Balancing environmental attributes in production networks

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, and systems are disclosed for producing at least one chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes and for assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product produced by a chemical production network.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to methods, apparatus, and systems for producing at least one chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes and for assigning the at least one environmental attribute to the at least one chemical product produced by a chemical production network. [Background technology]

[0002] In supply chains, the environmental impact of each supply chain participant is a major concern. Transparency among participants can help in the collective reduction of environmental impact to combat climate change. However, data sharing of environmental impact data is hindered by the lack of common data standards and the lack of a reliable data platform. Moreover, the highly specific and centralized setup of today's data systems makes it laborious to exchange and share in collective actions. Therefore, there is a need to develop metrics to quantify the environmental impact of produced products in order to simplify data standards on environmental impact and widely enable secure exchange of supply chain data on environmental impact. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0003] In one aspect, a method is disclosed for producing at least one chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes, the chemical product being produced by a chemical production network, the method comprising: - providing one or more input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes to a chemical production network; - providing material data relating to one or more input materials and respective environmental attributes to a computing interface; - assigning one or more environmental attributes to a virtual balancing system, the virtual balancing system including a balancing account associated with the one or more environmental attributes; - Producing at least one chemical product; - allocating at least one environmental attribute from at least one balancing account associated with a respective environmental attribute to at least one chemical product; Includes.

[0004] In another aspect, a computer-implemented method for assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product produced by a chemical production network is disclosed, the method comprising: - providing material data relating to one or more input materials and respective environmental attributes to a computing interface; - assigning one or more environmental attribute(s) to a virtual balancing system, the virtual balancing system including a balancing account associated with the one or more environmental attributes; - allocating at least one environmental attribute from at least one balancing account associated with a respective environmental attribute to at least one chemical product; Includes.

[0005] In another aspect, a computer-implemented method for assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product produced by a chemical production network is disclosed, the method comprising: - providing access to a virtual balancing system, the virtual balancing system including two or more balancing accounts associated with at least one environmental attribute and an environmental attribute balance having environmental attributes allocated from one or more input materials provided to the chemical production network; - selecting at least one balancing account from the virtual balancing system based on one or more environmental attributes to be assigned to at least one chemical product; - allocating at least one environmental attribute from at least one balancing account associated with a respective environmental attribute to at least one chemical product; Includes.

[0006] In another aspect, an apparatus for assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product produced by a chemical production network, the method comprising: a materials data provider configured to provide materials data relating to one or more input materials and respective environmental attributes to a computing interface; an inbound allocator configured to assign one or more environmental attributes to a virtual balancing system, the virtual balancing system including a balancing account associated with the one or more environmental attributes; an outbound assigner configured to assign at least one environmental attribute from at least one balancing account associated with a respective environmental attribute to at least one chemical product; An apparatus is disclosed comprising:

[0007] In another aspect, an apparatus for assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product produced by a chemical production network, the method comprising: an account provider configured to provide access to a virtual balancing system, the virtual balancing system including two or more balancing accounts associated with at least one environmental attribute and an environmental attribute balance having an environmental attribute assigned from one or more input materials provided to the chemical production network; an outbound assigner configured to select at least one balancing account from the virtual balancing system based on one or more environmental attributes to be assigned to the at least one chemical product, and configured to assign at least one environmental attribute from the at least one balancing account associated with the respective environmental attribute to the at least one chemical product; An apparatus is disclosed comprising:

[0008] In another aspect, a system for producing at least one chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes is disclosed, the chemical product being produced by a chemical production network including one or more production chains, the system comprising: a chemical production network configured to produce at least one chemical product based on one or more input materials provided to the chemical production network, the one or more input materials being associated with one or more environmental attributes; an inbound allocator configured to provide material data relating to one or more input materials and respective environmental attributes to a computing interface and to assign the one or more environmental attributes to a virtual balancing system, the virtual balancing system including balancing accounts associated with the one or more environmental attributes; an outbound assigner configured to assign at least one environmental attribute from at least one balancing account associated with a respective environmental attribute to at least one chemical product; Equipped with.

[0009] In yet another aspect, a computing element, particularly a computer program product or computer readable medium, is disclosed with instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, are configured to perform the steps of any of the methods disclosed herein. In yet another aspect, a computing element, particularly a computer program product or computer readable medium, is disclosed with instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause any of the devices disclosed herein to perform any of the methods disclosed herein.

[0010] In yet another aspect, use of a chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes provided by any of the methods disclosed herein and / or a chemical product produced by a chemical production network provided by any of the methods disclosed herein to produce at least one discrete product or at least one final product of a product supply chain associated with one or more environmental attributes is disclosed. In yet another aspect, a method of producing at least one discrete product or at least one final product of a product supply chain associated with one or more environmental attributes is disclosed, wherein a chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes provided by any of the methods disclosed herein and / or a chemical product produced by a chemical production network provided by any of the methods disclosed herein is provided and / or used to produce at least one discrete product or at least one final product of a product supply chain associated with one or more environmental attributes.

[0011] In yet another aspect, the use of one or more environmental attributes assigned to a chemical product identifier provided by any of the methods disclosed herein to provide one or more environmental attributes for at least one discrete product identifier associated with at least one discrete product or at least one end product identifier associated with at least one end product of a product supply chain is disclosed. In yet another aspect, a method for providing one or more environmental attributes for at least one discrete product identifier associated with at least one discrete product or at least one end product identifier associated with at least one end product of a product supply chain is disclosed, where one or more environmental attributes assigned to a chemical product identifier provided by any of the methods disclosed herein are provided and / or used to provide one or more environmental attributes for at least one discrete product identifier associated with at least one discrete product or at least one end product identifier associated with at least one end product of a product supply chain.

[0012] Embodiment Any disclosures and embodiments described herein relate to the methods, apparatus, computer elements and uses listed above or below, and vice versa. Advantages provided by any of the embodiments and examples apply equally to all other embodiments and examples, and vice versa.

[0013] Any steps presented herein may be performed in any order. The methods disclosed herein are not limited to a particular order of these steps. Also, different steps need not be performed at a particular location or on a particular computing node of the distributed system, i.e., each step may be performed on a different computing node using different equipment / data processing.

[0014] As used herein, "determining" also includes "initiating or causing to be determined," "generating" also includes "initiating and / or generating," and "providing" also includes "initiating or causing to be determined, generated, selected, transmitted, and / or received." "Initiating or causing to be performed an action" includes any processing signal that triggers a computing node or device to perform the respective action.

[0015] The methods, apparatus, systems, and computer elements disclosed herein provide an efficient way to track environmental attributes in chemical processing and provide chemical products with positive environmental impacts throughout the value chain. By using a virtual accounting system to balance environmental attributes associated with input materials, such attributes can be efficiently assigned to chemical products produced in a chemical production network. Specifically, for a chemical network that produces two or more chemical products from two or more input materials through interconnected, connected, and unconnected production chains, the use of a virtual accounting system ensures that environmental attributes are assigned along the physical configuration of the chemical production network, allowing digital assets associated with the chemical products to be tailored to customer needs. The virtual accounting system and associated metadata structures further allow for decoupling the complexity of the material flows of the chemical production network while allowing for the tailoring of environmental impacts on a per chemical product basis. In this way, the environmental impacts of the produced chemical products can be determined along the physical configuration of the chemical production network and the needs of the customer. Furthermore, the environmental properties of the chemical products produced by the chemical production network can be made transparent to customers who further process the chemical products. By providing a chemical product identifier associated with at least one environmental attribute, the environmental attributes, and therefore the digital assets attached to the chemical product, can be tailored to the needs of a customer.

[0016] The environmental attributes may be digital assets associated with the input material or chemical product. The environmental attributes may digitally specify the environmental impact of the input material or chemical product. The environmental attributes may be related to, for example, the renewable, bio-based, and / or regenerated content of the input material and / or chemical product. The environmental attributes may include, for example, qualitative data points regarding the type of impact, given the input material or chemical product. The environmental attributes may specify the type, such as renewable, renewable, and / or bio-based. The qualitative data points may be converted to a quantitative measure, such as balancing units. The environmental attributes may include, for example, quantitative data points regarding the type of impact, given the renewable, renewable, or bio-based content of the input material or chemical product. The environmental attributes may specify the renewable, renewable, and / or bio-based content.

[0017] An environmental attribute may refer to any characteristic related to an environmental impact. Such a characteristic may be a characteristic of an input material or a chemical product. An environmental attribute may indicate the environmental performance of an input material, a chemical production network, and / or a chemical product. An environmental attribute may be derived from the characteristics of an input material, a chemical production network, and / or a chemical product. An environmental attribute may be associated with the environmental impact of one or more materials at any stage during its life cycle. Stages of a material or product life cycle may include stages of providing a feedstock, stages of producing a product such as an intermediate product or a final product, stages of using a product, stages of processing an end-of-life product, stages of regenerating an end-of-life product, stages of disposing of an end-of-life product, stages of reusing components from an end-of-life product or any subset of stages. An environmental attribute may 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 related to any activity of one or more entities involved in any stage of the life cycle of one or more materials or products may be accumulated or aggregated.

[0018] The environmental attributes may include one or more characteristics resulting from the environmental impact of the input materials, chemicals, intermediate products, and / or final products. The environmental attributes may include environmental characteristics, technical characteristics, reproducibility or roundness characteristics related to the environmental impact of the input materials, chemicals, intermediate products, and / or final products.

[0019] The environmental characteristics may specify or quantify ecological criteria related to the environmental impact of input materials, chemicals, intermediate products, and / or final products. Environmental characteristics may include, for example, recycled content, bio-based content, renewable content, etc.

[0020] The technical characteristics may identify or quantify product performance that is at least indirectly related to environmental impact. The technical characteristics may include, for example, product configuration data, bill of materials, product specification data, product component data, product safety data, application characteristic data, application instructions, or product quality data.

[0021] A chemical production network can include multiple types of production processes for producing different chemical products from input materials. A chemical production network can include a complex production network that produces multiple chemical products with multiple production or value chains. A production or value chain can include one or more processes configured to produce one chemical product or class of chemical products from one or more input materials. A chemical production network can include connected, interconnected, and / or unconnected production chains. A chemical production network can produce multiple intermediates from input materials and produce chemical products from the intermediates. Input materials can enter the chemical production network at an entry point. Chemical products can exit the production network at an exit point.

[0022] A chemical production network can include one or more entry points where input materials are fed into the chemical production network. The input materials can include fossil materials, non-fossil materials, or both. Fossil input materials can include crude oil, natural gas, or coal. Non-fossil input materials can include renewable materials, bio-based materials, or recycled materials. The input materials can include feedstock for a gasification plant, steam cracker, or syngas plant. The input materials can include syngas produced from fossil feedstocks, non-fossil feedstocks, or both. The input materials can include, for example, pyrolysis oil from recycled waste, syngas produced from recycled waste, naphtha produced from bio-based materials (bionaphtha), methane produced from bio-based materials (biomethane), biogas produced from decomposition of organic materials, or combinations thereof. The input materials can be fed to at least one gasification plant, steam cracker, or syngas plant, or any plant in the production chain for downstream products such as nitrogen, ammonia, methanol, ethylene, propylene, sulfur, etc.

[0023] The input material associated with one or more environmental attributes provided to the entry point of the chemical production network may include recycled input materials, including but not limited to recycled pyrolysis oil, recycled pyrolysis gas, recycled syngas, recycled hydrogen, recycled naphtha, recycled methane, recycled ethane, recycled propane, recycled chemicals, or combinations thereof. Recycled chemicals may include but are not limited to recycled ammonia, recycled methanol, recycled ethylene, recycled propylene, recycled benzene, recycled toluene, recycled xylene, or combinations thereof. In the context provided herein, recycled input materials may include at least partially recycled content and / or any material produced from at least partially recycled content. Recycled content may be physically and / or chemically traceable.

[0024] The input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes provided to the entry point of the chemical production network may include renewable input materials, including but not limited to renewable pyrolysis oil, renewable pyrolysis gas, renewable syngas, renewable hydrogen, renewable naphtha, renewable methane, renewable ethane, renewable propane, renewable chemicals, or combinations thereof. Renewable chemicals may include but are not limited to renewable ammonia, renewable methanol, renewable ethylene, renewable propylene, renewable benzene, renewable toluene, renewable xylene, or combinations thereof. In the context provided herein, renewable input materials may include any material that includes at least a portion of renewable content and / or is at least a portion of produced from renewable content. The renewable content may be physically and / or chemically traceable.

[0025] The input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes provided to the entry points of the chemical production network can include bio-based input materials, including but not limited to bio-based pyrolysis oil, bio-based pyrolysis gas, bio-based syngas, bio-based hydrogen, bio-based naphtha, bio-based methane, bio-based ethane, bio-based propane, bio-based chemicals, or combinations thereof. Bio-based chemicals can include but are not limited to bio-based ammonia, bio-based methanol, bio-based ethylene, bio-based propylene, bio-based benzene, bio-based toluene, bio-based xylene, or combinations thereof. In the context provided herein, bio-based input materials can include any material that at least partially comprises and / or is at least partially produced from bio-based content. Bio-based content can be physically and / or chemically traceable.

[0026] A chemical production network may include identity-preserving or segregating production chains. Identity preserving or segregating in this context may refer to environmental attributes of input materials that are preserved or segregated in the production chain. An example is a bio-based renewable or regenerated input material used to produce a chemical product that does not have fossil content. A further example is a fossil feedstock used to produce a chemical product with fossil input materials. A chemical production network may include non-identity-preserving or non-segregating production chains. Non-identity-preserving or non-segregating in this context may refer to input materials associated with environmental attributes that are mixed. For example, non-identity-preserving or non-segregating in this context refers to input materials associated with environmental attributes that are mixed with fossil input materials in the production chain. An example is fossil and renewable input materials mixed to produce a chemical product with fossil and renewable content.

[0027] A chemical production network may include multiple production steps per production chain. The production steps included in the chemical production network may be defined by the physical system boundary of the chemical production network. The system boundary may be defined by location or control relative to the production process. The system boundary may be defined by the site of the chemical production network. The system boundary may be defined by a production process that is jointly controlled by one entity or multiple entities. The system boundary may be defined by a production or value chain with staggered production processes to an end product that may be separately controlled by multiple entities. For example, a chemical production network may include a waste collection step, a waste sorting step, a regeneration step such as chemical product regeneration by pyrolysis, a pyrolysis step such as steam pyrolysis, a separation step to separate the output of one process step, and further processing steps to convert such output into a chemical product that exits the system boundary of the chemical production network. An entry point of the chemical production network may be marked by the entry of an input material into the chemical production network. The input material that enters the chemical production network can be used to produce one or more chemical products. The chemical products can leave the physical system boundary of the chemical production network. An exit point of a chemical production network may be marked by the exit of a chemical product from the chemical production network.

[0028] A virtual balancing account may refer to a digital storage structure that stores data related to environmental attributes. An account may be associated with metadata identifying an account for balancing environmental attributes. An account may be associated with metadata identifying an environmental attribute assigned to the account and an environmental unit or balancing unit. An account may be associated with metadata identifying a production chain with which the account is associated. An account may be associated with metadata identifying an input or target material with which the account is associated. An account may be part of a balancing system that includes multiple accounts. An account may hold environmental attributes for transactions. Environmental attributes may be assigned, added, deleted, withdrawn, or subtracted from an account. A virtual balancing account may be associated with an environmental attribute type, such as regenerated or renewable. A virtual balancing account may be associated with an input material type, such as pyrolysis oil, bio-naphtha, bio-methane, bio-gas, or combinations thereof. A virtual balancing account associated with a regenerated environmental attribute type may be further associated with a waste stream type, such as mixed plastic waste, a specific end product waste, such as stage waste or foam waste, post-consumer waste, pre-consumer waste, or combinations thereof. The virtual balancing account can be associated with an allocation scheme such as a segregated allocation, a non-segregated allocation such as book and bill, mass balance with free attributes, mass balance without free attributes, or a combination thereof.

[0029] A chemical product may be produced by a chemical production network provided with input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes.A chemical product may be produced by a production chain of a chemical production network provided with input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes.A chemical product may be produced from input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes.

[0030] In one embodiment, the environmental attribute is related to or associated with the renewable, bio-based, and / or regenerated content. For example, an input material from organic waste may be associated with the environmental attribute of regenerated bio-based. An input material from organic waste may be a bio-based regenerated input material. Further, for example, an input material from wood waste may be associated with the environmental attribute of being regenerated, bio-based, and renewable. An input material from wood waste may be a bio-based, renewable, regenerated input material. In the context provided herein, renewable bio-based and / or regenerated input material may include any material that at least partially comprises renewable, bio-based and / or regenerated content and / or that has been at least partially produced from renewable, bio-based and / or regenerated content. The renewable, bio-based and / or regenerated content may be physically and / or chemically traceable.

[0031] In another embodiment, the virtual balancing system or balancing account is associated with or is related to one or more characteristics of the input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes. The virtual balancing system or balancing account can be associated with one or more characteristics of the input materials attributable to the input materials and the environmental impacts of the chemical products produced by the chemical production network. The characteristics of the input materials can include, but are not limited to, input material type, waste stream type, biomass type, renewable type, allocation scheme, or combinations thereof.

[0032] Specifying the characteristics of input materials allows for more granular tracking of the environmental attributes and characteristics of input materials used to produce chemical products. This allows for more granular tracking of the environmental attributes and characteristics of input materials. The more granular tracking via a virtual accounting system instead allows for the allocation of environmental attributes from balancing accounts tailored to the needs of the customer.

[0033] In another embodiment, the virtual balancing system or balancing account is related to or associated with an input material type, a waste stream type, a biomass type, a renewable type, an allocation scheme, or a combination thereof.

[0034] The virtual balancing system or balancing account can be associated with metadata that specifies an input material associated with one or more environmental attributes. The metadata can specify an input material associated with one or more environmental attributes that is provided to an entry point in the chemical production network. The input material types can include, but are not limited to, pyrolysis oil, pyrolysis gas, syngas, hydrogen, naphtha, methane, ethane, propane, chemicals, or combinations thereof. The chemicals can include, but are not limited to, ammonia, methanol, ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, xylene, or combinations thereof.

[0035] A virtual balancing system or balancing account may be associated with metadata that specifies an input material type, a waste stream type, a biomass type, a renewable type, an allocation scheme, or a combination thereof. As an example, recycled pyrolysis oil generated from plastic waste may be fed into a chemical production network as an input material. The metadata may specify an input material type pyrolysis oil, a recycled environmental attribute type, a waste stream type mixed plastic waste, a specific end product waste, a post-consumer waste or a pre-consumer waste, and / or an allocation scheme non-segregated scheme such as mass balance. As another example, bio-based naphtha may be fed into a chemical production network as an input material. The metadata may specify an input material type naphtha, an environmental attribute type bio-based, a biomass type palm oil, and / or an allocation scheme non-segregated scheme such as mass balance. As another example, bio-based methane may be fed into a chemical production network as an input material. The metadata may specify an input material type methane, an environmental attribute type bio-based, a biomass type waste from agriculture, and / or an allocation scheme non-segregated scheme such as mass balance.

[0036] In another embodiment, the virtual balancing system or balancing account is associated with input material types including pyrolysis oil, pyrolysis gas, syngas, hydrogen, r-chemicals, bionaphtha, or biomethane, the balancing account is associated with pyrolysis or gasification, where the pyrolysis oil, pyrolysis gas, syngas, hydrogen, or r-chemicals are produced from waste streams, and the balancing account is associated with bionaphtha or biomethane, where the bionaphtha or biomethane is produced from renewable streams.

[0037] In another embodiment, the virtual balancing system or balancing account is related to or associated with waste stream types. The waste stream types may be associated with at least the recycled environmental attributes. The waste stream types may be associated with one or more waste materials or waste categories. The waste categories may include, but are not limited to, non-synthetic waste such as animal waste, plant waste or wood waste, or synthetic waste such as textile waste, paper waste, plastic waste or rubber waste. The waste stream types may be related to, but are not limited to, the source of the waste such as end-of-life products, producers of end-of-life products, geographic locations of end-of-life products, habitats of end-of-life products, consumers of end-of-life products, or combinations thereof. For example, with recycled as the environmental attribute and pyrolysis oil as the input material type, the waste types may identify plastic waste from tires, mixed plastic waste from packaging, or mixed plastic waste from ocean cleanup.

[0038] In another embodiment, the virtual balancing system or balancing account is related to or associated with a biomass type or renewable type. The biomass type may be related to at least a bio-based or renewable environmental attribute. The biomass type may be related to one or more feedstocks from which the input material is produced. The feedstocks may include, but are not limited to, agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, raw waste, food waste, natural fats, natural oils, a mixture of natural fats and oils, cooking oils, or animal fats. The biomass type may be related to, but is not limited to, the origin of the biomass, such as the producer of the biomass, the geographic location of the biomass, the habitat of the biomass, the consumer of the biomass, or a combination thereof. For example, in the case of bio-based as the environmental attribute and bio-naphtha as the input material type, the biomass type may specify oils and fats from plants (vegan). Further, for example, in the case of bio-based as the environmental attribute and biogas as the input material type, the biomass type may specify municipal waste.

[0039] In another embodiment, the virtual balancing system or balancing account is associated with metadata that specifies a relationship between an input material and a chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes, hi another embodiment, the relationship relates to a chemical production network, one or more production chains, one or more chemical products, one or more chemical product classes, or a combination thereof.

[0040] The relationship may relate to a chemical production network. For example, an input material associated with one or more environmental attributes may be provided to a chemical production network that produces a chemical product. The relationship may relate to one or more production chains of the chemical production network that produces a chemical product. For example, an input material associated with one or more environmental attributes may be provided to one or more production chains of the chemical production network that produces a chemical product. The relationship may relate to one or more chemical product classes produced by the chemical production network. For example, an input material associated with one or more environmental attributes may be provided to one or more production chains of the chemical production network that produces a chemical product class. The relationship may relate to one or more chemical products produced by the chemical production network. For example, an input material associated with one or more environmental attributes may be provided to one or more production chains of the chemical production network that produces one or more chemical products. The relationship may relate to a chemical production network, one or more production chains, one or more chemical products, one or more chemical product classes, or a combination thereof. By tagging with relationship metadata, the input material may be physically and / or chemically traceable. The metadata may be derived from a digital twin of the chemical production network. The metadata can be derived from a digital twin of the chemical production network and a production schedule.

[0041] In another embodiment, at least one target environmental attribute of the chemical product is provided, and at least one balancing account is selected for de-allocating the respective environmental attribute based on the at least one target environmental attribute. The step may be performed at any stage of the method. For example, allocating the at least one environmental attribute to the at least one chemical product may include providing at least one target environmental attribute of the chemical product, and selecting at least one balancing account for de-allocating the respective environmental attribute based on the at least one target environmental attribute. For example, at least one target environmental attribute of the chemical product may be provided, and allocating the at least one environmental attribute to the at least one chemical product may include selecting at least one balancing account for de-allocating the respective environmental attribute based on the at least one target environmental attribute.

[0042] Fine-grained target environmental attributes can be achieved by the virtual accounting system and associated metadata. The target environmental attributes can be related or associated with renewable, bio-based, and / or regenerated content. The target environmental attributes may be further related or associated with metadata specifying input material type, waste stream type, biomass type, renewable type, allocation scheme, or combinations thereof. Based on such metadata, metadata associated or associated with the virtual accounting system or balancing accounts can be matched, and a balancing account can be selected for matching. The respective environmental attributes may be unassigned from the selected balancing account. The unassigned environmental attributes can be digitally assigned to chemical products, for example, by assigning the environmental attributes from the balancing account to the chemical product identifier.

[0043] In another embodiment, the step of assigning at least one environmental attribute to the at least one chemical product comprises providing at least one target environmental attribute for the chemical product; - checking the balance of environmental attributes of the balancing accounts associated with at least one target environmental attribute and, if the balance is sufficient, allocating at least one environmental attribute from the respective balancing account to at least one chemical product; and / or the step of checking each balancing account associated with an input material used to produce the chemical product, and if the respective balancing account is associated with an input material used in the production chain of the chemical product, assigning at least one environmental attribute from the respective balancing account to the at least one chemical product; The input materials used to produce the chemical product may include input materials associated with environmental attributes at the inlet to the chemical production network. Each environmental attribute may be decoupled from the material flow by an allocation to a balancing account. The input materials used to generate the target material may include input materials associated with environmental attributes and input materials not associated with environmental attributes. The environmental attributes may be decoupled from the material flow through the chemical production network by an allocation to a balancing account.

[0044] The input materials used to produce the chemical products may include the input materials provided at an entry point into the chemical production network. An entry point into the chemical production network may refer to any point of the input materials entering the physical boundary of the chemical production network. Once material data relating to one or more input materials and respective environmental attributes is entered, it may be provided to a computing interface configured to assign the environmental attributes to a balancing account. The material data may include at least one material identifier and at least one environmental attribute. The material data may further include an amount of the input material provided. The at least one environmental attribute may be assigned to a balancing account. In this way, the material flow of the input materials through the chemical production network may be decoupled from the environmental attributes, and the environmental attributes may be assigned to the chemical products completely or at least partially independent of the material flow.

[0045] In another embodiment, allocating at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product includes providing a chemical product identifier associated with the produced chemical product and allocating environmental attributes from the balancing account to the chemical product identifier. Allocating at least one environmental attribute associated with the input material to the chemical product can include linking the chemical product identifier with the environmental attribute. The chemical product identifier can be associated with the physical entity of the chemical product. In this way, a virtual identifier of the material can be uniquely linked to the physical material. Such a link can include a physical or virtual link of an identifier uniquely associated with the physical material. To physically link, a tag or code may be physically connected to the material, for example, by printing a QR code on the package. To virtually link, different identifiers associated with the physical material may be linked. For example, an order number, a batch number, a LOT number, or a combination thereof may be linked. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0046] [Figure 1] 1 illustrates an example of a chemical production network that produces one or more chemical products from one or more input materials in association with an operating system that includes an attribute management system. [Figure 2a] 1 shows a portion of a chemical production network that produces multiple chemical products from fossil and non-fossil input materials. [Figure 2b] 1 shows a portion of a chemical production network that produces multiple chemical products from fossil and non-fossil input materials. [Figure 2c] 1 shows a portion of a chemical production network that produces multiple chemical products from fossil and non-fossil input materials. [Figure 3a] 1 shows an example of an allocation scheme for allocating the use of renewable or bio-based input materials to chemical products in a chemical production network. [Figure 3b] 1 shows an example of an allocation scheme for allocating the use of renewable or bio-based input materials to chemical products in a chemical production network. [Figure 3c] 1 shows an example of an allocation scheme for allocating the use of renewable or bio-based input materials to chemical products in a chemical production network. [Figure 4] 1 shows an example of a chemical production network with different allocation schemes. [Figure 5a] 1 illustrates inbound and outbound allocation of environmental attributes for a chemical production network. [Figure 5b] 1 illustrates inbound and outbound allocation of environmental attributes for a chemical production network. [Figure 6] SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE An example method for assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product produced by a chemical production network is presented. [Figure 7] 1 illustrates an example of an apparatus for producing at least one chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes, including an example of a method for converting and allocating inbound to a virtual balancing account. [Figure 8]1 illustrates an example of an apparatus for producing at least one chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes, including an example of a method for outbound transforming and allocating the chemical product. [Figure 9] Illustrates examples of chemical products produced by chemical production networks. [Figure 10] An example of conversion to balancing units and allocation to chemical products is shown. [Figure 11a] 1 shows an example of a virtual balancing account and associated metadata. [Figure 11b] 1 shows an example of a virtual balancing account and associated metadata. [Figure 11c] 1 shows an example of a virtual balancing account and associated metadata. [Figure 12] 1 illustrates an example of a method for producing at least one chemical product associated with at least one environmental attribute for a supply chain. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0047] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a chemical production network that produces one or more chemical products from one or more input materials in association with an operating system that includes an attribute management system.

[0048] Different input materials (raw materials) can be provided as physical inputs from a material supplier or a supplier to produce one or more chemical products. The chemical products produced from the input materials can have one or more properties related to the environmental impact of the input materials or the chemical products produced from the input materials, which can be indicated by environmental attributes...

[0049] A chemical production network may include multiple interlinked processing steps. A chemical production network may be an integrated chemical production network with connected or interconnected production chains. A chemical production network may include multiple different production chains that have at least one intermediate product in common. A chemical production network may include multiple stages of a chemical value chain. A chemical production network may include gas or crude oil production, refining, processing and / or refining. A chemical production network may include a stream cracker, or a steam cracker, or a syngas plant connected to multiple production chains that output chemical products from the effluent of the syngas plant. A chemical production network may include multiple production chains that produce chemical products from one or more input materials that leave the chemical production network. A chemical production network may include multiple tiers of a chemical value chain. A chemical production network may include physically connected or interconnected supply chains and / or production sites. The production sites may be in the same location or in different locations. In the latter case, the production sites may be connected or interconnected by dedicated transportation systems such as pipelines, supply chain vehicles such as trucks, ships, or other cargo transport means.

[0050] A chemical production network can chemically transform input materials via chemical intermediates into one or more chemical products that exit the chemical production network. A chemical production network can transform input materials via chemical transformations into one or more chemical products.

[0051] The input materials may be fed into the chemical production network at any entry point. The input materials may be fed into the chemical production network at the initiation of the chemical production network. The input materials may constitute, for example, feedstock for a steam cracker. The input materials may include bio-based, recycled and / or fossil input materials for the production of chemical intermediates and chemical products.

[0052] A chemical production network can include multiple production processes. The production steps included in the chemical network can be defined by the system boundary of the chemical production network. The system boundary can be defined by location or control over the production process. The system boundary may be defined by the site of the chemical production network. The system boundary can be defined by a production process that is jointly controlled by one entity or multiple entities. The system boundary can be defined by a value chain with staggered production processes to an end product that can be separately controlled by multiple entities. The chemical production network can include waste collection and sorting steps, regeneration steps such as pyrolysis, pyrolysis steps such as steam pyrolysis, separation steps to separate the output of one process step, and further processing steps to convert such output into chemical products that exit the system boundary of the chemical production network.

[0053] The operating system of the chemical production network may monitor and / or control the chemical production network based on the operating parameters of the different processes. One process step that is monitored and / or controlled may be the supply of input materials or the discharge of chemical products. Another process step that is monitored and / or controlled may be the assignment of environmental attributes to chemical products produced through the chemical production network. Yet another process step that is monitored and / or controlled may be the registration of environmental attributes associated with input materials entering the system boundary of the chemical production network. Yet another process step that is monitored and / or controlled may be the management of environmental attributes associated with input materials and chemical products of the chemical production network.

[0054] The operating system may be configured to access data related to input materials, processes, and / or chemical products produced by the chemical production network. The operating system may be configured to convert a recycled, renewable, or bio-based content of one or more input materials used in the chemical production network into balancing units. The operating system may be configured to allocate the balancing units to at least one balancing account associated with the recycled or bio-based content of the input materials. The operating system may be configured to allocate at least a portion of the balancing units from the at least one balancing account to the at least one chemical product.

[0055] The operating system may be configured to process balancing units associated with inputs and chemical products produced by the chemical production network. In particular, the operating system may be configured to determine balancing units associated with the use of input materials that affect the environmental characteristics / attributes of the chemical products produced by the chemical production network. More specifically, the operating system may be configured to determine balancing units associated with chemical products and environmental attributes of the chemical products. In this manner, the operating system may be configured to allocate balancing units to a balancing account or de-allocate balancing units from a balancing account. Balancing units may be considered as credits that may be deposited or deducted from accounts associated with the inputs and chemical products of the chemical production network.

[0056] The operating system may be configured to register inbound environment attributes, assign outbound environment attributes, and manage inbound and outbound assignments.

[0057] 2a-c show a portion of a chemical production network that produces multiple chemical products from fossil and non-fossil input materials.

[0058] The chemical production network may comprise a pyrolysis unit for the pyrolysis of reclaimed waste. A waste stream may be fed to the pyrolysis unit. The waste stream may include plastics, rubber (including tires), textiles, wood, biowaste, modified cellulose, wet products, and any other material suitable for pyrolysis. The reclaimed waste stream may include a stream that includes at least partially post-industrial or post-consumer or both post-industrial and post-consumer materials. Post-consumer materials may be materials that have been used at least once for any period of time for its intended use, regardless of wear, or sold to an end-use customer, or discarded by a person or entity other than a manufacturer or business engaged in the manufacture or sale of materials. Post-industrial materials may be materials that have been created and not used for its intended use, or sold to an end-use customer, or discarded by a manufacturer or other entity involved in the sale of materials. Examples of post-industrial materials include rework, shred, scrap, trim, off-spec materials, and finished materials that have been transferred from a manufacturer to any downstream customer (e.g., from a manufacturer to a wholesaler, distributor), but have not yet been used or sold to an end-use customer. The waste streams may be separated as one type of waste stream containing a particular waste material, or may be mixed waste streams.

[0059] Examples of plastics as waste streams include high density polyethylene and its copolymers, low density polyethylene and its copolymers, polypropylene and its copolymers, other polyolefins, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC), polyesters including polyethylene terephthalate, copolyesters and terephthalate copolyesters (e.g., 2,2,4,4-tetramethyl-1,3-cyclobutanediol, CHDM cyclohexanedimethanol, neopentyl glycol monomer, propylene glycol,), polyethylene terephthalate, polyamides, poly(methyl methacrylate), ... acrylate), polytetrafluoroethylene, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polyurethane, cellulose and its derivatives, for example cellulose acetate, cellulose diacetate, cellulose triacetate, cellulose propionate, cellulose butyrate, regenerated cellulose such as viscose and rayon, epoxy, polyamide, phenolic resin, polyacetal, polycarbonate, polyphenylene alloy, polypropylene and copolymers thereof, polystyrene, styrene-based compounds, vinyl-based compounds, styrene acrylonitrile, thermoplastic elastomers, urea-based polymers and / or melamine-containing polymers.

[0060] The pyrolysis effluent leaving the pyrolysis unit may include pyrolysis oil. The pyrolysis oil may be used as a feedstock for a cracker unit or a syngas plant. The pyrolysis oil may be fed to the cracker unit as a recycled feedstock together with non-renewable or conventional feedstocks (e.g., propane, ethane, naphtha and / or natural gasoline). In addition to or instead of the recycled feedstock, bio-based feedstocks may be fed to the cracker unit. For example, bio-naphtha may be produced by hydrogenation of bio-based materials such as palm oil and tallow and fed to the cracker unit as a feedstock. In further embodiments, pyrolysis wax, pyrolysis gas, pyrolysis char, or syngas may be fed to the cracker unit as a feedstock.

[0061] The cracker unit may include a steam cracker that breaks down saturated hydrocarbons into smaller, often unsaturated, hydrocarbons. A steam cracker is a facility in which fossil and / or non-fossil feedstocks, such as naphtha, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), ethane, propane, or butane, are thermally cracked by using steam in a steam pyrolysis furnace or electric furnace to produce lighter hydrocarbons.

[0062] The output effluent of the cracker unit may be a recycled and / or bio-based content effluent including light olefins, C4 products, and heavy cracker products such as C5, C6, C7, C8, C9, C10 products or mixtures. The recycled and / or bio-based content pyrolysis effluent may be separated in a separation train. The recycled or bio-based content effluent may be separated into different fractions including recycled or bio-based content from the recycled or bio-based content of the pyrolysis effluent.

[0063] The light olefin fraction may include ethylene and propylene. Ethylene may be used to produce polyethylene, ethylene chloride, and ethylene oxide. Polyethylene, ethylene chloride, or ethylene oxide may be chemical intermediates used to produce chemical products that exit the chemical production network. Polyethylene, ethylene chloride, or ethylene oxide may be chemical products that exit the chemical production network. Polyethylene, ethylene chloride, or ethylene oxide may be used to produce packaging as an end product, for plastics processing, or to produce end products in construction and fiber production. Propylene may be used to produce polypropylene, propylene oxide, acrylic acid, or other chemical derivatives. Propylene and its derivatives may be chemical intermediates used to produce chemical products that exit the chemical production network. Propylene and its derivatives may be chemical products that exit the chemical production network. Propylene and its derivatives may be used to produce packaging as an end product, for furniture as an end product, or for producing end products in automotive production.

[0064] The C4 fraction may comprise a gas mixture containing C4 olefins from which butadiene and isobutene can be extracted. The residue, which is a mixture of butenes and butanes, may be used as a chemical intermediate for further production processes of the chemical production network. Butadiene and its derivatives may be chemical intermediates used to produce chemical products that leave the chemical production network. Butadiene and its derivatives may be chemical products that leave the chemical production network. Butadiene and its derivatives may be used to produce final products such as tires, paper, plastics, rubber, oil, lubricants, or perfumes. Isobutene (isobutylene) and its derivatives may be chemical intermediates used to produce chemical products that leave the chemical production network. Isobutene (isobutylene) and its derivatives may be chemical products that leave the chemical production network. Isobutene (isobutylene) and its derivatives may be used for the production of butyl rubber and for polyisobutylene for final products such as tires, paper, plastics, rubber, oil, lubricants, or perfumes.

[0065] The heavy cracker fraction may contain 5 to 12 hydrocarbon atoms (e.g., C5 non-aromatics, C7 / C8 mixtures, C9). The C5 non-aromatics may be chemical intermediates used to produce further chemical intermediates such as cyclopentane- and n / i-pentane mixtures or chemical products that exit the chemical production network. The hydrogenated or non-hydrogenated C9 fraction, C7 / 8 mixtures or xylol mixtures may be chemical intermediates used as blending components for premium gasoline or used to produce further chemical intermediates such as hydrocarbon resins used in the production of benzene.

[0066] Residues such as pyrolysis oil from ethylene production can be used as auxiliary materials in the chemical industry, as feedstocks for the distillation of naphthalene and indene, and as chemical intermediates for the production of carbon black.

[0067] Based on the recycled and / or bio-based content of the pyrolyzed effluent, any fraction from the pyrolyzed effluent and any chemical product produced from any component of such effluent may contain recycled and / or bio-based content. For example, the light olefin fraction may contain recycled and / or bio-based content. Further, for example, the ethylene or propylene fraction may contain recycled and / or bio-based content. Further, for example, the chemical product produced from the ethylene or propylene fraction may contain recycled and / or bio-based content. In this manner, the recycled and / or bio-based content may be included in the chemical intermediate, chemical product, or final product produced. As shown in FIG. 2, "r-ethylene" (recycled content ethylene) may be (a) ethylene obtained from the pyrolysis of a cracker feed containing pyrolysis oil, or (b) a composition comprising ethylene having a recycled content value attributable to at least a portion of the ethylene. Similarly, "r-propylene" (recycled content propylene) can be (a) propylene obtained from the pyrolysis of a cracker feed containing pyrolysis oil, or (b) a composition comprising propylene having a recycled content value attributable at least in part to the propylene. Both r-ethylene and r-propylene can be summarized under the term r-olefins (recycled content olefins).

[0068] FIG. 2a illustrates an embodiment of a system boundary of a chemical production network including a pyrolysis step. The waste stream forms an entry point into the chemical production network. The chemical end products form an exit point from the chemical production network. FIG. 2b illustrates another embodiment of a system boundary of a chemical production network excluding the pyrolysis step. The pyrolysis oil and fossil feedstock form an entry point into the chemical production network. The chemical end products form an exit point from the chemical production network. FIG. 2c illustrates another embodiment of a system boundary of a chemical production network excluding the pyrolysis step and the cracking step. The cracker effluent, at least partially generated from the pyrolysis oil, forms an entry point into the chemical production network. The chemical end products form an exit point from the chemical production network. The chemical production networks and system boundaries illustrated in FIGS. 2a-c are examples and should not be considered as limiting.

[0069] In the examples shown in Figures 2a-c, the recycled and / or bio-based content may be environmental attributes of the respective input materials. In Figure 2a, the waste stream is an input material to a chemical production network including a pyrolysis unit. The environmental attributes associated with such waste streams may include environmental attribute types, such as recycled, and waste types, such as mixed plastic waste. The environmental attributes may be separated from the material flow through the chemical production network upon ingress of the waste stream. The environmental attributes may be assigned to a virtual balancing account associated with the respective environmental attribute. In Figure 2b, the pyrolysis oil is an input material to a chemical production network excluding the pyrolysis unit. The environmental attributes associated with such pyrolysis oil may include environmental attribute types, such as recycled, material types, such as pyrolysis oil, and waste types, such as mixed plastic waste. The environmental attributes may be separated from the material flow through the chemical production network upon ingress of the pyrolysis oil. The environmental attributes may be assigned to a virtual balancing account associated with the respective environmental attribute. In Figure 2b, the pyrolysis effluent generated from the pyrolysis oil is an input material to a chemical production network excluding the pyrolysis unit and the cracker unit. The environmental attributes associated with such effluents may include environmental attribute types, such as reclaimed, material types, such as effluents produced from pyrolysis oil, and waste types, such as mixed plastic waste. The environmental attributes may be separated from the material flow through the chemical production network when the pyrolysis effluent enters the chemical production network. The environmental attributes may be assigned to a virtual balancing account associated with the respective environmental attribute. By separating the environmental attributes from the material flow of the chemical production network, a reliable and easy assignment of the environmental attributes to the chemical products produced by the chemical production network may be realized. By the virtual balancing account, the environmental attributes may be collected upon ingress into the chemical production network. Upon egress of the chemical products, the environmental attributes collected at the ingress may be assigned to such products and unassigned from the virtual balancing account.Thus, it can be guaranteed that 1) only environmental attributes are assigned to chemical products that enter the chemical production network and 2) that they have not already been assigned to another chemical product, so that positive environmental impacts are counted only once and can be traced from the entry point to the exit point of the chemical production network.

[0070] In the context of this example, a pyrolysis unit followed by a steam cracker unit is shown, which should not be considered limiting, and the concepts disclosed herein apply equally to comparable chemical value / production chains, such as a syngas plant-based value / production chain.

[0071] 3a-c show examples of allocation schemes for allocating the use of renewable or bio-based input materials to chemical products in a chemical production network.

[0072] As shown in Figures 1 and 2, a chemical production network can include complex interconnected production sites that chemically convert one or more input materials into one or more chemical products by chemical processing. Allocation rules can be used to consider the use of regenerated or renewable content in chemical product production. In this way, the regenerated, renewable, or bio-based content of input materials can be allocated to chemical products. Renewable content may be based on input materials from renewable resources. Renewable content may include bio-based input materials produced from organisms such as different types of crops, wood, or algae. Regenerated content may include any regenerated material used in the production of new materials. This may include any regenerated bio-based or bio-based material, such as produced from chemical or mechanical regeneration.

[0073] Accounting principles for allocating the usage of recycled or renewable content are defined, for example, in ISO 22095. Four different custody chain models can be used: the identity preservation model, the segregation model, the mass balance model, or the books and invoice model.

[0074] FIG. 3a shows an example of a dedicated or separated production network. The production network includes a first production chain for producing chemical products from fossil materials and a second production chain for producing chemical products from bio-based input materials. The first and second production chains are not interconnected. The first and second production chains produce fossil-based and bio-based or renewable chemical products, respectively. Examples of such dedicated production environments include fermentation or chemical conversion of polyethylene from sugarcane, bio-polylactic acid (PLA) from corn, bio-succinic acid, or bio-butanediol (BDO), etc.

[0075] Figure 3b shows an example of a complex production network. In contrast to the production network of Figure 3a, fossil-based input materials are co-fed and mixed with bio-based or regenerated input materials. The production network produces one or more material outputs or products through one or more chemical process chains with intermediates. For simplicity, Figure 3b shows a mass balancing approach for one chemical process chain producing one chemical output or product. The mass balancing model considers the physical mixing or co-fed of bio-based or regenerated input materials with conventional fossil input materials. Here, the feed to the production network and the feed of the output products form the system boundary. The mass balance of the inputs and chemical products connects the used bio-based or regenerated input materials to the generated output products. The mass balance allows tracking the total amount of input materials (e.g. regenerated or bio-based or bio-based materials) throughout the production network and allows allocation to chemical products. Materials with different sets of specified properties can be mixed. For example, recycled or bio-based feedstocks replace equal amounts of fossil feedstocks (input materials) at the beginning of the value chain and are allocated to products (chemical products) in a way that matches inputs and emissions. In this model, the proportions of inputs with specified characteristics only match the initial proportions on average and usually vary across different outputs. This means, for example, that recycled and fossil input materials are mixed and the chemical or technological proportions of each chemical product are not tracked.

[0076] The mass balance may include conversion factors to ensure that the amount of input material correlates to the amount of chemical product. The calculation may be performed over a predetermined or specified period of time. The mass balance may be based on balancing units such as mass, energy, or carbon.

[0077] Figure 3c shows a complex production network associated with a book-and-claim scheme. In a book-and-claim scheme, the characteristic renewable or regenerated input materials are not related to the actual material flows. Book-and-claim allows for the separation of certain characteristics, such as renewable, from the physical product and for the characteristics to be transferred separately through a dedicated registry in the form of a digital asset. This approach can be used for renewable energy. Book-and-claim can be based on book-and-claim such as kilowatt-hours of electricity.

[0078] In identifying conservation models or separation approaches as shown in Figure 3a, renewable, regenerated, or bio-based input materials may not be mixed with fossil input materials. In mass balance or book and claim approaches as shown in Figures 3b and 3c, renewable or regenerated or bio-based materials may be mixed with fossil input materials. Considering the increase in the number of different sources and allocation schemes for more sustainable chemical production, an efficient and robust operational system is required to operate complex production networks such as chemical production networks.

[0079] FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a chemical production network with different allocation schemes.

[0080] A chemical production network may include multiple production chains with different allocation schemes. The system boundary of a chemical production network may be defined by entry points to and exit points from the chemical production network. A production chain may be defined by the chemical products produced through such production chain. The production chain logic may be based on process data related to the process steps from input materials to chemical products. For each production chain, an allocation scheme may be applicable or assigned.

[0081] 5a and 5b show the inbound and outbound allocation of environmental attributes for a chemical production network.

[0082] FIG. 5a shows an example of an inbound allocation process for a chemical production network.

[0083] For example, as shown in Figure 1, the chemical production network may be operated by an operating system configured to register inbound environmental attributes, assign outbound environmental attributes, and / or manage inbound registration and outbound assignment via assignment rules. The assignment rules may include assignment schemes such as those shown in Figures 3a-3c. The chemical production network may include a network as described in connection with Figures 2 or 4, for example.

[0084] An inbound registration or allocation is made for an input material that enters a chemical production network or a physical system boundary of a chemical production network. In this context, an input material refers to any material that enters the system boundary of a chemical production network and is used to produce a chemical product that exits the chemical production network. Such an input material may be associated with an input material identifier. Possible identifiers include a decentralized identifier, an input material specification, an input material sequence number, an input material LOT number, an input material batch number, an input material supplier specification, or a combination thereof.

[0085] Upon entry of an input material into the chemical production network, input material data can be provided, which may include an input material identifier, an input material quantity, and / or one or more environmental attributes associated with the input material.

[0086] Based on the input material data, in particular the input material quantity and / or one or more environmental attributes associated with the input material, the balancing units can be determined by converting the input material quantity into a balancing unit of the respective environmental attribute. The balancing units can relate to mass, weight, carbon atoms, hydrogen atoms, methane equivalents, energy properties, or any other suitable measure for quantifying the environmental impact of the environmental attribute.

[0087] Balancing units may be assigned to balancing accounts associated with respective environmental attributes. In this manner, environmental attributes associated with input materials entering a chemical production network can be stored in a tracking or accounting system. An example of a virtual accounting system is shown in Figures 11a-11c, where each balancing account is associated with metadata indicating an input material, such as pyrolysis oil, an environmental attribute type, such as reclaim, and a waste type, such as tires.

[0088] For allocation, the input material data may include respective metadata about the input material. The allocation rules may include instructions for allocating environmental attributes included in the input material data to respective balancing accounts. In an inbound process, such allocation rules may be used to allocate environmental attributes from the input material data to the virtual accounting system.

[0089] For example, the method for allocating balancing units may be associated with pyrolysis oil as an input material to a complex chemical production network.

[0090] First, the amount and type of waste streams can be provided to a computing interface configured to assign environmental attributes. The amount and type of waste streams can be stored in association with the pyrolysis plant and the pyrolysis oil produced by the plant. For example, a pyrolysis oil producer can operate multiple plants and can track the amount and type of waste streams fed to the plants. The wastes can be fed to the pyrolysis plant separately depending on the type of waste, or the wastes can be mixed. Based on such tracking, the amount of pyrolysis oil and the type of waste stream can be assigned to the pyrolysis oil produced.

[0091] The amount of pyrolysis oil and the type of waste stream may be provided to the operating system of the complex chemical production network. Based on the amount of pyrolysis oil, a balancing unit may be generated. Such generation may include a conversion factor that takes into account the chemical difference between fossil-based input materials, such as naphtha and methane, and non-fossil-based input materials, such as pyrolysis oil. The conversion factor may relate to the lower heating value of the pyrolysis oil in relation to the lower heating value of naphtha or methane. The conversion factor may include a ratio of the lower heating value of the pyrolysis oil to naphtha or methane. In this way, the chemical difference between the fossil and regenerated input materials may be taken into account. The pyrolysis oil may be mixed with the fossil input materials, and a fraction of the pyrolysis oil may be registered in an account for balancing the environmental units.

[0092] Balancing units may be assigned to respective balancing accounts. For example, an allocation rule may be associated with balancing account 1 in FIG. 11a. In such a case, a balancing unit for pyrolysis oil, generated from waste stream type tire waste and used in a specified amount in the production network, is assigned to balancing account 1. Upon production of chemical products, such balancing units may be assigned to chemical products according to the allocation rule. Allocation rules specifying free attributes between production processes in a chemical production network can provide reliable allocation in complex production networks. In such a case, the allocation of balancing units may be decoupled from the material flows of the chemical production network.

[0093] FIG. 5b shows an example of an outbound allocation process for a chemical production network.

[0094] For example, as shown in Figure 1, the chemical production network may be operated by an operating system configured to register inbound environmental attributes, assign outbound environmental attributes, and / or manage inbound registration and outbound assignment via assignment rules. The assignment rules may include assignment schemes such as those shown in Figures 3a-3c. The chemical production network may include a network as described in connection with Figure 2 or Figure 4.

[0095] A chemical product can be produced from input materials that enter a chemical production network. Chemical product data may be provided that includes a chemical product identifier. The chemical product data may further include input material data related to the input materials used to produce the chemical product, process data related to a production chain for producing the chemical product, and / or data related to the chemical product data, such as chemical product specifications or chemical product quantities.

[0096] Based on the input material data, environmental attributes associated with the input materials used to produce the chemical product can be determined. The input material data can specify a total amount of the input material that entered the production chain to produce a quantity of the chemical product. The input material data can further specify an environmental attribute available for each input material. From the total amount of the input material, a number of balancing units per environmental attribute available for such input material can be determined. In this manner, a maximum number of balancing units for each environmental attribute attributable to the chemical product can be determined.

[0097] Based on the environmental attribute attributable to the chemical product, a number of balancing units corresponding to the determined environmental attribute can be determined, and the determined balancing units can be compared to the balancing units stored in the balancing account for the respective environmental attribute.

[0098] If the respective balancing account for the respective environmental attribute is not sufficiently balanced, the environmental attribute is rejected. If balancing units are available, the balancing units are deducted from the respective balancing account and the environmental attribute is assigned to the chemical product.

[0099] An example of an accounting system is shown in Figures 11a-11, where each balancing account is associated with metadata indicating an input material, such as pyrolysis oil, an environmental attribute type, such as reclaim, and a waste stream type, such as tires. Allocation rules can be defined to assign environmental attributes to chemical products. The allocation rules can include instructions for assigning environmental attributes contained in the input material data from the respective balancing account to chemical products. In an outbound process, such allocation rules can be used to assign environmental attributes from the virtual balancing system to chemical products.

[0100] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a method for assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product produced by a chemical production network.

[0101] One or more input materials may be provided at an entry point to the chemical production network. Material data relating to the one or more input materials and respective environmental attributes may be provided to a computing interface configured for the assignment and / or allocation of environmental attributes. The material data may be provided at, before or after the entry of the one or more input materials into the chemical production network. The material data may include an input material identifier associated with each input material provided to the chemical production network. The input material identifier may be associated with the physical entity of the input material. In this way, a virtual identifier of an input material may be uniquely linked to a physical input material. Such a link may include a physical or virtual link of an identifier uniquely associated with a physical input material. To physically link, a tag or code may be physically connected to the material, for example, by printing a QR code on the packaging. To virtually link, different identifiers associated with the physical materials may be linked. For example, an order number, a batch number, a LOT number, or a combination thereof may be linked. The material data can include at least one environmental attribute associated with each input material and the amount of the input material provided to an entry point of the chemical production network.

[0102] One or more environmental attributes can be assigned to at least one balancing account associated with a respective environmental attribute. The balancing account can be associated with a digital storage structure that stores data related to the environmental attributes. The account can be associated with metadata identifying the account. The account can be associated with metadata identifying the environmental attributes assigned to the account and the environmental or balancing unit. The account may be associated with metadata identifying the production chain with which the account is associated. The account can be associated with metadata identifying the input or chemical product with which the account is associated. The account may be part of a virtual accounting system that includes multiple accounts. The account can hold environmental attributes for transactions. The environmental attributes can be assigned, added, deleted, withdrawn, unassigned, or subtracted from the account. A virtual balancing account, such as shown in FIG. 11c, may be associated with an environmental attribute type, such as regenerated or renewable. A virtual balancing account can be associated with an input material type, such as pyrolysis oil, bio-naphtha, bio-methane, etc. A virtual balancing account associated with a recycled environmental attribute type may be further associated with a waste stream type such as mixed plastic waste, a specific end product waste such as tire waste or foam waste, post-consumer waste, pre-consumer waste, etc. A virtual balancing account may be associated with an allocation scheme such as segregated allocation, non-segregated allocation such as books and billings, mass balance with free attributes, mass balance without free attributes, or a combination thereof.

[0103] A chemical product identifier may be provided that is associated with a chemical product produced by the chemical production network and provided at an exit point from the chemical production network. The chemical product identifier may be associated with the physical entity of the chemical product. In this way, a virtual identifier of a material may be uniquely linked to a physical material. Such a link may include a physical or virtual link of an identifier uniquely associated with a physical material. To physically link, a tag or code may be physically connected to the material, for example, by printing a QR code on the packaging. To virtually link, different identifiers associated with a physical material may be linked. For example, an order number, a batch number, a LOT number, or a combination thereof may be linked.

[0104] At least one environmental attribute from at least one balancing account associated with a respective environmental attribute may be assigned to at least one chemical product identifier. In this manner, a chemical product may be provided with a digital asset of the environmental attribute, and the positive environmental impact associated with the chemical product may be tracked through a value chain using such a chemical product. Tracking may extend to end products generated from the chemical product, reuse of the end product, or reclamation of the end product.

[0105] FIG. 7 illustrates an example of an apparatus for producing at least one chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes, including an example method for converting and allocating to a virtual balancing account upon inbound.

[0106] An input material, such as pyrolysis oil, bio-naphtha, or biogas, may be provided to a chemical production network. The input material may enter the system boundary of the chemical production network at an inlet point, such as a steam cracker or syngas plant. The input material may be used in the chemical production network to produce one or more chemical products from the input material. The chemical products may be provided to an exit point of the chemical production network. The chemical products may be MDI, TDI, PA6, EPS, PC, polyol, caprolactam, adipic acid, HMD, polyamide.

[0107] The input material data may be provided to the operating system interface via a network. The data provider may be configured to provide material data relating to one or more input materials and their respective environmental attributes to the computing interface configured to assign environmental attributes. The material data may be provided before or after providing the one or more input materials at an entry point to the chemical production network. The input material identifier may be associated with a physical entity of the input material entering the chemical production network.

[0108] The data associated with the input material identifiers may include environmental attributes associated with each input material, a quantity of the input material, and a certificate attesting to the environmental attributes. The quantity of the input material may be a measured amount of the input material provided to a plant or a reservoir of a chemical production network for producing one or more chemical products from the input material. The input material identifiers associated with each input material, the environmental attributes associated with each input material, and the quantity of the input material provided to the chemical production network may be provided. Such data may be provided over a communications network upon entry into the system boundary, or the data may be transferred from the computing system to the operating system.

[0109] The inbound allocator may be configured to convert and assign one or more environmental attributes to at least one balancing account associated with the respective environmental attribute. For the allocation, the one or more environmental attributes may be converted to balancing units, and the balancing units may be assigned to balancing accounts. The one or more balancing units may be assigned to at least one balancing account associated with the respective environmental attribute. The conversion may be based on a conversion factor, such as mass, weight, carbon atom, hydrogen atom, methane equivalent, or any other suitable measure for quantifying the environmental impact of the environmental attribute. The use of balancing units and conversions may ensure that the environmental attributes of the input materials are used only once for allocation to the chemical products. In this way, double counting of inputs or outputs is avoided, and positive environmental impacts may be assigned to the chemical products.

[0110] Regenerated, renewable, or bio-based content used in the chemical production of one or more chemical products may be converted into balancing units and assigned to a balancing account to track such content. For conversion of regenerated, renewable, or bio-based content, input material data related to the input material and including environmental attributes may be provided. The input material data may relate to an input material that affects the environmental properties of the chemical product produced by the chemical production network, such as a regenerated or bio-based input material. The input material data may relate to an amount of the input material that affects the environmental properties of the chemical product produced by the chemical production network. The amount may be provided as an absolute value, e.g., in kt per specified time frame, such as kt / a. The amount may also be provided as a relative value, e.g., in % of the input material.

[0111] The input material data may relate to an energy value of an input material that affects at least one environmental characteristic of the chemical production network, or the energy value may be provided via a database. The input material data may indicate the availability of an input material that affects at least one environmental characteristic of a chemical product produced by the chemical production. As an example, the input material data may include: Input material 1 Cracker: Bionaphtha Input material quantity: x%. Input material: xkt Input material LHV: xMJ / kg Input material 2 Cracker: Pyrolysis oil Input material amount: x% Input material: xkt Input material LHV: xMJ / kg may include.

[0112] One or more environmental attributes can be converted into one or more balancing units. In the above example, the environmental attribute associated with input material 1 may be bio-based, and the environmental attribute associated with input material 2 may be regenerated. The conversion of environmental attributes into balancing units can be based on a conversion factor that relates a conventional input material to an input material associated with one or more environmental attributes. In the above example, the conversion factor can relate from conventional naphtha-based to bio-naphtha or pyrolysis oil. The conversion factor can relate from the use of a conventional input material to the use of an input material associated with one or more environmental attributes, for example via mass or energy properties. Thus, the conversion factor can take into account the difference between producing a chemical product from a conventional input material and producing a chemical product from a non-conventional input material, or producing a chemical product from a mixture of conventional and non-conventional input materials. The conversion factor can relate to the difference in the chemical and / or physical properties of the conventional and non-conventional input materials.

[0113] In a chemical production network, multiple value chains may be linked. Furthermore, different input materials may be used that affect the environmental properties of the chemical products produced by the chemical production network. Due to the complexity of the processing of chemicals in continuous or semi-continuous production and of the chemical production network, the traceability of the input materials through the network may be hindered. In such a scenario, equal amounts of input materials that affect the environmental properties of the chemical products produced by the chemical production network may be assigned to a virtual balancing account and allocated to one or more chemical products of the chemical production network. In this way, a particular input material associated with at least one environmental attribute may replace an equal amount of a fossil input material and may be assigned to a virtual account or may be assigned to one or more chemical products. Thus, the environmental attribute may be decoupled from the flow of physical materials in the chemical production network. The decoupling may be based on a mass balance model in that the equal amount assigned to one or more chemical products cannot exceed the equal amount provided by the input material. If an equal amount is assigned to a virtual account for one environmental attribute type, a second allocation to another virtual account for one environmental attribute type may not be made. The environmental attribute type may be renewable, bio-based, renewable, etc.

[0114] The most common examples of input materials that impact at least one environmental characteristic of the chemical products produced from such input materials are regenerated, renewable, or bio-based input materials that may be used as feedstocks for crackers, such as steam crackers, that break down saturated hydrocarbons into smaller, often unsaturated, hydrocarbons to produce lighter alkenes, such as olefins, including ethylene (or ethylene) and propene (or propylene).

[0115] Reclaimed, renewable, or bio-based input materials may have the same chemical properties as their fossil counterparts. They may be fully interchangeable, e.g., an input material amount of naphtha or natural gas may be replaced with an input material amount associated with an environmental attribute. For example, naphtha is generally quoted at a lower heating value (LHV) of about 44.3 MJ / kg, and bio-naphtha is generally quoted at a similar LHV. In such a scenario, the energy-based balancing unit may be about 1, meaning that one unit of naphtha corresponds to one unit of bio-naphtha. Equivalent amounts of input materials associated with environmental attributes may be assigned in a one-to-one correspondence.

[0116] However, some regenerated, renewable, or bio-based input materials may have different carbon content, energy value, or other chemical properties than the fossil feedstocks they replace. This may result in higher or lower demands on the regenerated, renewable, or bio-based input materials compared to the amount of fossil feedstock. In such situations, equivalent amounts of regenerated, renewable, or bio-based input materials may not adhere to a one-to-one correspondence. For example, a conversion factor based on the lower heating value (LHV) of the fossil feedstock and the bio-feedstock as an approximation of the chemical properties can be used. Biogas is commonly referred to with an LHV of 50 MJ / kg. In such a scenario, the balancing unit may be about 0.88, meaning that one unit naphtha corresponds to 0.88 units bio-naphtha. Thus, in this scenario, equal amounts of input materials associated with at least one environmental property can be allocated according to a conversion factor of 0.88.

[0117] There are various methods for determining the conversion factor from a conventional input material unit to an equivalent that can be allocated to a balancing unit or to one or more chemical products from chemical production. - mass of the input material, mass equivalent or molecular weight of a molecular unit such as methane, -One or more elements, such as the number or moles of an element or molecular unit; or - Energy properties such as heating value, e.g. lower or higher heating value, may depend on.

[0118] The balancing unit may assign the environmental attributes associated with the input materials to virtual balancing accounts associated with the respective environmental attributes. For the assignment, an assignment rule may be provided that maps the environmental attributes to the virtual balancing accounts. The assignment rule may depend on the input material type and the environmental attribute type. It should be noted that the assignment rule may be linked to metadata related to the input material type and the environmental attribute type. Similarly, the virtual balancing account may be linked to metadata related to the input material type and the environmental attribute type. Based on the input material type and the environmental attribute type, the virtual balancing account of the respective metadata may be matched and the input material account may be selected for assignment.

[0119] The balancing units may be assigned to a selected virtual balancing account. For example, an allocation rule may be associated with an account for pyrolysis oil. Upon production of a chemical product, a corresponding balancing unit may be assigned to the chemical product. The allocation rule may specify the allocation of the balancing units to the chemical product.

[0120] FIG. 8 illustrates an example of an apparatus for producing at least one chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes, including an example method for allocating to the chemical products upon outbound.

[0121] Similar to FIG. 7, an input material, such as pyrolysis oil, bio-naphtha, or biogas, may be provided to a chemical production network. The input material may enter the system boundary of the chemical production network at an inlet point, such as a steam cracker or syngas plant. The input material may be used in the chemical production network to produce one or more chemical products from the input material. The chemical products may be provided to an exit point of the chemical production network. The chemical products may be MDI, TDI, PA6, EPS, PC, polyol, caprolactam, adipic acid, HMD, polyamide.

[0122] Similar to FIG. 7, one or more environmental attributes may be transformed upon inbound and assigned to a virtual balancing account.

[0123] The identifier provider may be configured to provide a chemical product identifier associated with a chemical product produced by the chemical production network and provided at an exit point from the chemical production network. The chemical product may be any chemical product produced by the chemical production network.

[0124] The outbound assigner may be configured to assign at least one environmental attribute from at least one virtual balancing account associated with the respective environmental attribute to the at least one chemical product identifier. The one or more environmental attributes may be assigned to the at least one chemical product. The assigning may include converting one or more balancing units to the one or more environmental attributes, and the one or more balancing units are deallocated from the at least one virtual balancing account associated with the respective environmental attribute.

[0125] Allocating at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product may include converting one or more balancing units to one or more environmental attributes, and the one or more balancing units are deallocated from at least one virtual balancing account associated with the respective environmental attributes. Allocating at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product may include providing a chemical product identifier associated with the produced chemical product and allocating the environmental attribute to the chemical product. Allocating at least one environmental attribute associated with the input material to the chemical product may include linking the chemical product identifier with the environmental attribute. The chemical product identifier may be associated with the physical entity of the chemical product. In this way, the virtual identifier of the material may be uniquely linked to the physical material. Such a link may include a physical or virtual link of an identifier uniquely associated with the physical material. To physically link, a tag or code may be physically connected to the material, for example, by printing a QR code on the package. To virtually link, different identifiers associated with the physical material may be linked. For example, an order number, a batch number, a LOT number, or a combination thereof may be linked.

[0126] For illustrative purposes, and to further explain the methods shown in Figures 6-8, Figure 9 shows examples of chemical products produced by a chemical production network from input materials via different intermediates.

[0127] A chemical production network can include multiple production chains with one or more intermediate stages. The production chains can have one common starting point, for example provided by a steam cracker. The cracker feedstock can include fossil and non-fossil input materials. The fossil input materials may include gaseous or liquid hydrocarbon-containing feedstocks such as naphtha and / or low pressure gas or ethane. The non-fossil input materials may include bio-based and / or renewable feedstocks.

[0128] In steam pyrolysis, the feedstock is diluted with steam and heated to a reaction temperature of 500-1000 °C in a furnace. After pyrolysis, the gas is quenched and the reaction is stopped in a transfer line exchanger. The cracker products produced in the reaction depend on the composition of the feedstock, the hydrocarbon to steam ratio, as well as the pyrolysis temperature and residence time in the furnace. In the example shown in Figure 9, the cracker products include light alkenes such as ethylene or propylene, C4-hydrocarbons such as isobutene, N-butene, butadiene or cyclobutane, and / or other hydrocarbons such as aromatic hydrocarbons, or a mixture of aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzene, toluene and / or xylene (benzene and toluene, also abbreviated as BT; benzene, toluene and xylene, also abbreviated as BTX).

[0129] The cracker products may be provided to an exit point of the chemical production network. In such embodiments, the cracker products may be chemical products. Environmental attributes of the recycled or bio-based input materials may be assigned to such chemical products.

[0130] The chemical production network may include one or more production chains that further process or chemically convert the cracker intermediate. The cracker intermediate may be further processed or chemically converted by one or more production chains in the chemical production network. The cracker intermediate may be processed into downstream products. The downstream products may be fed to an exit point of the chemical production network. Thus, the downstream products may be chemical products. The environmental attributes of the recycled or bio-based input materials may be assigned to such chemical products. The cracker intermediate may be processed into chemical products via one or more downstream intermediates. The environmental attributes of the recycled or bio-based input materials may be assigned to such chemical products. The chemical products may include polymers, specialty chemicals, consumer chemicals, solvents, pharmaceuticals, etc.

[0131] For illustrative purposes, to further illustrate how environmental attributes are assigned to virtual balancing accounts and how environmental attributes are assigned to chemical products as described in connection with Figures 6-8, Figure 10 shows an example of the conversion to balancing units and assignment to chemical products.

[0132] Based on the non-limiting example of Figure 9, a bio-based renewable feedstock can be fed to a steam cracker. For illustrative purposes, the steam cracker can be fed with the following input materials in the following amounts: - 3 kg of recycled input materials, such as pyrolysis oil produced from mixed plastic waste; - 5 kg of bio-based input materials such as bio-naphtha derived from kosher and vegan vegetable oils; - 92 kg naphtha can be supplied in

[0133] Upon feeding these input materials to the steam cracker, the input materials enter the chemical production network. The environmental attributes of the regenerated bio-based input materials can be provided to a computer interface configured to convert such attributes into balancing units and assign balancing units to the respective virtual balancing accounts. In the simplest example, a balancing unit (BU) can correspond to the amount of the respective material. In this example, the environmental attribute pyrolysis oil from the regenerated mixed plastic waste can correspond to 3 BU, and the environmental attribute bio-naphtha from the bio-based food waste can correspond to 5 BU. In this example, the simplified weight-based approach is used for illustrative purposes only. Other approaches may be based on energy, atomic counts such as carbon atoms, molecular counts such as methane, or may include losses incurred during production.

[0134] In more complex embodiments, the balancing unit can be determined based on more complex conversion factors, taking into account chemical and / or physical differences between the input materials and their associated yields. The conversion factor can quantify the difference in chemical and / or physical properties that substitutes a fossil input material with a non-fossil input material. The conversion factor can relate the use of a conventional input material to the use of an input material associated with one or more environmental attributes. The conversion factor can depend on carbon atoms, methane molecules, energy properties, process properties, or any other suitable factor for quantifying the environmental impact of an environmental attribute. For example, the lower or higher heating value (LHV, HHV) of the fossil and non-fossil input material can be taken into account. Furthermore, for example, material losses occurring in the processing of the fossil or non-fossil input material can be taken into account. Furthermore, for example, exempted steam cracker products, intermediates or production chains may be taken into account. Furthermore, for example, only preselected production chains may be taken into account. In this way, the environmental impact of the non-fossil input material can be quantified with reference to the fossil input material.

[0135] The steam cracker can produce cracker products, which can be further processed and chemically converted. In an illustrative example, 20 kg of ethylene, 30 kg of polyamide, and 50 kg of polystyrene as cracker products can be provided to an exit point of a chemical production network. Since 3 kg of recycled bio-based input material and 5 kg of bio-based input material were used in the production of such products, the environmental attributes assigned in BUs to the respective balancing accounts can be assigned to such products. For example, 3 BU of recycled may be assigned to polyamide, which corresponds to a 10% recycled content, and 5 BU of bio-based may be assigned to polystyrene, which corresponds to a 10% bio-based content.

[0136] For illustrative purposes, to further illustrate the method for allocating environmental attributes to virtual balancing accounts, as described in connection with Figures 6-8, Figures 11a-11c show example balancing accounts for managing the allocation and allocation of balancing units.

[0137] Based on the non-limiting example of FIG. 9, bio-based recycled feedstocks can be fed to a steam cracker. Material data relating to the bio-based and recycled feedstocks and their respective environmental attributes can be provided to a computing interface configured to convert such attributes into balancing units and assign the balancing units to respective virtual balancing accounts. In the simplest example, the environmental attribute pyrolysis oil from recycled mixed plastic waste can correspond to 3 BU, and the environmental attribute bio-naphtha from bio-based vegetable oil can correspond to 5 BU. The BUs so determined can be further associated with metadata indicative of the respective environmental attributes of the recycled, pyrolysis oil and recycled tires and the bio-based bio-naphtha, vegetable oil.

[0138] For the allocation, a virtual balancing system may be provided. The virtual balancing system may include balancing accounts associated with metadata regarding environmental attributes, input material types, waste stream types, biomass types, and balancing units. For example, as shown in FIG. 11a, the balancing accounts may be associated with metadata regarding environmental attribute types recycled or bio-based, input material types pyrolysis oil, bio-naphtha or biogas, input material derived tires, mixed plastic waste, vegetable oil, or food waste, respectively. Furthermore, the balancing accounts may be associated with account balances that quantify BUs.

[0139] For three and five BU allocations, the balancing account metadata may match the metadata associated with such BU. The BU metadata may be provided from the input material data. Once a metadata match is found, the respective BU is assigned to the matched account. Thus, in this example, 3 BU of pyrolysis oil from recycled mixed plastic waste may be assigned to the recycled 2 BU account, and 5 BU of bio-naphtha from bio-based vegetable oil may be assigned to the BU bio-1 account.

[0140] The virtual balancing system may be based on balancing of accounts with static or dynamic metadata. For example, if metadata provided via an environmental attribute associated with an input material does not correspond to the metadata of a provided balancing account, a new account associated with such metadata may be provided. Alternatively or additionally, the environmental attribute may be assigned to an account associated with a maximum match of metadata, where maximum may refer to a maximum number of matching metadata points, in particular account metadata points that at least partially match with the environmental attribute metadata points. For example, the environmental attribute may provide more metadata than any balancing account. In such a scenario, an account having metadata points that at least partially match with the environmental attribute metadata points may be selected for allocation.

[0141] The metadata structure shown in Figure 11a is just one example. Figure 11b shows another example, where a hierarchical tree of metadata (leaves) with different levels may be associated with a balancing account. For example, the top level may be bio-based or recycled, the next level may specify input material types of recycled or bio-based, respectively, etc.

[0142] The metadata structures shown in Figures 11a and 11b are just an example. Figure 11c shows another example. In this example, the virtual accounting system may be associated with metadata related to recycled environmental attributes and input material type pyrolysis oil. The virtual accounting system may include two balancing accounts BU1 and BU2. BU1 may be associated with waste stream type tires and a balancing unit assigned to BU1. BU2 may be associated with waste stream type mixed plastics and a balancing unit assigned to BU2.

[0143] 11a-11c are just examples based on metadata attached to the virtual accounting system or balancing account. There are other options for realizing such data structures. For example, the virtual balancing system and the balancing account may be completely abstracted and each BU entering the system may have its own metadata.

[0144] FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a method for producing at least one chemical product associated with at least one environmental attribute in a supply chain.

[0145] This example shows two tiers and an original equipment manufacturer. Tier 1 may be a chemical producer operating a chemical production network. The chemical production network may be associated with a system boundary. The system boundary may refer to the physical boundary of the chemical production network. An input material enters the chemical production network at any stage of the production network, or the system boundary of the chemical production network may refer to an entry point into the chemical production network. When an input material associated with one or more environmental attributes enters, the environmental attributes may be separated from the physical material flow of the input material through the chemical production network. Such a separation of physical input materials and virtual environmental attributes may be provided by the method described herein and shown, for example, in FIG. 5a (inbound), for registering at least one input material associated with at least one environmental attribute. Chemical products may be produced from the input materials by the chemical production network. At least one chemical product may be produced by a chemical production network, and the chemical product may be associated with at least one environmental attribute as described herein and shown in FIG. 5b (outbound).

[0146] Chemical products associated with at least one environmental attribute produced by the chemical production network may be provided to the next tier. In the illustrated example, tier 2 may be a production network that produces chemical products or discrete products from chemical products. Discrete products may be any products associated with separate physical units. In contrast to process manufacturing, discrete manufacturing uses such discrete products to assemble other discrete products. In contrast, chemical production uses process manufacturing where input materials are mixed and chemically converted into chemical output products. Such output products are chemical products that may be carried in separate units such as containers or wreaths. However, chemical products are not such discrete products. The chemical-to-discrete production network may be associated with a system boundary as described above. Similar to the chemical production network, the chemical-to-discrete production network may register inbound input materials associated with at least one environmental attribute, where the input materials may be chemical products of the chemical production network described herein or shown in FIG. 5a (inbound). The discrete output products may be produced by a chemical-to-discrete production network. At least one discrete output product may be linked to at least one environmental attribute (output).

[0147] The discrete products associated with at least one environmental attribute produced by the chemical-to-discrete production network may be provided to an original equipment manufacturer that produces a final product. As described herein and in conjunction with Figures 5a and 6, the discrete products and associated environmental attributes may be decoupled upon registration (inbound). As described herein and shown in Figures 5b and 7, after decoupling, the environmental attributes may be linked to the final product as described herein and shown in Figure 5b (outbound).

[0148] The one or more environmental attributes assigned to the chemical product identifiers may be used to provide the one or more environmental attributes with at least one individual product identifier associated with at least one individual product or at least one end product identifier designating at least one end product in the product supply chain. The chemical products associated with the one or more environmental attributes may be used to produce the at least one individual product or at least one end product in the product supply chain associated with the one or more environmental attributes.

[0149] In this way, the environmental attributes associated with input materials can be tracked through the value chain to the final product. The methods, apparatus, and systems described herein enable transparency from the early stages of the value chain at the chemical product level to the end of the value chain at the final product level. Through the coupling of physical materials and environmental attributes, environmentally friendly products and more sustainable production can be made transparent and trackable.

Claims

1. 1. A method for producing at least one chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes, the chemical product being produced by a chemical production network, the method comprising: - providing one or more input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes to said chemical production network; - providing material data relating to said one or more input materials and respective environmental attributes to a computing interface; - assigning said one or more environmental attributes to a virtual balancing system, said virtual balancing system including a balancing account associated with one or more environmental attributes; - Producing at least one chemical product; - allocating at least one environmental attribute from at least one balancing account associated with said respective environmental attribute to at least one chemical product; The method includes:

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the environmental attribute relates to renewable, bio-based, and / or recycled content.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the virtual balancing system or the balancing account is associated with one or more characteristics of the input materials.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the virtual balancing system or the balancing account is associated with an input material type, a waste stream type, a biomass type, a renewable type, an allocation scheme, or a combination thereof.

5. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual balancing system or the balancing account is associated with one or more input material types including pyrolysis oil, pyrolysis gas, syngas, hydrogen, naphtha, methane, ethane, propane, chemicals, or combinations thereof.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the virtual balancing system or the balancing account is associated with one or more waste stream types that are linked to at least the regenerated environmental attributes.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the virtual balancing system or the balancing account is associated with one or more biomass types that are linked to the environmental attributes, at least bio-based or renewable.

8. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual balancing system or the balancing account is associated with metadata specifying a relationship between the input materials and the chemical products that is associated with one or more environmental attributes.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the relationships relate to the chemical production network, one or more production chains, one or more chemical products, one or more chemical product classes, or a combination thereof.

10. 10. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one target environmental attribute for the chemical product is provided, and at least one balancing account is selected for deallocating the respective environmental attribute based on the at least one target environmental attribute.

11. The step of assigning the at least one environmental attribute to the at least one chemical product comprises providing at least one target environmental attribute for the chemical product; - checking the environmental attribute balance of the balancing accounts associated with the at least one target environmental attribute and, if the balance is sufficient, allocating the at least one environmental attribute from the respective balancing account to the at least one chemical product; and / or - checking whether said respective balancing account is associated with an input material used in said production chain of said chemical product, and if said respective balancing account is associated with an input material used in said production chain of said chemical product, assigning said at least one environmental attribute from said respective balancing account to said at least one chemical product; The method of any one of claims 1 to 10, comprising:

12. 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of assigning at least one environmental attribute to the at least one chemical product comprises providing a chemical product identifier associated with the produced chemical product and assigning the environmental attribute from the balancing account to the chemical product identifier.

13. 1. A computer-implemented method for assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product produced by a chemical production network, the method comprising: - providing access to a virtual balancing system, said virtual balancing system including two or more balancing accounts associated with at least one environmental attribute and an environmental attribute balance having environmental attributes allocated from one or more input materials provided to said chemical production network; - selecting at least one balancing account from said virtual balancing system based on one or more environmental attributes to be assigned to said at least one chemical product; - allocating at least one environmental attribute from at least one balancing account associated with said respective environmental attribute to at least one chemical product; 23. A computer-implemented method comprising:

14. 1. An apparatus for assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product produced by a chemical production network, the method comprising: an account provider configured to provide access to a virtual balancing system, the virtual balancing system including two or more balancing accounts associated with at least one environmental attribute and environmental attribute balances having environmental attributes assigned from one or more input materials provided to the chemical production network; an outbound assigner configured to select at least one balancing account from the virtual balancing system based on one or more environmental attributes to be assigned to the at least one chemical product, and configured to assign the at least one environmental attribute from the at least one balancing account associated with the respective environmental attribute to the at least one chemical product; An apparatus comprising:

15. 1. A system for producing at least one chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes, the chemical product being produced by a chemical production network including one or more production chains, the system comprising: a chemical production network configured to produce at least one chemical product based on one or more input materials provided to said chemical production network, said one or more input materials being associated with one or more environmental attributes; an inbound allocator configured to provide material data relating to one or more input materials and respective environmental attributes to a computing interface and to assign one or more environmental attributes to a virtual balancing system, said virtual balancing system including balancing accounts associated with the one or more environmental attributes; an outbound assigner configured to assign at least one environmental attribute from at least one balancing account associated with a respective environmental attribute to at least one chemical product; A system comprising:

16. Use of a chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes provided by the method of any one of claims 1 to 11 to produce at least one discrete product or at least one final product in a product supply chain associated with one or more environmental attributes.

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