Allocation of environmental attributes in manufacturing networks

Abstract

Disclosed are 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 at least one chemical product produced by a chemical manufacturing network.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] Technical Field 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 at least one chemical product produced by a chemical manufacturing network. [Background technology]

[0002] Technology background In a supply chain, the environmental footprint of each supply chain participant is a critical concern. Transparency among participants can assist in collective reduction of environmental footprint to combat climate change. However, sharing of environmental footprint data is hindered by the lack of common data standards and trusted data platforms. In addition, the highly specialized and centralized setup of today's data systems makes exchange and sharing for collective action laborious. Therefore, there is a need to develop metrics that quantify the environmental footprint of manufactured products, simplify data standards related to environmental footprint, and universally enable secure exchange of supply chain data related to environmental footprint. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0003] Summary of the Invention One embodiment is a method for producing at least one chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes, the chemical product being produced by a chemical manufacturing network; providing one or more input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes to a chemical manufacturing network; providing at least one balancing account associated with one or more environmental attributes of one or more input materials provided to a chemical manufacturing network; - manufacturing at least one chemical product; providing an identifier associated with the chemical product; - assigning at least one environmental attribute from at least one balancing account associated with a respective environmental attribute to at least one chemical product, wherein the environmental attribute from the balancing account is assigned to an identifier associated with the chemical product.

[0004] Another aspect is a method for assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product produced by a chemical manufacturing network, the method comprising: providing at least one balancing account associated with one or more environmental attributes and an account balance associated with one or more environmental attributes from one or more input materials provided to a chemical manufacturing network; providing an identifier associated with the chemical product; - assigning at least one environmental attribute from at least one balancing account associated with a respective environmental attribute to at least one chemical product, wherein the environmental attribute from the balancing account is assigned to an identifier.

[0005] Another aspect is an apparatus for assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product produced by a chemical manufacturing network, the apparatus comprising: an accounting system configured to provide at least one balancing account associated with one or more environmental attributes and an account balance associated with one or more environmental attributes from one or more input materials provided to a chemical manufacturing network; an identifier provider configured to provide an identifier associated with a chemical product; an 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, the environmental attribute from the balancing account being assigned to an identifier associated with the chemical product; The device comprises:

[0006] Another aspect is 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; - 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; and an accounting system configured to provide at least one balancing account associated with one or more environmental attributes of one or more input materials provided to a chemical manufacturing network; an identifier provider configured to provide an identifier associated with a chemical product; an 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, the environmental attribute from the balancing account being assigned to an identifier associated with the chemical product; The system includes:

[0007] Disclosed in yet another aspect is a computer element, particularly a computer program product or computer readable medium, having instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, are configured to perform the steps of any of the methods disclosed herein. Disclosed in yet another aspect is a computer element, particularly a computer program product or computer readable medium, having instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause any of the devices disclosed herein to perform any of the methods disclosed herein.

[0008] Disclosed in yet another aspect is the use of a chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes as provided by any of the methods disclosed herein and / or produced by a chemical manufacturing network as provided by any of the methods disclosed herein to produce at least one individual product associated with one or more environmental attributes or at least one final product. The at least one individual product or at least one final product may be an intermediate product or a final product of a product supply chain. The at least one individual product or at least one final product may be based on one or more target materials. The at least one individual product or at least one final product may be produced by individual manufacturing. Disclosed in yet another aspect is a method for producing at least one individual product associated with one or more environmental attributes or at least one final product, wherein a chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes as provided by any of the methods disclosed herein and / or produced by a chemical manufacturing network as provided by any of the methods disclosed herein is provided and / or used to produce at least one individual product associated with one or more environmental attributes or at least one final product.

[0009] Disclosed in yet another aspect is the use of one or more environmental attributes assigned to a chemical product identifier as provided by any of the methods disclosed herein to provide at least one individual product identifier associated with at least one individual product, or at least one end product identifier associated with at least one end product and one or more environmental attributes. Disclosed in yet another aspect is a method for providing at least one individual product identifier associated with at least one individual product or at least one end product identifier associated with at least one end product to one or more environmental attributes, wherein one or more environmental attributes assigned to a chemical product identifier as provided by any of the methods disclosed herein are provided and / or used to provide at least one individual product identifier associated with at least one individual product or at least one end product identifier associated with at least one end product to one or more environmental attributes.

[0010] Embodiment The disclosures and embodiments described herein relate to the methods, apparatus, computer elements, and uses described above or below, or vice versa. Advantages provided by any of the embodiments and examples apply equally to all other embodiments and examples, and vice versa.

[0011] 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.

[0012] As used herein, the term "determine" includes "initiate or cause a determination," "generate" includes "initiate and / or cause a generation," and "provide" includes "initiate or cause a determination, generation, selection, transmission, and / or reception." "Initiating or causing the performance of an action" includes any processing signal that triggers a computing node or device to perform the respective action.

[0013] The methods, devices, systems, and computer elements disclosed herein provide an efficient way to track environmental attributes in chemical processes and provide chemical products with positive environmental impacts throughout the value chain. By using the identifier concept, environmental attributes associated with input materials can be efficiently assigned to chemical products produced in a chemical production network. In particular, for chemical networks that produce two or more chemical products from two or more input materials through interconnected, coupled, and non-coupled production chains, the use of the chemical product identifier concept allows for a reliable assignment of environmental attributes along the physical setting of the chemical production network. This allows for the resolution of complexities in the material flows of the chemical production network, while still allowing for the assignment of environmental burdens to chemical products. In this way, the environmental burden of the produced chemical products can be determined along the physical setting of the chemical production network. Furthermore, the environmental characteristics 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, or a chemical product identifier and an environmental attribute identifier, the environmental attributes can also be further tailored to the needs of the customer.

[0014] Environmental attributes may refer to characteristics or features associated with environmental impact. Such characteristics may be characteristics or features of input materials or chemical products. Environmental attributes may indicate the environmental performance of one or more materials. Environmental attributes may be generated from characteristics of input materials, chemical production networks, and / or target materials. Environmental attributes may be associated with the environmental impact of one or more materials at any stage during their life cycle. Stages of the life cycle of a material or product may include stages of providing raw materials, manufacturing a product such as an intermediate product or a final product, using a product, processing a used product, recycling a used product, disposing of a used product, reusing parts from a used product, or a subset thereof. Environmental attributes may be specified or generated from any activity of one or more entities participating in any stage of the life cycle of one or more materials or products.

[0015] The environmental attributes may include one or more characteristics that may be attributable to the environmental or sustainability impact of a material or product. The environmental attributes may include environmental attributes, technical attributes, recyclability attributes, circularity attributes, or complementary risk attributes, attributes associated with the environmental burden of one or more materials or products.

[0016] An environmental attribute may specify or quantify an ecological criterion associated with the environmental burden of a product. An environmental attribute may be or may be generated or derived from measurements taken during one or more product life cycles. An environmental attribute may be determined at any stage of a product's life cycle and characterize the environmental burden of the product at or up to such stage. An environmental attribute may include impact categories such as, for example, carbon footprint, greenhouse gas emissions or global warming potential, primary energy demand, cumulative energy demand, biological and living resource consumption, atmospheric emissions, stratospheric ozone depletion potential, ozone formation, terrestrial and / or ocean acidification, water consumption, water depletion, water availability, water pollution, noise pollution, freshwater and / or ocean eutrophication potential, human carcinogenic and / or non-carcinogenic toxicity, photochemical oxidant formation, particulate matter formation, terrestrial, freshwater and / or marine ecotoxicity, ionizing radiation, agricultural and / or urban land occupation, land conversion, land use, indirect land use, deforestation, biodiversity, mineral resource consumption, fossil resource consumption, etc. The environmental attributes may be calculated from a combination of one or more environmental attributes, which may include product attributes or material attributes related to the manufacture of the material or product, such as, for example, renewable, bio-based, vegan, halal, kosher, palm-free, natural, etc.

[0017] A technical characteristic may specify or quantify a performance of a product that is at least indirectly related to an environmental burden. A technical characteristic may be or be generated from measurements taken during one or more product life cycles. A technical characteristic may be determined at any stage of a product's life cycle and may characterize performance during or up to such stage. A technical characteristic may include, for example, product composition data, inputs in a manufacturing process, bill of materials, product specification data, product parts data, product safety data, application characteristic data, use instructions, or product quality data. A technical characteristic may include, for example, physical, chemical, or further properties of a material or product.

[0018] Circularity characteristics can specify or quantify product life cycle characteristics associated with circular use. Circularity characteristics can be or be generated from measurements taken during one or more product life cycles. Circularity characteristics can be or be generated from circular data recorded during one or more previous life cycles including reuse. Circularity characteristics can be determined at any stage of a product's life cycle and can characterize the reuse or recycling performance during or up to such stage. Circularity characteristics can relate to technical, mechanical, chemical, and / or biological recycling. Circularity characteristics can include, for example, recycling data, reuse rate, recycling rate, recycling loop, durability, usefulness during use stage, destination after use, reuse of reused product, quality of reused product, etc. Further circularity material characteristics can be derived by combining circularity characteristics.

[0019] The recyclability characteristic may specify or quantify a life cycle characteristic of a material or product associated with a recycled use. The recyclability characteristic may include a composition of a material that includes ingredients that are specifically tailored to make the material suitable for recycling. The recyclability characteristic may be or may be generated from measurements taken during one or more material or product life cycles. The recyclability characteristic may be or may be generated from recycling data recorded during one or more previous life cycles. The recyclability characteristic may be determined at any stage of the material or product life cycle or may characterize the recyclability performance at or up to such stage. The recyclability characteristic may include, for example, recycling data, recyclability data, recycling efficiency, etc.

[0020] Complementary risk characteristics may specify or quantify characteristics associated with further sustainability related risks associated with the product at all stages. Complementary risk characteristics may include compliance with legislation and / or voluntary standards, compliance with human rights declarations, reporting on sustainable development goals, etc. Complementary risk characteristics may include material price fluctuations, supply risk, obsolescence risk, food-contact compatibility, etc.

[0021] A chemical manufacturing network may include multiple types of manufacturing processes for producing different chemical products from input materials. A chemical manufacturing network may include a complex manufacturing network that produces multiple chemical products in multiple production chains.

[0022] A chemical manufacturing network may include connected, interconnected, and / or disconnected manufacturing chains. A chemical manufacturing network may produce multiple intermediates from input materials, and chemical products from the intermediates. Input materials may enter the chemical manufacturing network at entry points. Chemical products may exit the manufacturing network at exit points.

[0023] The chemical production network may include one or more entry points where input materials are provided to the chemical production network. The input materials may include fossil materials, non-fossil materials, or both. The fossil input materials may include crude oil, natural gas, coal, or derivatives thereof. The non-fossil input materials may include renewable feedstocks, bio-based feedstocks, or recycled materials. The input materials may include feedstocks for gasification plants, steam crackers, or syngas plants. The input materials may include syngas produced from fossil feedstocks, non-fossil feedstocks, or both. The input materials may include, for example, pyrolysis oil from recycled waste, syngas produced from recycled waste, naphtha produced from bio-based materials, methane from bio-based materials, or combinations thereof. The input materials may be provided to at least one gasification plant, steam cracker, syngas plant, or any plant in the production chain for downstream products such as nitrogen, ammonia, methanol, ethylene, propylene, sulfur, etc. Input materials may include intermediate chemical products manufactured elsewhere using fossil and / or non-fossil input materials. Input materials may include inorganic materials of mineral origin, salts, metals, glass, etc.

[0024] The input material associated with one or more environmental attributes provided to an 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 may not be limited to, recycled ammonia, recycled methanol, recycled ethylene, recycled propylene, recycled benzene, recycled toluene, recycled xylene, or combinations thereof. Recycled chemicals may include, but may not be limited to, recycled polymers, recycled oligomers, recycled monomers, or combinations thereof. In the context provided herein, recycled input materials may include any material that at least partially comprises and / or is at least partially manufactured from recycled content. Recycled materials may, but do not necessarily need to be physically and / or chemically traceable.

[0025] The input material associated with one or more environmental attributes provided to an 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 may not be limited to renewable ammonia, renewable methanol, renewable ethylene, renewable propylene, renewable benzene, renewable toluene, renewable xylene, or combinations thereof. Renewable chemicals may include but may not be limited to renewable polymers, renewable oligomers, renewable monomers, or combinations thereof. In the context provided herein, renewable input materials may include any material that at least partially comprises and / or is at least partially produced from renewable content. Renewable content may, but need not, be physically and / or chemically traceable.

[0026] The input material associated with one or more environmental attributes provided to an entry point of the chemical production network may include biobased input materials including, but not limited to, biobased pyrolysis oil, biobased pyrolysis gas, biobased syngas, biobased hydrogen, biobased naphtha, biobased methane, biobased ethane, biobased propane, biobased chemicals, or combinations thereof. Biobased chemicals may include, but may not be limited to, biobased ammonia, biobased methanol, biobased ethylene, biobased propylene, biobased benzene, biobased toluene, biobased xylene, or combinations thereof. Biobased chemicals may include, but may not be limited to, biobased polymers, biobased oligomers, biobased monomers, or combinations thereof. In the context provided herein, biobased input materials may include any material that at least partially comprises and / or is at least partially manufactured from biobased content. Biobased content may, but need not, be physically and / or chemically traceable.

[0027] A chemical production network may include identity-preserving or segregated production chains. Identity-preserving or segregated in this context may refer to the environmental attributes of input materials being preserved or segregated in the production chain. Examples are bio-based renewable or recycled input materials used to produce chemical products that do not contain fossil content. Further examples are fossil input materials used to produce chemical products that contain fossil content. A chemical production network may include non-identity-preserving or non-segregated production chains. Non-identity-preserving or non-segregated in this context may refer to the environmental attributes of input materials that are mixed in the production chain. For example, non-identity-preserving or non-segregated in this context may refer to the environmental attributes of input materials that are mixed with fossil input materials in the production chain. Examples are mixing fossil input materials with renewable input materials to produce chemical products that contain fossil and renewable content.

[0028] A chemical production network may include multiple production steps for one or more production chains. 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 over 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 controlled by one entity or multiple entities jointly. The system boundary may be by a value chain with a staggered production process to the final product, which may be controlled individually by multiple entities. The chemical production network may include waste collection steps, waste sorting steps, recycling steps such as chemical recycling by pyrolysis, cracking steps such as steam cracking, separation steps to separate the output of one process step, and further process steps to convert such output to chemical products that exit the system boundary of the chemical production network. Entry points of the chemical production network may be marked by the input of input materials into the chemical production network. Input materials entering the chemical production network may be used to produce one or more chemical products. A chemical product can exit the physical system boundary of the chemical production network. An exit point of the chemical production network can be marked by the output of a chemical product from the chemical production network.

[0029] 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 the environmental attribute. An account may be associated with metadata identifying the environmental attribute and the environmental units allocated to the account. An account may be associated with metadata identifying a manufacturing 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 allocated, added, removed, withdrawn, or subtracted from an account. A virtual balancing account may be associated with an environmental attribute type, such as recycled, or renewable. A virtual balancing account may be associated with an input material type, such as pyrolysis oil, bio-naphtha, bio-methane, or combinations thereof. A virtual balancing account associated with a recycled environmental attribute type may further be associated with a waste stream type, such as mixed plastic waste, a specific end product waste, such as tier waste or foam waste, post-consumer waste, virgin waste, or combinations thereof. The virtual balancing account may be associated with an allocation scheme such as segregated allocation, unsegregated allocation such as book and claim, mass balance with free attribution, mass balance without free attribution, or a combination thereof.

[0030] The chemical product may be produced by a chemical manufacturing network provided with input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes. The chemical product may be produced by a production chain of a chemical manufacturing network provided with input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes. The chemical product may be produced from input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes.

[0031] The identifier associated with the chemical may include one or more identifiers related to the chemical. The identifier may be associated with a chemical class, a specific chemical, and / or a characteristic of the chemical, such as an environmental characteristic. The identifier may include a unique number uniquely associated with a chemical class, a specific chemical, and / or a characteristic of the chemical. The identifier may include one or more specific identifiers, such as a chemical class identifier, a specific chemical identifier, and / or a characteristic of the chemical identifier. Such specific identifiers may be uniquely linked to the chemical. For example, one or more characteristic identifiers may be uniquely linked to a chemical identifier. A chemical identifier may be uniquely linked to a specific chemical. In this manner, a chemical may be uniquely linked to a chemical digital twin specifying a specific characteristic of the chemical.

[0032] The identifier associated with the chemical product may include one or more identifiers related to one or more environmental attributes. The identifier may include an environmental attribute identifier, such as a unique environmental attribute identifier related to an environmental attribute assignable to the chemical product. The environmental attribute identifier may be associated with a chemical product class or a particular chemical product. For example, an environmental attribute identifier may be associated with recycled content, bio-based content, and / or renewable content as environmental attributes, each having its own unique material identifier. A particular environmental attribute, or a particular combination of environmental attributes, may be associated with a unique environmental attribute identifier.

[0033] The identifier may include, be linked to, or be associated with a batch number and / or order number, such as a unique batch number and / or order number. The batch number may be linked to the physical entity of the produced chemical batch. The order number may be linked to a transaction that specifies the shipment of the chemical batch from the chemical manufacturer to a user that further processes the chemical.

[0034] In one embodiment, the identifier is a chemical product identifier associated with a chemical product class and / or a specific chemical product that includes one or more environmental attributes. The identifier may include a chemical product class identifier, such as a unique class identifier, associated with the chemical product class. The chemical product class may include chemical products grouped into the chemical product class. The chemical product class (also referred to as a chemical product class) may include a broad specification classification that includes a specific chemical product. The chemical product class may be associated with a unique class identifier (e.g., a unique class number or other type of unique identifier). An exemplary class is thermoplastics. The class of thermoplastics may be associated with a unique class identifier. The identifier may include a chemical product identifier, such as a unique material identifier, associated with a specific chemical product of the chemical product class. For example, a class of thermoplastics may encompass a number of specific (unique) thermoplastics, each with unique properties. A specific thermoplastic may be associated with a unique material identifier (e.g., a unique material number or other type of unique identifier). For example, the specific (unique) thermoplastics may be polyethylene, polystyrene, and polypropylene, each with a unique material identifier.

[0035] In another embodiment, the chemical product identifier is associated with a predefined chemical product specification and / or one or more predefined environmental attributes. Chemical products and chemical product specifications, such as composition, toxicological properties, and ecotoxicological properties, are subject to regulatory requirements and require approval by regulatory agencies. Due to such approval processes, new chemical products as well as changes in existing chemical product specifications may require an approval process before being sold. Thus, a chemical product identifier associated with a chemical product may be predefined for a particular chemical product having an approved chemical product specification. The chemical product specification may include the composition, toxicological properties, and ecotoxicological properties of the chemical product. The chemical product specification may require an approval process before being sold.

[0036] Similarly, a chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes may be subject to regulatory requirements and must be approved and registered with a regulatory agency. A chemical product specification may include one or more pre-defined environmental attributes associated with the chemical product. The chemical product specification may require an approval process before sale. Thus, a chemical product identifier associated with the chemical product and one or more pre-defined environmental attributes associated with the chemical product may be pre-defined for a particular chemical product having an approved chemical product specification.

[0037] In another embodiment, the chemical product identifier is associated with a predefined chemical product specification and one or more sets of one or more predefined environmental attributes. The chemical product identifier may be associated with a set of one or more environmental attributes associated with a predefined specific chemical product having an approved chemical product specification. The predefined set of one or more environmental attributes may include environmental attributes related to technical, recyclability, or circularity characteristics associated with the environmental burden of the chemical product. The predefined set of one or more environmental attributes may be related to recycled content, renewable content, bio-based content, renewable energy, carbon capture, carbon utilization, heat integration, or a combination thereof. The predefined set of one or more environmental attributes may specify one or more environmental characteristics including environmental, technical, recyclability, or circularity characteristics associated with the environmental burden of the chemical product and its production. Predefining the chemical product specification and / or one or more predefined environmental attributes for the chemical product identifier may provide a reliable and robust management of chemical products and associated environmental attributes. The predefined structure may simplify and streamline the assignment of identifiers to chemical products and associated environmental attributes. In this manner, chemical products produced by a chemical manufacturing network can be securely attached to digital assets that include identifiers related to the chemical products and associated environmental attributes.

[0038] In another embodiment, the identifiers include a chemical identifier associated with a chemical specification and one or more environmental attribute identifiers associated with one or more environmental attributes. In this embodiment, the chemical identifier and the environmental attribute identifier are separate. The chemical identifier may be associated with a chemical specification for a particular chemical. The environmental attribute identifier may be associated with one or more environmental attributes assignable to a particular chemical.

[0039] By using the environmental attribute identifier and the chemical product identifier separately, flexible assignment of environmental attributes to chemical products can be realized. By predefining chemical product specifications of chemical product identifiers and combining such chemical product identifiers with environmental attribute identifiers, reliable and flexible assignment of environmental attributes to chemical products can be realized.

[0040] In another embodiment for the assignment, the environmental attribute identifier is linked to the chemical product identifier. In another embodiment, the environmental attribute identifier is associated with one environmental attribute or a combination of environmental attributes. The environmental attribute identifier may be associated with one environmental attribute. In this manner, the assignment of the environmental attribute may be performed by linking one or more environmental attribute identifiers to the respective chemical product identifier. The environmental attribute identifier may be associated with a set of environmental attributes. In this manner, the assignment of the set of environmental attributes may be performed by linking the environmental attribute identifier to the respective chemical product identifier.

[0041] In another embodiment for allocation, one or more target environmental attributes of the chemical products are provided, and one or more environmental attribute identifiers are linked to the chemical product identifiers according to the provided target environmental attributes. In this way, the environmental attributes assigned to the chemical products through the identifier linkages can be tailored to the needs of customers who purchase the chemical products produced by the chemical production network.

[0042] In another embodiment for allocation, a chemical product identifier is generated or selected based on a chemical product and / or an environmental attribute identifier is generated or selected based on one or more environmental attributes to be allocated to a chemical product from a balancing account or input material. In another embodiment for allocation, a chemical product identifier is generated based on a chemical product and / or an environmental attribute identifier is generated based on one or more environmental attributes to be allocated to a chemical product from a balancing account or input material.

[0043] The chemical product identifier and the environmental attribute identifier may be identifiers specific to a chemical product, such as a particular chemical product, and an environmental attribute, respectively. The chemical product identifier may be generated for a chemical product, such as each chemical product, produced by the chemical production network. The chemical product identifier may be selected from a set of pre-generated chemical product identifiers for chemical products produced by the chemical production network. The chemical product identifier may be associated with a physical identifier that is physically or virtually connected to the chemical product. The environmental attribute identifier may be generated for an environmental attribute available to the chemical production network. The environmental attribute identifier may be associated with an input material entering the chemical production network, an energy used by the chemical production network, or a process of the chemical production network. The environmental attribute identifier may be selected from a set of pre-generated environmental attribute identifiers for environmental attributes available to the chemical production network.

[0044] In another embodiment, the chemical identifier is linked to a physical identifier attached to the chemical, and / or the chemical identifier is linked to a batch number and / or order number associated with the chemical. The chemical identifier may be associated with a physical identifier that is physically or virtually connected to the chemical, such as a specific chemical produced by a chemical production network. For a physical link, a tag or code may be physically connected to the material, for example, by printing an identification number, a QR code with an embedded identifier, etc. on the packaging. For a virtual 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 together to uniquely identify a physical entity of the chemical, such as a specific chemical produced by a chemical production network. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0045] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a chemical manufacturing network that produces one or more chemical products from one or more input materials in the context of an operations system that includes an attribute management system. [Figure 2a] FIG. 1 illustrates 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 2b] FIG. 1 illustrates 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 2c] FIG. 1 illustrates 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. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a chemical manufacturing network with different allocation schemes. [Figure 4a] FIG. 1 illustrates inbound and outbound allocation of environmental attributes in a chemical manufacturing network. [Figure 4b] FIG. 1 illustrates inbound and outbound allocation of environmental attributes in a chemical manufacturing network. [Diagram 5] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a method for assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product produced by a chemical manufacturing network. [Figure 6] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a service environment for assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product produced by a chemical manufacturing network. [Figure 7] 1 is a flow chart of an example method for assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product produced by a chemical manufacturing network. [Figure 8] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a chemical product produced by a chemical production network. [Figure 9] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of conversion to balancing units and allocation to chemical products. [Figure 10a] FIG. 13 illustrates an example data structure for assigning environmental attributes from a balancing account to chemical product identifiers. [Figure 10b] FIG. 13 illustrates an example data structure for assigning environmental attributes from a balancing account to chemical product identifiers. [Figure 11] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a method for producing at least one chemical product associated with at least one environmental attribute in a supply chain. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0046] Detailed Description FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a chemical manufacturing network that produces one or more chemical products from one or more input materials in the context of an operations system that includes an attribute management system.

[0047] Different input materials may be provided as physical inputs from material providers or suppliers to produce one or more chemical products. The input materials or the chemical products produced from the input materials may have one or more properties that relate to the environmental impact of the input materials or the chemical products produced from the input materials.

[0048] A chemical production network may include multiple interlinked process 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 share at least one intermediate product. 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 steam cracker or a syngas plant connected to multiple production chains that produce chemical products from the effluent of the steam cracker or syngas plant. A chemical production network may include multiple production chains that produce chemical products from one or more input materials that exit 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 production sites. The production sites may be in the same location or in different locations. In the latter case, the manufacturing locations may be connected or interconnected by a system of dedicated transportation, such as pipelines, supply chain vehicles such as trucks, supply chain ships, or other freight vehicles.

[0049] A chemical manufacturing network may convert input materials through chemical intermediates into one or more chemical products that exit the chemical manufacturing network. A chemical manufacturing network may convert input materials through chemical transformations into one or more chemical products.

[0050] 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 beginning of the chemical production network. The input materials may constitute, for example, feedstock for a steam cracker. The input materials may include bio-based feedstocks, recycled feedstocks, fossil feedstocks for producing chemical intermediates and chemical products.

[0051] A chemical manufacturing network may include multiple manufacturing steps. The manufacturing steps included in the chemical manufacturing network may be defined by the system boundary of the chemical manufacturing network. The system boundary may be defined by location or control over the manufacturing process. The system boundary may be defined by the site of the chemical manufacturing network. The system boundary may be defined by a manufacturing process controlled by one entity or multiple entities jointly. The system boundary may be defined by a value chain with a staggered manufacturing process to a final product, which may be controlled individually by multiple entities. The chemical manufacturing network may include waste collection and sorting steps, recycling steps such as pyrolysis, cracking steps such as steam cracking, separation steps that separate the output of one process step, and further process steps that convert such output into chemical products that exit the system boundary of the chemical manufacturing network.

[0052] An operational system of a chemical production network may monitor and / or control the chemical production network based on different process operating parameters. One process step that is monitored and / or controlled may be the supply of input materials or the release 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.

[0053] The operations system may be configured to access data related to input materials, processes, and / or chemical products produced by the chemical production network. The operations system may be configured to convert recycled, renewable, or bio-based content of one or more input materials used in the chemical production network into balancing units. The operations 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 operations 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.

[0054] The operation system may be configured to process balancing units associated with input materials and chemical products produced by the chemical production network. In particular, the operation system may be configured to determine balancing units associated with the use of input materials that affect the environmental characteristics of the chemical production network and the chemical products produced by the chemical production network. Further, in particular, the operation system may be configured to determine balancing units associated with the chemical products and the environmental characteristics of the chemical products. In this manner, the operation system may be configured to allocate balancing units to or de-allocate balancing units from a balancing account. The balancing units may be considered as credits deposited to or deducted from accounts associated with the inputs and chemical products of the chemical production network.

[0055] The operational system may be configured to register inbound environment attributes, assign outbound environment attributes, and manage inbound allocations as well as outbound quotas.

[0056] 2a-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.

[0057] As shown in FIG. 1, a chemical manufacturing network may comprise a complex of interconnected manufacturing sites that chemically convert one or more input materials into one or more chemical products via chemical processes. Allocation rules may be used to consider the use of recycled, bio-based, or renewable content in the production of chemical products. In this way, recycled, renewable, or bio-based content of input materials may be allocated to chemical products. Renewable content may be based on input materials from renewable sources. Renewable content may include bio-based input materials produced from organisms such as different types of crops, wood, algae, etc. Recycled content may include any recycled material used in the production of new materials. This may include recycled bio-based or bio-based materials produced, for example, by chemical or mechanical recycling.

[0058] Accounting principles for allocating the use of recycled or renewable content are defined, for example, in ISO 22095. Four different models can be used: the identity preservation model, the separation model, the mass balance model, and the book and claims model.

[0059] FIG. 2a shows an example of a dedicated or fractional manufacturing network. The manufacturing network comprises a first manufacturing chain for producing chemical products from fossil materials and a second manufacturing chain for producing chemical products from bio-based input materials. The first and second manufacturing chains are not interconnected. The first and second manufacturing chains produce fossil-based and bio-based output materials, respectively. Examples of such dedicated manufacturing environments include fermentation or chemical conversion of polyethylene from sugarcane, bio-polylactic acid (PLA) from corn, bio-succinic acid, or bio-butanediol (BOO), etc.

[0060] Figure 2b shows an example of a composite manufacturing network. In contrast to the manufacturing network of Figure 2a, fossil-based input materials are mixed with bio-based input materials. The manufacturing network produces one or more output materials or products through one or more chemical process chains with intermediates. For simplicity, Figure 2b shows a mass balancing approach for one chemical process chain producing one chemical product or product. The mass balancing model considers the physical mixing or co-feeding of bio-based input materials with traditional fossil input materials. Here, the feed to the manufacturing network and the feed of the output product form the system boundary. The input and output product mass balances link the used bio-based input materials to the produced chemical products. The mass balance allows keeping track of the total amount of input materials (e.g. recycled materials, bio-based materials, bio-based materials, etc.) throughout the manufacturing network and allocating them to chemical products. Materials with different sets of specified properties can be mixed. For example, recycled or bio-based materials are substituted for the same amount of fossil materials (input materials) at the beginning of the value chain and allocated to products (output materials) so that inputs and outputs match. In this model, the ratio of inputs with certain characteristics will only match the initial ratio on average and will usually be different across different outputs. This means, for example, that renewable and fossil inputs are mixed and the chemical or technical ratios of each chemical product are not tracked.

[0061] Mass balances may include conversion factors to ensure correlation between input and output material quantities. Calculations may be performed over a predefined or specified period of time. Mass balances may be based on balance units such as mass, energy, or carbon.

[0062] Similar to Fig. 2b, Fig. 2c shows a composite manufacturing network associated with a book and claim scheme, in which the renewable or recycled input material attributes are not linked to the actual material flow. The book and claim scheme allows decoupling certain attributes, such as renewable, from the physical product and transferring the attributes separately through a dedicated registry in the form of a digital asset. This approach can be used for renewable energy. The book and claim can be based on book and claim account units, such as watts or kilowatts of electricity.

[0063] In an identity preservation model or segregation approach as shown in Figure 2a, renewable, recycled, or bio-based input materials may not be mixed with fossil input materials. In a mass balance or book and claims approach as shown in Figures 2b and 2c, renewable, recycled, or bio-based materials may be mixed with fossil input materials. Considering the increase in various sources and number of allocation schemes for more sustainable chemical production, an efficient and robust operational system is required to operate a complex manufacturing network such as a chemical manufacturing network.

[0064] Figure 3 shows an example of a chemical production network with different allocation schemes.

[0065] A chemical production network may include multiple production chains with different allocation schemes. The system boundary of a chemical production network may represent entry points to and exit points from the chemical production network. The production chains may be represented by the chemical products produced through such production chains. The production chain logic may be based on process data associated with the process steps from input materials to chemical products. For each production chain, an allocation scheme may be applied or assigned.

[0066] 4a and 4b show the inbound and outbound allocation of environmental attributes in a chemical production network.

[0067] Figure 4a shows an example of an inbound allocation process for a chemical manufacturing network.

[0068] For example, as shown in Figure 1, a chemical manufacturing network may be operated by an operations system configured to register inbound environmental attributes, assign outbound environmental attributes, and / or manage inbound registration and outbound allocation via allocation rules. The allocation rules may include allocation schemes such as those shown in Figures 2a-2c. The chemical manufacturing network may include a network such as that shown in Figure 3.

[0069] Inbound allocation occurs when an input material enters a chemical production network or a physical system boundary of a chemical production network. In this context, an input material represents any material that enters the system boundary of a chemical production network and is used to manufacture a chemical product that exits the chemical production network. Such input materials may be associated with an input material identifier. Possible identifiers include a distribution identifier, an input material specification, an input material order number, an input material lot number, an input material batch number, an input material supplier specification, or a combination thereof.

[0070] Upon entry of an input into the chemical manufacturing network, input data may be registered. The input data may include an input identifier, an input quantity, and / or one or more environmental attributes associated with the input.

[0071] Based on the input data, particularly the input quantities and / or one or more environmental attributes associated with the inputs, the balancing units may be determined by converting the input quantities to balancing units of the respective environmental attributes. The balancing units may relate to carbon atoms, methane equivalents, or other suitable measures of the environmental burden of the environmental attributes. For example, the conversion to balancing units may include converting the input quantities to energy characteristics that include material losses incurred during the production of the output product.

[0072] Balancing units may be allocated to balancing accounts associated with respective environmental attributes. In this manner, environmental attributes associated with input materials entering a chemical manufacturing network may be tracked or stored in an accounting system. An example of an accounting system is shown in Figs. 7a-7d, where each balancing account is associated with metadata representing the input material, such as pyrolysis oil, the environmental attribute type, such as recycled material, and the material origin, such as recycled from tires. For allocation, the input material data may include respective metadata for the input materials. Allocation rules may include instructions for allocating the environmental attributes included in the input material data to the respective balancing accounts. In an inbound process, such allocation rules may be used to allocate the environmental attributes from the input material data to the balancing system.

[0073] For example, a method for allocating balancing units may relate pyrolysis oil as an input to a complex chemical manufacturing network to an output product of the complex chemical manufacturing network.

[0074] In a first step, the amount and type of waste is provided to a calculation interface. The amount and type of waste is stored in association with the pyrolysis plant and the pyrolysis oil produced by the plant. For example, a pyrolysis oil producer may operate multiple plants and track the amount and type of waste supplied to the plants. The waste may be supplied separately depending on the type of waste, or the waste may be mixed. Based on such tracking, the amount of pyrolysis oil and the type of waste may be allocated to the pyrolysis oil produced.

[0075] In a second step, the amount of pyrolysis oil and the type of waste material may be provided to a second computing system associated with the operational system of the integrated chemical manufacturing network. Based on the amount of pyrolysis oil, a balancing unit may be generated. Such generation may include a conversion factor that accounts for the chemical differences between fossil-based input materials, such as naphtha and methane. In one example, the conversion factor may relate to the lower heating value of the pyrolysis oil relative to the lower heating value of naphtha or methane. The conversion factor may include, for example, the ratio of the lower heating value of the pyrolysis oil to the naphtha or methane. In this way, the chemical differences between the fossil input material and the recycled input material may be taken into account.

[0076] The balancing units may be allocated to the respective balancing accounts. For example, an allocation rule may be associated with balancing account 1 in FIG. 5. In such a case, balancing units of pyrolysis oil produced from waste of waste type and used in a specified amount in the production network will be allocated to balancing account 1. Upon production of output products, such balancing units may be allocated to chemical products according to the allocation rule. The allocation rule specifying free attribution between production processes of the chemical production network provides reliable allocation in the complex production network.

[0077] Figure 4b shows an example of an outbound allocation process for a chemical manufacturing network.

[0078] For example, as shown in Figure 1, a chemical manufacturing network may be operated by an operations system configured to register inbound environmental attributes, assign outbound environmental attributes, and / or manage inbound registration and outbound allocation via allocation rules. The allocation rules may include allocation schemes such as those shown in Figures 3a-3c. The chemical manufacturing network may include a network such as that shown in Figure 2.

[0079] A chemical product may 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 associated with the input materials used to produce the chemical product, process data associated with a manufacturing chain to produce the chemical product, and / or chemical product data associated with the chemical product, such as chemical product specifications or chemical product quantities.

[0080] Based on the input data, environmental attributes associated with the inputs used in the production of the chemical product may be determined. The input data may specify a total amount of the inputs that were input into the production chain to produce the chemical product quantity. The input data may further specify environmental attributes available for each input. From the total amount of the inputs, a number of balancing units for each environmental attribute available for such inputs may be determined. In this manner, a maximum number of balancing units for each environmental attribute attributable to the chemical product may be determined.

[0081] Based on the environmental attributes attributable to the chemical product, a number of balancing units corresponding to the determined environmental attributes may be determined. The determined balancing units may be compared to the balancing units stored in the balancing account for the respective environmental attributes.

[0082] If the respective balancing account for each 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 accounts and the environmental attribute is assigned to the chemical product.

[0083] Each balancing account may be associated with metadata representing an input material, such as pyrolysis oil, an environmental attribute type, such as recycled material, and a material origin, such as recycled from tires. Allocation rules may be defined for the allocation of environmental attributes to chemical products. The allocation rules may include instructions for allocating environmental attributes contained in the input material data from the respective balancing account to chemical products. In the outbound process, such allocation rules may be used to allocate environmental attributes from the balancing system to chemical products.

[0084] FIG. 5 illustrates an example method for assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product produced by a chemical manufacturing network.

[0085] 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 the computing interface. 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 manner, 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. For a physical link, a tag or code may be physically connected to the material, for example, by printing a QR code on the packaging. For a virtual 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. The material data may include at least one environmental attribute associated with each input material, and an input material quantity provided to the entry point of the chemical production network.

[0086] One or more environmental attributes may be allocated to at least one virtual balancing account associated with a respective environmental attribute. The virtual balancing account may be associated with a digital storage structure that stores data related to the environmental attribute. The account may be associated with metadata identifying the account for balancing the environmental attribute. The account may be associated with metadata identifying the environmental attribute and the environmental units allocated to the account. The account may be associated with metadata identifying a production chain with which the account is associated. The account may be associated with metadata identifying an input material or chemical product with which the account is associated. The account may be part of a balancing system that includes multiple accounts. The account may hold environmental attributes for trading. The environmental attributes may be allocated, added, removed, withdrawn, or subtracted from the account. The virtual balancing account may be associated with an environmental attribute type, such as recycled or renewable. The virtual balancing account may be associated with an input material type, such as pyrolysis oil, bionaphtha, biomethane, or combinations thereof. 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, e.g., tier waste or foam waste, post-consumer waste, virgin waste, or a combination thereof. A virtual balancing account may be associated with an allocation scheme, such as segregated allocation, non-segregated allocation such as book and claim, mass balance with free attribution, mass balance without free attribution, or a combination thereof.

[0087] A chemical 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 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. For a physical link, a tag or code may be physically connected to the material, for example, by printing a QR code on the packaging. For a virtual 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.

[0088] At least one environmental attribute from at least one virtual 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 a positive environmental impact associated with the chemical product may be tracked through a value chain that uses the chemical product. Tracking may extend to final products manufactured from the chemical product.

[0089] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a service environment for assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product produced by a chemical manufacturing network.

[0090] The exemplary service environment of Figure 6 includes multiple client systems, represented by two exemplary client systems. The client systems may be operated by the same organization or by different organizations. The client systems involve the assignment of environmental attributes to at least chemical products. For example, one client system may be a system (e.g., including server resources, database resources, storage resources, software resources, etc.) of an organization involved in receiving materials. In some implementations, the client system is an ERP system.

[0091] The exemplary environment also includes an environment attribute assignment service that may be implemented by various server resources, database resources, storage resources, software resources, and / or other types of computing resources. The environment attribute assignment service provides assignment services to client systems.

[0092] The allocation process may be initiated when one of the client systems sends a request to allocate environmental attributes from the balancing account system to at least one chemical product produced by the chemical production network. The request may include balancing accounts associated with one or more environmental attributes from one or more input materials provided to the chemical production network and account balances associated with the one or more environmental attributes. The request may further include a target attribute representing the environmental attribute to be allocated to the chemical product. Based on the environmental attribute, the target attribute, and the balance, the validity of the request may be checked, for example, whether the provided balancing account holds sufficient accounts.

[0093] The allocation service may provide or generate an identifier associated with a chemical product in response to a valid request. The identifier may be a chemical product identifier associated with a chemical product specification including one or more environmental attributes. The chemical product identifier may be associated with a predefined chemical product specification and one or more predefined environmental attributes. The chemical product identifier may be associated with a predefined chemical product specification and one or more sets of one or more predefined environmental attributes. Alternatively or additionally, the identifier may include a chemical product identifier associated with the chemical product specification and one or more environmental attribute identifiers associated with the one or more environmental attributes. The environmental attribute identifier may be associated with one or a combination of environmental attributes. The chemical product identifier may be generated based on the chemical product and / or the environmental attribute identifier may be generated based on one or more environmental attributes to be allocated to the chemical product from a balancing account or input material.

[0094] Once the identifier is generated, at least one environmental attribute from at least one balancing account associated with the respective environmental attribute may be assigned to the at least one chemical product. The environmental attribute from the balancing account may be specifically assigned to the generated or provided identifier. Depending on the identifier structure, the environmental attribute identifier may be linked to the chemical product identifier.

[0095] For allocation, one or more target environmental attributes of the chemical product may be provided, and depending on the provided target environmental attributes, one or more environmental attribute identifiers may be linked to the chemical product identifier. The chemical product identifier may be generated or selected based on the chemical product, and / or the environmental attribute identifier may be generated or selected based on one or more environmental attributes to be allocated to the chemical product from the balancing account or input material. The chemical product identifier may be linked to a physical identifier attached to the chemical product. The chemical product identifier may be linked to a batch number and / or an order number associated with the chemical product. An identifier associated with the chemical product and environmental attributes and / or a new account balance may be provided.

[0096] In this manner, at least one environmental attribute from at least one balancing account associated with a respective environmental attribute may be allocated to at least one chemical product. The methods described herein may be used in the context of a chemical manufacturing network to produce at least one chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes. One or more input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes to the chemical manufacturing network. The at least one chemical product may be produced by the chemical manufacturing network. Data relating to the input materials associated with the one or more environmental attributes and the production of the chemical products may be provided to an operations system, as described in the context of FIG. 1. The operations system may be configured to perform the allocation methods described herein.

[0097] FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart of an example method for assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product produced by a chemical manufacturing network.

[0098] At least one balancing account associated with an environmental attribute and an environmental attribute balance may be provided to allocate at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product produced by the chemical production network. In addition, a target attribute may be provided. For example, if the account is valid for the target attribute and / or the balance is sufficient for the allocation, an identifier associated with the chemical product is generated. Based on the generated identifier, at least one environmental attribute may be allocated to the identifier from the at least one balancing account. An identifier associated with the chemical product and the environmental attribute and / or a new account balance may be provided.

[0099] Further details of the method are explained in the context of FIG. 6 and the following figures.

[0100] For illustrative purposes, and to further explain the methods shown in Figures 1-7, Figure 8 shows an example of chemical products produced from input materials through different intermediates by a chemical production network.

[0101] A chemical production network may include multiple production chains with one or more intermediate stages. The production chains may have one common starting point, for example provided by a steam cracker. The cracker feedstock may include fossil and non-fossil feedstocks. 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 recycled feedstocks.

[0102] In steam cracking, the feedstock is diluted with steam and heated in a furnace to a reaction temperature of 500-1000°C, for example about 850°C. After cracking, the gas is quenched to stop the reaction in a transfer line exchanger. The cracker products produced in the reaction depend on the composition of the feed, the ratio of hydrocarbon to steam, the cracking temperature, and the residence time in the furnace. In the example shown in Figure 8, the cracker products may include other hydrocarbons such as light alkenes such as ethylene or propylene, C4-hydrocarbons such as isobutene, N-butene, butadiene, cyclobutane, and / or aromatic hydrocarbons or mixtures of aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzene, toluene, and / or xylene (benzene and toluene are also abbreviated as BT, and benzene, toluene, and xylene are also abbreviated as BTX).

[0103] The cracker products may be delivered to an exit point of a chemical production network. In such an embodiment, the cracker products may be chemical products. Environmental attributes of recycled or bio-based input materials may be assigned to such chemical products.

[0104] The chemical production network may include one or more manufacturing chains that further process or chemically convert the cracker intermediates. The cracker intermediates may be further processed or chemically converted by one or more manufacturing chains within the chemical production network. The cracker intermediates may be processed into downstream products. The downstream products may be provided to an exit point of the chemical production network. Thus, the downstream products may be chemical products. Environmental attributes of recycled or bio-based input materials may be assigned to such chemical products. The cracker intermediates may be processed into chemical products through one or more downstream intermediates. Environmental attributes of 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.

[0105] For illustrative purposes, to further illustrate the methods for allocating environmental attributes to virtual balancing accounts and for allocating environmental attributes to chemical products, as described in the context of Figures 1-8, Figure 9 shows an example of the conversion to balancing units and allocation to chemical products.

[0106] Based on the non-limiting example of Figure 8, bio-based and recycled feedstocks may be provided to a steam cracker. For purposes of illustration, the following input materials may be provided to the steam cracker in the following amounts:

[0107] - 3 kg of recycled input material such as pyrolysis oil produced from mixed plastic waste, - 5 kg of bio-based input material such as bio-naphtha from vegetable oils that is kosher and vegan; - 92 kg naphtha.

[0108] Providing these inputs to the steam cracker causes the inputs to enter the chemical production network. Environmental attributes of the recycled and bio-based inputs can be provided to a computer interface configured to convert such attributes into balancing units and allocate the balancing units to the respective virtual balancing accounts. In the simplest example, a balancing unit (BU) can correspond to a respective material amount. In this 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 food waste can correspond to 5 BU.

[0109] In more sophisticated embodiments, the balancing units may 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 factors may quantify the difference in chemical and / or physical properties when replacing fossil input materials with non-fossil input materials. The conversion factors may relate the use of conventional input materials to the use of input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes. The conversion factors may depend on carbon atoms, methane molecules, energy properties, process properties, or other suitable factors for quantifying the environmental burden of the environmental attributes. For example, high and low calorific values ​​(LHV, HHV) of fossil and non-fossil input materials may be taken into account. Furthermore, for example, material losses occurring in the processing of fossil or non-fossil input materials may be taken into account. Further, for example, exempt 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 burden of non-fossil input materials may be quantified relative to fossil input materials.

[0110] The steam cracker can produce cracker products that 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. For the production of such products, 3 kg of recycled material and 5 kg of bio-based input material were used, so the environmental attributes allocated in BUs for each balancing account can be assigned to such products. For example, 3 BU of recycled can be assigned to polyamide corresponding to 10% recycled content, and 5 BU of bio-based can be assigned to polystyrene corresponding to 10% bio-based content.

[0111] For illustrative purposes, to further explain the method for allocating environmental attributes to chemical products as described in the context of Figures 1-9, Figure 9 shows an example of a hypothetical balancing account for managing the allocation and allocation of balancing units.

[0112] Based on the non-limiting example of FIG. 9, bio-based and recycled feedstocks may be provided to a steam cracker. Material data related to the bio-based and recycled feedstocks and their respective environmental attributes may be provided to a computing interface configured to convert such attributes into balancing units and allocate the balancing units to the respective virtual balancing accounts. In the simplest example, the environmental attribute pyrolysis oil from recycled mixed plastic waste may correspond to 3 BU, and the environmental attribute bio-naphtha from bio-based vegetable oil may correspond to 5 BU. The BUs so determined may further be associated with metadata representing the respective environmental attributes as recycled, pyrolysis oil, recycled tie, and bio-based, bio-naphtha, vegetable oil.

[0113] For the allocation, a virtual balancing system may be provided. The virtual balancing system may include balancing accounts associated with metadata related to environmental attribute types, chemical production networks, production chains of chemical production networks, allocation schemes, input material types, input material origins, chemical product types, or combinations thereof. The balancing accounts may be associated with metadata related to environmental attribute types recycled or bio-based, input material types pyrolysis oil, bio-naphtha or biogas, input material origin hierarchy, mixed plastic waste, vegetable oil, or food waste, respectively. Furthermore, the balancing accounts may be associated with balancing accounts quantifying BUs.

[0114] For allocation of 3BU and 5BU, the metadata of the balancing accounts may be matched with the metadata associated with such BU. Once a metadata match is found, the respective BU is allocated to the matched account. Thus, in this example, 3BU of pyrolysis oil from recycled mixed plastic waste may be allocated to account BU Recycle 2, and 5BU of bio-naphtha from bio-based vegetable oil may be allocated to account BU Bio 1. The virtual balancing system may be based on balancing accounts with static or dynamic metadata. For example, if the metadata provided via environmental attributes associated with the input material does not correspond to the metadata of the provided balancing account, a new account associated with such metadata may be provided. Alternatively or additionally, a hierarchical tree of balancing accounts (leaves) may be provided with different levels of metadata associated with the balancing accounts. For example, the top level may be bio-based or recycled, the next level may specify the recycle or bio-based input material type, respectively, etc. Alternatively or additionally, the environmental attributes may be allocated to the account associated with the greatest match in metadata. Here, maximum may refer to the maximum number of matching metadata points, particularly the account metadata points that at least partially match the environmental attribute metadata points. For example, an environmental attribute may provide more metadata than any balancing account. In such a scenario, an account having metadata points that at least partially match the environmental attribute metadata points may be selected for allocation.

[0115] For illustrative purposes, and to further illustrate how environmental attributes may be assigned from balancing accounts to chemical product identifiers as described in the context of Figures 1-9, Figures 10a,b show example data structures for assigning environmental attributes from balancing accounts to chemical product identifiers.

[0116] Based on the non-limiting example of Figure 8, bio-based and recycled feedstocks may be provided to a steam cracker and converted into balancing units and allocated to balancing accounts as shown in Figure 9. In this example, the recycle balancing account has a balance of 3 BU and the bio-based balancing account has a balance of 5 BU.

[0117] To assign such BUs to chemicals, a chemical identifier may be provided. The chemical identifier may be associated with a chemical provided to an exit point of the chemical production network. The chemical identifier may be associated with a chemical specification. The chemical identifier may be associated with a chemical specification and an environmental attribute.

[0118] As shown in Fig. 10a, a chemical identifier may be associated with a chemical specification polyamide or polystyrene and an environmental attribute 10% recycled or bio-based content. Chemical identifiers may be provided for predefined chemicals associated with predefined environmental attributes. In this embodiment, the number of BUs required for each chemical is predefined and there is no need to further convert BUs to the respective environmental attributes. In this way, the management of input materials and chemicals with environmental attributes may be less dynamic and simplified.

[0119] As shown in Fig. 10b, in addition to the chemical identifier, an environmental attribute identifier may be provided. The chemical identifier may relate to the chemical product specification polyamide or polystyrene. The chemical product identifier may be provided for a predefined chemical product. The environmental attribute identifier may relate to the environmental attribute 10% recycled or bio-based content. The environmental attribute identifier may be linked to the chemical product identifier. The environmental attribute identifier may be provided for a predefined environmental attribute type. For allocation, the BU may be assigned to the environmental attribute identifier. For allocation, the BU may be converted to an environmental attribute and an environmental attribute such as 10% recycled content may be assigned to the environmental attribute identifier. In this embodiment, the number of BUs required for each chemical product is not predefined and may be flexibly allocated. In this way, chemical products with environmental attributes tailored to the needs of the customer may be provided.

[0120] The chemical identifier may be uniquely linked to the physical entity of the chemical. In one embodiment, a batch identifier and an order identifier may be provided and / or linked to the chemical identifier. In this manner, the chemical identifier may be uniquely linked to the physical entity of the chemical that exits the chemical production network. In another embodiment, the chemical identifier may be linked to the physical entity of the chemical by a physical identifier that has the chemical identifier encoded therein and is physically connected to the chemical. For example, a tag or QR code may be physically connected to the chemical and the chemical identifier may be encoded into the tag or QR code. In this manner, the chemical identifier may be uniquely linked to the physical entity of the chemical that exits the chemical production network.

[0121] FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a method for producing at least one chemical product associated with at least one environmental attribute in a supply chain.

[0122] The example of FIG. 11 shows two tiers and an original equipment manufacturer. Tier 1 may be a chemical manufacturer operating a chemical manufacturing network. The chemical manufacturing network may be associated with a system boundary. The system boundary may represent a physical boundary of the chemical manufacturing network. An input material enters the chemical manufacturing network at any stage of the manufacturing network, or the system boundary of the chemical manufacturing network may represent an entry point into the chemical manufacturing network. When an input material associated with one or more environmental attributes is input, the environmental attribute may be decoupled from the physical material flow of the input material through the chemical manufacturing network. Such a separation of physical input material and virtual environmental attribute may be provided by a method for registering at least one input material associated with at least one environmental attribute (inbound), as described herein and shown, for example, in FIG. 4a. A chemical product may be manufactured from the input material by the chemical manufacturing network. At least one chemical product may be manufactured by the chemical manufacturing network, and the chemical product may be linked to at least one environmental attribute (outbound), as described herein and shown, for example, in FIG. 4b.

[0123] The chemical products associated with at least one environmental attribute produced by the chemical production network can be provided to the next tier. In the illustrated example, tier 2 can be a production network that produces individual products from chemical products or multiple chemical products. The individual products can be any products associated with separate physical units. In contrast to process production, individual production uses such individual products to assemble other individual products. In contrast, chemical production uses process production in which input materials are mixed and chemically converted into chemical output products. Such output products are chemical products that can be transferred in separate units such as containers or wreaths. However, such chemical products are not individual products. The individual production network from chemicals can be associated with a system boundary as described above. Similar to the chemical production network, the individual production network from chemicals can register on the inbound an input material associated with at least one environmental attribute, which can be a chemical product of the chemical production network described herein or illustrated in FIG. 4a (inbound). The individual output products can be produced by the individual production network from chemicals. At least one individual output product may be linked to at least one environmental attribute (outbound).

[0124] The individual products produced by the individual manufacturing network from chemicals and associated with at least one environmental attribute may be provided to an original equipment manufacturer that produces a final product. As described herein and in the context of FIG. 4a, the individual products and the associated environmental attributes may be decoupled upon registration (inbound). After decoupling, the environmental attributes may be linked to the final product (outbound), as described herein and in the context of FIG. 4b.

[0125] The one or more environmental attributes assigned to the chemical product identifiers may be used to provide at least one individual product identifier associated with at least one individual product or to provide at least one end product identifier that assigns at least one end product of a product supply chain to the one or more environmental attributes. The chemical products associated with the one or more environmental attributes may be used to manufacture at least one individual product or at least one end product of a product supply chain associated with the one or more environmental attributes.

[0126] In this way, the environmental attributes associated with input materials can be tracked through the value chain to the end product. The methods, apparatus, and systems described herein enable transparency from the early stages of the value chain on the chemical product level to the end stages of the value chain on the end product level. Through the link between physical materials and environmental attributes, environmentally friendly products and more sustainable manufacturing can be made transparent and tracked.

Claims

1. 1. A method for producing at least one chemical product, including a chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes, wherein the chemical product is produced by a chemical production network, the chemical production network chemically converting input materials, via chemical intermediates, into chemical products that exit the chemical production network, the method comprising: - providing a plurality of input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes to said chemical manufacturing network; providing, by an operational system, at least one balancing account associated with one or more environmental attributes of the plurality of input materials provided to the chemical production network, wherein the one or more environmental attributes may be added to or subtracted from the at least one balancing account; - producing said chemical product; - providing, by an operational system, an identifier associated with said chemical product; - assigning, by an operation system, at least one environmental attribute of the plurality of input materials from the at least one balancing account associated with the respective environmental attribute to the chemical product, wherein the at least one environmental attribute from the at least one balancing account associated with the respective environmental attribute is assigned to the identifier associated with the chemical product, the identifier associated with the chemical product comprising a chemical product identifier related to a chemical product specification, the chemical product identifier being associated with a physical entity of the chemical product, and the chemical product identifier being a virtual identifier uniquely linked to the chemical product; A method comprising:

2. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier associated with the chemical further comprises the one or more environmental attribute identifiers related to one or more environmental attributes of the plurality of input materials, and wherein the one or more environmental attribute identifiers are linked to the chemical identifiers for assignment.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more environmental attribute identifiers relate to one or a combination of environmental attributes.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more environmental attributes refer to characteristics related to environmental burden, the characteristic being at least one characteristic of the plurality of material inputs.

5. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the chemical manufacturing network includes coupled, interconnected, and / or non-coupled manufacturing chains, and the chemical manufacturing network produces a plurality of intermediates from input materials and chemical products from the intermediates.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the chemical manufacturing network comprises one or more entry points at which input materials are provided to the chemical manufacturing network.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the chemical product identifier and the environmental attribute identifier are identifiers unique to the particular chemical product and the environmental attribute, respectively.

8. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the chemical product identifier is generated for each chemical product produced by the chemical production network, the chemical product identifier is selected from a set of pre-generated chemical product identifiers for chemical products produced by the chemical production network, the one or more environmental attribute identifiers are generated for environmental attributes available to the chemical production network, the one or more environmental attribute identifiers are associated with input materials entering the chemical production network, and the environmental attribute identifiers are selected from a set of pre-generated environmental attribute identifiers for environmental attributes available to the chemical production network.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the chemical identifier is generated or selected based on the chemical for assignment.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the environmental attribute identifier is generated or selected based on the one or more environmental attributes to be assigned to the chemical product from the plurality of input materials for assignment.

11. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the chemical product identifier is linked to a physical identifier affixed to the chemical product and / or the chemical product identifier is linked to a batch number and / or an order number associated with the chemical product.

12. 1. A method for assigning at least one environmental attribute to chemical products produced by a chemical manufacturing network, the chemical manufacturing network chemically converting input materials via chemical intermediates into chemical products that exit the chemical manufacturing network, the method comprising: providing, by an operational system, at least one balancing account and account balance associated with one or more environmental attributes from a plurality of input materials provided to the chemical manufacturing network, wherein the one or more environmental attributes may be added to or subtracted from the at least one balancing account; - providing, by an operational system, an identifier associated with said chemical product; - assigning, by an operation system, to said chemical product at least one environmental attribute from said at least one balancing account associated with said respective environmental attribute, said at least one environmental attribute from said at least one balancing account associated with said respective environmental attribute is assigned to said identifier, said identifier associated with said chemical product comprises a chemical product identifier related to a chemical product specification, said chemical product identifier is associated with a physical entity of said chemical product, said chemical product identifier being a virtual identifier uniquely linked to said particular chemical product; A method comprising:

13. 1. A system for manufacturing at least one chemical product, including chemical products associated with one or more environmental attributes, wherein the chemical products are manufactured by a chemical manufacturing network, the chemical manufacturing network chemically converting input materials, via chemical intermediates, into chemical products that exit the chemical manufacturing network, the system comprising: a chemical production network configured to produce at least one chemical product based on a plurality of input materials provided to said chemical production network, said plurality of input materials being associated with one or more environmental attributes; an accounting system configured to provide at least one balancing account associated with one or more environmental attributes of the plurality of input materials provided to the chemical production network, wherein the one or more environmental attributes can be added to or subtracted from the at least one balancing account; an identifier provider configured to provide an identifier associated with said chemical product; an assigner configured to assign at least one environmental attribute from the at least one balancing account associated with the respective environmental attribute to the chemical product, wherein the at least one environmental attribute from the balancing account associated with the respective environmental attribute is assigned to the identifier associated with the chemical product, the identifier associated with the chemical product comprising a chemical product identifier related to a chemical product specification, the chemical product identifier being associated with a physical entity of the chemical product, the chemical product identifier being a virtual identifier uniquely linked to the particular chemical product; A system comprising:

14. 1. An apparatus for assigning at least one environmental attribute to chemical products produced by a chemical production network, the chemical production network chemically converting input materials via chemical intermediates into chemical products that exit the chemical production network, the apparatus comprising: an accounting system configured to provide at least one balancing account including an account balance associated with one or more environmental attributes from a plurality of input materials provided to the chemical manufacturing network, wherein the one or more environmental attributes can be added to or subtracted from the at least one balancing account; an identifier provider configured to provide an identifier associated with said chemical product; an assigner configured to assign at least one environmental attribute from the at least one balancing account associated with the respective environmental attribute to the chemical product, wherein the at least one environmental attribute from the balancing account associated with the respective environmental attribute is assigned to the identifier associated with the chemical product, the identifier associated with the chemical product comprising a chemical product identifier related to a chemical product specification, the chemical product identifier being associated with a physical entity of the chemical product, the chemical product identifier being a virtual identifier uniquely linked to the particular chemical product; An apparatus comprising:

15. 12. Use of a chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes as provided by the method of any one of claims 1 to 11 for producing at least one individual product associated with said one or more environmental attributes or at least one end product of a product supply chain.

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