participant operates multiple production processes from one or more input materials to produce multiple output products, the method comprising:

[0039] • Provide (multiple) decentralized participant identifiers associated with participants in the ecosystem of this product.

[0040] • Based on the provided decentralized participant(s) identifier(s), collect the transactions(s) associated with the decentralized participant(s) identifier(s) from the distributed ledger of the distributed ledger network(s).

[0041] • Collect environmental attribute data related to the input materials (multiple) of the collected transactions, environmental attribute data related to the production of the output products (multiple) of the collected products, and environmental attribute data related to the output products (multiple) of the collected products.

[0042] • Environmental impacts associated with the participant are monitored by comparing collected environmental attribute data associated with the input materials(s) with collected environmental attribute data associated with the output products(s) and their production.

[0043] • Provide monitoring results.

[0044] On another front, a method is disclosed for registering environmental attribute data associated with multiple output products generated from the recycling process of end-of-life products or their components as entries in a distributed ledger of a distributed ledger network, particularly a computer-implemented method, which includes:

[0045] • Collect (multiple) end-product or component identifiers associated with the scrapped product or its components from a distributed network.

[0046] • Based on the collected credentials, environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) final products and / or (multiple) components are collected from the distributed ledger of the distributed ledger network.

[0047] • Transaction data is generated based on the collected environmental attribute data to separate the environmental attribute data associated with the obsolete product and / or its components from the obsolete product and / or its components, and the generated transaction data is provided to the distributed ledger network.

[0048] • Collect data associated with the recycling operation, including environmental property data associated with the (multiple) output products.

[0049] • Transaction data is generated based on environmental attribute data associated with the (multiple) output products, and the environmental attribute data is stored as an entry in the distributed ledger of the distributed ledger network.

[0050] • Provide the generated transaction data to the distributed ledger network so that environmental attribute data associated with the (multiple) output products can be accessed via the distributed ledger network.

[0051] On another front, an apparatus is disclosed for registering environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) output products generated by a recycling process as entries in a distributed ledger network, the apparatus comprising:

[0052] • A distributed network interface configured to collect (multiple) end-product or component tokens from a distributed network based on (multiple) end-product or component identifiers associated with the obsolete product or its components.

[0053] • A distributed ledger network interface configured to collect environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) final products and / or (multiple) components from the distributed ledger of a distributed ledger network based on the collected credentials.

[0054] • A transaction data generator configured to generate transaction data based on collected environmental attribute data, to separate the environmental attribute data associated with the obsolete product and / or its components from the obsolete product and / or its components, and to provide the generated transaction data to the distributed ledger network.

[0055] • A data collector configured to collect data associated with the recycling operation, including environmental property data associated with the (multiple) output products.

[0056] • A transaction data generator configured to generate transaction data based on environmental attribute data associated with the output(s), to store the environmental attribute data as an entry in the distributed ledger of the distributed ledger network.

[0057] • A distributed ledger network interface configured to provide generated transaction data to the distributed ledger network for accessing environmental attribute data associated with the output product(s).

[0058] 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.

[0059] 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(s) disclosed herein or to be performed by the means(s) disclosed herein.

[0060] Any disclosures, embodiments, and examples described herein relate to the methods, apparatus, systems, and computer elements listed above and below. Advantageously, the benefits provided by any embodiments and examples also apply to all other embodiments and examples. Example

[0061] 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.

[0062] In order to reduce the environmental impacts (such as carbon footprint) associated with the (multiple) output products produced, it is essential to reliably and credibly determine such environmental impacts and to ensure transparency of such impacts.

[0063] By using material tokens to provide access to environmental attribute data and combining this with a distributed ledger network that includes multiple distributed ledgers storing such environmental attribute data, transparency of this environmental attribute data and the amount of environmental attribute debt transferred to downstream consumers of the output product can be achieved across the entire production chain associated with the production of the output product. High confidentiality is achieved by concealing the identities of the parties involved in the transfer and the identities of the materials or products transferred between them, while still allowing for reliable balancing of environmental attribute data within the distributed ledger network. This high confidentiality allows for the storage of environmental attribute data for the entire production and / or recycling chain of the product ecosystem within the distributed ledger, without any transparency regarding the participants and materials / products involved in such production and / or recycling chains. Transparency of environmental attribute data can facilitate reliable and trustworthy calculations of environmental attribute data associated with the produced output product by ensuring that environmental attribute data associated with the output product is considered (e.g., added) when determining environmental attribute data associated with the input materials and production processes used to produce the output product. Furthermore, transparency regarding the environmental impact of output products can help manipulate the overall environmental impact of the product ecosystem or the environmental impact of (multiple) participants in the product ecosystem (e.g., obtaining environmental attribute credits or reducing environmental attribute liabilities due to the use of input materials with reduced environmental impacts).

[0064] By storing environmental attribute data associated with input and output materials as immutable transactions within a distributed ledger, and by linking these transactions to passes associated with such input materials and output products, a balance of (multiple) environmental attributes can be achieved. This balance allows product ecosystem participants, as well as third parties (such as auditors and governments), to verify the environmental impact of received input materials (corresponding to output products produced by (multiple) upstream participants) by examining whether the environmental attribute liabilities associated with the received input materials and the production processes used to produce such received input materials were properly considered during the determination of environmental attribute data associated with the received input materials. Transparency in the environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) received input materials allows for the reliable and credible determination of the correctness of the environmental attribute data associated with the received input materials, thereby preventing the use of incorrect environmental attribute data associated with input materials when determining the environmental attribute data associated with output products. This ensures that the environmental attribute data associated with the final produced products is determined reliably and credibly, thus allowing the use of such data to directly or indirectly manipulate the environmental impact of the product ecosystem or (multiple) participants in the product ecosystem.

[0065] By storing environmental attribute data within a distributed ledger and referencing transactions associated with the input materials used to produce that output product in transactions related to the output product, a balance of environmental attributes can be achieved. This balance allows product ecosystem participants, as well as third parties such as auditors and governments, to verify the environmental impact of a given output product by examining whether the environmental attribute liabilities associated with the input materials and production processes were properly considered during the determination of the environmental attribute data associated with the output product. The transparency of the environmental attribute data associated with the input materials and output products, combined with the immutability of the distributed ledger, incentivizes product ecosystem participants to properly consider the environmental attribute liabilities associated with the input materials and production processes when determining the environmental impact of the produced output product, thus preventing the unconsidered or over-considered environmental attribute liabilities of the input materials and / or production processes from mitigating the environmental impact of the produced output product.

[0066] By storing environmental attribute data within a distributed ledger and reflecting the transfer of input materials and output products in the physical world through transactions within the distributed ledger, the flow of environmental attribute data can be monitored for a given participant in a product ecosystem. This monitoring allows product ecosystem participants, as well as third parties (such as auditors and governments), to determine a given participant's environmental impact by examining whether the environmental attribute liabilities associated with input materials and production processes were properly considered during the determination of environmental attribute data related to output products. The transparency of environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) input materials and (multiple) output products, combined with the immutability of the distributed ledger, incentivizes product ecosystem participants to properly consider the environmental attribute liabilities associated with (multiple) input materials and production processes when determining the environmental impact of the produced output products, thus preventing (multiple) environmental attribute liabilities of (multiple) input materials and / or production processes from being overlooked or over-considered to mitigate the environmental impact of the produced output products.

[0067] By separating environmental attribute data from end-of-life products or their components during recycling, the environmental attribute debt associated with such products or their components(s) can be ignored, thus preventing the accumulation of environmental attribute debt on recycled materials and the resulting increase in their environmental impact. Conversely, separation allows for the consideration of only the environmental attribute debt generated by the recycling process when determining the environmental attribute data for recycled materials. This avoidance of the accumulation of environmental attribute debt allows for rewarding recycling when it results in a reduced environmental impact compared to virgin materials, thus enabling improved circularity within the product ecosystem.

[0068] 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."

[0069] 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.

[0070] Input materials can refer to any goods purchased from a supplier and brought into the corresponding production process. Input materials can include starting materials used in the production process for producing the product. Input materials can be located at any step in the value chain. This means that the output of one production plant can be used as input material for another production plant. Similarly, the output produced by one entity can be used as input material by an entity that consumes the produced output. Input materials can include recycled input materials. Input materials can include input materials containing recycled, bio-based, or renewable content. Input materials can include biodegradable input materials. Input materials can include or be any input material that enters production. Input materials can include or be any input material provided at any entry point in production.

[0071] Output products can include any product produced by production from one or more input materials. Output products can be produced via one or more process steps. Process steps can involve chemical reactions and / or physical processes and / or assembly processes. Input materials can be used in one or more such production steps. Output products can include any product that is produced by production and provided at any point of exit of production. Output products can be used as input materials for the production of one or more products. (Multiple) products can be produced by one or more downstream participants who can use (multiple) output products produced by one or more upstream participants as (multiple) input materials. Output products can be associated with an output product identifier. The output product identifier can be a numerical or virtual output product identifier. The output product identifier can uniquely identify the output product within the entity that produces the output product. The output product identifier can uniquely identify the output product within a distributed network. The output product identifier can be associated with an identifier element physically linked to the output product. The identifier element can encode the numerical output product identifier. The output product identifier can include the output product name, output product number, LOT number, batch number, serial number, etc.

[0072] Production can include chemical production that produces one or more chemical output products. Production can include discrete production that produces one or more discrete output products. Chemical production can be a chemical production network that chemically transforms input materials into chemical products (e.g., output products) leaving the network via chemical intermediates. A chemical production network can include a complex production network that produces multiple chemical products across multiple production chains or value chains. A production chain or value chain can 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 can include connected, interconnected, and / or disconnected production chains. The production chains included in a chemical production network can be defined by the physical system boundary of the chemical production network. The system boundary can be defined by the location or control of the production processes. The system boundary can be defined by a value chain with interleaved production processes leading to the formation of a final product, which can be controlled jointly or separately by multiple entities. A chemical production network may include waste collection and sorting steps, recycling steps (e.g., pyrolysis), pyrolysis steps (e.g., steam cracking), production steps for producing chemical products or intermediates from the provided input materials, separation steps for separating intermediates from a process step, and further processing steps for converting such outputs into chemical products leaving the system boundary of the chemical production network. A chemical production network can produce multiple intermediates from input materials and can produce one or more chemical products from intermediates. Input materials may enter the chemical production network at an inlet point. Input materials may be fed into the chemical production network at the start of the production process or at any intermediate stage of the production process (e.g., the start or any intermediate stage of a production chain producing output materials). Chemical products may leave the chemical production network at an outlet point (or discharge point).

[0073] Multiple input materials can be associated with multiple input material passes. Multiple output products can be associated with multiple output product passes. A pass (e.g., an input material pass or an output product pass) can refer to a dataset with a defined semantic structure. The defined semantic structure can be obtained by applying a semantic model (e.g., an aspect model) to the collected data associated with the corresponding input material or output product. A pass can include an input material identifier or output product, at least one distributed pass identifier, and data associated with the input material or output product (e.g., input material data or output product data). A pass can include one or more authentication mechanisms associated with the distributed pass identifiers and the input material data or output product data. A pass can involve one or more authorization mechanisms associated with the distributed pass identifiers and the input material data or output product data. The one or more authorization mechanisms can include authorization rules for determining whether to grant access to at least a portion of the input material data or output product data. One or more digital representations of the input material data or output product data can be associated. A digital representation can be considered an access element that provides access to a pass or a portion thereof. The digital representation may include distributed identifiers and access data. Access data may include locators or pointers, such as URLs or URIs, 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. The access element may include one or more authentication mechanisms associated with the distributed identifier(s) and access data. The access element may be associated with one or more authentication mechanisms associated with the distributed identifier(s) and access data. The access element may be provided to a distributed registry storing the access element. The distributed registry may be associated with a data-providing network node. This allows the data owner of the pass associated with such an access element to control access to such a registry and access to the access elements(s) stored in such a registry via the data-providing network node.

[0074] A data owner can be an entity capable of accessing and controlling access to a pass through data consumption services on a decentralized network. A data owner can be an input material producer or an output product producer. Through a decentralized pass identifier and its unique association with the data owner and the pass, the data owner can control access to the pass. The pass can be accessed by the data owner. Therefore, the data owner can directly or indirectly own the pass. The pass can be stored in the data owner's database or a database associated with the data owner. The pass can be stored in a database accessible to the data owner. The data owner can control access to the pass through data services associated with the data owner. The data owner can control access to the pass. The pass can be associated with the data owner. The data owner can be the owner of the pass or the pass holder. The pass can be stored in the data owner's database or under the data owner's control.

[0075] Environmental attribute data can specify the environmental impact of input materials or output products separately. Environmental attribute data can include multiple environmental attributes. Multiple environmental attributes can be multiple data points or datasets that numerically specify any characteristic or feature related to environmental impact. Such characteristics can be properties or features of multiple input materials and / or multiple output products. Environmental attributes can indicate the environmental performance of multiple input materials, production, and / or produced output products. Environmental attributes can be derived from the characteristics of multiple input materials, production, and / or multiple output 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.

[0076] Environmental attributes may include one or more characteristics that assign environmental or sustainability impacts to (multiple) input materials and (multiple) output products. Environmental attributes may include (multiple) environmental, technological, recyclability, or circularity characteristics associated with the environmental impacts of (multiple) input materials and / or (multiple) output products.

[0077] Multiple environmental characteristics can specify or quantify ecological standards associated with the environmental impact of input materials and / or output products. Multiple environmental characteristics can be, or may be derived from, measurements taken during the life cycle of the multiple input materials and / or multiple output products. Multiple 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, biological and non-biological resource consumption, 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. Multiple environmental characteristics can be calculated through a combination of one or more environmental characteristics. (Multiple) 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, biodegradable, vegan, halal, kosher, palm oil-free, natural, etc.

[0078] (Multiple) technical features can specify or quantify the properties of a material or product that are at least indirectly related to its environmental impact. These (multiple) technical features 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. These (multiple) technical features can be or can be generated from measurements taken during the life cycle of one or more materials or (multiple) products. Technical features can be determined at any stage of the material or product life cycle and can characterize the performance of the material or product during or up to that stage. These (multiple) technical features 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. These (multiple) technical features may include, for example, the physical, chemical, or other properties of the material or product.

[0079] Multiple recycling characteristics can specify or quantify the life cycle characteristics of a material or product associated with recycling. Multiple recycling characteristics can be or can be generated from measurements taken during the life cycle of one or more materials or products. Multiple recycling characteristics can be or can be generated from recycling data recorded in one or more previous life cycles (including reuse). Recycling characteristics can be determined at any stage of the material or product life cycle and can characterize reuse or recycling performance within or up to that stage. Multiple recycling characteristics can be related to technical, mechanical, chemical, and / or biological recycling. Multiple recycling characteristics can include, for example, recycling data, reuse rate, recovery rate, recycling cycles, performance of reused products, quality of reused materials or products, etc. Additional recycling material characteristics can be obtained by combining multiple recycling characteristics.

[0080] Multiple recyclability characteristics can specify or quantify the lifecycle characteristics of a material or product associated with recycling. Multiple recyclability characteristics can include the composition of a material, containing components specifically tailored to make the material suitable for recycling. Multiple recyclability characteristics can be or can be generated from measurements taken during the lifecycle of one or more materials or products. Multiple 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 lifecycle and can characterize recycling performance within or up to that stage. Multiple recyclability characteristics can include, for example, recycling data, recyclability data, recycling efficiency, etc.

[0081] Environmental attribute data may include emissions data. Emissions data may include data related to the carbon footprint of input materials or output products, or related to the product carbon footprint (PCF). Emissions data may include data related to greenhouse gas emissions, such as those released during the production of input materials or output products. Emissions data may include data related to greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions may include, for example, emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), and combinations thereof, as well as other emissions. Emissions data may include data related to greenhouse gas emissions generated by the entity or company's own operations (production, power plants, and waste incineration). Scope 2 may include emissions generated from the production of externally supplied energy. The product carbon footprint (PCF) may be the sum of greenhouse gas emissions and removals generated by consecutive and interrelated process steps associated with a specific input material or output product. Cradle-to-gate (PCF) can aggregate greenhouse gas emissions based on selected process steps: for example, from the extraction of resources to the exit of output products from the company's factory gates.

[0082] Multiple input materials and multiple output products can be part of a product ecosystem. A product ecosystem can include chemical products. A product ecosystem can include a production chain that produces output products. Output products can be chemical products, intermediate chemical products, components, component assemblies, or final products. A product ecosystem can include a processing chain for processing used output products generated from the use of the produced output products. A processing chain can include a recycling chain for recovering at least a portion of used output products or their components. A processing chain can include a reuse chain for reusing used 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.

[0083] Participants in a product ecosystem can connect via a distributed network. The distributed network can be a peer-to-peer network. A distributed network can include one or more distributed network nodes configured to execute data transactions. Multiple distributed network nodes can be associated with participants in the product ecosystem. Data transactions can be based on transaction protocols that include multiple authentication and / or authorization mechanisms. Based on multiple authentication and / or authorization mechanisms, a peer-to-peer network can be established between multiple distributed network nodes in the distributed network. One or more authentication mechanisms can be associated with or linked to multiple distributed identifiers. One or more authentication mechanisms associated with multiple distributed identifiers can be provided to multiple distributed network nodes. One or more authentication mechanisms associated with multiple distributed identifiers can be accessed by multiple distributed network nodes. Distributed configuration allows for more efficient use of computing resources and strengthens each data owner's control over the distributed network.

[0084] Multiple data-providing network nodes can be configured to provide access to data stored in dedicated storage devices associated with the respective data-providing network nodes. The data stored in the dedicated storage devices may include data related to final products or components containing recyclable materials. The data stored in the dedicated storage devices may include generated chemical product passes. The multiple data-providing network nodes can be configured to provide access to this data upon request by the multiple data-consuming network nodes. Access to this data may be under the control of the data-providing network node associated with the corresponding data. The data-providing network nodes can be configured to authenticate and / or authorize data-consuming network nodes to access this data.

[0085] Data consuming network nodes can be configured to request access to data stored in dedicated storage devices associated with multiple data providing network nodes. These data consuming network nodes can be configured, for example, to determine the access elements associated with the produced products by querying a distributed network, particularly a distributed registry of storage access elements. Data consuming network nodes can be associated with participants in the product ecosystem.

[0086] Participants in the product ecosystem can connect via a distributed ledger network. This network can be a peer-to-peer network with multiple nodes. Each node can include a peer-to-peer application containing the distributed ledger. Each node can include a peer-to-peer application containing a shared database. Each node can include the same distributed ledger or shared database. The distributed ledger can be configured to store data (e.g., environmental attribute data and optional quantity data) along with some proof or signature. The distributed ledger can be further configured to store computer code in the form of an executable tool. Specifically, the executable tool can be invoked by initiating a transaction to the (unique) communication address of the executable tool within a so-called 'smart contract'. This executable tool can be processed on multiple nodes of the peer-to-peer network. The executable tool (e.g., a smart contract) or processing logic can be stored and executed under so-called 'cryptographic conditions' of an inter-ledger protocol (ILP), such that not all the code of the executable tool necessarily needs to be stored in a smart contract such as an Ethereum smart contract or a Solana program. Alternatively, executable tools (smart contracts) can be stored and executed on decentralized computing marketplaces (e.g., Ethereum Compute Marketplace, Trubit, Golem, Cryptolets Microsoft).

[0087] A distributed ledger or shared database can be read by participating entities (participants) of a peer-to-peer network. These participating entities include any entity in the product ecosystem, such as raw material manufacturers, chemical product manufacturers, component manufacturers, assembly manufacturers, final product manufacturers, final product users, end-of-life collectors, and recyclers. A distributed ledger or shared database can be read by participating entities that verify environmental attribute data (such as final product users and auditors). A distributed ledger or shared database can be read by at least a portion of the participants in the peer-to-peer network. The distributed ledger (at least the public portion, i.e., potentially without private contracts) can be read by at least every participant in the peer-to-peer network. Peer-to-peer network nodes can send messages to or write messages to peer-to-peer applications. Messages or transactions sent to an executable tool can initiate the execution of the executable tool's code while using data (transaction guidelines and / or other data) stored in the executable tool. For example, sending transaction data indicating the generation of new units of previously generated tokens (such as environmental credit tokens) to such an executable tool can result in the generation (e.g., minting) of additional units of such tokens.

[0088] Information between peer nodes can be exchanged via a peer-to-peer messaging system. This means that a peer node can send a message to another peer node to submit information or trigger an action. Messages can be plaintext, signed, hashed, timestamped, and / or encrypted. This means that not all data exchanged between peer nodes needs to be stored on a decentralized registry.

[0089] Peer-to-peer applications can be built on top of the following elements: a peer-to-peer network, including a consensus system / protocol, data structures, Merkle trees, public-key signatures, and / or Byzantine fault tolerance. It can replicate data based on consensus principles. It can be auditable and traceable. Peer-to-peer applications can include a distributed ledger comprising at least two blocks coupled to each other (e.g., a blockchain). The blockchain can be a distributed, peer-to-peer registry where environmental attribute data can be stored. The blockchain can be permissionless. The blockchain can be permissioned. The blockchain can be public. The blockchain can be a consortium blockchain. The blockchain can be a private blockchain. Alternatively, peer-to-peer applications can consist of multiple blockchains connected via mechanisms such as sidechains or smart contracts. Peer nodes can run one or more different blockchain clients. The data of the peer-to-peer application can be stored on a "decentralized ledger technology". Distributed ledgers can manipulate (encrypted) data that is accessible via the internet, such as in distributed data storage devices, object storage and databases (e.g., the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) or Storj) or distributed blockchain databases (e.g., BigChainDB). Access to encrypted data by third-party entities can be managed via access tools formed as one or more smart contracts on the blockchain.

[0090] Transaction data can be generated and sent to a distributed ledger network via peer modules. Peer modules can provide interface modules (such as application programming interfaces (APIs)) and decentralized applications for communicating with computer nodes or peer applications (such as blockchains or smart contracts on blockchains) within the peer network. For example, a peer module may not include a peer application and may not be a node on the peer network. This allows for a reduction in the processing power required by the peer module. For example, such a peer module can send plaintext or encrypted messages, or generate secure connections (e.g., tunnels) to a peer gateway (or so-called "remote node") to communicate with the peer network. The decentralized application of the software can include local algorithms configured at least to create data (such as transaction data) and transmit that data to the peer application via the API. The decentralized application (so-called "DApp") is configured at least to generate and transmit said data. For example, a peer module can be a so-called "light node" or a decentralized application (DApp) connected to a remote node. Data and messages can be signed or encrypted. Data and messages can be transmitted to peer nodes running peer applications (such as blockchains) via encrypted secure tunnels or secure internet connections. Trusted execution environments (such as Intel SGX, TPM, or Direct Anonymity Proof Modules) can be integrated with peer modules to securely deploy executable tools and / or data onto devices.

[0091] Alternatively, the peer module can be a peer node that includes at least a portion of a peer application. For example, the peer module can include the total data content of the peer application. The peer module can include decentralized applications, APIs, and peer applications such as blockchains or decentralized ledgers.

[0092] A peer-to-peer network can include one or more confirming peer nodes or (multiple) full nodes. Such confirming nodes can be configured to perform the confirmation process, for example, creating new entries in a distributed ledger or shared database. Peer-to-peer network nodes can further include one or more observer nodes. Observer nodes can be configured to confirm transactions to establish a level of trust, but will not confirm all transactions completed by the confirming peer nodes. A peer-to-peer network can include one or more nodes participating in a Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm. The consensus algorithm can include one or more protocols through which all nodes in the distributed system can reach a joint agreement on the current state of the decentralized network. Consensus algorithms can include Proof-of-Work consensus algorithms, Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithms, Proof-of-History consensus algorithms, Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT), Delegated Proof-of-Stake, Proof-of-Burning, Proof-of-Capacity, Proof-of-Time, Proof-of-Activity, Proof-of-Weight, Proof-of-Importance, Lease Proof-of-Stake, or combinations thereof. Such nodes can append new blocks to the blockchain or store data in a distributed ledger.

[0093] Data stored on a distributed ledger can be stored in plaintext. Data stored on a distributed ledger can be encrypted, and the keys can be disposed of via the distributed ledger. Transactions involving token units can be stored in plaintext on the blockchain. Environmental attribute data and quantity data can be stored in plaintext on the blockchain. Privacy-preserving, secure transactions or execution of computer code can be achieved using cryptographic tools such as zero-knowledge (zk) proofs or zk concise non-interactive arguments (zk-SNARK). Transactions or algorithms can be divided into two parts: an executable tool on the distributed ledger (e.g., a smart contract) and another executable tool (e.g., a private contract). Privacy-preserving protocols can ensure data privacy and the correctness of code execution (SNARK verification can be performed via on-chain smart contracts). Private contract computation can be performed by a group of nodes, off-chain computers, or in a measured launch environment or a secure hardware enclave for proof and sealing that cannot be manipulated by other software code running on the device. Alternatively, secure multi-party computation (sMPC) systems can be used for transaction privacy. Examples of privacy-preserving protocols and computations include HAWK and MIT Enigma. The use of zero-knowledge proofs (zk proofs) allows verification that an algorithm executes correctly within a private contract without disclosing input data to the verifier. zk proofs can be stored in peer-to-peer applications and / or confirmed by peer-to-peer applications. Additionally, selective privacy can be achieved by decrypting transactions for reporting and auditing purposes using a shared key.

[0094] In this embodiment, the input material passes are collected via access elements associated with the input material passes. These access elements are stored in a decentralized registry of the decentralized network and are under the control of the data owners of the input material passes associated with the access elements stored in their respective registries. Therefore, access to the decentralized registry storing the access elements associated with the input material passes can be controlled by the data owners of the input material passes, for example, via a decentralized data providing network node associated with the decentralized registry. This ensures that only authorized data consuming network nodes can access and query the decentralized registry to determine its contents, thus ensuring the required security regarding the input materials used within the decentralized network's product ecosystem and the output products produced by such product ecosystem. Access elements can be associated with the input material passes via a decentralized pass identifier included in the input material pass. For example, the access element and the input material pass may include a decentralized pass identifier.

[0095] In this embodiment, the input material pass includes multiple decentralized pass identifiers, data associated with multiple transactions stored as one or more entries in the distributed ledger and associated with multiple input materials, and data related to the multiple input materials. The decentralized identifier may include multiple unique identifiers uniquely associated with the producer of the chemical product and the corresponding chemical product. The decentralized identifier may include one or more Universally Unique Identifiers (UUIDs) or one or more Digital Identifiers (DIDs). The decentralized identifier may be issued by a centralized or decentralized identity issuing authority. The decentralized identifier may include authentication information. Access to the chemical product pass can be controlled by the producer of the chemical product through the decentralized identifier and its unique association with the producer of the chemical product and the chemical product. This contrasts with a centralized authority scheme, in which identifiers are provided by such a centralized authority and access to data is controlled by such a centralized authority. In this context, decentralized refers to the control of the use of identifiers by the data owner. Data associated with multiple transactions stored as one or more entries in the distributed ledger may include multiple transaction identifiers for such transactions. A transaction identifier can uniquely identify a transaction within a distributed ledger network. A transaction identifier can correspond to a hash of the transaction data.

[0096] Data related to (multiple) input materials may include input material identifier data, characteristic data associated with the input material, input material name data, input material producer data, input material declaration data, input material safety data, emission data associated with the input material, recyclable content data associated with the input material, bio-based content data associated with the input material, biodegradability data associated with the input material, production data associated with the input material, analytical certificate data associated with the input material, certificate data associated with the input material, life cycle data associated with the input material, storage instructions data associated with the input material, assembly instructions associated with the input material, operating conditions associated with the input material, or combinations thereof.

[0097] Input material identifier data may include batch number, serial number, LOT number, or a combination thereof. Characteristic data may include at least one measured chemical and / or physical property of the input material produced, and / or at least one chemical and / or physical property determined based on collected data associated with the production of the input material. Data may be collected before, during, and / or after the production of the input material. The collected data may be used to determine at least one physical and / or chemical property of the input material. For example, at least one physical and / or chemical property may be determined based on sensor data obtained from (multiple) sensors. Data may be collected using suitable sensors configured to measure chemical and / or physical properties. Chemical properties may be characteristics of the input material that become apparent during or after a chemical reaction. Therefore, a chemical property may be any property that can only be established by altering the chemical identity of the input material. Examples of chemical properties include heat of combustion, enthalpy of formation, toxicity, chemical stability in a given environment, flammability, (multiple) oxidation states, corrosiveness, flammability, acidity and alkalinity, chemical composition, content of recyclables used in the production or manufacture of the product, content of bio-based components used in the production or manufacture of the product, content of renewable bio-based components used in the production or manufacture of the product, and / or pH value. Physical properties can be any measurable characteristic of the input material. Therefore, the values ​​of physical properties describe the state of the input material. Examples of physical properties include absorption, brittleness, boiling point, capacitance, color, concentration, continuous discharge, density, ductility, physical dimensions, distribution, efficacy, elasticity, charge, conductivity, impedance, potential, flow rate, fluidity, hardness, capacity, inductance, intrinsic impedance, brightness, luminosity, gloss, mass, melting point, opacity, permeability, permittivity, plasticity, pulsed discharge, power, pressure, emissivity, resistivity, reflectivity, refractive index, solubility, specific heat, strength, stiffness, temperature, tensile strength, thermal conductivity, thermal resistance, weight, 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 a measuring device. Recycled content data and / or bio-based content data can include any data related to the recycled content or bio-based content used to provide or manufacture the input material. Production data can include any data related to the production of the input material. Production data may include monitoring and / or control data associated with the production of input materials. Production data may be obtained before, during, and / or after the production of input materials.

[0098] In this embodiment, the distributed ledger stores transactions associated with (multiple) input materials, wherein these transactions include environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) input materials. Transactions can be stored as entries within the distributed ledger. Transactions can be stored within blocks. Environmental attribute data can be stored within transactions, for example, it can be stored in plaintext within the distributed ledger. Therefore, transparency of environmental attribute data can be achieved. However, the identities of the participants involved in the transfer of input materials or output products, as well as the identities of the transferred input materials or output products, can be masked to ensure necessary confidentiality, thereby avoiding undesirable transparency regarding a given final product in the supply chain.

[0099] Transactions stored in a distributed ledger can be linked to the transfer of physical entities containing input materials to entities that operate the production process. Therefore, these transactions can reflect the transfer of input materials in the physical world. These transactions can represent the transfer of input materials from their owners to the entities that operate the production process. These transactions can be stored as entries in the distributed ledger before, during, or after the physical transfer of input materials. Reflecting the physical transfer of input materials in the distributed ledger allows the immutable recording of environmental attribute data associated with such transferred input materials (which can also be viewed as environmental attribute liabilities of the output products produced from these input materials) in the distributed ledger. This immutable recording in the distributed ledger ensures that environmental attribute liabilities arising from the input materials are correctly considered when determining the environmental attribute data associated with the produced output products. This can reduce fraud during the determination of environmental attribute data for the output products and improve the reliability and credibility of such environmental attribute data.

[0100] In an embodiment, collecting environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) input materials includes retrieving data related to (multiple) transactions from the collected (multiple) input material passes, and collecting environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) input materials based on the retrieved transaction-related data. The transaction-related data may include (multiple) transaction identifiers associated with such transactions. The transaction identifiers may be used, for example, by a peer-to-peer module to query the distributed ledger of member nodes in a distributed ledger network for such transactions including the transaction identifiers. The environmental attribute data included in such transactions can be obtained by parsing the transactions returned from the member nodes in response to the query.

[0101] In this embodiment, the distributed ledger is a blockchain. A blockchain may include one or more blocks. A block may include one or more transactions.

[0102] In this embodiment, the decentralized network associated with the input material pass(s) differs from a distributed ledger network. Using separate decentralized networks enables the assurance of data security and privacy without the need for complex authentication and / or authorization rules. For example, participants in the first decentralized network may not have access to the second decentralized network, and vice versa. This avoids the sharing of environmental attribute data along the value chain within the product ecosystem with participants not involved in the lifecycle, including the production, use, and disposal steps of the final product.

[0103] In this embodiment, environmental attribute data includes data related to: 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, land and / or ocean acidification, water consumption, water loss, water availability, water pollution, noise pollution, eutrophication potential of freshwater and / or oceans, 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 attribute data may include data related to the carbon footprint of the input material, such as carbon footprint data. Environmental attribute data may be associated with defined units to allow for data verification through comparison.

[0104] In this embodiment, environmental attribute data associated with the production of (multiple) output products is determined based on energy consumption associated with the production of the output products and / or the output product yield and / or emissions generated during the transportation of (multiple) input materials to the production process, as well as collected environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) input materials. Energy consumption generated during production can be associated with emissions generated from such energy consumption. Emissions can be associated with the production of the energy consumed. Emissions can be associated with emissions generated during the production of the output products.

[0105] In this embodiment, the distributed participant(s) identifier associated with the output product consumer includes (multiple) public keys associated with or controlled by the downstream output product consumer. The public key can uniquely identify the output product consumer within the distributed ledger network.

[0106] In this embodiment, the transaction data further includes data associated with (multiple) output products. The data associated with the output products may include (multiple) output product identifiers, (multiple) decentralized token identifiers associated with the output product token, the amount of output product transferred, the output product name, a hash value generated by hashing the output product token or a portion thereof, or a combination thereof. The decentralized token identifier allows linking a transaction to the corresponding output product token, thereby allowing verification that the transaction is indeed associated with such output product. The hash value can allow verification of the integrity of the output product token.

[0107] In this embodiment, the transaction data is generated before, during, or after the transfer of one or more physical entities of (multiple) output products to (multiple) output product consumers.

[0108] In this embodiment, the generated transaction data is provided to member nodes of the distributed ledger network to store the transaction data as entries in the distributed ledger of the network. These entries may correspond to transactions stored in the distributed ledger. Member nodes may acknowledge the received transaction data. Member nodes may be part of a consensus protocol that runs consensus on acknowledged transactions. After consensus is reached, the acknowledged transactions may be stored as entries in the distributed ledger. The consensus protocol may result in the formation of blocks comprising one or more acknowledged transactions. These blocks can be appended to an existing blockchain.

[0109] In an embodiment, the method further includes the step of generating transaction data based on the determined environmental attribute data associated with the (multiple) output products, to store environmental attribute credits associated with the use of (multiple) recycled input materials and / or the production of (multiple) output products containing recyclable materials as entries in a distributed ledger network. The environmental attribute credits may correspond to the difference between environmental attribute data of output products produced using (multiple) recycled input materials and / or containing recyclable materials, and environmental attribute data of output products not produced from recycled input materials and / or not containing recyclable materials. Such credits may be assigned to decentralized participant identifiers associated with participants claiming the credits. This allows for monitoring of the created credits and rewarding participants based on the amount of credits assigned. This reward can allow for improved circularity of the product ecosystem, as it can encourage the use of (multiple) recycled input materials and / or the production of output products including recyclable materials.

[0110] In an embodiment of the method for verifying environmental attribute data associated with the produced output products, the multiple passes are collected via multiple access elements associated with the multiple passes, wherein the multiple access elements are stored in a distributed registry of a distributed network and are under the control of the data owner of the multiple passes associated with the multiple access elements stored in the respective registries. Access elements may be associated with the multiple passes via a distributed pass identifier included in the respective passes. For example, the access element and the corresponding pass may include a distributed pass identifier.

[0111] In embodiments of a method for verifying environmental attribute data associated with the produced output products, the input material passes include multiple distributed pass identifiers, data associated with multiple transactions stored as one or more entries in a distributed ledger and associated with the multiple input materials and / or the multiple output products, and data associated with the multiple input materials, and / or wherein the output product passes include multiple distributed pass identifiers, data associated with multiple transactions stored as one or more entries in a distributed ledger and associated with the multiple output products and / or the multiple input materials, and data associated with the multiple output products. Data associated with the multiple transactions stored as one or more entries in a distributed ledger may include multiple transaction identifiers for such transactions. Data associated with the multiple input materials may include the data previously listed. Data associated with (multiple) output products may include output product identifier data, characteristic data associated with the output product, output product name data, output product producer data, output product declaration data, output product safety data, emission data associated with the output product, recyclable content data associated with the output product, bio-based content data associated with the output product, biodegradability data associated with the output product, production data associated with the output product, analytical certificate data associated with the output product, certificate data associated with the output product, life cycle data associated with the output product, storage instructions data associated with the output product, assembly instructions associated with the output product, operating conditions associated with the output product, or combinations thereof.

[0112] Output product identifier data may include batch number, serial number, LOT number, or a combination thereof. Characteristic data may include at least one measured chemical and / or physical property of the produced output product, and / or at least one chemical and / or physical property determined based on data collected in connection with the production of the output product, as previously outlined regarding input materials. Production data may include any data related to the production of the output product. Production data may include monitoring and / or control data associated with the production of the output product. Production data may be obtained before, during, and / or after the production of the output product.

[0113] In an embodiment of a method for verifying environmental attribute data associated with the produced output products, a distributed ledger stores transactions associated with the input materials and the output products. At least a portion of each transaction includes environmental attribute data associated with the input materials, and at least another portion of each transaction includes environmental attribute data associated with the output products. As previously described, the transactions stored in the distributed ledger can be linked to the transfer of the input materials from multiple physical entities to the entities that operate the production.

[0114] In an embodiment of the method for verifying environmental attribute data associated with the produced output products, collecting environmental attribute data associated with input materials includes determining multiple transaction identifiers of multiple transactions associated with the input materials, collecting multiple transactions associated with the input materials from a distributed ledger based on the determined transaction data, and collecting environmental attribute data from the collected transactions. The multiple transaction identifiers can be determined based on the collected input material credentials.

[0115] In an embodiment of the method for identifying environmental attribute data associated with the produced output products, collecting environmental attribute data associated with the output products includes determining multiple transaction identifiers of multiple transactions associated with the output products, collecting multiple transactions associated with the output products from a distributed ledger based on the determined transaction data, and collecting environmental attribute data from the collected transactions. The multiple transaction identifiers can be determined based on the collected output product credentials.

[0116] In embodiments of a method for identifying environmental attribute data associated with the produced output products, collecting environmental attribute data associated with input materials includes collecting multiple transactions associated with the input materials based on data related to the output products, and collecting environmental attribute data from the collected transactions. Environmental attribute data associated with input materials can be collected by determining transactions associated with the output products based on data related to the output products. The determined transactions may include one or more transaction identifiers for multiple transactions associated with the input materials used to produce the output products. Therefore, referencing associated transactions within other transactions allows determining multiple transactions associated with the input materials based on data related to the output products, without requiring any data related to the input materials.

[0117] In embodiments of a method for identifying environmental attribute data associated with the produced output products, collecting environmental attribute data associated with the output products includes collecting multiple transactions associated with the output products based on data related to multiple input materials, and collecting environmental attribute data from the collected transactions. Environmental attribute data associated with multiple input materials can be collected by determining transactions associated with the input materials based on data related to the input materials. Transaction identifiers of the determined transactions can be used to identify transactions referencing such transaction identifiers. Therefore, referencing associated transactions within other transactions allows determining multiple transactions associated with the output products based on data related to the input materials, without requiring any data associated with the output products.

[0118] In embodiments of the method for identifying environmental attribute data associated with the produced (multiple) output products, the comparison of the collected environmental attribute data includes...

[0119] • Retrieve the environmental attributes associated with the input materials from the collected environmental attribute data, and determine the total amount of the retrieved environmental attributes.

[0120] • Retrieve the environmental attributes associated with the (multiple) output products from the collected environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) output products, and determine the total amount of (multiple) environmental attributes retrieved.

[0121] • Compare the total amount of the identified (multiple) environmental attributes.

[0122] The total can be determined by summing up multiple matching environmental attributes included in multiple different transactions associated with the corresponding input materials or output products. The totals can be compared for each environmental attribute. Comparisons may include determining deviations. Deviations can be determined for each environmental attribute or for each group of environmental attributes. Deviations can be compared to given thresholds to determine whether an environmental impact is considered confirmed. The thresholds may reflect deviations in the totals for each environmental attribute or each group of environmental attributes.

[0123] In embodiments of the method for identifying environmental attribute data associated with the produced (multiple) output products, the comparison of the collected environmental attribute data includes...

[0124] • Provides compositional data associated with (multiple) output products.

[0125] • Retrieve multiple environmental attributes associated with multiple input materials from the collected environmental attribute data associated with multiple input materials, and determine the total amount of multiple retrieved environmental attributes based on the composition data associated with multiple output products.

[0126] • Retrieve the environmental attributes associated with the (multiple) output products from the collected environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) output products, and determine the total amount of (multiple) environmental attributes retrieved.

[0127] • Compare the total amount of the identified (multiple) environmental attributes.

[0128] Composition data can include the amounts of input materials used to produce a given output product. The use of composition data allows for the verification of environmental property data associated with a given output product, as this requires consideration of stoichiometry. Composition data can be included in the output product pass-through. Composition data can be provided to the entity performing the verification via a communication interface. This ensures that only trusted and authorized entities have access to sensitive composition data.

[0129] In embodiments of a method for verifying environmental property data associated with the produced output products, environmental property data is verified if environmental property data associated with the input materials at least partially matches environmental property data associated with the output products. A match can be determined based on a verification score. A verification score can be obtained from a comparison of the totals of the environmental properties. A verification score can be determined for each environmental property. The verification score can indicate the difference between the compared totals. Environmental property data can be considered verified if the verification score is above or below a given threshold.

[0130] In an embodiment of the method for verifying environmental attribute data associated with the produced output products, the method further includes the step of: collecting quantitative data associated with the input materials and quantitative data associated with the output products from a distributed ledger network based on collected passes. The quantitative data may be included in transactions associated with the input materials and output products. As previously described, transactions may be collected based on data included in the passes.

[0131] In an embodiment of a method for verifying environmental attribute data associated with the produced output products, the method further includes the step of verifying a quality balance between the input materials and the produced output products by comparing collected quantitative data associated with the input materials with collected quantitative data associated with the output products. Verification of the quality balance ensures that the flow of input materials and output products can always be accounted for, thus preventing the "loss" of input materials and / or output products from the product ecosystem due to improper disposal, such as of end-of-life products.

[0132] In an embodiment of the method for identifying environmental attribute data associated with the produced output products, the transaction data associated with the output products includes multiple transaction identifiers of multiple transactions associated with the output products.

[0133] In an embodiment of the method for identifying environmental attribute data associated with the produced (multiple) output products, collecting transaction data associated with (multiple) sub-transactions includes determining (multiple) output product transactions associated with (multiple) output products and determining transaction data associated with (multiple) sub-transactions based on the provided transaction data.

[0134] In embodiments of the method for verifying environmental property data associated with the produced (multiple) output products, transaction data associated with (multiple) sub-transactions is repeatedly determined based on transaction data associated with (multiple) parent transactions. As previously described, this allows for the determination of all (multiple) input material and environmental property data associated with the production of output products and input materials. The number of repetitions can define the depth of verification and thus determine the number of production steps to be included in the verification of environmental property data.

[0135] In embodiments of the method for identifying environmental attribute data associated with the produced (multiple) output products, the comparison of the collected environmental attribute data includes...

[0136] • Retrieve multiple environmental attributes from the collected environmental attribute data included in (multiple) sub-transactions, and determine the total amount of the retrieved (multiple) environmental attributes.

[0137] • Retrieve the environmental attributes associated with the (multiple) output products from the collected environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) output products, and determine the total amount of (multiple) environmental attributes retrieved.

[0138] • Compare the total amount of the identified (multiple) environmental attributes.

[0139] The total can be determined by summing up multiple matching environmental attributes included in multiple different transactions associated with the corresponding input materials or output products. The totals can be compared for each environmental attribute. Comparisons may include determining deviations. Deviations can be determined for each environmental attribute or for each group of environmental attributes. Deviations can be compared to given thresholds to determine whether an environmental impact is considered confirmed. The thresholds may reflect deviations in the totals for each environmental attribute or each group of environmental attributes.

[0140] In embodiments of a method for monitoring environmental impacts associated with participants in a product ecosystem, the decentralized participant identifier comprises multiple public keys associated with or controlled by the participant. These public keys can uniquely identify a participant within the product ecosystem and within the distributed ledger network. This allows for the use of such public keys to monitor environmental impacts without making the participants' identities transparent. This ensures a high level of security while allowing transparency regarding the participants' actions that impact the environment, such as the production of output products.

[0141] In embodiments of a method for monitoring environmental impacts associated with participants in a product ecosystem, the comparison of collected environmental attribute data includes...

[0142] • Retrieve the environmental attributes associated with the input materials from the collected environmental attribute data, and determine the total amount of the retrieved environmental attributes.

[0143] • Retrieve the environmental attributes associated with the production of (multiple) output products from the collected environmental attribute data related to the production of (multiple) output products, and determine the total amount of (multiple) environmental attributes retrieved.

[0144] • Retrieve the environmental attributes associated with the (multiple) output products from the collected environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) output products, and determine the total amount of (multiple) environmental attributes retrieved.

[0145] • Compare the total amount of the multiple environmental properties associated with the input material to the sum of the total amount of the environmental properties associated with the production of the output product and the output product.

[0146] The total can be determined by summing up multiple matching environmental attributes included in multiple different transactions associated with the corresponding input materials or output products. The totals can be compared for each environmental attribute. Comparisons may include determining deviations. Deviations can be determined for each environmental attribute or for each group of environmental attributes. Deviations can be compared to given thresholds to determine whether an environmental impact is considered confirmed. The thresholds may reflect deviations in the totals for each environmental attribute or each group of environmental attributes. Attached Figure Description

[0147] 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.

[0148] Figure 1 An example of a participant network of an ecosystem of products associated with a distributed ledger network, according to an embodiment of the present invention, is shown, which is used to exchange environmental property data associated with input materials and output products produced from such input materials.

[0149] Figure 2 An example of a participant network of a product ecosystem associated with a decentralized peer-to-peer network, according to an embodiment of the invention, is shown, which is used to exchange passes associated with input materials and output products produced from such input materials.

[0150] Figure 3 An embodiment of the present invention is shown. Figure 1 The diagram shows a detailed view of the distributed ledger network nodes.

[0151] Figure 4A This illustrates an embodiment of the invention via Figure 1 The distributed ledger network shown transfers environmental attribute data associated with the output products from the output product producers to downstream participants in the product ecosystem.

[0152] Figure 4BAn embodiment of the present invention is shown for generating transaction data and storing transaction data as... Figure 1 A sequence diagram of the methods for entering entries in a distributed ledger network.

[0153] Figure 5 The illustration shows an embodiment of the invention whereby a distributed data providing network node associated with a data owner provides access to a product pass associated with the produced output product via a distributed network, which is then provided by a distributed data consuming network node associated with the output product consumer.

[0154] Figure 6 A first example of a digital access element including a distributed identifier and access data, according to an embodiment of the present invention, is shown.

[0155] Figure 7 A second example of a digital access element including a distributed identifier and access data, according to an embodiment of the present invention, is shown.

[0156] Figure 8A A block diagram illustrating the transfer of input materials and produced output products containing the input materials among participants in the product ecosystem according to an embodiment of the present invention is provided.

[0157] Figure 8B This illustrates an embodiment of the invention. Figure 8A The diagram shows a transaction associated with the transfer of input materials and output products.

[0158] Figure 8C An example system for monitoring the environmental impact associated with the production of output products from one or more input materials is shown according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0159] Figure 8D An example system for verifying or monitoring environmental property data associated with received input materials, according to an embodiment of the present invention, is shown.

[0160] Figure 9 A system is shown according to an embodiment of the invention for identifying environmental attribute data streams within a linear product ecosystem involving several participants in the supply of input materials and the production of (multiple) output products using said input materials.

[0161] Figure 10A An example system is shown according to embodiments of the present invention for identifying and / or monitoring the flow of environmental property data within a circular product ecosystem involving several participants in the supply of input materials and the production of (multiple) output products using said input materials.

[0162] Figure 10BAnother example system is shown, according to embodiments of the present invention, for identifying and / or monitoring the flow of environmental property data within a cyclic product ecosystem involving several participants in the supply of input materials and the production of (multiple) output products using said input materials.

[0163] Figure 11A An example system for monitoring environmental impacts associated with participants in a product ecosystem, according to an embodiment of the present invention, is shown.

[0164] Figure 11B An example system for monitoring the environmental impacts associated with the production of (multiple) output products from one or more input materials is shown according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0165] Figure 12 An example system for monitoring the environmental impact associated with the production of a single output product from one or more input materials is shown according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0166] Figure 13 An example method for monitoring the environmental impacts associated with the production of (multiple) output products from one or more input materials is shown according to embodiments of the present invention.

[0167] Figure 14 An example method is shown according to an embodiment of the present invention for identifying environmental property data associated with (multiple) output products produced from one or more input materials.

[0168] Figure 15A An embodiment of the present invention is shown. Figure 14 One aspect of the method shown.

[0169] Figure 15B An embodiment of the present invention is shown. Figure 14 Another aspect of the method shown.

[0170] Figure 16 Another example method is shown according to an embodiment of the present invention for identifying environmental property data associated with (multiple) output products produced from one or more input materials.

[0171] Figure 17 An example method for identifying environmental attribute data associated with participants in a product ecosystem, according to an embodiment of the present invention, is shown.

[0172] Figure 18 An example method is shown according to an embodiment of the present invention for registering environmental attribute data associated with recycled materials as entries in a distributed ledger network.

[0173] Figure 19A and Figure 19B An example of a system for verifying transaction data including environmental property data associated with recycled materials, according to an embodiment of the present invention, is shown.

[0174] Figure 20 An example method for verifying transaction data associated with output products produced from a recycling process, according to an embodiment of the present invention, is shown. Detailed Implementation

[0175] The following embodiments are merely examples for implementing the methods, systems, or computer elements disclosed herein and should not be considered limiting.

[0176] Figure 1 An example of a participant network 100 of a product ecosystem associated with a distributed ledger network 136 is shown, which is used to exchange environmental attribute data associated with input materials and output products produced from such input materials. The distributed ledger network 136 may include one or more decentralized network participants 102 to 114. Decentralized network participants 102 to 114 may be part of a product ecosystem. The product ecosystem may include chemical products. The product ecosystem may include a production chain for producing the final product. The product ecosystem may include a recycling chain for recycling at least a portion of end-of-life (EOL) products. Participant network 100 may include the following product ecosystem participants: (multiple) input material suppliers 104, (multiple) chemical product producers 102, (multiple) chemical product consumers 106, OEMs ((multiple) original equipment manufacturers) 108, (multiple) end-of-life users 110, (multiple) EOL product collectors 112, and (multiple) recyclers 114. Participant network 100 may include a chemical supply chain comprising (multiple) input material suppliers 104 and (multiple) chemical product producers 102. A product ecosystem can allow the production of new products, such as chemical products, from materials generated by the recycling of end-of-life products. A product ecosystem can be associated with the production and / or recycling of physical products. Products can be chemical products, intermediate chemical products, components, component assemblies, final products, end-of-life products, or recycled products.

[0177] Multiple participants in the distributed ledger network 136 can be associated with the production and / or recycling of products. Distributed network participants 102 through 114 can refer to manufacturers of physical products, such as input material suppliers 104, chemical product producers 102, chemical product consumers 106, OEMs 108, users of physical goods (such as end-product users 110), and / or participants in recycling chains associated with physical products (such as EOL product collectors 112 and recyclers 114). Distributed network participants can be associated with distributed participant identifiers. Distributed participant identifiers can uniquely identify distributed network participants within the distributed ledger network 136. Distributed participant identifiers can correspond to or be derived from the public keys associated with the respective distributed network participants 102 through 114. Distributed participant identifiers can represent accounts on the distributed ledger network 136 associated with the respective distributed network participant.

[0178] Participants(s) of participant network 100 can be connected via material flow 130. Material flow 130 can correspond to the flow of output products from one participant in participant network 100 to a downstream participant in participant network 100. Material flow 130 can refer to a continuous or discontinuous flow of output products. Output products produced by one participant in participant network 100 (e.g., chemical product producer 102) can be used as input materials by a corresponding downstream participant (e.g., chemical product consumer 106). The flow of output products can include any mode of transport suitable for transporting output products from the participant producing the output products to the downstream participant. Transport modes can include pipes, containers, barrels, and packaging. Material flow 130 can be associated with raw materials used to produce chemical products, such as virgin raw materials supplied by input material supplier 104 and / or recycled materials produced by recycler 114. Material flow 130 can be associated with chemical intermediates and / or chemical products produced by chemical product producer 102. Material flow 130 can be associated with discrete products (e.g., parts, components, part assemblies, and final products). Discrete products can be produced from chemical products manufactured by chemical product producer 102. Discrete products (such as final products) can be produced from other discrete products. Discrete products can be produced by chemical product consumer 106 and OEM 108. Material stream 130 can be associated with final products and end-of-life products. Material stream 130 can be associated with virgin materials (e.g., materials that have not undergone recycling processes), recycled materials, chemical intermediates, chemical products, and / or discrete products.

[0179] At least some of the participants in participant network 100 may be associated with or have access to distributed ledger network nodes 116 to 128. Although Figure 1Only one distributed ledger network 136 is shown, but participants in participant network 100 can access at least one additional distributed ledger network (not shown). At least some of the participants in participant network 100 can be associated with distributed ledger network nodes 116 to 128. Distributed ledger network nodes 116 to 128 can form distributed ledger network 136. Distributed ledger network 136 can be a peer-to-peer network. Peer-to-peer networks may not include a central instance and / or third-party organizations. Nodes 116 to 128 and / or participants 102 to 114 of distributed ledger network 136 can connect to (multiple) other nodes and / or participants of distributed ledger network 136. For example, at least one physical standard network (wired and / or wireless) can be used for connectivity. For communication via at least one physical standard network, suitable transceiver modules can be deployed in the respective entities / devices. Nodes 116 to 128 can have equal permissions, which distinguishes them from a server-client architecture.

[0180] refer to Figure 3 Nodes 116 to 128 can implement distributed ledger servers 304, 310, and 316, database layers 302, 308, and 314, and consensus algorithms 306, 312, and 318. Distributed ledger servers 304, 310, and 316, and consensus algorithms 306, 312, and 318 can be part of a distributed ledger control layer used as an anchor for the distributed ledger. The same distributed ledger servers 304, 310, and 316, database layers 302, 308, and 314, and consensus algorithms 306, 312, and 318 can be implemented on each of nodes 116 to 128; for example, each node can include the same content, and the same code (including one or more executable tools) can be executed on each node. Figure 3 As shown, only a portion of nodes 116 to 128 of the distributed ledger network 136 can implement the distributed ledger server, database layer, and consensus algorithm, and / or only a portion of the nodes of the distributed ledger network 136 can be configured to execute smart contract algorithms. Since confirmation / verification requires a considerable amount of computational work, it may be advantageous for efficiency reasons if only a portion of nodes 116 to 128 executes the executable tools and / or (multiple) confirmation algorithms and / or (multiple) authentication algorithms.

[0181] Continue to refer to Figure 3Database layers 302, 308, and 314 can store the distributed ledger. The distributed ledger can be inspected by all participants 102 to 114 of the distributed ledger network 136. In one example, each of nodes 116 to 128 can store the (entire) distributed ledger, such as a blockchain. In another example, only a portion of the distributed ledger can be provided on a node (a light node). The distributed ledger can be a blockchain. However, the following statement can be easily transferred to other distributed ledgers, such as directed acyclic graphs (DAGs). A directed acyclic graph (such as IOTA or Tangle) means that blocks (or nodes of the graph) are coupled to each other via directed edges. Thus, directed means that (all) edges (always) have the same direction, similar to time. In other words, it is impossible to go back a step. Finally, acyclic means that there are no cycles. A blockchain can be a permissionless blockchain or a permissioned blockchain. A blockchain can be a public blockchain, a hybrid blockchain, a consortium blockchain, or a private blockchain. A distributed ledger can be formed by connecting multiple blockchains via mechanisms such as sidechains, smart contracts, or bridging. Interoperability between blockchains can be established. A blockchain can be formed from at least two interconnected blocks. The first block can also be called the genesis block. Each block (except the first block) can reference every previous block. New blocks can be created through a computationally intensive process (e.g., so-called "mining") or through another suitable process, such as voting, and specifically, this new block is provided to all nodes 116 to 128 of the peer-to-peer network. In particular, (newly) received transactions can be confirmed, stored, and published in the current block of the blockchain.

[0182] Continue to refer to Figure 3The distributed ledger network 136 can be configured to execute one or more consensus algorithms. Nodes 116 to 128 can be configured to execute consensus algorithms on transactions received from distributed ledger servers 304, 310, and 316, and broadcast the consensus results to other nodes. Consensus algorithms 306, 312, and 318 can be connected to the distributed ledger server layer of distributed ledger servers 304, 310, and 316 to allow the exchange of information between the algorithms and the servers, such as whether consensus has been reached on a proposed new entry in the distributed ledger or a proposed new block. Multiple consensus algorithms can be used to process received transactions. Multiple consensus algorithms can be used to process confirmed transactions. Multiple consensus algorithms can be executed by at least a portion of the nodes in the distributed ledger network 136. The consensus algorithms can include one or more protocols through which all full nodes in the distributed ledger network 136 can reach a joint agreement on the current state of the network. Consensus algorithms can include Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithms, Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithms, Proof-of-History (PoS) consensus algorithms, Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) algorithms, Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPS) algorithms, Proof-of-Burning (PoB) algorithms, Proof-of-Capacity (PoC) algorithms, Proof-of-Time (PoT) algorithms, Proof-of-Activity (PoA) algorithms, Proof-of-Weight (PoB) algorithms, Proof-of-Importance (PoA) algorithms, Leased Proof-of-Stake (LFT) algorithms, or combinations thereof. For example, a consensus algorithm can include a PoS consensus algorithm. In another instance, a consensus algorithm can include a combination of Proof-of-History (PoT) and PoS consensus algorithms. In yet another instance, a consensus algorithm can be a Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) consensus protocol on a collectively trusted subnet.

[0183] Providing different layers can be advantageous because database functions are suited for high throughput, such as data loading and retrieval, access and querying, while distributed ledger functions typically offer lower throughput but ensure data immutability, tamper resistance, evidence, decentralized consensus of state, and state replication across different nodes.

[0184] Return to Figure 1 And continue to refer to Figure 3 The distributed ledger network 136 can be configured to execute data transactions 132. Such data transactions 132 can be associated with material flows 130 between participants in the participant network 100. Data transactions 132 can include data transactions between a peer module (or client) and the distributed ledger network 136, as described later. For example, a peer module can be configured to generate transaction data and provide the generated transaction data to the distributed ledger network 136, for example, as in... Figure 4A and Figure 4B As described in the context.

[0185] Transaction data can be associated with the storage of environmental attribute data of input materials and / or output products in a distributed ledger, for example, as in Figures 8A to 18As described in the context. Such transaction data can, for example, lead to the generation of asset objects containing environmental attribute data (such as environmental footprint data) associated with input materials and / or output products, which are stored as entries in a distributed ledger.

[0186] Environmental attribute data can specify the environmental impact of input materials or output products separately. Environmental attribute data can include multiple environmental attributes. Multiple environmental attributes can be multiple data points or datasets that numerically specify any characteristic or feature related to environmental impact. Such characteristics can be properties or features of multiple input materials and / or multiple output products. Environmental attributes can indicate the environmental performance of multiple input materials, production, and / or produced output products. Environmental attributes can be derived from the characteristics of multiple input materials, production, and / or multiple output 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.

[0187] Environmental attributes may include one or more characteristics that assign environmental or sustainability impacts to (multiple) input materials and (multiple) output products. Environmental attributes may include (multiple) environmental, technological, recyclability, or circularity characteristics associated with the environmental impacts of (multiple) input materials and / or (multiple) output products.

[0188] Multiple environmental characteristics can specify or quantify ecological standards associated with the environmental impact of input materials and / or output products. Multiple environmental characteristics can be, or may be derived from, measurements taken during the life cycle of the multiple input materials and / or multiple output products. Multiple 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, biological and non-biological resource consumption, 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. Multiple environmental characteristics can be calculated through a combination of one or more environmental characteristics. (Multiple) 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, biodegradable, vegan, halal, kosher, palm oil-free, natural, etc.

[0189] (Multiple) technical features can specify or quantify the properties of a material or product that are at least indirectly related to its environmental impact. These (multiple) technical features 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. These (multiple) technical features can be or can be generated from measurements taken during the life cycle of one or more materials or (multiple) products. Technical features can be determined at any stage of the material or product life cycle and can characterize the performance of the material or product during or up to that stage. These (multiple) technical features 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. These (multiple) technical features may include, for example, the physical, chemical, or other properties of the material or product.

[0190] Multiple recycling characteristics can specify or quantify the life cycle characteristics of a material or product associated with recycling. Multiple recycling characteristics can be or can be generated from measurements taken during the life cycle of one or more materials or products. Multiple recycling characteristics can be or can be generated from recycling data recorded in one or more previous life cycles (including reuse). Recycling characteristics can be determined at any stage of the material or product life cycle and can characterize reuse or recycling performance within or up to that stage. Multiple recycling characteristics can be related to technical, mechanical, chemical, and / or biological recycling. Multiple recycling characteristics can include, for example, recycling data, reuse rate, recovery rate, recycling cycles, performance of reused products, quality of reused materials or products, etc. Additional recycling material characteristics can be obtained by combining multiple recycling characteristics.

[0191] Multiple recyclability characteristics can specify or quantify the lifecycle characteristics of a material or product associated with recycling. Multiple recyclability characteristics can include the composition of a material, containing components specifically tailored to make the material suitable for recycling. Multiple recyclability characteristics can be or can be generated from measurements taken during the lifecycle of one or more materials or products. Multiple 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 lifecycle and can characterize recycling performance within or up to that stage. Multiple recyclability characteristics can include, for example, recycling data, recyclability data, recycling efficiency, etc.

[0192] Environmental attribute data may include emissions data. Emissions data may include data related to the carbon footprint of input materials or output products, or related to the product carbon footprint (PCF). Emissions data may include data related to greenhouse gas emissions, such as those released during the production of input materials or output products. Emissions data may include data related to greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions may include, for example, emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), and combinations thereof, as well as other emissions. Emissions data may include data related to greenhouse gas emissions generated by the entity or company's own operations (production, power plants, and waste incineration). Scope 2 may include emissions generated from the production of externally supplied energy. The product carbon footprint (PCF) may be the sum of greenhouse gas emissions and removals generated by consecutive and interrelated process steps associated with a specific input material or output product. Cradle-to-Gate (PCF) can aggregate greenhouse gas emissions based on selected process steps: for example, from the extraction of resources to the exit of output products from the company's factory gates.

[0193] Transaction data may include asset data, transaction inputs, transaction outputs, and other data. Asset data may include input material data or output product data, such as input material identifiers(s), input material names, input material types, or combinations thereof. Asset data may include the transaction ID of the transaction that creates the asset in the distributed ledger. Transaction inputs may include decentralized participant identifiers of the owners of the input materials or output products. The generated assets may be assigned to owners, such as the producers of the corresponding input materials or output products (e.g., transaction data may include owner identifiers, such as decentralized participant identifiers included in transactions stored as entries in the distributed ledger). The generated assets may be assigned to decentralized participant identifiers associated with the owners of the corresponding input materials or output products. This allows owners to transfer assets to other participants (e.g., downstream participants) in the participant network 100 via transaction controls(s). Additional data may include input material identifiers, the quantity of input materials transferred, input material names, input material types, decentralized input material identifiers, or combinations thereof. Decentralized material identifiers may be associated with or included in an input material pass associated with the material. Distributed input material identifiers can be used Figure 2 The input material is uniquely represented within the distributed peer-to-peer network described in the text.

[0194] Additional data may include the output material identifier, the quantity of output material transferred, the output material name, the output material type, or a combination thereof. The input material identifier may include the batch number, LOT number, serial number, or a combination thereof.

[0195] Transaction data can be associated with the transfer of environmental attribute data and associated output products from one participant in participant network 100 to a downstream participant. Such transaction data can, for example, result in a change of ownership of an asset representing a corresponding material or product in the distributed ledger from a previous owner to a new owner. The new owner can represent a downstream participant of the previous participant (e.g., the previous owner) in participant network 100. Transaction data can include asset data, transaction inputs, transaction outputs, and other data. Asset data can include input material data or output product data, such as input material identifiers(s), input material names, input material types, or combinations thereof. Asset data can include the transaction ID of the transaction that creates the asset in the distributed ledger. Transaction inputs can include decentralized participant identifiers of the owners of the input material or output product, respectively. Transaction inputs can further include previous transactions associated with said input material or output product. Referencing previous transactions associated with input materials or output products allows for the balancing of environmental attributes within a transaction. This is because the quantities of (multiple) environmental attributes referenced in the transaction input can be compared with the quantities of (multiple) environmental attributes to be transferred to downstream participants, thus allowing the implementation of rules that (multiple) input environmental attributes must equal (multiple) output environmental attributes. The automatic balancing of (multiple) environmental attributes within each transaction ensures that the flow of environmental attributes associated with the quality flow is accounted for at all times and guarantees fraud protection, as environmental attribute data associated with input materials transferred from upstream participants to participants needs to be considered to generate environmental attribute data associated with the output products produced by said participants from such input materials. Therefore, the balancing of (multiple) environmental attributes within the distributed ledger ensures that participants producing output products from input materials correctly consider the (multiple) environmental attributes of the input materials used to produce the output products when transferring environmental attribute data associated with the output products to downstream participants consuming the output products.

[0196] Data transaction 132 may include data transactions between peer nodes 116 to 128. For example, a data transaction received by a node of distributed ledger network 136 may be broadcast to at least a portion of the other nodes in distributed ledger network 136. Each transaction provided to distributed ledger network 136 may contain a signature. For example, the transaction data may be signed using a private key associated with the corresponding participant in network 100. Before processing a transaction, it may be confirmed by checking the signature of the transaction (e.g., by comparing the signature with a valid signature stored, for example, in a peer-to-peer application). A portion of nodes 116 to 128 may perform the confirmation process. If the transaction is valid, it may be further processed, for example, it may be stored as an entry in the distributed ledger. Storing transaction data as an entry in the distributed ledger may include creating a block containing the transaction data and appending that block to the blockchain or creating the genesis block of the blockchain. It should be understood that other means besides signatures (e.g., communication addresses, certificates, etc.) may also be used in the confirmation or authentication process, respectively.

[0197] Confirmation, analysis, and optimization can be performed on-chain or off-chain. Off-chain confirmation, analysis, and / or optimization can be managed by peer-to-peer applications (such as code on the blockchain). Powerful functionality particularly implies high computational power. In other words, if (only) a subset of peers 116 to 128 obtains a positive result, it is assumed that a valid entry exists in the peer-to-peer application (such as the blockchain). It should be understood that only a single, especially a particularly powerful, peer can perform the confirmation, analysis, and / or optimization process, while other nodes can be configured as monitoring nodes.

[0198] Peer-to-peer applications can be configured to acknowledge transaction data received from client devices(s) and store the acknowledged transaction data as entries in a distributed ledger. Peer-to-peer applications can be configured to run a consensus protocol. Peer-to-peer applications can be configured to receive query data, query the distributed ledger, and return the results of the queries. Peer-to-peer applications can be configured to communicate with client devices (e.g., receive data from client devices and send data to client devices).

[0199] Participants 102 to 114 can run peer-to-peer applications on nodes 116 to 128. At least a portion of participants 102 to 114 can connect to the distributed ledger network 136 via a peer module (or client). The peer module can be configured to communicate at least with the distributed ledger network 136 (i.e., nodes 116 to 128 of the distributed ledger network 136). Therefore, the peer module can be a participant in the distributed ledger network 136. The peer module may not include the peer-to-peer application. Such a peer module can be configured to provide access to the peer-to-peer application, for example, via an API (Application Programming Interface). Such a peer module (also a node or light node) can include a decentralized application and at least one API. Therefore, such a peer module can access or connect to a "gateway" of nodes running the distributed ledger network 136 (so-called remote nodes) (such as nodes 116 to 128). The peer module can be configured to generate transaction data, for example, as in Figure 4B and Figures 8B to 18 As described in the context of [the previous section], peer modules can be configured to, for example, sign generated transaction data using a private key associated with a corresponding participant in distributed ledger network 136. Peer modules can be configured to provide the generated transaction data to distributed ledger network 136 for processing. Peer modules can be configured to query distributed ledger network 136 to obtain data. For example, peer modules can be configured to retrieve data from distributed ledger network 136, such as environmental attribute data stored in the distributed ledgers of nodes 116 to 128. Peer modules can be associated with decentralized participant identifiers. Peer modules can be configured to generate public-private key pairs. Peer modules can be configured to store public-private key pairs. Peer modules can be configured to generate decentralized participant identifiers. Peer modules can run software (such as wallet software) configured to generate and sign transaction data, send (signed) transaction data to peer applications, query distributed ledgers, generate private-public key pairs, and / or generate (multiple) decentralized participant identifiers.

[0200] Similarly, in another embodiment (not shown), a particularly large peer-to-peer network can be divided into two or more clusters. For example, in a corresponding peer-to-peer network, confirmation can be performed by only members of one cluster (e.g., sharding the blockchain to improve scalability). In another embodiment, multiple blockchains can be used to form peer-to-peer applications. These blockchains are connected via frameworks such as sidechains, bridges, or smart contracts or inter-ledger protocols.

[0201] Figure 2An example of a participant network in a product ecosystem associated with a decentralized peer-to-peer network is shown, which is used to exchange passes associated with input materials and output products produced from such input materials. Participant network 216 may include one or more decentralized network participants 102 to 114. Decentralized network participants can be as follows: Figure 1 This is part of the product ecosystem described in the context of [the previous sentence]. A product ecosystem can be, for example, [in the context of...]. Figure 1 The product ecosystem described in the context of [the description of the product ecosystem]. The product ecosystem may include (multiple) input material suppliers 104, (multiple) chemical product producers 102, (multiple) chemical product consumers 106, (multiple) OEMs 108, (multiple) end-product users 110, (multiple) EOL product collectors 112, and (multiple) recyclers 114. Products may be chemical products, intermediate chemical products, components, component assemblies, final products, end-of-life products, or recycled products.

[0202] The participants(s) in participant network 216 may be associated with the production and / or recycling of the product. Decentralized network participants 102 through 114 may refer to manufacturers of the physical product, such as input material suppliers 104, chemical product producers 102, chemical product consumers 106, OEMs 108, users of the physical goods (such as end-product users 110), and / or participants in the recycling chain associated with the physical product (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 decentralized participant network 216.

[0203] Multiple participants in participant network 216 can be connected via material flow 130, as in Figure 1 As described in the context.

[0204] At least some of the participants in participant network 216 may be associated with distributed participant network nodes 202 to 214. Distributed participant nodes 202 to 214 may be under the control of the corresponding distributed participant associated with the respective distributed participant node. Distributed participant nodes 202 to 214 may form a distributed network 220. Distributed network 220 may be a peer-to-peer communication network. Distributed network 220 may be configured to execute data transactions 218. Data transactions 218 may be based on a transaction protocol including (multiple) authentication and / or authorization mechanisms. Based on (multiple) authentication and / or authorization mechanisms, peer-to-peer communication may be established between distributed network nodes 202 to 214 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 5 The context described above. One or more authentication mechanisms associated with a distributed identifier can be accessed by distributed data providing network nodes and / or distributed data consuming network nodes, as described in... Figure 5 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.

[0205] 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 5 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(s), such as distributed identifiers(s) of the products(s) used to produce that product. This allows tracking(s) of the products(s) used to produce the product (e.g., 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 6 and Figure 7 As described in the context.

[0206] Data flows 218 (e.g., transactions) between distributed network participant nodes can be directly or indirectly associated with material flows 218 between distributed network participants. For example, if data associated with input materials supplied from input material supplier 104 to chemical product producer 102 is accessed by a distributed data consumption network node associated with said chemical product producer 102, then data flow 218 can be directly associated with material flow 130. For example, if data associated with chemical products produced by chemical product producer 102 is accessed by a distributed data consumption network node associated with recycler 114, then data flow 218 can be indirectly associated with material flow 130.

[0207] Distributed participant nodes 202 to 214 can be distributed computing nodes. A distributed “computing node” can 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 can take any form and depends on the nature and form of the computing node.

[0208] At least some of the distributed participant nodes 202 to 214 may be distributed data providing network nodes. At least some of the participant nodes 202 to 214 may be distributed data consuming network nodes. Participants in participant network 216 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, input material supplier 104 may be associated with a distributed data providing network node configured to provide input passes(s) to downstream participants (e.g., chemical product producer 102), for example, as in Figure 5 As described in the context. Alternatively, chemical product producer 102 may be associated with a decentralized data consumption network node configured to access data associated with recycled input materials produced by upstream participants (e.g., recycler 114).

[0209] The distributed network 220 may include additional distributed network nodes. These additional distributed network nodes may be distributed infrastructure service nodes (...). Figure 2 (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 202 to 214, such as verifying the identity of distributed network participant nodes 202 to 214 before performing data exchange. Distributed network participant nodes 202 to 214 may be associated with or include multiple certificates, such as multiple X.509 certificates. Multiple certificates may be associated with multiple distributed infrastructure service nodes, which may 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 202 to 214 have a unique identifier embedded in the X.509 certificate that identifies the respective distributed network participant node 202 to 214. 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.

[0210] Figure 4A Demonstrated via Figure 1The distributed ledger network illustrated transfers environmental attribute data associated with output products from output product producers to downstream participants in the product ecosystem. Output products can be any product produced by participants in the product ecosystem from one or more input materials. Output products can be chemical intermediates, chemical products, components, component assemblies, or final products. Input materials can include any materials used by participants in the product ecosystem as production inputs to produce output products. Output products produced by participants can be used as input products by downstream participants. Input materials can include raw materials, recycled materials, chemical intermediates, chemical products, components, and / or component assemblies.

[0211] Chemical product producer 102 may receive (multiple) input materials (such as virgin raw materials) from input material supplier 104 and / or may receive recycled materials from recycler 114. The provided (multiple) input materials may be associated with environmental attribute data. This environmental attribute data may be stored in a distributed ledger of a distributed ledger network, for example, as in... Figure 1 As described in the context, when transferring (multiple) input materials to chemical product producer 102, input material supplier 104 and / or recycler 114 may generate transaction data to transfer environmental property data associated with the corresponding (multiple) input materials to input material supplier 104. The generated transaction data may be stored as one or more entries in a distributed ledger and may indicate the transfer of ownership of the input materials and associated environmental property data to chemical product producer 102.

[0212] Chemical producer 102 can produce multiple chemical products 142 (e.g., multiple output products) from multiple input materials provided to chemical production associated with chemical producer 102. The produced chemical products 142 can be provided to downstream participants in the participant network, such as chemical product consumer 106. Chemical product consumer 106 can use the chemical products as input materials to produce additional products, such as multiple other chemical products or multiple discrete products. Chemical producer 102 can collect environmental attribute data associated with the provided input materials via input material passes from a distributed ledger, such as... Figure 8D and Figure 13 As described in the context, chemical product producer 102 can determine environmental property data associated with the output product based on collected environmental property data associated with (multiple) input materials, such as... Figure 11BAs described in the context, chemical product producer 102 can generate transaction data to register (e.g., store) environmental attribute data associated with the production of (multiple) output products in a distributed ledger. Environmental attribute data associated with the production of output products may include emission data (Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions) associated with emissions generated during the production of the output products.

[0213] Chemical product producer 102 can generate transaction data 406. Transaction data 406 may include asset data 408, input data 410, output data 412, and additional data 414. Asset data 408, input data 410, output data 412, and additional data 414 may be included in... Figure 1 The data described in the context of the output product. Output data 412 may include the determined environmental property data associated with the output product. Input data 410 may include the transaction ID of the transaction associated with the input material (e.g., a transaction stored in a distributed ledger and containing environmental property data associated with the input material). This allows the reference to the environmental property data of the input material used to produce the output product in the transaction data associated with the output product.

[0214] refer to Figure 4B Transaction data can be generated by client 402. Transaction data 406 can be used. Figure 11B and Figure 13 The method described in [the document] generates [the data]. Transaction data 406 can be signed with the private key associated with the chemical product producer 102 and can be sent to the distributed ledger network 136, such as [other methods]. Figure 4B As described in the context. Transaction data 406 can be confirmed by the distributed ledger network 136, for example, as... Figure 4B As described in the context. Confirmed transaction data 406 can be stored as an entry in a distributed ledger, for example, as... Figure 4B As described in the context. Upon confirming transaction data 406 or storing transaction data in the distributed ledger, a unique transaction ID can be assigned to the transaction. The transaction ID can be generated by applying a hash function to at least a portion of the transaction data. Successful storage of transaction data as an entry in the distributed ledger can be transmitted to client 402 along with at least a portion of the stored transaction data, as described in the context. Figure 4B As described in the context.

[0215] Chemical product 142, produced by chemical product producer 102, can be provided to chemical product consumer 106 in association with digital assets (e.g., chemical product tokens containing data related to transactions stored in a distributed ledger). When chemical product consumer 106 purchases chemical product 142, chemical product consumer 106 can, for example, collect transaction data 406 stored within the distributed ledger network 136 based on the associated chemical product token via client 404 (e.g., a decentralized application or DApp), for example, as in... Figure 5 As described in the context above. Before collecting transaction data 406 from the distributed ledger network 136, the chemical product consumer 106 may provide authentication data to the security layer of the distributed ledger network 136. Upon successful authentication, the chemical product consumer 106 may be allowed to collect transaction data 406 via client 404. The collected transaction data 406 may include environmental attribute data associated with the chemical product 142. Client 404 may display at least a portion of the collected transaction data 406, such as environmental attribute data. Client 404 may store at least a portion of the collected transaction data 406 in a database (not shown).

[0216] By requiring that the environmental attributes associated with the referenced transaction of the input materials and the environmental attributes associated with the production of the output product be equal to the environmental attributes associated with the output product produced from such input materials, it is possible to avoid ignoring the environmental attributes of the input materials when determining the environmental attributes of the output product produced from such input materials. This ensures fraud prevention during the calculation of environmental attribute data associated with the produced output product and enhances trust in the environmental attribute data associated with the output product. Since the sum of the environmental attributes and the environmental attributes from production must equal the environmental attributes of the produced output product to confirm transaction data, it ensures that the environmental attributes associated with the input materials are properly considered when determining the environmental attributes of the produced output product. Ensuring that the contribution of the environmental attributes from the input materials and the production process to the environmental attributes of the produced output product makes it possible to manipulate the product ecosystem based on the cumulative environmental attribute data associated with the output product produced by the product ecosystem, thereby promoting a circular economy.

[0217] Figure 4B This demonstrates the process of submitting transactions, including environmental property data associated with input materials or output products, to [the relevant authority / organization]. Figure 1 The diagram shows a sequence of distributed ledgers in distributed ledger network 136. This method can be implemented by the client side 416 and associated member nodes (such as member node 118). The client side can correspond to... Figure 1The peer module described in the context of [the previous sentence]. The client side may include application 418 and 420 communicating with application 418. Member node 118 may include [the following]. Figure 3 The components shown are a distributed ledger server 304, a consensus algorithm 306 communicating with server 304 and database 302, and database 302 communicating with consensus algorithm 306 and server 304. Application 418 can be used to generate transaction data. The transaction data can correspond to a JSON payload. (See reference...) Figure 4A The JSON payload can include asset data 408, input data 410, output data 412, and additional data 414. The additional data can include the amount of transferred output products or registered input materials. This allows for monitoring of material flows of incoming and outgoing products for individual participants, groups of participants, or product ecosystems. This transparency prevents output products within a product ecosystem from being “lost” due to improper waste disposal. This transparency can further allow for manipulation of the product ecosystem in terms of improved recycling, thus enabling improvements in circularity within the product ecosystem.

[0218] Input data 410 and output data 412 may exclude plaintext data associated with the previous and new output product owners. Instead, decentralized participant identifiers (such as public keys) are used to uniquely identify owners within the distributed ledger network 136. The identities of the parties involved in an “anonymous” transaction and details of the output or input materials associated with the transaction allow for environmental attribute balancing using readily available environmental attribute data listed in the transaction, thereby ensuring the anonymity required to comply with data regulations and avoiding negative impacts on the competitive advantage of participants in the distributed ledger network (e.g., by creating transparency for the complete supply chain of a product). However, the parties involved and the input / output materials can be easily determined from transaction data stored in the distributed ledger by accessing, for example, at least one database containing, for example, the public keys(s) associated with the involved party and the identity of said party, and / or by using data contained in other data. The JSON payload generated by application 418 can be sent to driver 420 along with the signing key pair.

[0219] Driver 420 can prepare a transaction (hereinafter referred to as TX) by encapsulating received JSON data based on the JSON payload received from application 418. In one example, driver 420 is included in application 418 as a library or module. In another example, driver 420 is included in another application. Driver 420 can sign the encapsulated JSON data using the private key from the signing key pair received from application 418. Driver 420 can send the signed transaction to distributed ledger server 304, for example, by using the HPPT API provided by server 304.

[0220] After receiving a signed transaction from driver 420, distributed ledger server 304 can perform (various) verifications on the received signed transaction. Such verifications may include, for example, whether the signature is valid, whether the environmental attribute data listed in input data 410 is equal to the environmental attribute data listed in output data 412 (in cases where the transaction is associated with the transfer of input material / output product), whether the transaction does not consume input that has already been spent (so-called double-spending), whether the public key associated with the owner in the transaction is not on a blacklist or is on a whitelist (to allow control over the generation of materials and / or (various) products in the distributed ledger), or whether the (multiple) transaction IDs referenced by the transaction are not on a blacklist (to avoid the transfer of, for example, confiscated materials), etc.

[0221] After the distributed ledger server 304 successfully confirms the received transaction, the confirmed transaction can be provided to the consensus algorithm component 306, for example, by using the API provided by component 306. In this example, the consensus protocol is executed after the confirmed transaction is received. In another example, the confirmed transaction is received in the mempool of the consensus algorithm component 306, and component 306 waits for the server component distributed ledger server 304 to perform some additional confirmations (not shown). After all confirmations are completed, component 306 can execute the consensus protocol on all fully confirmed transactions gathered in the mempool of component 306. As part of this consensus process, all confirmed transactions in the mempool are packaged into a block. The block can be broadcast to other member nodes of the distributed ledger network 136, and at least some of the other member nodes can vote on the validity of the generated block. Once consensus is reached among all components 306, each member node's component 306 can send a request to the distributed ledger server 304 to submit the block (i.e., to append the block as a new block to the existing blockchain).

[0222] In response to a request received from component 306, server component distributed ledger server 304 may initiate the storage of a block comprising multiple transactions in database 302, and database 302 may store the block. Database 302 may send a response indicating successful storage (e.g., commit) of the block back to distributed ledger server 304.

[0223] After receiving a response indicating that the block has been committed, distributed ledger server 304 can send a response to component 306 indicating that the block commit is complete. Distributed ledger server 304 can send a response indicating that the transaction has been committed in the block back to application 418 via driver 420, and provide data about the transaction (such as the transaction ID, the public keys of the parties associated with the transaction, additional data 414, or a combination thereof).

[0224] Figure 5 A schematic diagram is shown illustrating access to a product pass associated with the produced output product 142 via a distributed network 220 provided by a distributed data providing network node 204 associated with the data owner and a distributed data consuming network node 206 associated with the output product consumer 106.

[0225] Chemical production operated by chemical product producer 102 can produce chemical product 142 from one or more input materials produced by upstream participants. Chemical production can be a chemical production network that chemically transforms input materials into chemical products (e.g., output products) leaving the network via chemical intermediates. A chemical production network can include a complex network that produces multiple chemical products across multiple production chains or value chains. A production chain or value chain can 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 can include connected, interconnected, and / or disconnected production chains. The production chains included in a chemical production network can be defined by the physical system boundary of the chemical production network. The system boundary can be defined by the location or control of the production processes. The system boundary can be defined by a value chain with interleaved production processes leading to the formation of a final product, which can be controlled jointly or separately by multiple entities. A chemical production network may include waste collection and sorting steps, recycling steps (e.g., pyrolysis), pyrolysis steps (e.g., steam cracking), production steps for producing chemical products or intermediates from the provided input materials, separation steps for separating intermediates from a process step, and further processing steps for converting such outputs into chemical products leaving the system boundary of the chemical production network. A chemical production network can produce multiple intermediates from input materials and can produce one or more chemical products from intermediates. Input materials may enter the chemical production network at an inlet point. Input materials may be fed into the chemical production network at the start of the production process or at any intermediate stage of the production process (e.g., the start or any intermediate stage of a production chain producing output materials). Chemical products may leave the production network at an outlet point (or discharge point).

[0226] The produced product 142 can be associated with a product pass. The product pass can represent a digital asset, which can be linked to the physical entity of the produced product, for example, via the use of multiple identifiers. The product pass can be associated with a digital twin of the output product 142. The product pass can be part of the digital twin of the physical entity of the output product 142. The digital twin of the output product can be a digital representation of the physical entity of the output product, with a semantic description defining the physical entity of the output product. Therefore, the digital twin of the physical entity of the output product is a digital version of the physical entity. Once created, the digital twin can be used to represent the physical entity of the output product in a digital representation of a real-world system. The digital twin can be uniquely linked to the physical output product, at least via a distributed digital twin identifier. The digital twin can be created such that it is identical in form and behavior to the corresponding output product. Furthermore, the digital twin can reflect the characteristics of the output product throughout its lifespan. For example, a sensor can capture real-time (or near real-time) data from the physical output product, such as transmitting or using data, to relay it back to a remote digital twin. The digital twin can then be updated to maintain its correspondence with the physical entity of the output product. Therefore, the digital twin can represent the current state of the physical entity of the output product at any given time. The digital twin can contain distributed digital twin identifiers. Multiple distributed digital twin identifiers can include multiple unique identifiers uniquely associated with the producer of the chemical product. Distributed digital twin identifiers can include one or more Universally Unique Identifiers (UUIDs) or one or more Digital Identifiers (DIDs). Distributed digital twin identifiers can include authentication information. Distributed digital twin identifiers can be discovered and / or accessed via a distributed network. Distributed digital twin identifiers can be associated with distributed participant identifiers that are linked to data-providing network nodes that provide the digital twin or a portion thereof. Distributed digital twin identifiers can be associated with distributed participant identifiers and endpoints of distributed data-providing network nodes. Through the distributed identifiers and their unique association with the data owner (e.g., the producer of the chemical product) and the chemical product, the producer of the chemical product can control access to the digital twin or a portion thereof (e.g., a product pass). A distributed digital twin identifier can be associated with the physical entity of the output product to which the digital twin is associated. A distributed digital twin identifier can be associated with the physical entity of the output product for which the digital twin was generated. A distributed digital twin identifier can be associated with distributed identifiers of the (multiple) input materials used to produce the output product. A distributed digital twin identifier can be, or can be assigned to, a physical identifier linked to the output product. A physical identifier can be any identifier used for the produced output product, such as a batch number and / or LOT number. Physical identifiers can include passive or active elements, such as, but are not limited to, barcodes, QR codes, RFID tags, etc.Physical identifiers may include markings embedded in the material or similar physical arrangements that allow for digital identification of the material. A digital twin may further include a digital output product identifier. A digital twin may include multiple product passes.

[0227] Product tokens may include a decentralized token identifier and output product data. Product tokens may be associated with or include a decentralized digital twin identifier. Output product data may include an output product identifier and data related to transaction data, such as environmental attribute data associated with the output product, for example... Figure 4A Output data 412 associated with the output product is described in the context of the transaction data. Data associated with the transaction data may include a transaction ID associated with such transaction data. Output product data may further include data related to the use of the output product, data related to the production of the output product, the name of the output product, the chemical composition of the output product, output product declaration data, output product safety data, analytical certificate data associated with the output product, certificate data associated with the output product, or a combination thereof. The product pass may be stored in a dedicated storage device (e.g., storage device 510) associated with the data owner of the product pass (e.g., chemical product producer 102). The dedicated storage device may be associated with or under the control of the data owner of the product pass. The dedicated storage device may be accessed by a distributed data providing network node (e.g., node 126B) associated with the data owner. The distributed data providing network node may be a distributed network (e.g., in...) Figure 1 This is part of a distributed network 134 described in the context of [the network]. Access to the dedicated storage device can be controlled by the data owner of the data stored in it via a distributed digital twin identifier. Access to the dedicated storage device can also be controlled by the data owner of the data stored in it via a distributed digital twin identifier and distributed participant identifiers associated with distributed data consuming network nodes (multiple nodes).

[0228] Product access tokens can be associated with digital access elements, for example, such as... Figure 6 and Figure 7As shown in the diagram, chemical product 142 can be associated with a digital access element. The digital access element can include a distributed digital twin identifier and access data associated with a product pass. The access data can include a locator or pointer to a dedicated storage address associated with or accessible by the data owner of the product pass. The pointer or locator can point to a data providing network node 204 associated with the dedicated storage device 510. This improves data security because the dedicated storage address is not published to other participants in the distributed network, thus avoiding the risk of direct access to the dedicated storage device without access control via the distributed data providing network node. The access data can include a locator or pointer, such as a URL or URI, to a dedicated storage address associated with and storing the product pass for the chemical product producer 102. The access data can further include a distributed pass identifier. The distributed pass identifier can be associated with a physical identifier physically attached to the output product. For example, the access data can include a batch number, LOT number, and / or serial number associated with a physical identifier physically attached to the output product. This allows querying a distributed network to access elements based on a physical identifier physically attached to the output. Pointers or locators can directly point to dedicated memory addresses.

[0229] Digital access elements can be stored in a distributed registry 508. In this way, distributed identifiers and access data can be discovered and / or accessed by distributed data consumer network nodes of the distributed network. Distributed registry 508 can be associated with a distributed data providing network node 204 associated with the producer of output product 142 (e.g., chemical product producer 102). Distributed registry 508 can be associated with, or controlled by, the data owner of the product pass associated with the access element stored in such registry. The data owner could be chemical product producer 102. Access elements can be accessed by other participants in the distributed network (e.g., chemical product consumer 106) via the associated distributed data consumer network node 206. Access to access elements stored in distributed registry 508 can be controlled by the data owner of the associated pass via the distributed data providing node 204 associated with distributed registry 508. For example, only (multiple) predefined distributed data consumer network nodes can query distributed registry 508. Such predefined distributed data consuming network nodes can be predefined via associated distributed participant identifiers. This contrasts with distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based distributed networks, where the distributed ledger, acting as a distributed registry, is replicated across multiple network nodes, so that access to each copy of the distributed ledger is no longer controlled by the data owner of the data stored in that distributed ledger.

[0230] Chemical product 142 produced by chemical product producer 102 can be provided to downstream participants, such as chemical product consumer 106. When chemical product 142 enters the production process operated by chemical product consumer 106, ID reader 504 can be configured to read the identification element physically connected to chemical product 142. The data acquired by ID reader 504 can be used by a data consumption service (such as node 206) associated with chemical product consumer 106 to collect product passes associated with chemical product 142. The data acquired by ID reader 504 can be provided to a backend (not shown) connected to data consumption node 206. The data acquired by ID reader 504 may include chemical product identifiers, such as batch numbers and / or LOT numbers. Consumer node 206 can be configured to determine the provider(s) associated with the producer of the chemical product associated with such chemical product identifier based on the chemical product identifier included in the data acquired by ID reader 504. For example, consumer node 206 can be configured to query the infrastructure environment of distributed network 220 using the chemical product identifier. Figure 5 (Not shown in the image) to determine (multiple) distributed participant identifiers of (multiple) data providers associated with the chemical product identifier. Consumer node 206 can then use the determined (multiple) distributed participant identifiers to query the infrastructure environment to determine the endpoints of (multiple) provider nodes associated with the (multiple) distributed participant identifiers.

[0231] The backend can be configured to generate query data to query distributed registries associated with the obtained endpoint(s), such as distributed registry 508. The query data may include data associated with a specific product pass in the digital twin. Data associated with a specific product pass may include key-value pairs defining such a pass in an access element associated with and stored within the distributed registry. The backend can be configured to generate a request to collect distributed identifier(s) associated with the chemical product. This request may include at least a portion of the received endpoint(s) and the query data. This request may be provided to consumer node 206. Consumer node 206 can be configured to query the distributed registry of distributed network 220 in response to a request from the backend. The query may include query data and distributed participant identifiers associated with consumer node 206. Participants in the distributed network may be associated with distributed participant identifiers. Each participant in the distributed network may be associated with one or more distributed participant identifiers. Distributed participant identifiers may include any identifier uniquely associated with a participant in the distributed network and / or with a production site of a participant in the distributed network. Decentralized participant identifiers may include letters and / or numbers. They may include one or more Universally Unique Identifiers (UUIDs) and / or one or more Distributed Identifiers (DIDs). Decentralized participant identifiers may be associated with or may include verifiable claims or credentials. Verifiable claims may 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. 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 the digital twin, thereby ensuring that the requested data can be exchanged securely and in a controlled manner within the decentralized network.

[0232] Consumer node 204 can be configured to send such queries to endpoints included in requests received from the backend. These queries can be authenticated. This authentication can be based on data associated with an authentication mechanism. The authentication mechanism can be based on multiple certificates and / or multiple tokens associated with the respective distributed participant nodes (e.g., consumer node 116 and provider node 126B), 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(s) may not provide data.

[0233] Multiple provider nodes (e.g., node 204) can be configured to query associated decentralized registries (e.g., decentralized registry 508) to determine whether the associated decentralized registry includes multiple decentralized identifiers (e.g., decentralized digital twin identifiers and / or multiple digital pass identifiers) related to the query data contained in a query from consumer node 206. If authentication is valid, such a query can be executed. Multiple provider nodes that do not have the determined decentralized identifiers related to the query data can send a corresponding response to consumer node 206. Multiple provider nodes (e.g., node 204) that do not have the determined decentralized identifiers related to the query data may not send any response to consumer node 206. Multiple provider node 204 that has the determined decentralized identifiers related to the query data can initiate contract negotiation with consumer node 206. Provider node 204 can provide an electronic contract to consumer node 206. The electronic contract may include one or more authorization rules associated with the decentralized identifiers. The electronic contract can be provided to the backend. The backend can parse the received electronic contract to determine multiple authorization rules. These rules can be provided to the user to obtain consent. The backend can be configured to automatically accept electronic contracts provided by multiple predefined provider nodes. The backend can provide consumer node 206 with data indicating signing, such as a token. If the electronic contract is not signed, the backend can also forward data indicating contract rejection to consumer node 206. Consumer node 206 can forward this data to provider node 204. Upon contract rejection, provider node 204 can terminate the connection and may not provide any data. The use of electronic contracts ensures that consumer node 206 and other systems processing the data (such as operating system 620) adhere to at least one policy associated with the data.

[0234] Provider nodes 204, possessing identified distributed identifiers associated with the query data, may provide such distributed identifiers to consumer nodes 206. These identifiers may be provided upon successful contract negotiation. Consumer nodes 206 may provide the received distributed identifiers to a backend. Upon receiving the distributed identifiers, the backend may be configured to generate a request to collect access elements associated with at least a portion of the received distributed identifiers. This request may include the corresponding distributed identifiers. This request may be provided to consumer nodes 206. Consumer nodes 206 may be configured to request corresponding access elements from provider nodes 204 that have already provided distributed identifiers in response to the query. The request to the corresponding provider nodes 204 may include the distributed identifiers and distributed participant identifiers associated with consumer nodes 206. Upon receiving a request, provider nodes 204 can collect access elements from the associated distributed registry 508 based on the distributed identifiers included in the received request. The collected access elements can then be provided to consumer nodes 206. Consumer nodes 206 can then provide the received access elements to a backend. The backend can store the access elements in a storage device associated with it.

[0235] The backend can be configured to parse received access elements(e.g., received access element data). The access elements(e)(s ...)(s)(s)(s)(s)(s)(s))(s)(s)(s)(s))(s)(s)(s)(s))(s) Figure 6 and Figure 7The backend can be configured to match access data contained in a received access element with data (such as multiple chemical product identifiers) provided by ID reader 504 to determine a distributed identifier that matches the multiple chemical product identifiers and associated access data. The backend can be coupled to a display device displaying a graphical user interface 506. The backend can provide data extracted from the access element and / or data obtained by ID reader 504 (such as distributed pass identifiers, multiple chemical product identifiers, and access data) to the display device for display. The graphical user interface 506 can allow a user to initiate a retrieval of a product pass. The backend can be configured to generate a corresponding request for retrieving aspects associated with such distributed identifiers. The request can include the multiple distributed identifiers and associated access data. The request can be generated in response to a corresponding user input indicating a retrieval of a pass. The request can be generated when a match is determined between the access data included in the access element and the data provided by ID reader 504. The request can be forwarded to consumer node 206. Consumer node 206 can generate a request to collect product tokens from the corresponding provider nodes(s) 204. This request may include a decentralized identifier received from the backend and a decentralized participant identifier associated with consumer node 206. This request can be sent by consumer node 206 to an endpoint defined in the access data. Consumer node 206 and provider nodes 204 can authenticate as described above.

[0236] Provider node 204 can determine whether consumer node 206 is authorized to access the requested product pass. Provider node 204 can match the decentralized participant identifier provided by consumer node 206 with multiple access rules associated with the corresponding product pass. The multiple access rules can define multiple consumer nodes that are allowed to access the product pass via the associated multiple decentralized participant identifier. This allows filtering of consumer nodes requesting access to such a product pass based on the associated decentralized participant identifier, thereby improving security to ensure that no unauthorized consumer node can access the product pass. Upon determining that consumer node 206 is authorized to access the product pass, provider node 204 can initiate contract negotiation with consumer node 206, as previously described. Provider node 204 can collect the requested product pass from storage device 510 based on the multiple decentralized identifiers received from consumer node 206. The product pass can be collected after successful contract negotiation. If the electronic contract is not signed, the peer-to-peer communication channel can be terminated, and the product pass can be withheld.

[0237] Provider node 204 can apply one or more access rules associated with the product pass to the product pass. These access rules can be defined in an access policy associated with the product pass. These access rules can also define one or more rules for data consumer nodes to use the product pass. After applying the access rules, the resulting product pass can be provided to consumer node 206. Consumer node 206 can store the received product pass in pass storage device 502.

[0238] Through a decentralized network, product tokens can be transferred between chemical product producers 102 and chemical product consumers 106 in a standardized and secure manner, allowing chemical product producers 102 to control access to product tokens from multiple decentralized data-consuming network nodes within the decentralized network. In this way, product tokens can be shared directly among participants in the product ecosystem through a unique association with the chemical product and without a central intermediary. This achieves transparency of product tokens within the product ecosystem. Generating product tokens associated with the produced chemical products and generating digital access elements associated with said product tokens allows for the sharing of product tokens under simplified and customizable conditions without compromising data security and data sovereignty.

[0239] Figure 6 Examples are shown, including DID owner data, DID document data, and digital access elements associated with a distributed infrastructure.

[0240] Distributed identifiers may include Distributed Identifiers (DIDs). In this case, the digital access element based on the distributed identifier can be a DID document 604 associated with the DID. In addition to the DID document 604 used as a digital access element, Figure 7 Also shown is a DID owner data element 602 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 (multiple) chemical product datasets) and can include one or more authentication mechanisms. Owner data based on a decentralized identifier 602 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 602 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.

[0241] A DID entity can be an input material or an output product. A DID entity can be a machine, system, or equipment used to produce the input material or the output product, 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 chemical producer 102, such as a supplier that supplies raw chemical products or recycled materials to produce chemical products. A DID owner can be a downstream participant of chemical producer 102, such as a customer who consumes chemical products to produce intermediate products, components, component assemblies, or final products. A DID owner can be any participant in the product ecosystem, including raw chemical product suppliers, intermediate chemical product manufacturers, intermediate part manufacturers, component manufacturers, component assembly manufacturers, final product manufacturers, final product users, EOL collectors, or recyclers.

[0242] 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 or a set thereof for input materials or output products; a machine, system, or equipment used to produce input materials or output products, or a set of such machines, equipment, and / or systems; a chemical manufacturer, upstream participant of a chemical manufacturer, downstream participant of a chemical manufacturer, or a set thereof; any participant in the product ecosystem, including raw material chemical product suppliers, intermediate chemical product manufacturers, intermediate component manufacturers, component manufacturers, component assembly manufacturers, final product manufacturers, final product users, EOL collectors, recyclers, or a set thereof.

[0243] 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.

[0244] The digital access element of DID document data 604, as part of the DID document data, can be associated with a DID (i.e., the DID included in the decentralized identifier-based owner data 602). Therefore, the digital access element can include a reference to a DID associated with the DID subject described by DID document 604. DID document 604 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.

[0245] Digital access element 604 may include one or more representations, which are digitally linked, for example, via a service endpoint to the passport(s) included in the digital twin associated with the digital access element. The service endpoint may include a network address that runs a service on behalf of the DID owner. Specifically, the service endpoint may refer to a service provided by the DID owner to access the passport(s), such as a data service. This service may include services for reading or analyzing data contained within the passport(s).

[0246] Digital access element 604 may include additional identifiers, such as distributed pass identifiers and output product identifiers or input material identifiers.

[0247] Numeric access element 604 may include various other information, such as metadata specifying the creation time of the numeric access element, the last modification time of the numeric access element, and / or the expiration time of the numeric access element.

[0248] DID and digital access element 604 can be associated with data registration nodes, such as a centralized data service system or a decentralized data service system 606 (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 604. The representation of the DID can be stored on the distributed computing nodes of the distributed ledger or blockchain 606. 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 604. In some embodiments, digital access element 604 can be stored on the distributed ledger 606. Each of the computing nodes can store a copy of the distributed ledger 606. In this way, each DID hash can be redundantly stored, thereby allowing for improved data security. DIDs associated with multiple different digital access elements 604 can be included in the distributed ledger 606.

[0249] In some embodiments, the digital access element 604 may be stored on the distributed ledger 606, i.e., as a supplement to or alternative to storing the associated DID representation on the distributed ledger 606. In other embodiments, the digital access element 604 may be stored in a data storage device (not shown) associated with a distributed ledger, blockchain, or decentralized file system.

[0250] A distributed ledger or blockchain 606 can be any decentralized distributed network comprising various computing nodes that communicate with each other. For example, a distributed ledger 606 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). A distributed ledger or blockchain 606 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, at https: / / ethereum.org / en / developers / docs / ), Solana (see, for example, the Solana documentation published November 11, 2022, at https: / / spl.solana.com / ), Polygon (see, for example, the Polygon documentation published November 11, 2022, at 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.

[0251] 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 5 The distributed registry 508. Access elements stored in this distributed registry can be retrieved by network nodes using distributed identifiers via associated distributed data.

[0252] 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 and second distributed identifiers may be different from each other. The first distributed identifier may represent a distributed digital twin identifier associated with the digital twin, while the second distributed identifier may represent a distributed pass identifier associated with a pass included in the digital twin. Access elements may be associated with input materials. Input materials may be any input material used as a production input within the product ecosystem. Input materials may be raw materials, recycled materials, chemical intermediates, chemical products, components, or component assemblies. Output products may be any product produced within the product ecosystem. Output products may be chemical intermediates or chemical products. Output products may be components or component assemblies. Output products may be final products.

[0253] 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.

[0254] The numeric access element 700 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. The objects(s) can include one or more key-value pairs.

[0255] Digital access element 700 may include access data, such as data digitally linked to the digital access element via a service endpoint, like multiple passes. 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 granted by the data owner to access pass data, such as multiple distributed data delivery network nodes. This service may include services for reading or analyzing data contained in the pass.

[0256] The digital access element 700 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 7 (Not shown in the image).

[0257] Digital access element 700 can be stored in a distributed registry (not shown, see example) Figure 5 Example distributed registry 508). A distributed registry can be a distributed database. A distributed database can be associated with the data owner of the pass(s)(s) associated with this access element.

[0258] Figure 8A A diagram illustrating the transfer of input materials and produced outputs containing those input materials among participants in the product ecosystem is provided. Input materials can include... Figure 4A The input material is described in the context of [the previous sentence]. The output product may include [the following]. Figure 4AThe output products described in the context. The quantities of each party, as well as the exact input materials and output products, can be compared with... Figure 8A The differences are as shown. For example, there may be more or fewer material owners, and the types of materials may differ. Figure 8A The differences are as follows. Similarly, there may be more material recipients and / or more product recipients.

[0259] Participant networks (e.g.) Figure 1 and Figure 2 Participants in the network shown (100 or 216) can possess input materials. For example, the first material owner (in...) Figure 8A (represented as MO1) can have 1 kg of input material 1, such as a primitive precious metal, and a second material owner (in Figure 8A The input material 2 (represented as MO2) can have 5 kg of input material 2, such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH). Each input material (e.g., input material 1 and 2) can be associated with environmental attribute data. Environmental attribute data can include environmental footprint data, such as carbon footprint data.

[0260] refer to Figure 8B MO1 can generate transaction data to register environmental attribute data associated with input material 1 as entries in the distributed ledger of the distributed ledger network. Transaction data may include asset data (e.g., transaction ID), input data (e.g., decentralized participant identifiers associated with MO1, such as public keys controlled by MO1), output data (e.g., environmental attribute data associated with the input material and decentralized participant identifiers associated with MO1), and other data (e.g., transfer amount, identifier of input material 1, type of input material 1, etc.). The environmental attribute data of input material 1 can be considered as an environmental impact liability because it can increase the environmental impact associated with the output produced from such input material 1. To verify the integrity of the chain of several transactions (e.g., to compare inputs with outputs), the environmental attributes included in the environmental attribute data must be identical. In other words, once the flow of environmental attribute data begins by registering new environmental attribute data in the distributed ledger (e.g., by creating a ledger entry for the input material associated with the environmental attribute data that does not reference previous transactions in the input data), the environmental attributes and the associated units cannot be changed. Therefore, all participants in the product ecosystem need to use the same (multiple) environmental attributes and (multiple) units to generate transaction data. For example, product carbon footprint and kg CO2 equivalent per kilogram of output product / input material can be used in conjunction with environmental attribute data.

[0261] Transaction data can be provided to member nodes of the distributed ledger network (such as node 116-1), and these member nodes can process the received transaction data, such as... Figure 4A and Figure 4B As described in the context of [the previous sentence]. Since the initial registration of environmental attribute data within the distributed ledger can be a sensitive step, this registration can only be performed by a specific party to avoid registering incorrect environmental attribute data in the distributed ledger, as this would result in incorrect environmental attribute data in the output product (such as the final product). For example, control over the registration of transactions can be exercised using a whitelist or blacklist of public keys retrieved by the distributed ledger server when confirming a transaction. When using a whitelist, the transaction is valid if the public key contained in the transaction matches a public key on the whitelist. When using a blacklist, the transaction is valid if the public key contained in the transaction does not match a public key on the blacklist. Transaction data can be included as entry 814 within the distributed ledger. For example, transaction data can be included as transaction 814 in block 804a of the blockchain. Similarly, MO2 can generate transaction data to register the environmental attribute data associated with input material 2 as an entry in the distributed ledger of the distributed ledger network. Transaction data can be provided to member nodes of the distributed ledger network (such as node 116-2), and such member nodes can process the received transaction data, such as [the following text is missing here, likely due to an error in the original source]. Figure 4A and Figure 4B As described in the context, transaction data can be included as entry 818 within the distributed ledger 850. For example, transaction data can be included as transaction 818 in block 808a of the blockchain.

[0262] Return to Figure 8A In step 2A, material owner MO1 can transfer 1 kg of input material 1 to material receiver MR. Similarly, in step 2B, material owner MO2 can transfer 5 kg of input material 2 to material receiver MR. After the transfer, MO1 and MO2 can be considered the former owners of input materials 1 and 2, and MR can be considered the new owner of input materials 1 and 2. The transfer of input materials 1 and 2 from MO1 and MO2 to MR in the physical world can be compared with the digital assets representing physical input materials 1 and 2 in a distributed ledger network (e.g., Figure 1 The transfers are associated with the distributed ledger network 136. Assets can be represented by entries 814, 818 stored in the distributed ledger 850.

[0263] Turn again Figure 8BThe transfer of input material 1 from MO1 to MR in step 2A can be reflected in the physical world by transferring ownership of the asset representing input material 1 from MO1 to MR1. The transfer of the asset can be reflected by a corresponding transaction stored as entry 816 in the distributed ledger 850. For example, MO1 can generate transaction data to transfer an asset representing 1 kg of input material 1 from MO1 (the previous owner) to MR (the new owner). Transaction data can include asset data (e.g., transaction ID), input data, output data, and other data. Input data can reference transactions associated with environmental attribute data of the transferred input material 1, such as transaction 814 with transaction ID1 and a decentralized participant identifier of the previous owner. Output data can include environmental attribute data associated with the quantity of input material transferred from MO1 to MR and a decentralized participant identifier of the new owner (e.g., MR). Transaction data can be provided to member nodes of the distributed ledger network (e.g., node 116-1), and such member nodes can process the received transaction data, such as... Figure 4A and Figure 4B As described in the context, member nodes can confirm received transaction data, for example, by comparing the input with the output (e.g., comparing the environmental attribute data listed in the input with the environmental attribute data listed in the output). The environmental attribute data listed in the input corresponds to the environmental attribute data listed in the output of the referenced transaction 814. If the input equals the output, for example, if the environmental attribute data listed in the output of transaction 814 equals the environmental attribute data listed in the output of transaction 816, then the transaction data can be valid. This confirmation allows ensuring that the environmental attribute data (or environmental impact debt) of input material 1 is transferred to the new owner along with the physical input material. The confirmed transaction data can be included as entry 816 within the distributed ledger. For example, the transaction data can be included as transaction 816 in block 806a of the blockchain.

[0264] Similarly, the transfer of input material 2 from MO2 to MR in step 2B can be reflected in the physical world by transferring ownership of the asset representing input material 2 from MO2 to MR1. The transfer of the asset can be reflected by a corresponding transaction stored as entry 820 in the distributed ledger 850. For example, MO2 can generate transaction data to transfer an asset representing 5 kg of input material 2 from MO2 (the previous owner) to MR (the new owner). Transaction data can include asset data (e.g., transaction ID), input data, output data, and other data. Input data can reference transactions associated with environmental attribute data of the transferred input material 1, such as transaction 818 with transaction ID3 and a decentralized participant identifier of the previous owner. Output data can include environmental attribute data associated with the quantity of input material transferred from MO2 to MR and a decentralized participant identifier of the new owner (e.g., MR). Transaction data can be provided to member nodes of the distributed ledger network (e.g., node 116-2), and such member nodes can process the received transaction data, such as... Figure 4A and Figure 4B As described in the context, confirmed transaction data can be included as entry 820 within the distributed ledger. For example, transaction data can be included as transaction 820 in block 810a of the blockchain.

[0265] Return to Figure 8A MR can use received quantities of input materials (e.g., 1 kg of input material 1 and 5 kg of input material 2) to produce a defined quantity of output product, such as 6 kg of electrode material. The production of electrode material may require energy and may generate emissions. Therefore, the production of the output product by MR can also be associated with environmental attribute data, which may need to be added to the accumulated environmental attribute debt from input materials 1 and 2. MR can determine the environmental attribute data associated with the produced output product. This determination may require retrieving the environmental attribute data associated with input materials 1 and 2 stored in the distributed ledger 850 of the distributed ledger network 136.

[0266] Continue to refer to Figure 8A and Figure 8B And further reference Figure 8C The material recipient MR can collect input material passes associated with input materials 1 and 2 from (multiple) corresponding data provision network nodes 202-1 and 202-2, respectively, associated with MO1 and MO2, via a distributed network 220, such as... Figure 5 As described in the context. For example, MR can use input material identifiers associated with input materials 1 and 2 via distributed network 220 and data consumer node 204 to collect the corresponding input material passes, such as... Figure 5The collected input material passes may include transaction IDs associated with transactions that transfer related assets from MO1 to MR and from MO2 to MR, respectively. Therefore, the input material pass associated with input material 1 may include transaction ID2 associated with transaction 816, and the input material pass associated with input material 2 may include transaction ID4 associated with transaction 820. Backend 836 may be configured to parse the received input material passes to determine such transaction IDs. Backend 836 may be configured to generate query data based on the transaction IDs to query the distributed ledger. Query data may be provided to member node 118. Member node 118 may be configured to query the distributed ledger stored in its database 302 and provide the query results to backend 836. The query results may include transaction data associated with transactions that match the query data (e.g., transactions that match the transaction IDs provided by backend 836). Backend 836 may be configured to provide at least a portion of the transaction data (e.g., environmental attribute data) to environmental attribute calculation unit 826. The environmental attribute calculation unit 826 can be configured to determine environmental attribute data associated with the produced output products, such as... Figure 11B As described in the context, the environmental attribute calculation unit 826 can be configured to provide the determined environmental attribute data to the backend 836.

[0267] Using a decentralized network 220 allows for the avoidance of storing sensitive data (such as data that allows identification of transferred input materials) in a distributed ledger, thereby preventing undesirable transparency across the entire supply chain for a given end product. This allows for the avoidance of complex access permissions within the distributed ledger, thus allowing transparency of transferred environmental attribute liabilities and ensuring trust in the system. However, the data required to identify the corresponding transactions and therefore associated environmental attribute data can be shared reliably and securely via another decentralized network that implements access permissions, ensuring that only authorized participants in the product ecosystem have access to the pass, and thus also providing transparency as to which transactions are associated with which input materials. Therefore, using two separate decentralized systems allows for maximum transparency in the transfer of environmental attribute liabilities to ensure fraud protection, while maintaining the required level of security regarding product ecosystem participants' knowledge of suppliers and customers to ensure the necessary supply chain confidentiality.

[0268] In step 3, the MR can transfer the produced output product to the product recipient PR. In the physical world, the transfer of the output product from the MR to the PR in step 3 can be reflected by the transfer of ownership of the following assets from the MR to the PR: assets representing input material 1, assets representing input material 2, and assets representing environmental attribute data associated with the production of the output product. Such assets can be generated by the MR by providing corresponding transaction data to the distributed ledger network 136, as previously described for input materials 1 and 2. The MR can generate such assets for environmental attribute data associated with the production of a single batch of product. The MR can also generate such assets for environmental attribute data associated with the production of multiple output products over a defined time period (e.g., month, quarter, or year). This avoids generating transaction data for each production batch, thereby reducing the amount of transaction data that needs to be confirmed and stored in the distributed ledger. The environmental attribute data for each defined time period can be viewed as an environmental attribute budget, which can be used to assign environmental attribute liabilities associated with the production of the output product to that output product, as described below.

[0269] The transfer of assets can be reflected by the corresponding transaction stored as entry 822 in distributed ledger 850. For example, and refer to Figure 8B and Figure 8C Backend 836 can be configured to generate transaction data to transfer assets from MR (previous owner) to PR (new owner). Transaction data may include asset data (e.g., transaction ID), input data, output data, and other data. Input data may reference transactions associated with environmental attribute data of old input material 1 (e.g., transaction 816 with transaction ID2), transactions associated with environmental attribute data of old input material 2 (e.g., transaction 820 with transaction ID4), and transactions associated with environmental attribute data of the production process (e.g., transaction with ID5), as well as the decentralized participant identifier of the previous owner (e.g., MO). Output data may include environmental attribute data associated with the amount of output product transferred from MR to PR (e.g., environmental attribute data determined by environmental attribute calculation unit 826) and the decentralized participant identifier of the new owner (e.g., PR). Transaction data can be provided to member nodes of the distributed ledger network (e.g., node 116-1), and such member nodes can process the received transaction data, such as... Figure 4A and Figure 4BAs described in the context, member nodes can confirm received transaction data, for example, by comparing inputs with outputs (e.g., comparing environmental attribute data listed in the inputs with environmental attribute data listed in the outputs). The environmental attribute data listed in the inputs corresponds to the environmental attribute data listed in the outputs of the referenced transactions 816, 820, and the transaction with ID5 (not shown). Transaction data can be valid if the inputs equal the outputs, for example, if the sum of the environmental attribute data listed in the outputs of transactions 816, 820, and the transaction with ID5 equals the environmental attribute data listed in the output of transaction 822. This confirmation allows ensuring that MR correctly considers and accumulates the environmental impact liabilities of input materials 1 and 2 used to produce the outputs, as well as the environmental impacts associated with the production processes required to produce the outputs, when determining the environmental attribute data of the produced outputs. Confirmed transaction data can be included as entry 822 within the distributed ledger. For example, transaction data can be included as transaction 822 in block 812a of the blockchain.

[0270] refer to Figure 8D PR can monitor or verify environmental property data associated with output products produced by MR and supplied to PR by MR. For example, in Figure 5 As described in the context, the output artifact can be associated with an output artifact pass accessible via distributed network 220. As previously stated, the PR can access the output artifact pass from the provider node 204 associated with the MR via consumer node 206 (see also...). Figure 5 (Description). Consumer node 206 can provide output product passes to backend 846. Backend 846 can store the received passes in storage device 848, such as in... Figure 5As described in the context above, backend 846 can parse the received pass data to determine the transaction ID associated with the asset transfer. Backend 846 can generate query data and can provide the query data to member nodes 120 of the distributed ledger network 136. As described above, member node 120 can query the distributed ledger stored in its database based on the received query data. Transaction data returned as a query result can be provided by member node 120 to backend 846. In this example, the query result may include transaction data for transaction 822 associated with the transfer of output artifacts from MR to PR. Transaction data may include referenced transactions in the input data. Backend 846 can parse the transaction data to determine the referenced transaction ID in the input data. Backend 846 can be configured to generate additional query data based on the referenced transaction ID and provide such additional query data to member node 120. Member node can query the distributed ledger based on the additional query data and can return transaction data for transactions 816, 820, and the transaction with ID5 referenced in the input data of transaction 822. Using the environmental attribute data included in transactions 816, 820, 822, and transactions with ID5, PR can verify the environmental attribute data by comparing the environmental attribute data included in transaction 822, which is associated with the output product received from MR, with the aggregated environmental attribute data from transactions 816, 820, and transactions with ID5.

[0271] Therefore, distributed ledgers can allow for transparency regarding the accumulation of environmental impact liabilities during the production of output products. For example, the final product will bear the accumulated environmental impact liabilities associated with all input materials used to produce the output product. This transparency helps in fraud prevention and increases the reliability and trust in environmental attribute data associated with the output product. For instance, balancing performed during transaction data confirmation ensures that environmental attribute liabilities associated with older input materials are considered when determining the environmental attribute data for the output product, thus preventing participants from potentially avoiding the accumulation of environmental attribute data associated with input materials in order to achieve more favorable results in terms of the output product's (multiple) environmental attributes. This increased transparency and trust in such environmental attribute data associated with the output product can help manipulate the environmental impact of the product ecosystem and can lead to increased circularity to further reduce the environmental impact of such product ecosystems.

[0272] Figure 9A system is illustrated according to embodiments of the present invention for identifying a flow of environmental attribute data within a linear product ecosystem, including several participants involved in the supply of input materials and the production of (multiple) output products using said input materials. The product ecosystem may include a production chain that produces the final product. The product ecosystem may include participants involved in the production of the final product. The product ecosystem may include participants involved in the waste disposal of end-of-life products resulting from the use of the end-of-life products produced by the product ecosystem. A linear product ecosystem may not include a recycling step for recovering end-of-life materials; therefore, end-of-life products may be disposed of as waste and may be incinerated or landfilled. This system can be implemented. Figure 17 The method shown.

[0273] Input materials may include raw materials, recycled materials, chemical intermediates, chemical products, components, and component assemblies. Output products may include chemical intermediates, chemical products, components, component assemblies, and final products.

[0274] Input materials can be provided to chemical product producers 102 by input material suppliers 104 and / or recyclers 114. Environmental attribute data associated with such input materials can be registered by member nodes 116 and / or 128 via transactions of entries stored in a distributed ledger (such as a blockchain) of a distributed ledger network 136. Such transactions can create assets associated with the environmental attribute data of the corresponding input materials. Registering environmental attribute data may include generating transaction data and providing the generated transaction data to member nodes 116 or 128 for processing, such as... Figure 8A and Figure 8B The context described regarding steps 1A and 2A. Member nodes 116 and / or 128 can process the received transaction data, such as... Figure 4A and Figure 4B As described in the context.

[0275] The physical transfer of input materials from input material suppliers 104 and / or 114 to chemical product producers 102 can be linked to the transfer of assets associated with environmental property data of such input materials within the distributed ledger network 136. Assets can be transferred from input material suppliers 104 and / or recyclers 114 to chemical product producers 102 by generating transaction data and providing such transaction data to member nodes 116 and / or 128, for example, as... Figure 8A and Figure 8B The context described regarding steps 1B and 2B. Member nodes 116 and / or 128 can process the received transaction data, such as... Figure 4A and Figure 4B As described in the context.

[0276] Chemical producer 102 can use input materials supplied by input material supplier 104 and / or recycler 114 to produce output products. The output products can be chemical intermediates or chemical products. Chemical producer 102 can supply the produced output products as input materials to chemical consumer 106. The physical transfer of the produced output products from chemical producer 102 to chemical consumer 106 can be linked to the transfer of assets within distributed ledger network 136 associated with environmental attribute data of the input materials used to produce the output products and environmental attribute data of the production of the output products. Assets can be transferred from chemical producer 102 to chemical consumer 106 by generating transaction data and providing such transaction data to member node 118, for example, as... Figure 8A and Figure 8B The context described regarding step 3. Member node 118 can process received transaction data, such as... Figure 4A and Figure 4B As described in the context.

[0277] Similarly, chemical product consumer 106 can use the output product supplied by chemical product producer 102 as input material to produce the output product. The output product can be a chemical product or a discrete product. The physical transfer of the produced output product from chemical product consumer 106 to OEM 108 can be linked to the transfer of assets within distributed ledger network 136 associated with environmental attribute data of the input materials used to produce the output product (e.g., the output product produced by chemical product producer 102) and environmental attribute data of the production of the output product. Assets can be transferred from chemical product consumer 106 to OEM 108 by generating transaction data and providing such transaction data to member node 120, for example, as... Figure 8A and Figure 8B As described in the context. Member node 120 can process received transaction data, such as... Figure 4A and Figure 4B As described in the context.

[0278] Similarly, OEM 108 can use the output product supplied by chemical product consumer 106 as input material to produce the output product. The output product can be a final product. The physical transfer of the produced output product from chemical product consumer 106 to OEM 108 can be linked to the transfer of assets within distributed ledger network 136 associated with environmental attribute data of the input materials used to produce the output product (e.g., the output product produced by chemical product consumer 106) and environmental attribute data of the production of the output product. Assets can be transferred from OEM 108 to waste treatment facilities by generating transaction data and providing such transaction data to member node 122, for example, as Figure 8A and Figure 8B As described in the context. Member node 122 can process received transaction data, such as... Figure 4A and Figure 4B As described in the context.

[0279] Waste treatment facilities can register environmental attribute data associated with waste treatment resulting from the use of end-of-life products as entries in the distributed ledger of distributed ledger network 136. Environmental attribute data can be registered by generating transaction data and providing such transaction data to member nodes 912, for example, such as... Figure 8A and Figure 8B As described in the context. Member node 912 can process received transaction data, such as... Figure 4A and Figure 4B As described in the context.

[0280] Environmental attribute data streams can be monitored and / or verified in the following ways.

[0281] • Accumulate environmental attribute data associated with the input materials used to produce the final product, stored in related transactions (such as transactions 902b, 904b, 906b, and 908b stored in blocks 902a, 904a, 906a, and 908a of the distributed ledger).

[0282] • Accumulate environmental attribute data associated with the final product, stored in related transactions (such as transaction 910b stored in block 910a of the distributed ledger), and

[0283] • Compare the sum of the cumulative environmental property data associated with the input materials used to produce the final product with the cumulative environmental property data associated with the final product.

[0284] For example, the corresponding environmental attribute data can be determined based on the transaction ID associated with the final product produced, such as... Figure 17 As described in the context, environmental property data associated with input materials may include environmental property data of the input materials themselves and environmental property data associated with the production processes required to produce the final product from the input materials.

[0285] An environmental attribute data stream can be validated if the sum of the cumulative environmental attribute data associated with the input materials used to produce the final product equals the cumulative environmental attribute data associated with the final product. In this case, each environmental attribute data stream is always accounted for.

[0286] The total environmental impact of a linear product ecosystem can be determined by accumulating environmental attribute data associated with the final products produced and with waste disposal. This total environmental impact can be used to manipulate the product ecosystem in terms of its environmental impact. For example, the total environmental impact can be reduced by using recycled, bio-based, and renewable materials with reduced environmental impact compared to fossil input materials and / or by using production methods associated with reduced environmental impact. System-implemented monitoring can help establish transparency in the flow of environmental attribute data and prevent fraud by ensuring that the environmental attribute debt associated with input materials is correctly allocated to the output products produced from those input materials.

[0287] Figure 10A and Figure 10B An example system according to embodiments of the present invention is demonstrated for monitoring and / or verifying the flow of environmental property data within a cyclic product ecosystem involving several participants in the supply of input materials and the production of (multiple) output products using said input materials. The product ecosystem may include, for example... Figure 1 The participant network 100 is shown. A circular product ecosystem may include a production chain for producing the final product and a recycling chain for recovering end-of-life products. A circular product ecosystem can be a closed-loop system, wherein recycled materials generated from the recovery of end-of-life products are used as input materials within the same product ecosystem. A circular product ecosystem can be an open-loop system, wherein recycled materials generated from the recovery of end-of-life products are used within different product ecosystems (not shown). This system can be implemented. Figure 17 The method shown.

[0288] Input materials may include raw materials, recycled materials, chemical intermediates, chemical products, components, and component assemblies. Output products may include chemical intermediates, chemical products, components, component assemblies, and final products.

[0289] Input materials can be provided to chemical product producers 102 by input material suppliers 104 and / or recyclers 114. Environmental attribute data associated with such input materials can be registered by member nodes 116 and / or 128 via transactions of entries stored in a distributed ledger (such as a blockchain) on a distributed ledger network 136. Such transactions can create assets associated with the environmental attribute data of the corresponding input or recycled materials. Registering environmental attribute data may include generating transaction data and providing the generated transaction data to member nodes 116 or 128 for processing, such as... Figure 8A and Figure 8B The context described regarding steps 1A and 2A. Member nodes 116 and / or 128 can process the received transaction data, such as... Figure 4A and Figure 4B As described in the context.

[0290] The physical transfer of input materials from input material suppliers 104 and / or 114 to chemical product producers 102 can be linked to the transfer of assets associated with the environmental property data of such input materials within the distributed ledger network 136, such as... Figure 9 As described in the context.

[0291] Chemical producer 102 can use input materials supplied by input material supplier 104 and / or recycler 114 to produce output products. The output products can be chemical intermediates or chemical products. Chemical producer 102 can supply the produced output products as input materials to OEM 108. The physical transfer of the produced output products from chemical producer 102 to OEM 108 can be linked to the transfer of assets within distributed ledger network 136 associated with environmental attribute data of the input materials used to produce the output products and environmental attribute data of the production of the output products. Assets can be transferred from chemical producer 102 to OEM 108 by generating transaction data and providing such transaction data to member node 118, for example, as... Figure 8A and Figure 8B The context described regarding step 3. Member node 118 can process received transaction data, such as... Figure 4A and Figure 4B As described in the context.

[0292] Similarly, OEM 108 can use the output product supplied by chemical product consumer 106 as input material to produce the output product. The output product can be a final product. The physical transfer of the produced output product from chemical product producer 102 to OEM 108 can be linked to the transfer of assets within distributed ledger network 136 associated with environmental attribute data of the input materials used to produce the output product (e.g., the output product produced by chemical product producer 102) and environmental attribute data of the production of the output product. Assets can be transferred from OEM 108 to recycler 114 by generating transaction data and providing such transaction data to member node 122, for example, as Figure 8A and Figure 8B As described in the context. Member node 122 can process received transaction data, such as... Figure 4A and Figure 4B As described in the context.

[0293] Environmental attribute data associated with the recycling of end-of-life products can be determined in different ways. One approach is the so-called cut-off method (also known as the 100:0 or recycling content method), in which the “burden” (e.g., environmental attribute data) associated with the end-of-life product is truncated as the product enters the recycling process. Therefore, environmental attribute data associated with the end-of-life product is not allocated to the recycled material generated by the recycling process. Instead, only environmental attribute data associated with the recycling process itself (e.g., environmental attribute data associated with the recycling operations performed during the process) is allocated to the recycled material. This cut-off can be set immediately after use or after the collection of the end-of-life product. If recycling is more efficient than purchasing virgin materials, the recycled material will be associated with reduced (multiple) environmental attributes (e.g., environmental footprint data) compared to the virgin materials. The cut-off method, as... Figure 10A As shown.

[0294] To avoid allocating environmental attribute data associated with end-of-life products to recycled materials, this data can be transferred via transaction data to public keys that are not associated with participants in the product ecosystem. For example, environmental attribute data associated with end-of-life products can be transferred via transaction data to owners who are not part of the product ecosystem. This transfer can be initiated by generating transaction data that includes the environmental attribute data associated with the end-of-life product and the corresponding public key in the output data.

[0295] The environmental attributes associated with recycled materials can be registered in the distributed ledger network 136 by generating transaction data, as described for the input materials (see [link to relevant documentation]). Figure 8A , Figure 8B (Steps 1A and 2A). Therefore, this transaction data may not reference previous transaction IDs in its input data.

[0296] It can be as follows Figure 9The environmental attribute data stream can be monitored and / or verified as described in the context. The total environmental impact of a circular product ecosystem can be determined by accumulating environmental attribute data associated with the final products produced and accumulated environmental attribute data associated with the recycling process. This total environmental impact can be used to manipulate the product ecosystem in terms of its environmental impact. For example, the total environmental impact can be reduced by increasing the recycling rate, as recycled materials can be associated with a reduction in environmental impact compared to virgin materials. Monitoring implemented by the system can help establish transparency in the environmental attribute data stream and can prevent fraud by ensuring that the environmental attribute debt associated with input materials is correctly allocated to the output products produced from those input materials. In addition, the system allows comparison of environmental attribute data associated with recycled materials with environmental attribute data associated with virgin materials of the same material type, thus enabling the assessment of the efficiency of the recycling process. This can help improve the environmental impact of the product ecosystem by determining whether recycling can contribute to reducing the overall environmental impact.

[0297] and Figure 10A compared to, Figure 10B The use of the Cyclic Footprint Formula (CFF) is demonstrated. The purpose of CFF is to simultaneously account for both the recycling content and the recovery of end-of-life (EOL) on the input side. Therefore, CFF introduces additional parameters, such as material quality variations between lifecycle stages and allocation factors for recycling and energy recovery processes, designed to integrate supply and demand balance. The application of CFF can result in a reduction in environmental attribute data compared to the sum of environmental attribute data derived from the use and production processes of the input materials. The difference between the reduced environmental attribute data determined by CFF and the sum of environmental attribute data derived from the use and production processes of the input materials can be considered as an environmental attribute credit. To avoid rejecting transaction data that includes this reduced environmental attribute data due to input-output inequality, the generated credit needs to be recorded as an entry in a distributed ledger. Therefore, the determined credit needs to be allocated from the environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) input materials and / or production processes to separate addresses associated with the corresponding participants claiming the credit. This allocation can be performed, for example, by splitting the environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) input materials and / or production processes and assigning the environmental attribute data corresponding to the credit to another decentralized participant identifier associated with the corresponding participant claiming the credit.

[0298] For example, in the example shown in Figure 10, chemical product producer 102 can claim a credit for the use of recycled input materials when applying CFF to calculate environmental attribute data associated with the produced output product. The claimed credit can be allocated to another decentralized participant identifier associated with chemical product producer 102 via transaction data from environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) input materials and / or the production process. The transaction data can transfer ownership of a portion of the environmental attribute data (e.g., environmental attribute credit) to the other decentralized participant identifier, thereby reducing the remaining environmental attribute data allocated to the first decentralized participant identifier. Storing such credit as entries within the distributed ledger network allows transparency regarding the amount of credit claimed by each participant.

[0299] Then, before, during, or after transferring the output product to OEM 108, via, as... Figure 9 The transaction data described in the context will transfer the remaining environmental attribute data, corresponding to the environmental attribute data associated with the produced output product, to OEM 108. Therefore, the application of CFF may result in a reduction of environmental attribute data when recycled materials are used in the input materials used to produce the final product.

[0300] Similarly, end-product producers (e.g., OEM 108) can determine environmental attribute data associated with the produced output products via CFF. Credits can be generated if the end product includes materials that will be recycled or reused and / or if the end product includes recycled materials. Therefore, such credits can be calculated as described above.

[0301] It can be as follows Figure 9The environmental attribute data stream can be monitored and / or verified as described in the context. The total environmental impact of a circular product ecosystem can be determined by accumulating environmental attribute data associated with the final products produced. This total environmental impact can be used to manipulate the product ecosystem in terms of its environmental impact. For example, the total environmental impact can be reduced by increasing the recycling rate, since recycled materials generate credits, and / or by increasing the amount of recyclable materials in the final products, since this also generates credits. Monitoring implemented by the system can help establish transparency in the environmental attribute data stream and can prevent fraud by ensuring that environmental attribute liabilities associated with input materials are correctly allocated to the output products produced from those input materials. Additionally, it makes the amount of environmental attribute credits claimed by each participant transparent and can be used to adjust factors within the CFF based on the amount of credits claimed by participants. Furthermore, the system allows comparison of environmental attribute data associated with recycled materials with environmental attribute data associated with virgin materials of the same material type, thus enabling the assessment of the efficiency of the recycling process. This can help improve the environmental impact of the product ecosystem by determining whether recycling contributes to reducing the overall environmental impact.

[0302] Figure 11A An example system for monitoring environmental impacts associated with participants in a product ecosystem is illustrated according to embodiments of the present invention. The product ecosystem can be as follows: Figure 1 The ecosystem described in the context of [the previous sentence]. A product ecosystem may include one or more participants (see [the previous sentence]). Figure 1 , Figure 2 Participants may be part of a production or recycling chain within the product ecosystem. This system can be implemented. Figure 14 The method shown.

[0303] Input materials can be provided from input material supplier 104 to a chemical production facility operated by chemical product producer 102. The chemical production facility can then use the provided input materials to produce output products, such as chemical products. Input materials can be associated with input material credentials, such as in... Figure 5 As described in the context, input material passes can be collected via distributed network 220 using consumer node 204 from provider nodes 202-1 and 202-2 associated with input material supplier 104, such as... Figure 5 and Figure 8C The collected input material passes can be provided to backend 1152. Backend 1152 can be configured to parse the input material passes to determine the transaction identifiers included in such input material passes, such as... Figure 8CAs described in the context. Multiple transaction identifiers can be used via member node 118 to collect environmental attribute data associated with input materials from distributed ledger network 136, such as... Figure 8C As described in the context.

[0304] As in Figure 8C As described in the context, the collected environmental attribute data associated with the input materials and the environmental attribute data associated with the production process of the output products can be used to determine the environmental attribute data associated with the output products. Transaction data can be generated and provided to member node 118 to register the environmental attribute data associated with the production process and transfer the environmental attribute data associated with the produced output products to downstream participants, for example, such as... Figure 8B and Figure 8C As described in the context.

[0305] Environmental impacts represented by environmental attribute data streams can be monitored and / or verified in the following ways.

[0306] • Accumulate and provide environmental property data associated with (multiple) input materials produced by chemical producers 102.

[0307] • Accumulate environmental attribute data associated with the production processes used to produce these output products.

[0308] • Accumulate environmental attribute data associated with the output products produced by this chemical production process, and

[0309] • Compare accumulated environmental attribute data.

[0310] An environmental attribute data stream can be validated if the sum of the cumulative environmental attribute data associated with the input materials and production process equals the cumulative environmental attribute data associated with the output product. In this case, each environmental attribute data stream is always accounted for.

[0311] Participants can use this environmental impact assessment to manipulate their operations. For example, they can reduce the overall environmental impact by increasing the amount of recycled, bio-based, and renewable materials that have a lower environmental impact compared to fossil input materials and / or by using production methods associated with reduced environmental impact. System-implemented monitoring can help establish transparency in the flow of environmental attribute data and can prevent fraud by ensuring that the environmental attribute liabilities associated with input materials are correctly allocated to the outputs produced from those input materials.

[0312] Figure 11BAn example system according to embodiments of the present invention is illustrated for monitoring the environmental impact associated with the production of (multiple) output products from one or more input materials. Output products may include chemical intermediates, chemical products, components, component assemblies, and final products. Input materials may include chemical intermediates, chemical products, components, and component assemblies. Input materials may include recycled materials, bio-based materials, renewable materials, and / or biodegradable materials. This system can be implemented. Figure 14 The method shown.

[0313] The system may include address unit 1122, configured to assign addresses (e.g., the public key of a private-public key pair) to environmental attribute data stores (attribute storage inputs) associated with the inflow of (multiple) environmental attribute data and to environmental attribute data stores (attribute storage outputs) associated with the outflow of (multiple) environmental attribute data (see step 1). The addresses of the attribute storage inputs may be used for all transactions associated with received input materials; that is, the addresses of the attribute storage inputs may be used as recipient addresses for all transactions associated with the company's receipt of the input materials. Similarly, the addresses of the attribute storage outputs may be used for all transactions associated with (multiple) output products produced from the received (multiple) input materials (i.e., all (multiple) output products containing the input materials). Attribute balancing, as described later, can be performed by comparing the total environmental attributes contained in all transactions associated with (multiple) attribute inflow addresses with the total environmental attributes contained in all transactions associated with (multiple) attribute outflow addresses.

[0314] The system may further include an ID reader 1126 configured to read IDs, such as physical identifier elements of input materials and (multiple) output products produced from said input materials (i.e., (multiple) output products containing said input materials). The physical identifier elements may be physically attached to the input materials and (multiple) output products. The physical identifier elements may be associated with or linked to a digital input material identifier or an output product identifier, respectively. The ID reader may provide the determined IDs to a database (not shown) accessible by the ERP system 1128.

[0315] The system may further include an ERP system 1128 (Enterprise Resource Planning system). The ERP system 1128 can be configured to generate a transaction 1140 with an ERP transaction ID (see step 2). The ERP transaction 1140 may include an output product identifier as a primary key, record quality flow inputs and outputs, and contain additional data. This additional data may include, for example, a production recipe in the following form:

[0316] • Quantity and composition of quality inputs (in mass percentage)

[0317] • Quantity and composition of quality output (in mass percentage)

[0318] • Production unit ID as a reference

[0319] The system may further include an environmental attribute calculation unit 826. This environmental attribute calculation unit 826 can receive multiple ERP transactions 1140 from the ERP system 1128 (see [link to ERP system]). Figure 11B Step 3A in the process), and may be based on the data contained in the received ERP transaction 1140 and environmental attribute data associated with the input materials collected from the distributed ledger network 136 (not shown, see example). Figure 8C This is used to calculate environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) output products containing (multiple) input materials. Calculating environmental attribute data based on data contained in the received ERP transaction 1140 and environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) input materials can be performed, for example, based on energy consumption and / or output product yield and / or emissions generated during the transportation of (multiple) input materials to production, and environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) input materials. By using the product identifier as primary key 1142, the calculated environmental attribute data can be associated with the output product identifier contained in ERP transaction 1140. Figure 11B (Step 3B in the previous section). To account for the co-production of multiple products, subkeys can be used within the calculated output product data to associate each calculated output product data with the separately produced product. The use of the environmental attribute calculation unit 826 allows for the automatic calculation of environmental attribute data for the produced output products, which can be used to generate corresponding transaction data.

[0320] The system may further include a component attribute flow unit 1132. The unit 1132 may be configured to receive ERP transactions 1140 (see [link to ERP transaction details]). Figure 11B Step 3C), and a list of (multiple) input environment attributes can be generated by multiplying the component vector with the environment attribute input stream 1144 (see step 3C). Figure 11B (Step 3D). List 1144 can be generated from the quality input quantities and composition (in mass percentage) contained in the received ERP transaction 1140, as well as from the collected environmental attribute data associated with the input materials. List 1144 generated by the component attribute flow unit 1132 can be used as input to the transaction data prepared by the data integration unit 1134 described below.

[0321] Data integration unit 1134 can generate transaction data 1146 by retrieving at least a portion of the following data using product identifiers (i.e., primary keys) and merging them into a dataset (i.e., transaction input 1146):

[0322] • ERP transaction ID from ERP transaction 1140

[0323] • A list of (multiple) input environment attributes, 1144.

[0324] •Environmental attribute data 1142,

[0325] • Encrypted addresses for attribute storage input and attribute storage output (1124) Figure 11B Steps 4 and 5).

[0326] • Transaction type (i.e., transfer transaction or creation transaction), and

[0327] •Optionally, the transaction IDs of (multiple) previous transactions.

[0328] Transaction input 1146 can vary depending on the production steps used to produce (multiple) output products containing the input material from the input material. For example, the amount of output product produced can be assigned to at least two different attribute storage output addresses, such that the total attribute quantity of the output product is divided between these at least two different attribute storage output addresses. In this case, unit 1134 assigns values ​​(i.e., a list of divided attribute quantities) to the corresponding attribute storage output addresses. For example, the values ​​can be obtained from ERP transaction data 1140. As previously mentioned, for chemical reactions involving multiple reaction products, each reaction product can be assigned to an attribute quality storage output address. Transaction data 1146 can vary depending on the transaction type.

[0329] Data integration unit 1134 can act as a... Figure 4B The client 416 is described, and can be generated using application 418 and driver 420 as described above. Figure 4B The described signed transaction.

[0330] Transaction data 1146 generated by unit 1334 can be received by member nodes of the distributed ledger network 136. Distributed ledger server 310 can confirm the received signed transaction and, after successful consensus, store the transaction as an entry in the distributed ledger within a block, for example, as described above. Figure 4B As described above, member nodes can provide instructions to data integration unit 1134 to submit the transaction (as mentioned above). Figure 4B The corresponding notification (as described). This notification may include transaction data, such as the transaction ID, the public keys of the parties involved, other data, or a combination thereof.

[0331] In addition to generating transaction data 1146, the data integration unit 1134 can also perform inventory checks on attribute storage address 1124 by storing the sum of transaction inputs associated with attribute storage inputs and attribute storage outputs, so as to allow the data integration unit 1134 to determine attribute balance, as described below.

[0332] A prerequisite for balancing storage accounts is that ERP transactions and distributed ledger transactions are consistent. Data integration unit 1134 can ensure consistency by ensuring that the logical order of ERP transactions is the same as the order in which transactions are submitted to the distributed ledger via member nodes. To this end, unit 1134 can queue received ERP transactions 1140 until previously generated transaction data sent to member node 1136 is submitted to the distributed ledger.

[0333] Once consistency is established for each storage address, data integration unit 1134 balances the transaction sums. The result is the net inventory for each storage address at a given timestamp:

[0334] • Attribute inflow is represented by transactions that assign environmental attribute data of input materials to (multiple) attribute storage input addresses, and

[0335] • Attribute outflow is a transaction representation that assigns environmental attribute data of (multiple) output products containing materials to (multiple) attribute storage output addresses.

[0336] The determined attribute balances can be stored in the data integration unit 1134 as data records (e.g., as key-value pairs or documents) associated with the corresponding attribute storage addresses and corresponding attribute storage names. For ongoing operations, a list of timestamps is created that represents the batch intervals of production steps as a uniform time grid.

[0337] However, if inventory counting is required for a given attribute storage address, the timestamp must be manually placed either so that all production batches associated with that attribute storage output address are completed in the ERP at that timestamp (making batch end occur simultaneously), or all inventory management operations must be performed on a fixed (usually uniform) time grid. In the latter case, a uniform time grid represents the actual batch interval length, meaning that the batch interval for all production units must be the same. However, in general, batch sizes are not consistent across multiple production units and products within a company. Therefore, the time grid interval can be adjusted to the greatest common divisor of all batch lengths occurring in the company's production system.

[0338] The data integration unit 1134 can be further connected to the ID provider 1138. The ID provider 1138 can be configured to provide, upon request from the data integration unit 1134, a distributed pass identifier as described above, such as a UUID (see [link to relevant documentation]). Figure 11B Step 7). The provided ID can be used by data integration unit 1134 (using the product identifier as the primary key) to generate an output product pass, which contains transaction data received from member node 1136, and additional product data contained in ERP transaction 1140 and / or retrieved from another database (not shown) connected to unit 1134 (see...). Figure 11B Step 8).

[0339] Figure 11B The system shown allows companies to perform attribute balancing by storing information about the flow of input materials, the flow associated with the output products containing the input materials, the flow of environmental attribute data, and inventory in a tamper-proof manner in a distributed ledger. This allows for tracking of the input materials and associated output products, even if the output products are not produced in a real-time continuous flow, but often in an activity (materials that have been in inventory for some time are used in such production activities).

[0340] also, Figure 11B The system demonstrated allows the generation of product passes associated with output products produced from specific raw materials. These product passes include transaction data, such as transaction IDs.

[0341] Due to the mass balance paradigm, chemical products with the same chemical, physical, and mechanical properties may have very different historical, source, and environmental attribute data. Therefore, the same material identifier must be matched with different input material data describing material sustainability factors, and the same output product identifier must be matched with several different product data describing product sustainability factors. This is achieved using data on… Figure 11B The described system is implemented by combining material or product identifiers within additional data included in the transaction data with classification or production data.

[0342] Figure 12 An example system for monitoring the environmental impact associated with a single output product produced from one or more input materials, according to embodiments of the present invention, is illustrated. The single output product may be a chemical intermediate, a chemical product, a component, a component assembly, or a final product. The single output product may be produced by a process such as chemical production.

[0343] A specific output product can be produced using different input materials (materials A through C) with a defined production formula. The produced output product can then be packaged and sold to (multiple) consumers, such as end consumers or other upstream companies, for further processing. In another example, more or fewer different compounds can be used. In yet another example, the product can be produced by assembling different parts, for example, in the case that the product is a part of a car (such as a battery).

[0344] Input materials transferred to the production process are registered by the member node associated with the input material supplier 104, for example, such as Figure 8A and Figure 8B As described in the context, the input materials provided for production can be associated with physical identifier elements. Physical identifier elements can be scanned, and the acquired data can be used via a distributed network 220 to collect input material credentials associated with such input materials from provider nodes 202-1 and 202-2 using consumer node 204, for example, such as... Figure 5 The collected input material passes can be stored in backend 1152. Backend 1152 can be connected to member nodes 118 of the distributed ledger network 136. Backend 1152 can be configured to generate query data based on transaction identifiers included in the collected passes, such as... Figure 11A As described in the context. In response to query data provided by backend 1152, member node 118 can query the distributed ledger and can return transaction data that matches the query data. For example, member node 118 can return transaction data associated with the transfer of environmental attribute data related to input materials A to C.

[0345] To determine the property balance, it is necessary to consider, for example, stoichiometry that can be retrieved from ERP transaction data 1140 to calculate and compare the total environmental property data of the input materials and the total environmental property data of the (multiple) output products containing the input materials.

[0346] In one example, as previously described, environmental property data for the input material can be obtained by querying the distributed ledger network 136 using the transaction identifier included in the input material pass. Total environmental property data can be obtained by considering stoichiometry, for example, as... Figure 15A As described in the context. Chemometrics, for example, can be retrieved from ERP transaction data 1140. Environmental property data containing multiple output products of materials A to C can be obtained by querying the distributed ledger for transactions referencing transaction(s) identifiers associated with transactions related to materials A to C. Total environmental property data can be obtained by considering chemometrics, for example, as... Figure 15A As described in the context.

[0347] Applications that can access the distributed ledger network 136 (such as those related to...) Figure 4B The described application (418) is used to calculate attribute balance. The determined attribute balance can be displayed within a graphical user interface, and any deviations can be highlighted to increase user comfort.

[0348] Figure 13 An example method according to embodiments of the present invention is illustrated for monitoring multiple environmental properties associated with multiple output products produced from one or more input materials. The output products may include... Figure 11B The output product is described in the context of the input material. Figure 11B The input material described in the context. Figure 13 The method shown can be derived from Figure 8C and Figure 11B The system shown is used for implementation. Input materials can be, for example, in... Figure 5 The input material pass is associated with the context described. Environmental attribute data may include information about... Figure 1 The data listed. Environmental attribute data may include carbon footprint data.

[0349] (Multiple) input materials can be used, for example, in Figure 5 The context describes the association of (multiple) input material identifiers. Based on the (multiple) input material identifiers associated with (multiple) input materials, (multiple) input material credentials can be collected from a distributed network (see box 1302). This can be done as described in... Figure 5 In the context described above, (multiple) input material passes are collected. A distributed network can be as follows: Figure 2 The context describes a distributed peer-to-peer network. Multiple input material identifiers may be associated with or included in access elements stored in a distributed registry of the distributed network 220. Access elements may be associated with input material passes. Based on the multiple input material identifiers, access elements associated with the multiple input material identifiers can be retrieved, such as... Figure 5As described in the context of [the above]. Using the access data included in the access element, the corresponding input material pass can be collected via a consumer node from a provider node associated with a dedicated storage device storing the input material pass. The dedicated storage device may be associated with or under the control of the data owner of the input material pass. Using passes independent of information written into the distributed ledger allows certain information (such as environmental attribute data associated with the input material) to be stored immutably within the distributed ledger along with the transaction, while allowing detailed information about the input material to be provided via a separate coordinated data exchange route. This allows the amount of data contained within each transaction to be reduced to a minimum, thereby reducing the amount of data that needs to be stored within the distributed ledger, and also guarantees the necessary privacy regarding sensitive details of the material / product associated with the corresponding transaction(s). Transactions stored in the distributed ledger may include a hash of the input material pass to allow verification that the transaction is indeed associated with the input material pass. Transactions stored in the distributed ledger may include a decentralized pass identifier to allow verification that the transaction is indeed associated with the input material pass.

[0350] Environmental attribute data associated with multiple input materials can be collected from a distributed ledger in a decentralized network based on the collected input material credentials. The distributed ledger network can be... Figure 1 The distributed ledger network 136 is described in the context of [the previous sentence]. A distributed ledger can store transactions (e.g., entries) that include environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) input materials. Transactions stored in the distributed ledger can link to transfers from the physical entities of (multiple) input materials to participants in the production of (multiple) output products, such as [examples of transfers]. Figure 8A and Figure 8BThe context described above. An input material pass may include data associated with a transaction in a distributed ledger stored as an entry in a distributed ledger network 136. An input material pass may include data associated with environmental attribute data of (multiple) input materials. Transaction-related data may include (multiple) transaction identifiers. These (multiple) transaction identifiers can be used to query the distributed ledger for transactions associated with such (multiple) transaction identifiers. These (multiple) transactions may include environmental attribute data. These (multiple) transaction identifiers can be used to query the distributed ledger for transactions associated with such (multiple) transaction identifiers. For example, a client may generate query data based on the transaction data included in the pass and may send such query data to a member node. A member node may use the received query data to query the distributed ledger stored in its database and may provide the received response to the client. The received response may include a transaction matching the query data (e.g., (multiple) transaction IDs). The client may parse the received transaction and may determine the environmental attribute data included in the received transaction. For example, the client may determine the environmental attribute data stored in the output data of the received transaction (see also...). Figure 4A ).

[0351] Environmental attribute data associated with the output product can be determined based on collected environmental attribute data related to (multiple) input materials and environmental attribute data related to the production of the output product. This can be achieved as follows: Figure 10B and Figure 11B The context described is used to determine environmental attribute data.

[0352] Transaction data can be generated that is associated with the transfer of the output product to downstream consumers of the output product. Transaction data may include identified environmental attribute data associated with the output product and data related to the downstream consumers of the output product. Transaction data may further include transaction identifiers (e.g., transaction IDs for transactions associated with the environmental attributes of the input materials) included in input material passes. Transaction data may further include transaction identifiers (e.g., transaction IDs for transactions associated with environmental attribute data of the production process used to produce the output product) for the production of the output product. Figure 8B As described in the context. The transaction data may further include data related to the output product. Data related to the output product may include output product identifiers, such as batch numbers, LOT numbers, or distributed pass identifiers included in output product passes associated with (multiple) output products.

[0353] Additionally, based on the determined environmental attribute data, transaction data can be generated to store environmental attribute credits associated with the use of (multiple) recycled input materials (e.g., input materials including recycled content) and / or output products containing recyclable materials as entries in a distributed ledger network. Environmental attribute credits can be associated with, or be related to, the difference between environmental attribute data associated with the use of recycled input materials that do not contain recycled content and environmental attribute data associated with the use of input materials that contain recycled content. Environmental attribute credits can be associated with, or be related to, the difference between environmental attribute data associated with output products that do not contain recyclable materials and environmental attribute data associated with output products that contain recyclable materials. Recyclable materials can include components, parts, and / or component assemblies that can be recycled to obtain recycled materials. This step is typically optional. This step can be performed if an environmental impact credit has been determined in box 1306. Transaction data can include environmental attribute credits and addresses associated with participants claiming the credits, such as... Figure 10B As described in the context.

[0354] The generated transaction data can be provided to a distributed ledger network to access environmental attribute data associated with the output products. Providing the generated transaction data to the distributed ledger network may include signing the transaction data. The transaction data provided to the distributed ledger network can be verified and stored as entries in the distributed ledger, for example, such as... Figure 4B As described in the context. It can receive a message indicating successful storage. This message may include at least a portion of the transaction data, for example, as in... Figure 4B As described in the context.

[0355] Transparency in this data, as well as the amount of environmental attribute debt transferred to downstream consumers of the output products, can be achieved by storing the environmental attribute data associated with the produced output products as entries in the distributed ledger of a distributed ledger network. High confidentiality is achieved by concealing the identities of the parties involved in the transfer and the identities of the materials or products transferred between them, while still allowing for reliable balancing of environmental attribute data within the distributed ledger network. This high confidentiality allows for storing environmental attribute data of the entire production and / or recycling chain of a product ecosystem within the distributed ledger, without allowing any transparency regarding the participants and materials / products involved in such a production and / or recycling chain. Transparency in environmental attribute data can facilitate reliable and trustworthy calculations of the environmental attribute data associated with the produced output products by ensuring that (e.g., by adding) environmental attribute data associated with the input materials and production processes used to produce the output products are considered when determining the environmental attribute data associated with the output products. Furthermore, transparency regarding the environmental impact of output products can help manipulate the overall environmental impact of the product ecosystem or the environmental impact of (multiple) participants in the product ecosystem (e.g., obtaining environmental attribute credits or reducing environmental attribute debt due to the use of input materials with reduced environmental impact) by encouraging the use of recycled or recycled input materials to reduce the environmental impact of the produced output products.

[0356] Figure 14 An example method according to embodiments of the present invention is illustrated for verifying environmental property data associated with (multiple) output products produced from one or more input materials. The output products may include... Figure 11B The output product is described in the context of the input material. Figure 11B The input material described in the context. Figure 13 The method shown can be derived from Figure 8C , Figure 8D , Figure 11A and Figure 12 The system shown is used for implementation. Input materials can be, for example, in... Figure 5 The input material pass is associated with the context described above. The output product can be associated with, for example, in... Figure 5 The output artifacts are associated with the pass described in the context of [the relevant context]. Environmental attribute data may include, for example, [data related to] [the relevant context]. Figure 1 The environmental attribute data is described in the context of the subject. Environmental attribute data may include carbon footprint data associated with (multiple) input materials and (multiple) output products.

[0357] It is possible to collect at least one input material pass associated with (multiple) input materials and / or at least one output product pass associated with the output product. This can be done as follows: Figure 5 Passes are collected as described in the context. Each pass may contain data associated with the transaction(s) related to the input material and / or the transaction(s) related to the output product. Data associated with the transaction data may include the transaction(s) ID, credentials (such as public keys) associated with the transaction(s), or a combination thereof. The transaction(s) ID can be used to collect associated transaction data from the distributed ledger via member nodes, for example, such as... Figure 8C and Figure 8D As described in the context.

[0358] Environmental attribute data associated with multiple input materials and multiple output products can be collected from a distributed ledger in a decentralized network based on received digital passes. Transaction IDs included in the passes can be used to collect environmental attribute data. Similarly, environmental attribute data for multiple input materials can be collected based on transaction IDs associated with the environmental attribute data of the output products, and vice versa.

[0359] refer to Figure 15A Collecting environmental attribute data may include determining whether the collected passes include data related to transactions of input materials (e.g., transactions associated with multiple input materials) and / or data related to transactions of output products (e.g., transactions associated with multiple output products). If the collected passes include data related to transactions of input materials and data related to transactions of output products, then boxes 1522 to 1528 are executed by collecting the corresponding environmental attribute data based on the data related to the multiple input materials and multiple output products (e.g., transaction IDs) included in the collected passes. Environmental attribute data associated with output products may include environmental attribute data associated with the production of output products and environmental attribute data related to output products. Environmental attribute data associated with the production of output products may be collected based on the transaction chain, as described below.

[0360] If the collected tokens only include data related to transactions of input materials, then output product transactions can be collected from the distributed ledger network based on the data related to the input material transactions. Since transactions are linked by referencing transaction IDs associated with input materials within transactions associated with the environmental attribute data of the output product, the complete chain of input materials used to produce a given output product can be resolved starting from a single transaction ID, and vice versa. Resolving this chain may involve repeatedly querying the distributed ledger database. Based on the identified output product transactions, associated environmental attribute data related to the output products can be collected.

[0361] If only data related to output product transactions is included in the collected tokens, then the transaction chain can be used to collect input material transactions from the distributed ledger network based on the data related to output product transactions(s) as described above.

[0362] Based on the collected tokens, quantitative data associated with multiple input materials and multiple output products can be collected from the distributed ledger of the decentralized network. This box can be optional. It can be executed if quality balance is to be determined along with attribute balance. This quantity can be included within additional data included in the transaction data. Validating quality flow along with attribute flow ensures that not only are the multiple attributes accounted for, but also the quality flow within the product ecosystem. This allows for the prevention of obsolete products (such as waste) from disappearing from the product ecosystem, which might not be detected if only attribute balance is determined.

[0363] Environmental impacts can be verified by comparing environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) input materials with environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) output products. (Reference) Figure 15B Comparing environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) input materials with environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) output products can include

[0364] • Accumulate environmental impact data associated with all (multiple) input materials used in the production of output products.

[0365] • Accumulate environmental impact data associated with all (multiple) output products, and

[0366] • Compare accumulated environmental impact data.

[0367] Environmental property data associated with input materials may include environmental property data of the input materials themselves and environmental property data associated with the production processes required to produce the final product from the input materials.

[0368] Continue to refer to Figure 15B Environmental property data associated with input materials and output products are accumulated based on output product composition data. Output product composition data can be used to verify the property balance of a specific output product. Output product composition data can be used to determine multiple environmental properties of the input materials (see box 1540) based on the output product composition data and retrieved environmental property data. This ensures that compositional data, such as stoichiometry, are considered when accumulating multiple environmental properties associated with the input materials used to produce a given product.

[0369] The transfer of mass balance can be verified by comparing quantitative data associated with (multiple) input materials with quantitative data associated with (multiple) output products. Comparing the quantitative data may include determining the total amount of input materials and comparing that total amount with the total amount of output products. Determining the total amount may include considering compositional data, such as in… Figure 15B As described in the context.

[0370] Comparison results can be provided. The comparison results can be a classifier. The classifier can be a binary classifier that distinguishes between validated and unvalidated data. An environmental property data stream can be validated if the sum of cumulative environmental property data associated with the input materials equals the sum of cumulative environmental property data associated with the output product. A mass stream can be validated if the sum of cumulative quantities associated with the input materials equals the cumulative quantity associated with the output product. In this case, each mass stream is always accounted for. Results can include cumulative attributes(s). Results can include deviations determined between the cumulative attributes(s). Results can be provided for display. Results can be provided to a data storage device.

[0371] By storing environmental attribute data associated with input and output materials as immutable transactions within a distributed ledger, and by linking these transactions to passes associated with such input materials and output products, a balance of (multiple) environmental attributes can be achieved. This balance allows product ecosystem participants, as well as third parties (such as auditors and governments), to verify the environmental impact of received input materials (corresponding to output products produced by (multiple) upstream participants) by examining whether the environmental attribute liabilities associated with the received input materials and the production processes used to produce such received input materials were properly considered during the determination of environmental attribute data associated with the received input materials. Transparency in the environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) received input materials allows for the reliable and credible determination of the correctness of the environmental attribute data associated with the received input materials, thereby preventing the use of incorrect environmental attribute data associated with input materials when determining the environmental attribute data associated with output products. This ensures that the environmental attribute data associated with the final produced products is determined reliably and credibly, thus allowing the use of such data to directly or indirectly manipulate the environmental impact of the product ecosystem or (multiple) participants in the product ecosystem.

[0372] Figure 16 This paper illustrates another example method, according to embodiments of the present invention, for verifying environmental property data associated with (multiple) output products produced from one or more input materials. The output products may include... Figure 11B The output product is described in the context of the input material. Figure 11BThe input material is described in the context of the given information. Environmental attribute data may include, for example, the input material described in the given information. Figure 1 The environmental attribute data described in the context of [the data]. Environmental attribute data may involve or include carbon footprint data associated with (multiple) input materials and (multiple) output products. Figure 16 The method shown can be derived from Figure 9 , Figure 10A and Figure 10B The system shown is used for implementation. Transaction data can be integrated with distributed ledger networks (such as...). Figure 1 Entries in the distributed ledger of a distributed ledger network (136) are associated. Input materials can be associated with transaction data. Transaction data can represent the transfer of input materials and associated environmental attribute liabilities to downstream participants of the input material producer, for example, such as... Figure 8A and Figure 8B As described in the context. Output products can be associated with transaction data. Transaction data can represent the transfer of output products and associated environmental attribute liabilities to downstream participants of the output product producer, for example, such as... Figure 8A and Figure 8B and Figure 8D As described in the context. Transaction data can represent the transfer of environmental attribute debt to a "sink address," for example, such as... Figure 10A As described in the context. Transaction data can represent the transfer of environmental attribute credits to an address used to store credits claimed by participants, for example, as... Figure 10B The input material can be described in, for example, the context described. Figure 5 The input material pass is associated with the context described above. The output product can be associated with, for example, in... Figure 5 The output artifact is associated with the pass described in the context. The pass may include at least a portion of the transaction data.

[0373] It can receive transaction data associated with output products. Transaction data can be associated with entries in the distributed ledger. Transaction data may include a transaction ID associated with an entry in the distributed ledger. This transaction data may further include data related to the output product. Data related to the output product may include a decentralized output product token identifier, a digital output product identifier, or a combination thereof. A digital output product identifier may include a batch number, a LOT number, an output product name, or a combination thereof. Data related to the output product can allow the collection of output product tokens via a distributed network, for example, such as... Figure 5 As described in the context, this allows verification that transaction data is indeed associated with the output product by comparing the transaction data included in the pass with the received transaction data.

[0374] Based on the received transaction data, transaction data associated with sub-transactions referenced in (e.g., parent transactions) of the transactions associated with the received transaction data can be collected. Such sub-transactions may be associated with (various) input materials used to produce the output product. Such sub-transactions may be associated with (multiple) production processes used to produce the output product. The collected transaction data may include the transaction ID of such referenced transactions. For example, in... Figure 8B As described in the context, transactions associated with the output product may include, within the input data, one or more transaction IDs related to transactions associated with the (multiple) input materials used to produce the output product and transactions associated with the production of the output product. Collecting transaction data associated with the referenced transactions may include:

[0375] • Collect transactions associated with received transaction data from the distributed ledger (e.g., output product transactions).

[0376] • Identify transaction data associated with the sub-transactions included within the collected transactions.

[0377] • Collect (multiple) sub-transactions based on the identified transaction data.

[0378] The collected transactions associated with the output can be parsed to determine the transaction(s) included in the input data of the collected transactions. The determined transaction(s) (e.g., transaction data associated with the referenced transactions(s)) can then be used to query the distributed ledger for the transactions associated with such transaction(s).

[0379] The collected sub-transactions can be parsed to determine whether the input data included in this seed transaction also includes transaction IDs (e.g., whether the referenced transaction references another transaction). This may be the case if the input material associated with the referenced material was produced from the input material (e.g., does not correspond to virgin raw material or recycled material). If the collected sub-transactions reference other transactions, the method can return to step 1604. Otherwise, the method can proceed to step 1608.

[0380] In box 1608, environmental attribute data associated with the output product can be collected based on the received transaction data. Collecting environmental attribute data may include retrieving such data from the received transaction data. Collecting environmental attribute data may include collecting transactions from the distributed ledger based on the received transaction data associated with the output product, and determining the environmental attribute data included within the collected transactions. The collected transactions can be parsed to determine the environmental attribute data. The environmental attribute data may be included in the output data of the collected transactions.

[0381] Environmental attribute data included in (multiple) sub-transactions can be collected. Collecting environmental attribute data may include retrieving such data from transaction data associated with the referenced transaction. Collecting environmental attribute data may include collecting transactions from the distributed ledger based on received transaction data associated with (multiple) referenced transactions, and determining the environmental attribute data included within the collected (multiple) referenced transactions. The collected (multiple) referenced transactions can be parsed to determine the environmental attribute data. Environmental attribute data may be included in the output data of the collected (multiple) referenced transactions (see, for example...). Figure 4B ).

[0382] The environmental impact associated with the output product can be verified by comparing environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) referenced transactions with environmental attribute data associated with the output product. Comparing the environmental attribute data may include determining the total number of (multiple) environmental attributes included in the collected environmental attribute data. The total number of (multiple) environmental attributes can be as follows: Figure 15B The environmental impact associated with the output product can be verified if at least a portion of the total amount of (multiple) environmental attributes included in the collected environmental attribute data associated with the output product matches the corresponding total amount of (multiple) environmental attributes included in the collected environmental attribute data associated with the referenced transaction (e.g., environmental attributes associated with (multiple) input materials used to produce the output product and environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) production processes used to produce the output product).

[0383] It can provide comparison results of environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) referenced transactions and environmental attribute data associated with the output product. This can be achieved as follows: Figure 14 The result should be provided as described in the context.

[0384] By storing environmental attribute data within a distributed ledger and referencing transactions associated with the input materials used to produce that output product in transactions related to the output product, a balance of environmental attributes can be achieved. This balance allows product ecosystem participants, as well as third parties such as auditors and governments, to verify the environmental impact of a given output product by examining whether the environmental attribute liabilities associated with the input materials and production processes were properly considered during the determination of the environmental attribute data associated with the output product. The transparency of the environmental attribute data associated with the input materials and output products, combined with the immutability of the distributed ledger, incentivizes product ecosystem participants to properly consider the environmental attribute liabilities associated with the input materials and production processes when determining the environmental impact of the produced output product, thus preventing the unconsidered or over-considered environmental attribute liabilities of the input materials and / or production processes from mitigating the environmental impact of the produced output product.

[0385] Figure 17 An example method for monitoring environmental impacts associated with participants in a product ecosystem, according to embodiments of the present invention, is illustrated. Environmental impacts may involve environmental attribute data, such as... Figure 1 The environmental attribute data described in the context. Environmental impact may involve carbon footprint data associated with (multiple) input materials and (multiple) output products. Product ecosystems may include chemical products. Product ecosystems may include production chains that produce end-of-life (EOL) products. Product ecosystems may include recycling chains for recovering at least a portion of end-of-life (EOL) products. Participants may be any participant in the production chain or recycling chain. Participants may be... Figure 1 or Figure 2 The participants are shown. For example, a participant could be an output product producer that produces one or more output products from one or more input materials. The output products can be included in... Figure 11B The output product is described in the context of the input material. Figure 11B The input materials are described in the context of [the context]. Participants can operate production to produce one or more output products from one or more input materials. Participants can receive (multiple) input materials and can produce one or more output products from such input materials through production operated by the participants. Participants can supply the produced output products to downstream participants in the product ecosystem. Input materials can be associated with transaction data. Transaction data can represent the transfer of input materials and associated environmental attribute liabilities to downstream participants of the input material producers, for example, [e.g., ...]. Figure 8A and Figure 8BAs described in the context. Output products can be associated with transaction data. Transaction data can represent the transfer of output products and associated environmental attribute liabilities to downstream participants of the output product producer, for example, such as... Figure 8A and Figure 8B and Figure 8D As described in the context. Transaction data can represent the transfer of environmental attribute debt to a "remittance address," for example, such as... Figure 10A As described in the context. Transaction data can represent the transfer of environmental attribute credit to an address used to store credit claimed by participants, for example, as... Figure 10B The input material can be described in, for example, the context described. Figure 5 The input material pass is associated with the context described above. The output product can be associated with, for example, in... Figure 5 The output artifact is associated with the pass described in the context. The pass may include at least a portion of the transaction data. Figure 16 The method shown can be derived from Figure 9 , Figure 10A and Figure 10B The system shown is used for implementation.

[0386] It can receive (multiple) decentralized participant identifiers associated with a participant. These (multiple) decentralized participant identifiers can include those associated with a distributed ledger network (e.g., Figure 1 Data associated with accounts or addresses within the distributed ledger network (136) shown. Data associated with accounts or addresses may include public keys(s) associated with or controlled by a participant. Data associated with accounts or addresses may include data generated from a participant's public and / or private keys, such as a distributed ledger network address generated from a public and / or private key. A decentralized participant identifier may represent one or more accounts, wherein environmental attribute data of input materials received by the respective participant is assigned to that one or more accounts, and environmental attribute data of output products produced by said participant is transferred from that one or more accounts to another account or address.

[0387] It is possible to obtain information from a distributed ledger network (e.g., based on the received distributed participant identifiers) from (multiple) distributed participant identifiers. Figure 1 The distributed ledger of the network shown (136) collects transactions associated with (multiple) decentralized participant identifiers. Transactions can be collected by querying the distributed ledger of the distributed ledger network. Query data may include the received decentralized participant identifiers. Queries can be sent from a client to a member node, which can, in response to receiving query data, query the distributed ledger stored in its database (see example...). Figure 8DThe query results can be provided by member nodes to the client that sent the query data. A transaction may include multiple decentralized participant identifiers.

[0388] Environmental attribute data can be collected based on the collected transactions(s). Collecting environmental attribute data may include determining the environmental attribute data included in the transactions(s). The client can parse the returned transactions(s)(s) to determine the environmental attribute data. Environmental attribute data may be included in the output data contained within the transactions(s)(see example...). Figure 4B Environmental attribute data can be associated with the production of (multiple) input materials, (multiple) output products, and (multiple) output products.

[0389] Environmental impacts associated with decentralized participants can be monitored by comparing environmental attribute data associated with input materials with environmental attribute data associated with output products and with environmental attribute data associated with the production of the output products (e.g., with the production processes(s) used to produce the output products). Comparing environmental attribute data may include determining the total number of environmental attributes(s) included in the collected environmental attribute data. The total number of environmental attributes(s) can be as follows: Figure 15B As described in the context, this can be determined by identifying the collected transactions, including decentralized participant identifiers, in the output data (see also...). Figure 4A This involves adding environmental attributes (multiple) to the environmental attribute data included in the identified transactions to determine the total amount of (multiple) environmental attributes associated with (multiple) input materials. Transactions including decentralized participant identifiers in the output data can be associated with the transfer of input materials and associated environmental attribute liabilities to participants. Transactions including decentralized participant identifiers collected in the input data can be identified (see also...). Figure 4A This involves adding environmental attributes (multiple) to the environmental attribute data included in the identified transactions to determine the total amount of (multiple) environmental attributes associated with (multiple) output products. Transactions that include decentralized participant identifiers in the input data can be associated with the transfer of (multiple) output products and associated environmental attribute liabilities by a participant to downstream participants. Comparing such totals allows for monitoring of the flow of environmental attribute data associated with the flow of input materials and output products within production operated by participants, and detection of any irregularities in the flow.

[0390] It can provide comparison results of environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) referenced transactions and environmental attribute data associated with the output product. This can be achieved as follows: Figure 14 The result should be provided as described in the context.

[0391] By storing environmental attribute data within a distributed ledger and reflecting the transfer of input materials and output products in the physical world through transactions within the distributed ledger, the flow of environmental attribute data can be monitored for a given participant in a product ecosystem. This monitoring allows product ecosystem participants, as well as third parties (such as auditors and governments), to determine a given participant's environmental impact by examining whether the environmental attribute liabilities associated with input materials and production processes were properly considered during the determination of environmental attribute data related to output products. The transparency of environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) input materials and (multiple) output products, combined with the immutability of the distributed ledger, incentivizes product ecosystem participants to properly consider the environmental attribute liabilities associated with (multiple) input materials and production processes when determining the environmental impact of the produced output products, thus preventing (multiple) environmental attribute liabilities of (multiple) input materials and / or production processes from being overlooked or over-considered to mitigate the environmental impact of the produced output products.

[0392] Figure 18 An example method according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown for registering environmental attribute data associated with the output products of a recycling process as entries in a distributed ledger network. The environmental attribute data may include information about... Figure 1 The listed data. Environmental attribute data may include carbon footprint data. Recycled materials can be obtained by performing at least one recycling operation on (multiple) end-of-life products or (multiple) components thereof. (Multiple) components may include parts, part assemblies, and / or chemical products. A recycling operation may include at least one recycling step. A recycling operation may include a collection step, a sorting step, and / or at least one recycling step. The recycled materials obtained from the recycling steps can be used as input materials to produce (multiple) new output products, such as... Figure 10A and Figure 10B As described in the context, registering environmental attribute data as an entry in a distributed ledger may not be associated with transfers in the physical world. However, registering environmental attribute data as an entry in a distributed ledger can be associated with transaction data that does not include previous owners in the input data (see, for example...). Figure 4A ). Figure 18 The method shown can be derived from Figure 10A The system shown is used for implementation.

[0393] EOL products can be associated with an end-product identifier, for example, as in Figure 5 As described in the context. Similarly, components of an EOL product can be associated with a component identifier, for example, as in... Figure 5As described in the context. Based on (multiple) end-product identifiers and / or (multiple) component identifiers, (multiple) end-product tokens and / or component tokens can be collected from a distributed network. This can be done as described in... Figure 5 Collect (multiple) passes as described in the context. A distributed network can be like... Figure 2 The context describes a distributed peer-to-peer network. Multiple identifiers may be associated with or included in access elements stored in a distributed registry of the distributed network 220. Access elements may be associated with corresponding passes. Based on the multiple identifiers, access elements associated with the multiple identifiers can be retrieved, such as... Figure 5 As described in the context. Using the access data included in the access element, the corresponding pass can be collected via the consumer node from the provider node associated with the dedicated storage device storing the pass, such as... Figure 5 As described in the context of [the document]. Dedicated storage devices can be associated with or under the control of the data owner of the corresponding pass. Using passes independent of information written into the distributed ledger allows certain information (such as environmental attribute data associated with EOL artifacts or their components) to be stored immutably within the distributed ledger along with the transaction, while allowing detailed information about the EOL artifact or its components to be provided via a separate coordinated data exchange route. This allows for a minimum reduction in the amount of data contained within each transaction, thereby reducing the amount of data that needs to be stored within the distributed ledger, and also guarantees the necessary privacy regarding sensitive details of the EOL artifact / its(s) associated with the corresponding transaction(s). Transactions stored in the distributed ledger may include a hash of the corresponding pass to allow verification that the transaction is indeed associated with such pass. Transactions stored in the distributed ledger may include a decentralized pass identifier to allow verification that the transaction is indeed associated with the corresponding pass.

[0394] Environmental attribute data associated with (multiple) EOL artifacts and / or (multiple) components can be collected from the distributed ledger of the distributed ledger network based on the collected (multiple) credentials. The distributed ledger network can be... Figure 1 The context describes a distributed ledger network 136. A pass may include transaction data associated with a transaction in a distributed ledger stored as an entry in the distributed ledger network 136. The transaction data may include (multiple) transaction identifiers. These (multiple) transaction identifiers can be used to query the distributed ledger for transactions associated with such transaction identifiers. For example, a client may generate query data based on the transaction data included in the pass and may send such query data to member nodes, such as (e.g., ...). Figure 10AThe node 128 is shown. Member node 128 can use received query data to query the distributed ledger stored in its database and can provide the received response to the client. The received response may include a transaction that matches the query data (such as (multiple) transaction IDs). The client can parse the received transaction and can determine the environmental attribute data included in the received transaction. For example, the client can determine the environmental attribute data stored in the output data of the received transaction (see also...). Figure 4A ).

[0395] Based on the collected environmental attribute data, transaction data can be generated to separate environmental attribute data (multiple data) associated with EOL products and / or their components (multiple components) from the EOL products and / or their components (multiple components). The transaction data may include the environmental attribute data to be separated and decentralized participant identifiers to which the separated environmental attribute data is assigned. The decentralized participant identifiers can act as a "sink" or "pool" of the separated environmental attribute data. This allows for actions such as... Figure 10A The diagram illustrates a truncation method for determining environmental property data associated with recycled materials. The generated transaction data can be provided to a distributed ledger network. This generated transaction data can be provided to member nodes of the distributed ledger network via clients, for example, as... Figure 4B As described in the context. Member nodes can confirm the received transaction data (see...). Figure 4B Distributed ledger networks can process confirmed transaction data, for example, as in... Figure 4B As described in the context, processing may include storing transaction data as entries (e.g., transactions) in a distributed ledger.

[0396] Data associated with the recycling operation can be collected. This data may include environmental property data associated with the output products of the recycling operation. For example, in... Figure 11B The environmental attribute data associated with the output products is determined as described in the context. Environmental attribute data may include data associated with the performed recycling process (e.g., the process steps performed and / or the transportation steps performed). However, environmental attribute data may not include any environmental attribute liabilities associated with the waste products or components used as input materials in the recycling process. This data may be collected from one or more databases storing such data. The database may be associated with the recycling facility performing the recycling operation. The database may store recycling process data collected before, during, and / or after the execution of the recycling process(s).

[0397] Transaction data can be generated based on environm...

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for monitoring multiple environmental properties associated with the produced output products, wherein, The (multiple) output products are produced from one or more input materials, and the method includes: - Collect multiple input material credentials associated with the input material from a distributed network based on the input material identifier associated with the input material. -Based on the collected input material (multiple) credentials, environmental attribute data associated with the input material (multiple) is collected from the distributed ledger of the distributed ledger network. -Based on the collected environmental attribute data associated with the input materials (multiple types) and the environmental attribute data associated with the production of the output products (multiple types), determine the environmental attribute data associated with the produced output products (multiple types). - Generate transaction data associated with the transfer of the (multiple) output products to one or more output product consumers, including identified environmental attribute data associated with the (multiple) output products produced and (multiple) decentralized participant identifiers associated with the (multiple) output product consumers. - Provide the generated transaction data to the distributed ledger network so that environmental attribute data associated with the (multiple) output products can be accessed via the distributed ledger network.

2. The method as described in claim 1, wherein, The input material pass(s) are collected via the access elements(s) associated with the input material pass(s), wherein the access elements(s) are stored in a distributed registry of the distributed network and are under the control of the data owner(s) of the input material pass(s) associated with the access elements(s) stored in the respective registry.

3. The method as described in claim 1 or 2, wherein, The input material pass(s) includes the distributed pass(s), data associated with the transaction(s) stored as one or more entries in the distributed ledger and related to the input material(s), and data related to the input material(s).

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, The distributed ledger stores transactions associated with the input material(s), including environmental attribute data associated with the input material(s).

5. The method of claim 4, wherein, The transactions stored in this distributed ledger are linked to the transfer of (multiple) physical entities of (multiple) input materials to the entity that operates the production.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein, Collecting environmental attribute data associated with the input material(s) includes retrieving data related to the transaction(s) from the collected input material(s) passes(s), and collecting environmental attribute data associated with the input material(s) based on the retrieved data related to the transaction(s).

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein, The decentralized network associated with the input material pass(s) is different from the distributed ledger network.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein, This environmental attribute data includes data related to the following: 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, land and / or ocean acidification, water consumption, water loss, water availability, water pollution, noise pollution, eutrophication potential of freshwater and / or ocean, human carcinogenic and / or non-carcinogenic toxicity, photochemical oxidant formation, particulate matter formation, ecotoxicity of land, freshwater and / or ocean, 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, particularly data related to the carbon footprint.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein, The environmental attribute data associated with the production of the (multiple) output products are determined based on the energy consumption associated with the production of the output products and / or the output product yield produced and / or the emissions generated when the (multiple) input materials are transported to the production, as well as the environmental attribute data associated with the (multiple) input materials collected.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein, The decentralized participant identifiers associated with the output product consumer include the public keys associated with the downstream output product consumer.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein, The transaction data further includes data related to the (multiple) output products.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein, The transaction data is generated before, during, or after the transfer of one or more physical entities of the output product(s) to the consumer(s) of the output product(s).

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein, The generated transaction data is provided to the member nodes of the distributed ledger network to store the transaction data as an entry in the distributed ledger of the distributed ledger network.

14. The method of any one of claims 1 to 13, further comprising the following steps: Transaction data is generated based on the environmental attribute data associated with the identified output products, so as to store the environmental attribute credits associated with the use of the (multiple) recycled input materials and / or the production of the (multiple) output products containing recyclable materials as entries in the distributed ledger of the distributed ledger network.

15. An apparatus for monitoring multiple environmental properties associated with the produced output products, wherein, The (multiple) output products are produced from one or more input materials, and the apparatus includes: - A distributed network interface configured to collect input material credentials associated with the input material from a distributed network based on the input material identifier associated with the input material. - A distributed ledger network interface configured to collect environmental attribute data associated with the input(s)(s) from the distributed ledger of the distributed ledger network based on the collected input(s)(s) tokens. - An environmental attribute data determination unit, configured to determine environmental attribute data associated with the produced output products based on collected environmental attribute data associated with the input materials (multiple input materials) and environmental attribute data associated with the production of the output products (multiple output products). - A transaction data generator configured to generate transaction data associated with the transfer of the(s) output product(s) to one or more output product consumers, the transaction data including identified environmental attribute data associated with the(s) output product(s) produced and distributed participant(s) identifiers associated with the(s) output product(s) consumers(s). - A distributed ledger network interface configured to provide generated transaction data to the distributed ledger network for accessing environmental attribute data associated with the output product(s).

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