Chemical products with environmental attributes

Abstract

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

Description

[Technical Field]

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

[0002] In a supply chain, the environmental impact of each supply chain participant is crucial. Transparency among participants can help collectively reduce environmental impact to combat climate change. However, data sharing of environmental impact data is hindered by the lack of common data standards and the lack of a reliable data platform. Furthermore, the highly specialized and centralized setup of today's data systems makes exchange and sharing cumbersome in collective action. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0003] Therefore, there is a need to develop metrics to quantify the environmental impact of produced products in order to simplify data standards on environmental impact and enable widespread, secure exchange of supply chain data on environmental impact. [Means for solving the problem]

[0004] In one aspect, a method is disclosed for producing at least one chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes, wherein the chemical product is preferably produced by a chemical production network including one or more production chains, entry points into the chemical production network, and / or exit points from the chemical production network, the method comprising: - providing one or more input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes to one or more entry points of a chemical production network; - providing material data associated with one or more input materials and respective environmental attributes to a computing interface; - assigning one or more environmental attributes to at least one balancing account associated with each environmental attribute; - producing at least one chemical product and providing the chemical product to one or more exit points of one or more of the chemical production network; - assigning at least one environmental attribute from at least one balancing account associated with a respective environmental attribute to the at least one chemical product.

[0005] In one aspect, a system for producing at least one chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes is disclosed, the chemical product preferably being produced by a chemical production network including an entry point into the chemical production network, an exit point from the chemical production network, and / or one or more production chains, the system comprising: - a chemical production network having one or more entry points, preferably one or more input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes provided to one or more entry points of the chemical production network, and preferably at least one chemical product produced and provided to one or more exit points of the chemical production network; - a data provider configured to provide material data associated with one or more input materials and respective environmental attributes to the computing interface; an inbound allocator configured to allocate one or more environmental attributes to at least one balancing account associated with each environmental attribute; an outbound assignor configured to assign at least one environmental attribute from at least one balancing account associated with the respective environmental attribute to the at least one chemical product;

[0006] In another aspect, a computer-implemented method is disclosed for assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product produced by a chemical production network, the chemical product preferably being produced by a chemical production network including one or more production chains, entry points into the chemical production network, and exit points from the chemical production network, the method comprising: - providing material data associated with one or more input materials and respective environmental attributes to a computing interface, wherein the one or more input materials are provided at an entry point to a chemical production network; - assigning one or more environmental attributes to at least one balancing account associated with each environmental attribute; - providing a chemical product identifier associated with a chemical product produced by the chemical production network, optionally the chemical product being provided to an exit point from the chemical production network; - assigning at least one environmental attribute from at least one balancing account associated with the respective environmental attribute to at least one chemical product identifier.

[0007] In another aspect, an apparatus is disclosed for assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product produced by a chemical production network, the chemical product preferably being produced by a chemical production network including one or more production chains, entry points into the chemical production network, and exit points from the chemical production network, the apparatus comprising: - a data provider configured to provide material data associated with one or more input materials and respective environmental attributes to a computing interface, wherein the one or more input materials are provided at an entry point to the chemical production network; and an inbound allocator configured to allocate one or more environmental attributes to at least one balancing account associated with each environmental attribute; an identifier provider configured to provide chemical product identifiers associated with chemical products produced by the chemical production network, optionally the chemical products being provided to an exit point from the chemical production network; and an outbound allocator configured to allocate at least one environmental attribute from at least one balancing account associated with a respective environmental attribute to at least one chemical product identifier;

[0008] In yet another aspect, a computer element, particularly a computer program product or computer readable medium, is disclosed with instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, are configured to perform the steps of any of the methods disclosed herein. In yet another aspect, a computer element, particularly a computer program product or computer readable medium, is disclosed with instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause any of the devices disclosed herein to perform any of the methods disclosed herein.

[0009] In yet another aspect, the use of a chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes provided by any of the methods disclosed herein and / or one or more chemical products produced by a chemical production network provided by any of the methods disclosed herein to produce at least one individual product or at least one final product associated with one or more environmental attributes is disclosed. The at least one individual product or at least one final product may be an intermediate or final product in a product supply chain. The at least one individual product or at least one final product may be based on one or more chemical products. The at least one individual product or at least one final product may be produced by discrete manufacturing. In yet another aspect, a method of producing at least one individual product or at least one final product associated with one or more environmental attributes is disclosed, wherein the chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes provided by any of the methods disclosed herein and / or the chemical product produced by a chemical production network provided by any of the methods disclosed herein is provided and / or used to produce at least one individual product or at least one final product associated with one or more environmental attributes.

[0010] In yet another aspect, the use of one or more environmental attributes assigned to a chemical product identifier provided by any of the methods disclosed herein to provide at least one individual product identifier for at least one individual product, or at least one end product identifier for at least one individual product or at least one end product, to one or more environmental attributes is disclosed. In yet another aspect, 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 is disclosed, wherein one or more environmental attributes assigned to a chemical product identifier provided by any of the methods disclosed herein are provided and / or used to provide at least one individual product identifier associated with at least one individual product to one or more environmental attributes, or at least one end product identifier associated with at least one end product to one or more environmental attributes.

[0011] <Embodiment> Any disclosures and embodiments described herein relate to the methods, apparatus, computer elements and uses listed above or below, and vice versa. Advantages provided by any of the embodiments and examples apply equally to all other embodiments and examples, and vice versa.

[0012] Any steps presented herein may be performed in any order. The methods disclosed herein are not limited to any particular order of these steps. Also, different steps need not be performed at any particular location or on any particular computing node of the distributed system; i.e., each step may be performed on a different computing node using different equipment / data processing.

[0013] As used herein, "determining" also includes "initiating or causing to be determined," "generating" also includes "initiating and / or generating," and "providing" also includes "initiating or causing to be determined, generated, selected, sent, and / or received." "Initiating or causing to be performed an action" includes any processing signal that triggers a computing node or device to perform the respective action.

[0014] The methods, devices, systems, and computer elements disclosed herein provide an efficient way to track environmental attributes in chemical processing and provide chemical products with positive environmental impacts throughout the value chain. By using balancing accounts, environmental attributes associated with input materials can be efficiently assigned to environmental attributes associated with chemical products produced by a chemical production network. Specifically, for chemical networks that produce two or more chemical products from two or more input materials through interconnected, connected, and disconnected production chains, the use of balancing accounts allows for reliable assignment of environmental attributes along the physical configuration of the chemical production network. The use of balancing accounts further enables decoupling the complexity of material flows in a chemical production network while allowing for assignment of environmental impacts per chemical product. In this way, the environmental impact of produced chemical products can be determined along the physical configuration of the chemical production network. Furthermore, the environmental properties of chemical products produced in a chemical production network can be made transparent to customers who further process the chemical products. By providing a chemical product identifier associated with at least one environmental attribute, the environmental attributes can even be tailored to customer needs.

[0015] Assigning at least one environmental attribute associated with the input material to the chemical product can include linking the input material identifier or the chemical product identifier to the environmental attribute. The input material identifier or the chemical product identifier may be associated with the physical entity of the input material or the chemical product, respectively. In this way, a virtual identifier for the chemical product can be uniquely linked to the physical material. Such a link can include a physical or virtual link between an identifier uniquely associated with the physical material. For physical linking, a tag or code may be physically connected to the chemical product, for example, by printing a QR code on the packaging. For virtual linking, 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.

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

[0017] Environmental attributes can refer to any characteristic related to environmental impact. Such characteristics can be characteristics of input materials or chemical products. Environmental attributes can indicate the environmental performance of input materials, chemical production networks, and / or chemical products. Environmental attributes can be derived from the characteristics of input materials, chemical production networks, and / or chemical products. Environmental attributes can be associated with the environmental impact of one or more materials at any stage during their life cycle. Stages in a material or product life cycle can include stages of providing raw materials, stages of producing products such as intermediate products or final products, stages of using products, stages of processing end-of-life products, stages of reclaiming end-of-life products, stages of disposing of end-of-life products, and stages of reusing components from end-of-life products or any subset of stages. Environmental attributes can be tracked through any activity of one or more entities involved in any stage of the life cycle of one or more materials or products. Environmental attributes associated with any activity of one or more entities involved in any stage of the life cycle of one or more materials or products can be accumulated or aggregated.

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

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

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

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

[0022] A chemical production network may include an identity-preserving or segregated production chain. Identity preserving or segregating in this context may refer to environmental attributes of input materials being preserved or segregated in the production chain. An example is renewable or recycled input materials used to produce chemical products without fossil content. A further example is fossil input materials used to produce chemical products with fossil content. A chemical production network may include a non-identity-preserving or non-segregated production chain. Non-identity-preserving or non-segregating in this context may refer to input materials associated with environmental attributes being mixed. For example, non-identity-preserving or non-segregating in this context may refer to input materials associated with environmental attributes being mixed with fossil input materials. An example is fossil and renewable input materials being mixed to produce chemical products with fossil and renewable content.

[0023] A chemical production network can include multiple production processes per production chain. The production steps included in a chemical production network can be defined by the physical system boundary of the chemical production network. The physical system boundary can be defined by location or control relative to the production process. The system boundary can also be defined by the site of the chemical production network. The system boundary can be defined by a production process controlled jointly by one entity or multiple entities. The system boundary can be defined by a production or value chain with staggered production processes to end products that can be controlled separately by multiple entities. For example, a chemical production network can include waste collection steps, waste sorting steps, regeneration steps such as chemical regeneration by pyrolysis, pyrolysis steps such as steam pyrolysis, separation steps to separate the output of one process step, and further processing steps to convert such output into chemical products that exit the system boundary of the chemical production network. Entry points in a chemical production network can be marked by the entry of input materials into the chemical production network. Input materials entering the chemical production network can be used to produce one or more chemical products. Chemical products can leave the physical system boundary of the chemical production network. An exit point of a chemical production network may be marked by the exit of a chemical product from the chemical production network.

[0024] A chemical production network can include one or more entry points where input materials are fed into the chemical production network. The input materials can include fossil materials, non-fossil materials, or both. Fossil input materials can include crude oil, natural gas, or coal. Non-fossil input materials can include renewable materials, bio-based materials, or recycled materials. The input materials can include feedstock for a gasification plant, a steam cracker, or a syngas plant. The input materials can include syngas produced from fossil feedstocks, non-fossil feedstocks, or both. The input materials can include, for example, pyrolysis oil from recycled waste, syngas produced from recycled waste, naphtha produced from bio-based materials (bionaphtha), methane from bio-based materials (biomethane), biogas produced from the decomposition of organic materials, or combinations thereof. The input materials can be provided to at least one gasification plant, steam cracker, or syngas plant, or any plant in the production chain for downstream products such as nitrogen, ammonia, methanol, ethylene, propylene, sulfur, etc.

[0025] A balancing account may refer to a digital storage structure that stores data related to environmental attributes. An account may be associated with metadata identifying an account for balancing environmental attributes. An account may be associated with metadata identifying an environmental attribute assigned to the account and an environmental unit or balancing unit. An account may be associated with metadata identifying a production chain with which the account is associated. An account may be associated with metadata identifying an input or chemical product with which the account is associated. An account may be part of a balancing system that includes multiple accounts. An account can hold environmental attributes for transactions. Environmental attributes can be assigned, added, deleted, subtracted, or deducted from an account. A balancing account may be associated with environmental attributes such as recycled, bio-based, renewable, or a combination thereof. A balancing account may be associated with an input material type such as pyrolysis oil, bio-naphtha, biomethane, biogas, or a combination thereof. A balancing account associated with a recycled environmental attribute may further be associated with a waste stream type such as mixed plastic waste, a specific end-product waste, e.g., stage waste or foam waste, post-consumer waste, pre-consumer waste, or a combination thereof. A balancing account can be associated with an allocation scheme such as a separate allocation, a non-separate allocation such as book and bill, a mass balance with free attributes, a mass balance without free attributes, or a combination thereof.

[0026] A chemical product may be produced by a chemical production network provided with input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes.A chemical product may be produced by a production chain of a chemical production network provided with input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes.A chemical product may be produced from input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes.

[0027] In one embodiment, the material data may include at least one input material identifier associated with each input material, at least one environmental attribute associated with each input material, and the quantity of the input material provided to an entry point in 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 for the input material may be uniquely linked to the physical input material. Such a link may include a physical or virtual link of an identifier uniquely associated with the physical input material. For physical linking, a tag or code may be physically attached to the material, for example, by printing a QR code on the packaging. For virtual linking, 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.

[0028] In another embodiment, the environmental attribute relates to bio-based, renewable, and / or recycled content. The bio-based, renewable, and / or recycled content may be related to the composition of the input material. For example, one or more components of the input material may be renewable, bio-based, and / or recycled. The input material may include any material that contains at least partially renewable, bio-based, and / or recycled content. Additionally or alternatively, the input material may include any material that is produced from at least partially renewable, bio-based, and / or recycled content. The renewable, bio-based, and / or recycled content may be physically and / or chemically traceable.

[0029] Renewable input materials can include at least partially renewable content. Renewable content can be generated from natural resources that can be replenished. Renewable content can include content from food-based products, wood-based products, fiber-based products, and the like. Renewable input materials include bio-based input materials. Bio-based input materials can include at least partially bio-based content. Bio-based content is produced from living or once-living organisms and can be produced from biomass and / or biodegradable materials. Bio-based content can include materials generated from biomass, such as starch crops such as wheat or corn, sugar crops such as beets or sugarcane, perennial grasses or legumes, lignocellulosic crops such as switchgrass, lignocellulosic residues such as hay or straw, oil crops such as palm or rapeseed, and aquatic biomass such as algae or seaweed.

[0030] The recycled input material may include at least partially recycled content. The recycled content may be generated from waste materials such as plastic waste or organic waste. The plastic waste may include sorted plastic waste composed of one type of polymer or mixed plastic waste composed of different types of polymers. Polymers may be composed of carbon and hydrogen in combination with other elements such as chlorine, fluorine, sulfur, and nitrogen. The plastic waste may include polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and polyethylene terephthalate. The organic waste may be municipal or industrial organic waste, including food waste such as discarded cooking oil, paper sludge, meat processing waste, brewery waste, or textile mill waste.

[0031] An input material may be associated with one or more environmental attributes. For example, an input material from organic waste may be associated with the environmental attribute of recycled and bio-based. An input material from organic waste may be a bio-based recycled input material. Further, for example, an input material from wood waste may be associated with the environmental attributes of recycled, bio-based, and renewable. An input material from wood waste may be a bio-based, renewable, recycled input material.

[0032] In another embodiment, the input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes provided at an entry point into the chemical production network include reclaimed input materials that include at least partially recycled content and / or are produced at least partially from recycled content, renewable input materials that include at least partially renewable content and / or are produced at least partially from renewable content, bio-based input materials that include at least partially bio-based content and / or are produced at least partially from bio-based content, or combinations thereof.

[0033] In another embodiment, the input material associated with one or more environmental attributes provided to an entry point of the chemical production network includes recycled input materials, including, but not limited to, recycled pyrolysis oil, recycled pyrolysis gas, recycled syngas, recycled hydrogen, recycled naphtha, recycled methane, recycled ethane, recycled propane, recycled chemicals, or combinations thereof. Recycled chemicals may include, but are not limited to, recycled ammonia, recycled methanol, recycled ethylene, recycled propylene, recycled benzene, recycled toluene, recycled xylene, or combinations thereof. In the context provided herein, recycled input materials may include at least partially recycled content and / or any material produced from at least partially recycled content. The recycled content may be physically and / or chemically traceable.

[0034] In another embodiment, the input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes provided to an entry point of the chemical production network include renewable input materials, including, but not limited to, renewable pyrolysis oil, renewable pyrolysis gas, renewable syngas, renewable hydrogen, renewable naphtha, renewable methane, renewable ethane, renewable propane, renewable chemicals, or combinations thereof. Renewable chemicals may include, but are not limited to, renewable ammonia, renewable methanol, renewable ethylene, renewable propylene, renewable benzene, renewable toluene, renewable xylene, or combinations thereof. In the context provided herein, renewable input materials may include any material that at least partially comprises renewable content and / or is at least partially produced from renewable content. The renewable content may be physically and / or chemically traceable.

[0035] In another embodiment, input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes provided to an entry point of a chemical production network 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, biogas, or combinations thereof. Biobased chemicals may include, but are not limited to, biobased ammonia, biobased methanol, biobased ethylene, biobased propylene, biobased benzene, biobased toluene, biobased xylene, or combinations thereof. In the context provided herein, biobased input materials may include any material that at least partially comprises biobased content and / or is at least partially produced from biobased content. Biobased content may be physically and / or chemically traceable.

[0036] In another embodiment, the input material identifier may be associated with an input material type, an environmental attribute type, a waste stream type, a biomass type, a renewable type, an allocation scheme, or a combination thereof. As an example, recycled pyrolysis oil generated from plastic waste may be provided as an input material to a chemical production network. The input material identifier may be associated with an input material type of pyrolysis oil, a recycled environmental attribute type, a waste stream type of mixed plastic waste, a specific end-product waste, a post-consumer waste or a pre-consumer waste, and / or an unsegregated allocation scheme such as mass balance. As another example, bio-based naphtha may be provided as an input material to a chemical production network. The input material identifier may be associated with an input material type of naphtha, an environmental attribute type of bio-based, a biomass type of palm oil, and / or an unsegregated allocation scheme such as mass balance. As another example, bio-based methane may be provided as an input material to a chemical production network. The input material identifier may be associated with an input material type of methane, an environmental attribute type of bio-based, a biomass type of waste from agriculture, and / or an unsegregated allocation scheme such as mass balance.

[0037] In another embodiment, the chemical production network includes entry points and exit points for input materials of chemical products produced by the chemical production network, and the entry points and exit points represent physical system boundaries of the chemical production network. The assignment of at least one environmental attribute to at least one balancing account associated with each environmental attribute may depend on the physical boundary. The assignment of at least one environmental attribute from the at least one balancing account associated with each environmental attribute to the at least one chemical product may depend on the physical boundary. An entry point may refer to a feed to any plant in the chemical production network that enters the physical system boundary. An entry point may refer to a feed to a gasification plant, a stream cracker, or a syngas plant. An entry point may refer to a feed to a downstream plant in the production chain following the gasification plant, the stream cracker, or the syngas plant. A feed to one plant in the chemical production network that is provided by another plant in the chemical production network may not represent an entry point to the chemical production network. An exit point may refer to an output from any plant in the chemical production network that exits the physical system boundary. An exit point may refer to an output from a gasification plant, a stream cracker, or a syngas plant. An exit point may refer to the output from any plant in the production chain following a gasification plant, a stream cracker, or a syngas plant. An output from one plant in a chemical production network provided to another plant in the chemical production network may not refer to one or more exit points in the chemical production network. The allocation of at least one environmental attribute from at least one balancing account associated with each environmental attribute to at least one chemical product may depend only on physical boundaries. The allocation may be independent of the flow of materials within the chemical production network. The allocation may be abstracted from the material flow. The allocation may depend on input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes provided at the entry point and chemical products associated with one or more environmental attributes provided at the exit point. The balance between one or more environmental attributes at the entry point and one or more environmental attributes at the exit point may be equal.In this way, efficient tracking of one or more environmental attributes can be achieved.

[0038] In another embodiment, assigning the one or more environmental attributes to a balancing account includes converting the one or more environmental attributes to one or more balancing units, wherein the one or more balancing units can be assigned to at least one balancing account associated with a respective environmental attribute.

[0039] In another embodiment, assigning the at least one environmental attribute to the at least one chemical product includes converting one or more balancing units to the one or more environmental attributes, and the one or more balancing units can be unassigned from the at least one balancing account associated with the respective environmental attribute.

[0040] The conversion may relate to mass, weight, hydrogen atoms, carbon atoms, methane equivalents, or any other suitable measure for quantifying the environmental impact of an environmental attribute. The use of balancing units and conversions can ensure that the environmental attributes of an input material are used only once for assignment to a chemical product. In this way, double counting of inputs or outputs is avoided, and positive environmental impacts can be assigned to chemical products.

[0041] In another embodiment, converting the one or more environmental attributes to one or more balancing units is based on a conversion factor relating a conventional input material to an input material associated with one or more environmental attributes. In another embodiment, converting the one or more environmental attributes to one or more balancing units is based on a conversion factor relating the use of a conventional input material to the use of an input material associated with one or more environmental attributes. The conventional input material may be a fossil input material. The input material associated with one or more environmental attributes may be a non-fossil input material, such as a bio-based and / or recycled input material. The conversion factor may be related to the difference between producing a chemical product from a conventional input material and producing a chemical product from an input material associated with one or more environmental attributes. The conversion factor may be related to the difference in chemical and / or physical properties of the conventional input material and the input material associated with one or more environmental attributes.

[0042] In another embodiment, converting the one or more environmental attributes to one or more balancing units includes determining a feedstock equivalent, such as a hydrogen or carbon feedstock equivalent, where the feedstock equivalent relates a conventional input material to an input material associated with the one or more environmental attributes. In another embodiment, converting the one or more environmental attributes to one or more balancing units includes determining a feedstock equivalent, such as a hydrogen or carbon feedstock equivalent, where the feedstock equivalent relates a use of a conventional input material to a use of an input material associated with the one or more environmental attributes.

[0043] In another embodiment, converting one or more environmental attributes to one or more balancing units relates to amounts of conventional input materials and amounts of input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes. Converting one or more environmental attributes to one or more balancing units can include deriving balancing units from amounts of conventional input materials and amounts of input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes. The conversion factor can be based on carbon feedstock equivalents, methane equivalents, mass equivalents, energy property equivalents, or any other suitable measure that quantifies the impact of using input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes. The conversion to balancing units can include converting amounts of input materials to account for energy properties, including material losses, that occur during the production of chemical products.

[0044] In another embodiment, converting one or more environmental attributes to one or more balancing units relates to energy properties of conventional input materials and energy properties of the input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes. The conversion can include deriving the balancing units from energy properties of conventional input materials and energy properties of the input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes. For example, the energy properties can be lower or higher heating values.

[0045] In another embodiment, assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product includes providing a chemical product identifier associated with the produced chemical product and assigning the environmental attribute from the balancing account to the chemical product identifier. Assigning at least one environmental attribute associated with the input material to the chemical product can include linking the chemical product identifier with the environmental attribute. The chemical product identifier can be associated with the physical entity of the chemical product. In this manner, a virtual identifier for the material can be uniquely linked to the physical material. Such a link can include a physical or virtual link between an identifier uniquely associated with the physical material. For physical linking, a tag or code can be physically connected to the material, for example, by printing a QR code on the packaging. For virtual linking, different identifiers associated with the physical material can be linked. For example, an order number, a batch number, a lot number, or a combination thereof can be linked. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0053] The operating system of the chemical production network can monitor and / or control the chemical production network based on the operating parameters of different processes. One process step that is monitored and / or controlled can be the supply of input materials or the discharge of chemical products. Another process step that is monitored and / or controlled can 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 can 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 can be the management of environmental attributes associated with input materials and chemical products of the chemical production network.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0073] Accounting principles for allocating the use of recycled or renewable content are defined, for example, in ISO 22095. Four different custody chain models can be used: the identity preserved model, the segregated model, the mass balance model, or the book and claim model.

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

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

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

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

[0078] In identifying conservation models or segregation approaches such as those shown in Figure 3a, renewable, recycled, or bio-based input materials may not be mixed with fossil input materials. In mass balance or book-and-claim approaches such as those shown in Figures 3b and 3c, renewable, recycled, or bio-based input materials may be mixed with fossil input materials. Given the increasing number of different supply sources and allocation schemes for more sustainable chemical production, efficient and robust operational systems are needed to operate complex production networks such as chemical production networks.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0091] The amount of pyrolysis oil and the type of waste stream may be provided to the operating system of a complex chemical production network. Based on the amount of pyrolysis oil, a balancing unit may be generated. Such generation may include a conversion factor that accounts for the chemical differences between fossil-based input materials, such as naphtha and methane, and non-fossil-based input materials, such as pyrolysis oil. The conversion factor may be related to the lower heating value of the pyrolysis oil relative to the lower heating value of naphtha or methane. The conversion factor may include the ratio of the lower heating value of the pyrolysis oil to naphtha or methane. In this way, the chemical differences between fossil-based and recycled input materials may be taken into account.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0098] If the balance of the respective balancing account for each environmental attribute is not sufficient, 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.

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

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

[0101] One or more input materials may be provided to an entry point of the chemical production network. Material data associated with the one or more input materials and their respective environmental attributes may be provided to a computing interface configured for the assignment and / or allocation of environmental attributes. The material data may be provided at, before, or after the entry of the one or more input materials into the chemical production network. The material data may include an input material identifier associated with each input material provided to the chemical production network. The input material identifier may be associated with the physical entity of the input material. In this manner, a virtual identifier for an input material may be uniquely linked to the physical input material. Such a link may include a physical or virtual link of an identifier uniquely associated with the physical input material. For physical linking, a tag or code may be physically attached to the material, for example, by printing a QR code on the packaging. For virtual linking, 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 the quantity of the input material provided to the entry point of the chemical production network.

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

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

[0104] At least one environmental attribute from at least one balancing account associated with each environmental attribute can be assigned to at least one chemical product identifier. In this manner, chemical products can be provided with digital assets of the environmental attributes, and positive environmental impacts associated with the chemical products can be tracked through the value chain using such chemical products. Tracking can extend to end products produced from the chemical products, reuse of the end products, or recycling of the end products.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0117] Various techniques exist for determining conversion factors from conventional input material units to equivalents that can be assigned to one or more chemical products from a balancing unit or chemical production. - mass of the input material, mass equivalent of a molecular unit such as methane, or mass such as molecular weight, - one or more elements or elements, such as the number or moles of molecular units, or - Energy properties such as calorific value, such as lower or higher calorific value; may depend on

[0118] The balancing unit may assign environmental attributes associated with the input materials to balancing accounts associated with the respective environmental attributes. For the assignment, assignment rules may be provided that map environmental attributes to balancing accounts. The assignment rules may depend on the input material type and the environmental attribute type. Note that the assignment rules may be linked to metadata related to the input material type and the environmental attribute type. Similarly, the balancing accounts may be linked to metadata related to the input material type and the environmental attribute type. Based on the input material type and the environmental attribute type, balancing accounts for the respective metadata may be matched, and the input material account may be selected for assignment.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0125] Assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product can include converting one or more balancing units to the one or more environmental attributes, and de-allocating the one or more balancing units from at least one balancing account associated with the respective environmental attributes. Assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product can include providing a chemical product identifier associated with the produced chemical product and assigning the environmental attribute to the chemical product. Assigning at least one environmental attribute associated with the input material to the chemical product can include linking the chemical product identifier to the environmental attribute. The chemical product identifier can be associated with the physical entity of the chemical product. In this manner, a virtual identifier for the material can be uniquely linked to the physical material. Such a link can include a physical or virtual link between an identifier uniquely associated with the physical material. For physical linking, a tag or code can be physically attached to the material, for example, by printing a QR code on the packaging. For virtual linking, different identifiers associated with the physical material can be linked. For example, an order number, a batch number, a lot number, or a combination thereof can be linked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0133] When these input materials are fed into the steam cracker, they enter the chemical production network. The environmental attributes of the recycled bio-based input materials can be provided to a computer interface configured to convert such attributes into balancing units and assign balancing units to respective balancing accounts. In the simplest example, a balancing unit (BU) can correspond to the quantity of each material. 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. In this example, a simplified weight-based approach is used for illustrative purposes only. Other approaches may be based on energy, atomic counts such as carbon atoms, molecular counts such as methane, or may include losses incurred during production.

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

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

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

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

[0138] For allocation, a balancing system may be provided. The balancing system may include balancing accounts associated with metadata related to environmental attributes, input material types, waste stream types, biomass types, and balancing units. For example, as shown in FIG. 11a, a balancing account may be associated with metadata related to the environmental attribute type recycled or bio-based, the input material type pyrolysis oil, bio-naphtha, or biogas, and the input material origin tires, mixed plastic waste, vegetable oil, or food waste, respectively. Furthermore, the balancing account may be associated with an account balance that quantifies the BU.

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

[0140] The balancing system may be based on balancing of static or dynamic metadata and accounts. For example, if metadata provided via environmental attributes associated with 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, the environmental attribute may be assigned to the account associated with the greatest metadata match. Here, greatest may refer to the greatest number of matching metadata points, particularly account metadata points that at least partially match with the environmental attribute metadata points. For example, the environmental attribute may provide more metadata than any balancing account. In such a scenario, an account having metadata points that at least partially match with the environmental attribute metadata points may be selected for assignment.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0147] Individual products associated with at least one environmental attribute produced by an individual production network from chemicals may be provided to the original equipment manufacturer that produces the final product. As described herein and in connection with Figures 5a and 6, the individual products and associated environmental attributes may be separated upon registration (inbound). As described herein and shown in Figures 5b and 7, after separation, the environmental attributes may be linked to the final product as described herein and shown in Figure 5b (outbound).

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

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

Claims

1. 1. A method for producing at least one chemical product associated with one or more environmental attributes, the chemical product being produced by a chemical production network, the method comprising the steps of: - providing one or more input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes to one or more entry points of a chemical production network; - providing material data relating to said one or more input materials and respective environmental attributes to a computing interface; - assigning said one or more environmental attributes to at least one balancing account associated with said respective environmental attribute; - producing said at least one chemical product and providing said chemical product to one or more exit points of said chemical production network; - assigning at least one environmental attribute from said at least one balancing account associated with said respective environmental attribute to said at least one chemical product.

2. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the material data includes at least one input material identifier associated with each of the input materials, at least one environmental attribute associated with each of the input materials, and a quantity of input material provided to the entry point of the chemical production network.

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

4. 4. The method of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes provided at an entry point into the chemical production network comprise recycled input materials that include at least partially recycled content and / or are generated at least partially from recycled content, renewable input materials that include at least partially renewable content and / or are generated at least partially from renewable content, bio-based input materials that include at least partially bio-based content and / or are generated at least partially from bio-based content, or combinations thereof.

5. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the chemical production network includes entry points and exit points of input materials of chemical products produced by the chemical production network, the entry points and exit points represent physical system boundaries of the chemical production network, the allocation of at least one environmental attribute to at least one balancing account associated with each environmental attribute depends on the physical system boundaries, and the allocation of at least one environmental attribute from the at least one balancing account associated with each environmental attribute to at least one chemical product depends on the physical system boundaries.

6. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of assigning one or more environmental attributes to the balancing accounts comprises converting the one or more environmental attributes into one or more balancing units, the one or more balancing units being assigned to at least one balancing account associated with the respective environmental attribute.

7. 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of allocating at least one environmental attribute to the at least one chemical product comprises converting one or more balancing units into one or more environmental attributes, and the one or more balancing units are deallocated from at least one balancing account associated with the respective environmental attribute.

8. 8. The method of claim 6 or 7, wherein converting the one or more environmental attributes to one or more balancing units is based on a conversion factor relating conventional input materials to input materials associated with one or more environmental attributes.

9. 9. The method of claim 6, wherein converting the one or more environmental attributes into one or more balancing units includes determining a feedstock equivalent, the feedstock equivalent relating a conventional input material to an input material associated with one or more environmental attributes.

10. 10. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of converting the one or more environmental attributes into one or more balancing units is related to an amount of conventional input material and an amount of input material associated with one or more environmental attributes.

11. 11. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of converting the one or more environmental attributes to one or more balancing units is related to the energy characteristics of a conventional input material and the energy characteristics of an input material associated with the one or more environmental attributes.

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

13. 1. A computer-implemented method for assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product produced by a chemical production network, the chemical product being produced by the chemical production network, the method comprising the steps of: - providing material data associated with one or more input materials and respective environmental attributes to a computing interface, said one or more input materials being provided to an entry point into said chemical production network; - assigning said one or more environmental attributes to at least one balancing account associated with said respective environmental attribute; - providing a chemical product identifier associated with the chemical products produced by the chemical production network; - assigning at least one environmental attribute from at least one balancing account associated with said respective environmental attribute to at least one said chemical product identifier.

14. 1. An apparatus for assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product produced by a chemical production network, the chemical product being produced by the chemical production network, the apparatus comprising: - a data provider configured to provide material data associated with one or more input materials and respective environmental attributes to a computing interface, the one or more input materials being provided at an entry point to the chemical production network; - an inbound allocator configured to assign the one or more environmental attributes to at least one balancing account associated with a respective environmental attribute; - an identifier provider configured to provide chemical product identifiers associated with chemical products produced by the chemical production network; - an outbound allocator configured to assign at least one environmental attribute from at least one balancing account associated with said respective environmental attribute to said at least one chemical product identifier.

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

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