Monitoring of raw material supply characteristics

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of sustainability, and more particularly to the field of monitoring supply materials for chemical production networks. This disclosure relates to methods, apparatus, systems, distributed network nodes, supply materials, and computer elements for monitoring, registering, and / or attributing at least one characteristic of supply materials entering a chemical production network.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Technical Field The present invention relates to the field of sustainability, and more particularly to the field of monitoring feedstocks for chemical production networks. The present disclosure relates to methods, apparatus, systems, distributed network nodes, feedstocks, and computer elements for monitoring and / or registering feedstock characteristics for balancing based on the system boundaries of chemical production networks.

Background Art

[0002] Technical Background Chemical production networks are large-scale production that produces over thousands of chemical products through chemical conversions. With the transition to a circular economy, the feedstocks for chemical production networks are experiencing dynamic changes. Therefore, the monitoring of feedstocks is becoming increasingly complex.

Summary of the Invention

Means for Solving the Problems

[0003] Summary In one aspect, a method for monitoring at least one characteristic of one or more feedstocks or components thereof for a chemical production network, the method comprising: - collecting characteristic data associated with at least one characteristic of one or more feedstocks or components thereof in relation to the production of one or more feedstocks or components thereof, the collected characteristic data being related to one or more production and / or recycle inputs used to produce or generate one or more feedstocks or components thereof; - providing one or more distributed identifiers associated with one or more feedstocks or components thereof; - generating characteristic data associated with at least one characteristic of one or more feedstocks or components thereof, and one or more digital representations associated with one or more production and / or recycle inputs; - A step of generating one or more access elements, each including one or more distributed identifiers and one or more digital representations, - A step of providing one or more access elements to a distributed network for access to characteristic data by one or more data consumption network nodes of the distributed network under the control of a data provision network node, wherein one or more data consumption network nodes are configured to register at least one characteristic of one or more supply raw materials or their components and / or attribute them to output materials produced by a chemical production network, Methods including the following are disclosed.

[0004] In another embodiment, an apparatus for monitoring at least one property of one or more feedstocks or components thereof for a chemical production network, wherein the apparatus is - A data collection interface configured to collect characteristic data associated with at least one characteristic of one or more supply materials or their components in connection with the generation of one or more supply materials or their components, wherein the collected characteristic data is related to one or more production and / or recycling inputs used to produce or generate one or more supply materials or their components, - A distributed identifier provider interface configured to provide one or more distributed identifiers associated with one or more supply materials or their components, - A representation generator configured to generate characteristic data associated with at least one characteristic of one or more supply raw materials or their components, and one or more digital representations associated with one or more production and / or recycling inputs, - An access element generator configured to generate one or more access elements, each containing one or more distributed identifiers and one or more digital representations, - A distributed network interface configured to provide one or more access elements to a distributed network for access to characteristic data by one or more data consumption network nodes of a distributed network under the control of a data provision network node, wherein one or more data consumption network nodes are configured to register at least one characteristic of one or more supply raw materials or their components and / or attribute them to output materials produced by a chemical production network, An apparatus comprising the above is disclosed.

[0005] In another embodiment, a method for registering and / or attributing at least one characteristic of one or more feedstocks for entering a chemical production network, wherein the method is - A step of providing one or more distributed identifiers associated with one or more supply materials for entering a chemical production network, - A step of collecting characteristic data from one or more producers of supply material for entering the chemical production network, and / or one or more producers of components of one or more supply material for entering the chemical production network, in accordance with the methods disclosed herein or based on one or more access elements generated and / or provided by the apparatus, - A step of registering at least one characteristic of one or more supply raw materials entering the chemical production network based on the collected characteristic data, - A step of providing at least one registered property of one or more supply raw materials or their components to one or more output materials produced by a chemical production network, Methods including the following are disclosed.

[0006] In another embodiment, an apparatus for registering and / or assigning at least one characteristic of one or more feedstocks for entering a chemical production network, wherein the apparatus is - An identifier providing interface configured to provide one or more distributed identifiers associated with one or more supply materials for entering a chemical production network, - A data acquisition interface configured to collect characteristic data from one or more producers of supply material for entering a chemical production network, and / or from one or more producers of one or more supply material components to be supplied to the chemical production network, according to the methods disclosed herein or based on one or more access elements generated and / or provided by the apparatus, - A registration interface configured to register at least one characteristic of one or more supply materials entering the chemical production network based on collected characteristic data, and to provide at least one registered characteristic of one or more supply materials or their components to one or more output materials produced by the chemical production network, An apparatus comprising the above is disclosed.

[0007] In another embodiment, a method for monitoring at least one property of one or more feedstocks or components thereof for a chemical production network, wherein the method is - A step of collecting characteristic data of one or more supply materials or components thereof in connection with the generation of a supply material or its components, wherein the collected characteristic data relates to one or more production and / or recycling inputs used to produce the supply material or its components, - Providing one or more distributed identifiers associated with at least one characteristic of one or more supply materials or their components and one or more production and / or recycling inputs, and generating one or more digital representations associated with characteristic data associated with at least one characteristic of one or more supply materials or their components and one or more production and / or recycling inputs, - A step of generating one or more access elements, each including one or more distributed identifiers and one or more digital representations, - A step of providing one or more access elements to a distributed network for access to characteristic data by one or more data consumption network nodes of the distributed network under the control of a data provision network node, wherein one or more data consumption network nodes are configured to register at least one characteristic of one or more supply raw materials or their components and / or attribute them to output materials produced by a chemical production network, Methods including the following are disclosed.

[0008] In another embodiment, an apparatus for monitoring at least one property of one or more feedstocks or components thereof for a chemical production network, wherein the apparatus is - A data collection interface configured to collect characteristic data of one or more supply materials or their components in connection with the generation of a supply material or its components, wherein the collected characteristic data relates to one or more production and / or recycling inputs used to produce the supply material or its components, - A distributed identifier provider interface configured to provide one or more distributed identifiers associated with at least one characteristic of one or more supply materials or their components and one or more production and / or recycling inputs, and a representation generator configured to generate one or more digital representations associated with characteristic data associated with at least one characteristic of one or more supply materials or their components and one or more production and / or recycling inputs, - An access element generator configured to generate one or more access elements, each containing one or more distributed identifiers and one or more digital representations, - A distributed network interface configured to provide one or more access elements to a distributed network for access to characteristic data by one or more data consumption network nodes of a distributed network under the control of a data provision network node, wherein one or more data consumption network nodes are configured to register at least one characteristic of one or more supply raw materials or their components and / or attribute them to output materials produced by a chemical production network, An apparatus comprising the above is disclosed.

[0009] In another embodiment, a method for monitoring at least one property of one or more input materials or components thereof for a production system, in particular one or more supply materials or components thereof for a chemical production network, the method being - A step of collecting characteristic data of one or more input materials, particularly supply materials, or their components, relating to individual input materials, for example, individual input materials, in particular, supply materials, for example, individual supply materials, or their components, for example, relating to individual components, wherein the collected characteristic data relates to one or more production and / or recycled inputs used to produce the input materials, for example, individual input materials, in particular, supply materials, for example, individual supply materials, or their components, for example, individual components, - Optionally, a step of generating at least one digital relationship based on input materials, e.g., individual input materials, in particular supply raw materials, e.g., individual supply raw materials, or their components, e.g., one or more production and / or recycled inputs used to generate the individual components, - In particular, the step of providing one or more input materials or components thereof, including one or more production and / or recycling inputs and / or at least one of their characteristics, in particular, one or more distributed identifiers associated with one or more supply raw materials or components thereof, - A step of generating one or more digital representations of characteristic data that optionally include relational representations of digital relationships, in particular a step of generating one or more digital representations of digital relationships, - A step of generating one or more access elements comprising one or more distributed identifiers and one or more digital representations, wherein optionally, a relational representation is associated with at least one distributed relational identifier, and in particular, a relational access element comprising at least one distributed relational identifier and a relational representation is generated. - A step of providing a distributed network to one or more data-consuming network nodes of a distributed network under the control of a data-providing network node, wherein one or more data-consuming network nodes are configured to register at least one characteristic of one or more input materials or components thereof, in particular, one or more supply materials or components thereof, and / or attribute them to output materials produced by a production system, in particular, a chemical production network. Methods including the following are disclosed.

[0010] In another embodiment, an apparatus for monitoring the properties of at least one of one input material or component thereof for a production system, in particular one or more supply material or component thereof for a chemical production network, wherein the apparatus is - A data collection interface configured to collect characteristic data of one or more input materials, particularly supply materials, or their components, relating to individual input materials, for example, individual input materials, in particular, supply raw materials, for example, individual supply raw materials, or their components, for example, relating to individual components, wherein the collected characteristic data relates to one or more production and / or recycled inputs used to produce the input materials, for example, individual input materials, in particular, supply raw materials, for example, individual supply raw materials, or their components, for example, individual components, - A relationship generator configured to optionally generate at least one digital relationship based on input materials, e.g., individual input materials, in particular supply raw materials, e.g., individual supply raw materials, or their components, e.g., one or more production and / or recycling inputs used to generate the individual components, - A distributed identifier provider interface configured to provide one or more distributed identifiers associated with one or more input materials or components thereof, in particular one or more supply materials or components thereof, including one or more production and / or recycling inputs and / or at least one of their characteristics, - A representation generator configured to generate one or more digital representations of characteristic data that optionally include relational representations of digital relationships, in particular to generate one or more digital representations of digital relationships, - An access element generator configured to generate one or more access elements comprising one or more distributed identifiers and one or more digital representations, wherein optionally, a relational representation is associated with at least one distributed relational identifier, and in particular, a relational access element comprising at least one distributed relational identifier and a relational representation is generated. - A distributed network interface configured to provide the distributed network with characteristic data and / or optionally one or more access elements for access to digital relationships by one or more data-consuming network nodes of the distributed network under the control of a data-providing network node, wherein one or more data-consuming network nodes are configured to register at least one characteristic of one or more input materials or components thereof, in particular, one or more supply materials or components thereof, and / or attribute them to output materials produced by a production system, in particular, a chemical production network, An apparatus comprising the above is disclosed.

[0011] In another aspect, a method for registering and / or attributing at least one characteristic of one or more input materials or components thereof entering a production system, particularly a chemical production network, especially one or more feedstocks or components thereof, the method comprising: - providing one or more decentralized identifiers associated with one or more input materials, particularly one or more feedstocks, to be supplied to the production system, particularly a chemical production network; - optionally, collecting one or more representations associated with the decentralized identifiers associated with one or more input materials, particularly one or more feedstocks, to be supplied to the production system, particularly a chemical production network, according to the methods disclosed herein or based on one or more access elements generated and / or provided by a device; - collecting characteristic data from one or more producers of one or more input materials or components thereof, particularly one or more feedstocks or components thereof, to be supplied to the production system, particularly a chemical production network, and / or from one or more producers of components of one or more input materials or components thereof, particularly one or more feedstocks or components thereof, according to the methods disclosed herein or based on one or more access elements generated and / or provided by a device; - registering at least one characteristic of one or more input materials or components thereof entering the production system, particularly a chemical production network, especially one or more feedstocks or components thereof, based on the collected characteristic data; - providing at least one registered characteristic of one or more input materials or components thereof, particularly one or more feedstocks or components thereof, for attribution to output materials produced by the production system, particularly a chemical production network; is disclosed.

[0012] In another aspect, a device for registering and / or attributing at least one characteristic of one or more input materials or components thereof, particularly one or more feedstocks or components thereof, the device comprising: - An identifier providing interface configured to provide one or more distributed identifiers associated with one or more input materials, in particular one or more supply materials, to be supplied to a production system, in particular a chemical production network, - A data collection interface that collects characteristic data from producers of one or more input materials, in particular one or more raw materials, to be supplied to a production system, in particular a chemical production network, and / or from producers of one or more components of one or more input materials, in particular one or more raw materials, to be supplied to a production system, in particular a chemical production network, and - A data collection interface configured to optionally collect, based on one or more access elements generated and / or provided by a device, one or more input materials to be supplied to a production system, in particular a chemical production network, in particular one or more representations relating to distributed identifiers associated with one or more supply materials, in particular one or more supply materials, according to the methods disclosed herein or based on one or more access elements generated and / or provided by the apparatus, - A registration interface configured to register at least one characteristic of one or more input materials or components thereof, in particular one or more supply materials or components thereof, that enter a production system, in particular a chemical production network, based on collected characteristic data, and to provide at least one registered characteristic of one or more input materials or components thereof, in particular one or more supply materials or components thereof, to attribute at least one characteristic to the output material produced by the production system, in particular a chemical production network, An apparatus comprising the above is disclosed.

[0013] In another embodiment, a distributed network node, in particular a distributed data supply network node, is disclosed, configured to provide one or more access elements by means of a method or apparatus for monitoring at least one property of one or more input materials or components thereof for a production system, in particular one or more supply materials or components thereof for a chemical production network, as disclosed herein.

[0014] In another embodiment, a distributed network node, in particular a distributed data consumption network node, is disclosed, configured to register and / or assign to one or more input materials or components thereof, in particular to one or more supply materials or components thereof, in accordance with the methods or apparatus disclosed herein.

[0015] In another embodiment, input materials, in particular feedstocks, associated with an access element, which are generated and provided according to the methods or apparatus disclosed herein. The input materials, in particular feedstocks, associated with an access element, which are generated and provided according to the methods or apparatus disclosed herein, are supplied to a chemical production network or can be used by the chemical production network for the production of one or more output materials.

[0016] In another embodiment, a production system, in particular a chemical production network, is disclosed, wherein input materials, in particular feedstocks, associated with access elements generated and provided by a method or apparatus disclosed herein are supplied to the chemical production network.

[0017] In another embodiment, the use of access elements is disclosed in accordance with the methods disclosed herein for registering and / or attributing at least one property of one or more input materials or components thereof, in particular, one or more supply materials or components thereof, as generated and provided by the apparatus.

[0018] In another aspect, the disclosure relates to a computer element such as a computer program or computer-readable medium having instructions configured to perform steps of the method disclosed herein when executed on one or more computing nodes of a distributed network, or to be executed by the device disclosed herein.

[0019] All disclosures, embodiments, and examples described herein relate to the methods, systems, apparatus, chemical products, chemical product passports, licensing rules, uses, and computer elements described above and below. Advantageously, any benefits derived from any embodiment or example may apply equally to all other embodiments and examples.

[0020] Embodiment Reliable monitoring of raw material supplies is crucial for large-scale chemical plants and the chemical production networks that rely on them. As multiple different types of inputs enter such chemical production networks, reliable monitoring of incoming raw materials and the material flow within the network becomes increasingly difficult. To improve monitoring of raw materials and the material flow within the chemical production network, a data-sharing-based monitoring concept within the material chain has been proposed. Such data-sharing-based monitoring enables controlled access to characteristic data by stakeholders in the material chain. A distributed network allows for controlled peer-to-peer communication among stakeholders in the material chain. By making data related to the production or generation of raw materials or their components, such as characteristic data, accessible to stakeholders in the material chain, more efficient and reliable monitoring can be ensured through controlled and targeted access to such data. The monitoring concept enables reliable monitoring of raw materials entering the chemical production network and the material flow within the chemical production network.

[0021] Specifically, by collecting characteristic data at the production or generation stage of supply raw materials or their components and providing access to such data through access elements via a distributed network, critical data sharing among stakeholders in a material chain or loop becomes possible. More specifically, by using digital relationships stored in a distributed manner for each stakeholder in the material chain or loop, it becomes possible to recursively reconstruct bills of materials only for those parts of the characteristic data related to the use of supply raw materials for a chemical production network. More specifically, by providing such data related to selected stakeholders, for example, chemical product manufacturers, supply raw material producers are given the necessary control over sensitive production information. More specifically, by providing such data related to supply raw materials in a chemical production network, more targeted monitoring of supply raw materials entering the chemical production network and material flows within the chemical production network becomes possible.

[0022] By associating distributed relation identifiers and relational expressions at each generation stage of the recycling and / or production chain, the depth of characteristic or characteristic data available through the distributed network can be improved without disclosing the complete bill of materials for supply material generation across stakeholders. Through relational access elements, each input and output becomes accessible in a controlled and targeted manner, depending on the stakeholders in the production and / or recycling chain. In this way, the attribution of input material or supply material characteristics provided to chemical manufacturers can be improved. This is particularly important for chemical manufacturers due to the complexity of material flows within the chemical production network.

[0023] Several embodiments of this disclosure are outlined below as examples. It should be understood that this disclosure is not limited to the above embodiments and / or examples.

[0024] A production system may be associated with a producer of a product. A production system may include individual productions that use individual products to produce an output. A production system may be a chemical production network. A chemical production network may be associated with a producer of chemical products and / or a chemical production network. A chemical production network may include one or more chemical, physical, thermal, and / or mechanical processes. A chemical production network may produce one or more output materials by chemical, physical, thermal, and / or mechanical processes. A chemical production network may include multiple types of production processes that produce one or more output materials from one or more input materials. A chemical production network may produce one or more output materials from input materials provided to the chemical production network. A chemical production network may include a composite production network that produces multiple output materials through multiple production processes. A chemical production network may include connected, interconnected, and / or disconnected production processes. A chemical production network may include a composite network or a Verbund network.

[0025] A chemical production network may include identity-preserving or separation production processes. In this context, identity-preserving or separation may refer to the preservation or separation of one or more properties of the input materials in the production process. An example is non-fossil, for example, renewable or recycled input materials used to produce one or more output materials that do not contain fossils. A further example is fossil input materials used to produce one or more output materials that contain fossils. A chemical production network may also include non-identity-preserving or non-separation production processes. In this context, non-identity-preserving or non-separation may refer to the mixing of non-fossil input materials with fossil input materials in order to produce an output material. For example, fossil input materials and renewable input materials may be mixed to produce an output material that contains fossils and renewables.

[0026] A chemical production network may include one or more production processes having multiple production steps. The production steps included in a chemical network may be defined by the physical system boundary of the chemical production network. The system boundary may be defined by the location and / or control of the production process or step. The system boundary may be defined by the site of the chemical production network. The system boundary may be defined by a production process or step jointly controlled by one or more entities. The system boundary may be defined by a value chain having time-staggered production processes or steps to a final chemical product, which may be jointly or individually controlled by multiple entities. A chemical production network may include waste recovery, sorting steps, recycling steps such as pyrolysis, cracking steps such as steam cracking, separation steps to separate intermediates from one processing step, and further processing steps to convert such intermediates into output materials exiting the system boundary of the chemical production network. Input materials may enter the physical system boundary of the chemical production network. An entry point to a chemical production network may be indicated by the input of input materials into the chemical production network or the system boundary of the chemical network. Output materials may exit the physical system boundary of the chemical production network. The exit point of a chemical production network may be indicated by the discharge of productive materials from the chemical production network or the system boundary of the chemical production network. A chemical production network may include material flows that involve one or more connected or interconnected multi-input, multi-output processes. A multi-input, multi-output process may include a chemical process that uses multiple chemical extracts to produce more than one chemical product.

[0027] A chemical production network may include one or more production chains for the production of output materials. Production chains for the production of output materials may be interconnected. Production chains for the production of output materials may be interconnected with production chains for the production of other output materials. A production chain for the production of output materials may include production chains for the production of intermediates used to produce the output materials. A production chain for the production of output materials may use input materials provided by a chemical network for the production of intermediates that can be used to produce the output materials.

[0028] One or more input materials may be provided to a production system to produce one or more output materials. Input materials may be inputs to a chemical production network, also called precursor products, intermediate materials, feedstocks, or raw materials, used to produce one or more output materials of the chemical production network. Output materials may be produced from one or more input materials through one or more chemical processes of the chemical production network. Input materials may include any input materials that enter the chemical production network at any entry point. Input materials may include input materials such as natural, organic, or inorganic materials. Input materials may be supplied to a chemical production network to produce one or more output materials. Input materials may be supplied to a chemical production network that includes one or more production processes having multiple process steps. Input materials may be supplied to a chemical production network at the start of a production process, or at any intermediate stage of the production chain of a production process, for example, producing output materials. Input materials entering a chemical production network may be used to produce one or more output materials.

[0029] Input materials may be associated with input material identifiers, particularly distributed input material or supply material identifiers. Input material identifiers may include any identifier uniquely associated with an input material. Input material identifiers may be associated with the physical entities of the input material. Input material identifiers may be associated with a single batch of input material. Input material identifiers may be associated with a group of input material. Identifiers may be associated with multiple physical entities of the input material. Input material identifiers may be associated with a continuous or semi-continuous stream of input material. Input material identifiers may be associated, for example, with a stream of input material over a specific period or from a specific supplier. Input material identifiers may be linked to or associated with one or more characteristics.

[0030] Characteristic data may relate to one or more characteristics of input materials, in particular, supply raw materials. Characteristic data may relate to one or more environmental attributes. Characteristic data may relate to environmental, technical, recyclability, or circularity characteristics associated with input materials, chemical processes, chemical production networks, and / or outputs. Characteristic data may relate to at least one characteristic of input materials or supply raw materials associated with at least one material flow type, such as at least one supply raw material type, at least one component type, at least one waste stream type, at least one waste stream component type, at least one biomass type, and / or at least one renewable type. Characteristic data may relate to at least one characteristic of input materials, in particular supply raw materials including at least one material flow type associated with one or more production stages of the supply raw materials. Characteristic data may relate to at least one characteristic of input materials or their components, in particular supply raw materials including at least one material flow type associated with the production of the supply raw materials or their components. The characteristic data may include at least one origin, at least one condition related to the generation of the input material or feedstock, at least one environmental attribute, and / or at least one characteristic of the input material or feedstock related to at least one allocation scheme. The origin may relate, for example, to the producer, production plant, and / or production site of the feedstock or input material. The conditions related to generation may relate, for example, to the process used to produce the input material or feedstock, the specific process operation used to produce the input material or feedstock, and / or process inputs used in addition to the input material to the process.

[0031] Environmental attributes may refer to characteristics related to the environmental impact of one or more input materials or their components, in particular, one or more supply materials or their components. Such characteristics may be those of input materials, chemical processes, production processes, production systems, chemical production networks, and / or output materials. Environmental attributes may indicate the environmental performance of input materials, chemical processes, production processes, production systems, chemical production networks, and / or output materials. Environmental attributes may be derived from the characteristics of input materials, chemical processes, production processes, production systems, chemical production networks, and / or output materials. Environmental attributes may be associated with the environmental impact of input materials, chemical processes, production processes, production systems, chemical production networks, and / or output materials at any stage of the lifecycle of input materials, e.g., supply materials, or output materials. The stages may include providing raw materials, supplying raw materials, producing chemical products such as intermediate or final products, producing individual products by using chemical products, using chemical products or individual products, processing used products, recycling used products, disposing of used products, reusing components from used products, or any subset of the stages. Environmental attributes may be specified or derived from any activities of one or more entities involved at any stage of the life cycle of one or more materials or products.

[0032] Environmental attributes may include one or more characteristics attributable to the environmental impact of input materials, chemical processes, production processes, production systems, chemical production networks, and / or output materials. Environmental attributes may include environmental features, technical features, recyclability features, or circularity features associated with the environmental impact of input materials, chemical processes, production processes, production systems, chemical production networks, and / or output materials.

[0033] Environmental attributes may include one or more characteristics attributable to the environmental impacts of input materials, chemical processes, production processes, production systems, chemical production networks, and / or output materials. Environmental attributes may include environmental features, technical features, recyclability features, or circularity features associated with the environmental impacts of input materials, chemical processes, production processes, production systems, chemical production networks, and / or output materials. One or more environmental attributes may be attributable to the environmental impacts of output materials produced by a chemical production network. One or more environmental attributes may be related to the environmental features, technical features, recyclability features, circularity features, and / or complementary risk features of output materials. One or more environmental attributes may be attributable to the environmental impacts of input materials, e.g., supply raw materials, or their components. One or more environmental attributes may be related to the environmental features, technical features, recyclability features, circularity features, and / or complementary risk features of input materials, e.g., supply raw materials, or their components.

[0034] Environmental characteristics may specify or quantify ecological criteria associated with environmental impacts. Environmental characteristics may be measurements taken during the life cycle or may be derived from such measurements. Environmental characteristics may be determined at any stage of the life cycle and may characterize environmental impacts across or up to such stages. Environmental characteristics may include, for example, carbon footprint, greenhouse gas emissions, resource use, atmospheric emissions, ozone depletion potential, water pollution, noise pollution, energy consumption, waste reduction, or eutrophication potential. Environmental characteristics may also include, for example, product characteristics related to the production of a product, such as being of biological origin, plant origin, animal origin, halogen-free, fluorine-free, vegan, halal, kosher, palm oil-free, natural, hazardous substance-free, volatile organic compound-free, or any combination thereof.

[0035] Technical features can specify or quantify performance that is at least indirectly related to environmental impact. Technical features may be measurements taken during the lifecycle or can be derived from such measurements. Technical features may be determined at any stage of the lifecycle and may characterize performance over or up to such stages. Technical features may include, for example, chemical composition data, raw material composition such as biological or recycled input material contents specifying x% non-fossil and y% fossil contents, bill of materials, product purity, product form (as an indicator of their impact on dust formation / emission), product specification data such as safety data, product extractability, migration data, toxicological data or ecotoxicity data, product component data, safety data, application characteristics data, application instructions, quality data, or any combination thereof.

[0036] Circularity features can specify or quantify lifecycle features associated with cyclic use. Circularity features may be or be derived from measurements taken during the lifecycle. Circularity features may be or be derived from cyclical data recorded in one or more previous lifecycles, including reuse. Circularity features may be determined at any stage of the lifecycle and may characterize reuse or recycling performance across or up to such stages. Circularity features may include, for example, recycling data, reuse rate, recycling rate, recycling loop, reuse performance, reuse quality, or any combination thereof.

[0037] Recyclability features may specify or quantify lifecycle features associated with recyclable use. Recyclability features may include the composition of a material containing specially formulated components that make the material suitable for recycling. Recyclability features may be or may be derived from measurements taken during the lifecycle. Recyclability features may be or may be derived from recycling data recorded in one or more previous lifecycles. Recyclability features may be determined at any stage of the lifecycle and may characterize the recycling performance over or up to such stages. Recyclability features may include, for example, recycling data, reuse count, recycled material composition, recycled material quality, waste stream composition, waste stream quality, or any combination thereof.

[0038] A supply raw material or input material generation chain may include any stakeholders involved in the generation of the supply raw material. A supply raw material generation chain may include a material chain or loop production and / or recycling chain. A supply raw material generation chain may include one or more production and / or recycling stages of a supply raw material recycling and / or production chain. A supply raw material generation chain may include one or more stakeholders involved in the generation of the supply raw material or its components. Such generation may be related to production and / or recycling processes. A production chain may include one or more stakeholders involved in the production of the supply raw material or its components, such as crude oil to be refined or bio-based materials such as crops to be processed. A recycling chain may include one or more stakeholders involved in the recycling of the supply raw material or its components, such as sorting, recovery and / or recycling of waste streams or used products. A generation stage may refer to a stakeholder in the supply raw material generation chain, preferably an individual stakeholder, who carries out one or more processes of a supply raw material generation stage.

[0039] In one embodiment, characteristic data is collected in connection with the generation of the raw materials / input materials or their components by an entity involved in the raw material / input material generation chain, in particular an entity that generates the raw materials / input materials. Characteristic data associated with one or more production and / or recycled inputs used to generate the raw materials / input materials or their components, in particular an associated distributed identifier associated with one or more production inputs, may be collected, for example, by an entity involved in the raw material / input material generation chain, in particular an entity that generates the raw materials / input materials. Characteristic data associated with one or more production and / or recycled inputs used to generate the raw materials / input materials or their components may be collected, for example, at each generation stage of the raw material / input material generation chain by an entity involved in the raw material / input material generation chain, in particular an entity that generates the raw materials / input materials at each stage of the raw material / input material generation chain. The entity may generate and / or provide access elements specific to the generation stage.

[0040] In another embodiment, characteristic data is collected associated with one or more production and / or recycled inputs used to generate the supply material / input or its components at the production stage of the supply material / input material generation chain. Characteristic data associated with one or more production and / or recycled inputs used to generate the supply material / input or its components may be collected at the production and / or recycling stage of the supply material / input material recycling and / or production chain associated with the supply material / input or its components. Characteristic data associated with one or more production and / or recycled inputs used to generate the supply material / input or its components may be collected by the participants producing the supply material / input at the production and / or recycling stage of the supply material / input material recycling and / or production chain associated with the supply material / input or its components. The participants may generate and / or provide access elements specific to the production and / or recycling stage.

[0041] In another embodiment, characteristic data associated with one or more production and / or recycled inputs used in or for the production stages of the supply raw materials / input materials or their components is collected for each production stage. Characteristic data associated with one or more production and / or recycled inputs used for the production stages of the supply raw materials / input materials or their components is collected for each production stage and / or participant in the production chain. Characteristic data associated with one or more production and / or recycled inputs for the production of the supply raw materials or their components at each production stage of the supply raw materials or their components may be collected, for example, for each production stage and / or for each participant in the production chain.

[0042] In another embodiment, at least one digital representation is generated for accessing a digital relationship between a supply material or its components in a production stage and one or more production and / or recycling inputs in each of those production stages. At least one digital relationship may be generated based on input materials / supply materials, e.g., individual input materials / supply materials for each production stage, or its components, e.g., one or more production and / or recycling inputs used to generate individual components for each production stage. One or more distributed identifiers may be provided associated with one or more production and / or recycling inputs for one or more input materials or their components, in particular, one or more supply materials or their components. One or more digital representations of characteristic data including relational representations of digital relationships may be generated. One or more digital representations of digital relationships may be generated. One or more relational access elements may be generated including relational representations associated with at least one distributed relational identifier.

[0043] Relational access elements may be provided for access to digital relationships between a supplying material or its components at a production stage and one or more production and / or recycling inputs at that production stage. One or more relational access elements may be configured for access to characteristic data from one or more stakeholders in the supplying material production chain. One or more access elements may be configured for access to characteristic data for each production stage of the supplying material production chain by one or more stakeholders using the supplying material. One or more relational access elements may be provided to a distributed network for access to digital relationships by one or more data consuming network nodes in the distributed network under the control of a data providing network node. One or more data consuming network nodes may be configured to register at least one characteristic of one or more input materials or their components, in particular one or more supplying materials or their components, and / or attribute it to an output material produced by a production system, in particular a chemical production network. Access to characteristics may be provided via or by characteristic data. Access to characteristics for each production stage or stakeholder in the supplying material / input material production chain may be provided via or by relational access elements. The characteristic data may be accessed by one or more data consumption network nodes configured to register at least one characteristic of one or more input materials or their components, in particular, one or more supply raw materials or their components, and / or attribute them to a production system, in particular, an output material produced by a chemical production network.

[0044] In another embodiment, one or more access elements may recursively access, or be configured to recursively access, characteristic data for each generation stage of the supply material generation chain. Recursive access may be based on one or more relational expressions provided by one or more stakeholders in the supply material generation chain. One or more relational expressions may be provided to the distributed network by one or more stakeholders in the supply material generation chain. One or more relational expressions may be recursively accessed by one or more stakeholders in the material or recycling chain, in particular sorters, recoverers, chemical producers, chemical production networks, and / or recycling system stakeholders. One or more relational expressions may be recursively accessed by data consumption nodes associated with chemical producers and / or chemical production networks that use the supply material / input materials.

[0045] Characteristic data may be accessed by stakeholders in the supply raw material usage chain, such as chemical product manufacturers and / or chemical production networks, by one or more stakeholders in the supply raw material production chain, in particular, from supply raw material and supply raw material component producers to each stage of supply raw material production. Characteristic data may be accessed by generating at least one relational access element. The method for monitoring is: - A step of generating at least one digital relationship based on one or more production and / or recycled inputs used to generate the supply raw materials or their components, - A step of generating one or more digital representations of characteristic data that include relational representations of digital relationships, - A step in which one or more access elements include a relational expression associated with at least one distributed relational identifier, - A step of providing one or more access elements to a distributed network for access to digital relationships by one or more data consuming network nodes of the distributed network under the control of a data providing network node, It also includes.

[0046] In another embodiment, the characteristic data includes at least one characteristic of the feedstock related to at least one material flow type, which includes at least one feedstock type, at least one component type, at least one waste stream type, at least one waste stream component type, at least one biomass type, or at least one renewable type. The material flow type may relate to fossil types, or non-fossil types, which include, for example, recycled, bio-based, and / or renewable material flows. The feedstock type may relate to the type of fossil or non-fossil material contained in the feedstock. Examples include types of recyclable materials for recycled feedstock, such as pyrolysis oil, pyrolysis gas, or the like; types of fossil materials, such as crude oil, natural gas, or coal; or types of non-fossil materials, such as bionaphtha. The component type may relate to the type of material contained in the components contained in the feedstock. The waste stream type may relate to waste streams, or the final products contained in the waste stream, such as mixed plastic waste, specific end-product waste, for example, tire waste or foam waste, post-consumer waste, pre-consumer waste, or the like. The waste stream subtype may relate to a sorted waste stream that is to be recycled by chemical, physical, and / or mechanical recycling. The biomass type or renewable type may relate to raw material, and such input material streams may be based, for example, on vegetable oil from food production, oil from specific locations, or food waste from municipal waste.

[0047] In another embodiment, the characteristic data includes at least one origin, at least one condition related to the generation of the supply material, at least one environmental attribute, and / or at least one characteristic of the supply material related to an allocation scheme. The origin may relate to a supplier or provider of one or more input material streams. The origin may relate to a location where one or more input material streams were sourced. The condition related to the generation of the supply material may relate to process conditions such as production and / or recycling processes used to generate the supply material, or process conditions of such production and / or recycling processes used to generate the supply material. The environmental attribute may relate to any characteristic related to the environmental impact of the supply material and / or the generation of the supply material. Allocation scheme The allocation scheme may specify the allocation of the characteristic data according to segregated allocation, non-segregated allocation such as book-and-claim, mass balance with free attribution, mass balance without free attribution, or a combination thereof.

[0048] In another embodiment, the characteristic data includes one or more datasets related to a set of characteristics, and the one or more datasets are related to the type of participant associated with a data-consuming network node that requests and / or accesses the characteristic data. The characteristic data may include one or more datasets, and the one or more datasets are related, associating the set of characteristics with the type of participant associated with a data-consuming network node that requests access to the characteristic data. The type of participant may be related to a distributed participant identifier associated with a data-consuming network node that requests access to the characteristic data. The distributed participant identifier may be provided by the data-consuming network node that requests access to the characteristic data.

[0049] In another embodiment, the access element relates to an authorization rule that provides access to one or more datasets of characteristic data depending on the type of participant associated with a data consumption network node requesting access to the characteristic data. The access element may be provided for, or generated by, access to one or more datasets related to a participant or type of participant in a supply material / input material generation, e.g., production and / or recycling, chain that performs one or more processes for generating supply materials or their components. The access element may be provided for access to one or more datasets depending on the type of participant in a supply material use chain that performs one or more processes for using supply materials or their components. The access element may be provided for access to characteristic data that includes one or more datasets related to the type of participant in a supply material generation and / or use chain that performs one or more processes for generating and / or using supply materials or their components. The access element may relate to an authorization rule that provides access to characteristic datasets depending on the participant type. The access element may relate to an authorization rule that provides access to characteristic datasets depending on a participant identifier. The access element may relate to an authorization rule that provides access to characteristic datasets depending on a distributed participant identifier, such as a distributed participant identifier of a data consumption network node associated with a chemical product producer and / or chemical production network. The access element may relate to authorization rules that grant access to characteristic datasets to selected stakeholders in the supply chain or material chain, particularly chemical product manufacturers and / or chemical production networks.

[0050] In another embodiment, one or more data consumption network nodes are associated with one or more chemical product producers who attribute at least one characteristic of a supply raw material or its components to an output material produced by the chemical production network. Such attribution may include accessing and collecting characteristic data as disclosed herein, registering characteristic data via a balancing account, and assigning the registered characteristics of the supply raw material to the output material produced by the chemical production network.

[0051] In another embodiment, characteristic data or datasets may be accessed by one or more stakeholders in a production or supply chain, in particular chemical producers and / or chemical production networks, through one or more access elements generated according to the methods disclosed herein. Characteristic data may be accessed by one or more stakeholders in a supply chain, in particular supply material and / or component producers, at each stage of supply material production. Characteristic data may be accessed by one or more stakeholders in a supply chain or production chain, in particular chemical producers and / or chemical production networks, at each stage of supply material production. Characteristic data may be accessed recursively based on one or more relational expressions provided by one or more stakeholders in a supply chain or production chain, in particular supply material or component producers. One or more relational expressions provided to a distributed network by one or more stakeholders in a supply chain or production chain, in particular supply material or component producers, may be accessed recursively by one or more stakeholders in a supply chain or production chain, in particular chemical producers and / or chemical production networks.

[0052] In another embodiment, providing an access element for a data consuming node to access characteristic data includes requesting a data providing node to provide access to the characteristic data by the data consuming node, authenticating and / or authorizing the request, and / or accessing the characteristic data by transferring the characteristic data from the data providing node to the data consuming node.

[0053] Brief explanation of the drawing The present disclosure will be further described below with reference to the attached drawings. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0054] [Figure 1] Figure 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of a circulating material loop, which includes material participants connected via a distributed network having distributed network nodes associated with the material participants. [Figure 2] Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary method for generating an access element to monitor the production of a supplying raw material or its components by at least one material participant in a distributed network. [Figure 3] Figure 3 shows another exemplary method for generating an access element to monitor the production of a supplying raw material or its components by at least one material participant in a distributed network. [Figure 4] Figure 4 shows an example of a method for accessing characteristic data related to the production of a supplying raw material or its components by one or more data-consuming network nodes under the control of a data-providing network node associated with the producer of the supplying raw material or its components. [Figure 5] Figure 5 shows a method for obtaining characteristic data related to the production of supply raw materials or their components based on distributed product identifiers and relationships. [Figure 6] Figure 6 shows a relational expression that specifies the relationship between a supply raw material or its components and the components used to produce the supply raw material or its components. [Figure 7] Figure 7 shows an example of a distributed network that includes several distributed network nodes that can be accessed by computing devices. [Figure 8] Figure 8 shows an exemplary system for obtaining production-related characteristic data based on distributed supply raw material identifiers. [Figure 9] Figure 9 shows an example of a method or apparatus for providing characteristic data via a distributed network. [Figure 10] Figure 10 schematically illustrates an example of balancing or attributing the characteristics of supplied raw materials to the output materials of a chemical production network. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0055] Detailed explanation The following embodiments are merely examples for implementing the methods, apparatus, systems, or applications disclosed herein, and should not be considered limiting.

[0056] Figure 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of a circulating material loop 100 that includes material stakeholders 101.1 to 6 connected through a distributed network 102 having distributed network nodes 103.1 to 6 associated with material stakeholders 101.1 to 6.

[0057] The stakeholder network shown in Figure 1 may be a material chain network. A material chain network may include one or more linear material chains, such as a production chain and / or a recycling chain. A linear material chain may include one or more material production chains in which materials are produced by a material producer 101.1 and used by an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to produce a final product. A linear material chain may include a material recycling chain in which the produced final product is collected, sorted, recycled to a recycling system operator 101.6, and the recycled material is used by the material producer 101.1 to produce new materials. A material chain may include one or more production and / or recycling chains. A material chain may include one or more connected production and / or recycling chains. One or more linear material chains may be connected to a material loop 100.

[0058] A materials chain network may include a materials loop network 100 that includes the use of recycled materials to produce new materials. One or more materials loops 100 may enable the use of materials resulting from the recycling of used products to produce new products, such as chemical products or materials, associated with one or more materials chains. A materials chain network, preferably a materials loop 100, may include the production, use, and / or recycling of physical materials or products produced by using or containing such materials. Products may be materials, chemical products, intermediate chemical products, individual components containing materials, assemblies of individual components, final products, used products, recycled products, recycled products, or recycled materials.

[0059] Materials or chemical products may refer to chemical compounds, chemical components, chemical molecules, chemical compositions, chemical mixtures, chemical formulations, intermediate chemical products, or chemical substrates that can be used to produce individual products. Chemical material or product flows may include non-individual material flows that can be further processed to produce individual products or components. Chemical material or product flows may include liquids, pellets, beets, powders, etc. Individual products may include individual components, assemblies of individual components, final products, used products, recycled products, or recycled products.

[0060] Chemical materials or products may be produced using raw materials and / or recycled materials. Recycled materials may refer to materials that have been mechanically or chemically recycled. A recycled material flow may include undifferentiated material flows that may be further processed to produce new materials or chemical products. A recycled material flow may include liquids, pellets, beets, powders, etc. Raw materials may include or refer to starting materials used to produce materials or chemical products, such as raw materials. Raw materials may be unused raw materials that have not undergone any processing other than for their production.

[0061] The term "final product" can refer to a product that is the result of a materials chain. The term "final product" can also refer to a product used by the final product user. "End-of-life (EOL) product" can refer to a product that has been used by the final product user. "End-of-life product" can refer to a product that no longer meets the requirements for its use. "End-of-life product" can refer to a product that is no longer needed. "End-of-life product" can refer to a product that has been discarded as waste, such as plastic waste. "Recycled product" can refer to any product or material produced using "end-of-life product." "Recycled product" can also refer to a new product or material produced using "end-of-life product."

[0062] The material loop 100 shown in Figure 1 may include multiple stakeholders 101.1 to 6 that form the material loop 100. The material loop 100 may include all stages of the material, from the production of the material through its use to its reuse. Thus, the material may flow in a closed loop, from the production of its components to the production of the final product, through its use to its reuse. Reuse may include the reuse of used products for another purpose, the refurbishment of used products, and / or the recycling of used products to resupply recycled materials to the production of materials.

[0063] The stakeholders in the material loop 101.1-6 may be associated with the production of any material or product, and / or the recycling of any material or product. Stakeholders in material loop 100 may include chemical product manufacturers 103.1, chemical product users 103.2, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) 103.3, end-of-life product users 103.4, EOL product recoverers and / or sorters 103.5, recycling system operators 103.6, or combinations thereof. Stakeholders may include various stakeholders in material chains or loops not shown in Figure 1.

[0064] The participants 101.1-6 in the material loop 100 may be connected through material flows 104. Material flows 104 may correspond to product or material flows from one of the participants 101.1-6 in the material loop to a downstream participant 101.1-6 in the material loop 100. Material flows 104 may refer to continuous or discontinuous flows of product or material. Product or material flows may include any means of transport suitable for transporting a product from one participant 101.1-6 to another downstream participant 101.1-6. Means of transport may include pipes, containers, barrels, packages, or similar. Material flows 104 may be unidirectional flows, such as directional material flows 104. Material flows 104 may flow from upstream participants 101.1-6 in the material loop 100 to downstream participants 101.1-6, such as a material flow 104 from a recycling system operator 101.6 to a chemical product producer 101.1. The material flow may include a reverse material flow 104 from downstream stakeholders 101.1-6 to upstream stakeholders 101.1-6 of the material loop 100. For example, if the recycled product or recycled material does not meet quality specifications and requires further processing, the material may flow from a chemical product manufacturer 101.1 to a recycling system 101.6 (104).

[0065] Material flow 106 may be associated with raw materials used to produce materials or chemical products, such as raw materials. Raw materials may be unused raw materials that have not undergone any processing other than for their production. Instead of raw materials, material flow 104 may include recycled materials. Recycled materials may be made from waste materials that can be recycled. Raw materials and recycled materials may be supplied to chemical product manufacturers for the production of materials, chemical products, and / or intermediate chemical products (not shown).

[0066] The material loop 100 shown in Figure 1 is based on an example of feedstocks for a chemical production network and their circulation loops. Feedstocks for a chemical production network may include any type of feedstocks entering the chemical production network. Feedstocks may include raw materials used to produce materials or chemical products, such as raw materials. Feedstocks may refer to fossil or non-fossil feedstocks. Examples of fossil feedstocks are crude oil, naphtha, methane, or similar. Feedstocks may include alternative or non-fossil feedstocks such as recycled, bio-based, or renewable feedstocks. Examples of recycled feedstocks are pyrolysis oil, pyrolysis gas, mechanically recycled polymer materials, or chemically recycled polymer materials. Examples of bio-based or renewable feedstocks include bio-based pyrolysis oils, bio-based pyrolysis gases, bio-based synthesis gases, bio-based hydrogen, bio-based naphtha, bio-based methane, bio-based ethane, bio-based propane, bio-based chemicals, renewable pyrolysis oils, renewable pyrolysis gases, renewable synthesis gases, renewable hydrogen, renewable naphtha, renewable methane, renewable ethane, renewable propane, or renewable chemicals, or any combination thereof.

[0067] Material stakeholders may include chemical product manufacturers 101.1, chemical product users 101.2, end product manufacturers or OEM manufacturers 101.3, end product users such as retailers or consumers 101.4, waste collectors and / or sorters 101.5, and recycling system operators 101.6.

[0068] Raw raw materials may be supplied to chemical producers 101.1 as raw supply materials. Alternatively, or additionally, non-fossil supply materials such as recycled, bio-based, and / or renewable materials may be supplied to chemical producers as supply materials. Chemical products may be produced by chemical producers using fossil and / or non-fossil supply materials. Chemical products may be supplied to chemical users 101.2. Chemical products may be used to produce any intermediate products. Any intermediate products may be supplied to final product producers 101.3 (original equipment manufacturers - OEMs). Final products may be produced using any intermediates produced upstream. Final products may be supplied to final product users. Final products may be used by final product users 101.4. At the end of their lifespan, final products may be discarded by the users. Discarded final products may be supplied to final product recoverers and / or sorters 101.5. Discarded final products may be recovered in waste stream 108. Waste stream 108 may be sorted. A waste stream 108 may be provided to a final product sorter 101.5 to sort out the final product parts to be recycled. The sorted parts of the final product may be provided to a recycler 101.6 to recycle the final product parts. The recycled parts may be provided to a chemical producer 101.1 to produce new chemical products, thus closing the material loop 100. A material flow 104 may close the loop between material participants 101.1-6. The material loop may include multiple production chains 110, including material suppliers (not shown), chemical producers 101.1, chemical users 101.2, and final product producers 101.3. The material loop may include multiple recycling chains 112, including final product collectors 101.5 and / or sorters, recycling operators 101.6, and chemical producers 101.1.

[0069] In addition to connections via material flow 104, material participants 101.1-6 of the circulating material loop 100 may be connected via data flow 105 through a distributed network 102. The distributed network 102 may include one or more distributed network nodes 103.1-6 associated with material participants 101.1-6 of the material loop 100. In a decentralized or decentralized network 102, the distributed network nodes 103.1-6 do not rely solely on a central network node, as opposed to a centralized network. In other words, no single entity has exclusive authority over the network. The distributed network 102 may include distributed network nodes and a central network node. The distributed network 102 may include a central network node that can control and / or monitor the distributed network nodes 103.1-6. For example, the central network node may provide authentication information that enables at least two distributed network nodes 103.1-6 to establish peer-to-peer communication channels between each other.

[0070] Network nodes 103.1-6 may be computing nodes. A “computing node” can be any device or system comprising at least one physical, tangible processor and physical, tangible memory capable of having computer-executable instructions executed by the processor. Computing nodes are now taking on an increasingly diverse range of forms. Computing nodes may be, for example, handheld devices, monitoring systems, control systems, laptop computers, desktop computers, mainframes, and / or data centers. The memory may be in any form, depending on the nature and form of the computing node. Distributed network nodes 103.1-6 may be connected via wired and / or wireless connections, such as Ethernet®, USB, LAN, WLAN, etc. Wireless communication may use, for example, WLAN, Wi-Fi, cellular, and / or Bluetooth®. Distributed network nodes 103.1-6 may be configured to perform peer-to-peer data transactions, indicated by arrows 105 indicating data flow.

[0071] Distributed network nodes 103.1-6 may be configured as data consuming and / or providing network nodes. Distributed network nodes 103.1-6 may be configured to provide data to other network nodes in the distributed network 102 and / or to consume data from other nodes in the distributed network 102. For example, distributed network nodes 103.1,3 associated with a chemical product producer 101.1, a chemical product user 101.2, or a final product producer 101.3 may be configured to provide data related to the production of their respective components to downstream stakeholders such as a plastic waste collector or sorter 101.5 or a recycling system operator 101.6. Furthermore, distributed network nodes 103.5,6 associated with a plastic waste collector or sorter 101.5 or a recycling system operator 101.6 may be configured to access data from network nodes 103.1-5 associated with upstream stakeholders such as a chemical product producer 101.1 or a final product producer 101.3.

[0072] Distributed network nodes 103.1-6 may include computer executable instructions configured to provide, consume, and / or process data, such as characteristic data associated with chemical products, intermediate products, or final products produced or processed within the circular loop 100. Network nodes may operate data provisioning services configured to provide data to other distributed network nodes 103.1-6 of the distributed network 102. Distributed network nodes 103.1-6 configured to provide data may be associated with data owners or data generation nodes associated with materials or products produced or processed within the circular loop 100. Distributed network nodes 103.1-6 may be connected to one or more dedicated data storages that store data associated with materials or products produced or processed in the circular loop 100 (see, for example, Figure 9). Dedicated data storages may be under the control of data owners or data generation nodes associated with materials or products produced or processed in the circular loop 100. Data owners may be the respective participants 101.1-6 in the circular loop 100 to which data generation nodes 103.1-6 are associated. Data generation nodes 103.1-6 can access dedicated data storage. Therefore, access to data associated with materials or products produced or processed within the circular loop 100 can be under the control of the data owner associated with each distributed network node 103.1-6. This allows the data owner to maintain complete control over the data associated with materials or products produced or processed within the circular loop 100. At the same time, this enables the sharing of data associated with materials or products produced or processed within the circular loop 100 under controlled conditions, for example, by using appropriate protocols including authorization or authentication mechanisms or schemes for establishing peer-to-peer communication.

[0073] Distributed network nodes 103.1-6 configured to consume data may include computer executable instructions for accessing and / or processing data within the distributed network 102, such as data provided by distributed data-providing network nodes 103.1-6, which are associated with materials produced or processed within the circular loop 100. Distributed data-consuming network nodes 103.1-6 may be controlled or owned by, or associated with, upstream or downstream participants in the circular loop 100. For example, distributed data-consuming network node 103.4 may be associated with an end-product user 103.4 to enable access to characteristic data associated with supplied chemical products through a distributed data-providing network node 103.1 associated with a chemical product producer 101.1.

[0074] The distributed network 102 may include further distributed network nodes 103.1-6. These further distributed network nodes 103.1-6 may not be associated with further participants in the circular loop 100. These further nodes may be distributed infrastructure service nodes (not shown in Figure 1). Distributed infrastructure service nodes may provide services to the distributed network participant nodes 103.1-6, such as verifying the identity of the distributed network participant nodes 103.1-6 before performing data exchange. The distributed network participant nodes 103.1-6 may be associated with, or include, certificates such as X.509 certificates. The certificates may be associated with an identity manager, which may include, for example, a certificate issuing service and / or a dynamic provisioning service that provides dynamic attribute tokens (e.g., OAuth access tokens). In this way, the distributed network nodes 103.1-6 may be associated with, or linked to, a unique identifier embedded in the X.509 certificate that identifies each of the distributed network nodes 103.1-6. The information required for certificate verification may be provided through an authentication registry associated with a certificate issuing service and / or a dynamic provisioning service. For example, in the IDSA Reference Architecture Model, version 3.0 as of April 2019, prior to the execution of data exchange (not shown), a distributed data serving network node associated with the data owner, a certification authority (CA), a dynamic attribute provisioning service (DAPS), and a distributed data consumption network node associated with the data consumer are used to verify the identity.

[0075] Materials or products produced by participants 101.1-6 in the circular loop 100 may be associated with material or product data associated with the properties of the materials or products produced by participants 101.1-6 in the circular loop 100. Material or product data may be provided for access by distributed data provision network nodes 103.1-6 associated with material or product producers. Access to material or product data may be controlled by distributed data provision network nodes 103.1-6. Material or product data may be accessed by distributed data consumption network nodes 103.1-6 associated with further participants 101.1-6 in the material loop 100, such as any upstream or downstream participants 101.1-6.

[0076] The data flow 105 between distributed network nodes 103.1 to 106 may be directly or indirectly associated with the material flows 104 and 106 between the participants 101.1 to 106 in the material loop 100. For example, the data flow 105 may be directly associated with the material flows 104 and 105 if data associated with chemical products provided from chemical producer 103.1 to chemical user 103.2 is accessed by the distributed data consumption network nodes 103.1 to 106 associated with the chemical user 101.2. For example, the data flow 105 may be indirectly associated with the material flows 104 and 106 if data associated with chemical products produced by chemical producer 103.1 is accessed by the distributed data consumption network nodes 103.1 to 106 associated with the recycling system operator 101.6.

[0077] Data transactions between distributed network nodes 103.1-103.6 may be based on a distributed identifier associated with the data of the material or product being accessed. The distributed identifier may be associated with the physical entity of the material or product. The distributed identifier may be uniquely associated with the physical entity of the material or product. The distributed identifier may uniquely identify the material or product within the distributed network 102. The distributed identifier may be associated with further distributed identifiers, such as the distributed identifier of the material or product used to produce the final product. This may make it possible to track the materials or products used to produce products such as the final product. The distributed identifier may be included in material access elements associated with the material or product, as will be described in more detail in relation to Figures 2-9.

[0078] Specifically, generating access elements associated with data related to the production of raw materials or their components at each stage of the production chain enables monitoring of material flows through a distributed network. Such monitoring, by providing access to characteristic data related to the production of raw materials or their components, is illustrated in more detail in the following Figures 2 to 9.

[0079] Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary method for generating an access element to monitor supply raw materials or their components within a production and / or recycling chain by at least one material participant in a distributed network.

[0080] Data related to the production of supply materials or their components may be collected. Data may be collected before, during, and / or after the production and / or recycling of supply materials or their components. Components may include any individual or non-individual components produced by any material participant in the production and / or recycling chain, such as recycled materials, waste parts, waste products, final products, or any intermediate products used to produce final products. Supply materials may refer to materials that enter the production chain at a chemical product manufacturer. Supply materials may include fossil supply materials such as raw materials, or alternative non-fossil supply materials such as recycled materials, bio-based materials, or renewable materials. Components may refer to any stage in the recycling and / or production chain. The production chain may include stages such as the production of fossil raw materials, non-fossil raw materials, e.g., bio-based, recycled, and / or renewable supply materials, intermediate materials or components, individual components or assemblies of individual components for producing final products, and / or the production of final products. A recycling chain may include stages such as recyclable materials, production of recyclable materials, waste components, waste products, and / or final products to be recycled. The life cycle chain of a final product may be a part of the production and / or recycling chain.

[0081] The data may be associated with one or more network nodes 103.1-6 associated with each participant 101.1-6, and may be generated, for example, in relation to a data generation node. The data may be related to different stages of the supply raw material production and / or recycling chain. The data may be related to the production of chemical products, the use of chemical products in the production of any intermediate products, and the production of final products. The data may be related to the recycling of final products, any components of final products, the sorting of waste streams, and the production of recycled materials from waste parts. The data may be specific to components of produced or recycled entities or to individual entities or batches.

[0082] Data related to the generation of supply materials or any of their components may include characteristic data. Characteristic data may relate to the properties of the supply materials or any of their components. Characteristic data may relate to or specify the material composition of the supply materials or any of their components. For example, material composition data may relate to or specify the composition of the final product or any of its components, waste streams, waste portions separated from waste streams, or recycled materials produced from waste portions. Such data may be accessed by stakeholders in the recycling and / or production chain, such as sorters, recoverers, recyclers, and / or chemical product manufacturers, before, during, and / or after processing, such as sorting, recovery, recycling, and / or production, in order to determine the composition of the supply materials. In this way, supply materials entering the chemical production network can be reliably monitored.

[0083] Depending on the supplied raw materials, the characteristic data may relate, but are not limited to, the final product, e.g., the type of the final product, the use of the final product, or the application of the final product; components, e.g., the type of components, the use of the components, or the application of the components; materials used for the final product or components; waste products or components; waste streams; biomass type; renewable type; origin; and / or environmental attributes.

[0084] For recycled supply materials, characteristic data may relate to the final product or any component of the final product. This may include the type, use, and / or application of the final product, and the type, use, and / or application of the component. For example, the final product may be a food product in plastic packaging. The recycled supply material may be recycled from the plastic packaging. The type of the final product may be a food product, the component may be packaging, the type of the final product may be a food product, the use of the component may be packaging for food, and the use of the plastic used to produce the packaging may be film.

[0085] For bio-based or renewable feedstocks, characteristic data may relate to the raw materials used to produce the feedstock, the waste from which the feedstock was generated, the waste stream from which the feedstock was generated, and the origin of the raw materials or waste. Raw materials may include, but are not limited to, agricultural waste, fertilizers, municipal waste, plant materials, sewage, green waste, food waste, naturally occurring fats, naturally occurring oils, mixtures of naturally occurring fats and oils, cooking oils, or animal fats. Biomass types may relate to, but are not limited to, the origin of the biomass, such as the biomass producer, the geographical location of the biomass, the place of origin of the biomass, the consumer of the biomass, or a combination thereof. For example, in the case of bionaphtha as a feedstock type, the biomass type may specify oils and fats from plants (vegan). Furthermore, for example, in the case of biogas as a feedstock, the raw material type or biomass type may specify production from municipal waste.

[0086] A waste stream type can be linked to a recyclable supply material. A waste stream type can be associated with one or more waste materials or waste categories. Waste categories may include, but are not limited to, non-synthetic waste such as animal waste, vegetable or wood waste, or synthetic waste such as textile waste, paper waste, plastic waste, or rubber waste. A waste stream type may be associated with, but is not limited to, the origin of the waste, such as the used product, the producer of the used product, the geographical location of the used product, the place of origin of the used product, the consumer of the used product, or a combination thereof. For example, in the case of a recyclable supply material such as pyrolysis oil, the waste type may specify plastic waste from tires, mixed plastic waste from packaging, or mixed plastic waste from marine cleanup.

[0087] Similar to the example above, other characteristic data for fossils and other non-fossil raw materials may also be specified.

[0088] Data related to the generation of a supply material or any of its components may include distributed identifiers associated with one or more production / recycling inputs used to produce the supply material or its components. The data may be related to one or more production / recycling inputs used to generate each supply material within the production and / or recycling chain. Collecting data related to the generation of a supply material or any of its components may include collecting distributed identifiers associated with one or more production / recycling inputs used to generate the supply material or its components. Distributed identifiers associated with one or more production / recycling inputs used to generate the supply material or any of its components may be collected by reading identifier elements such as barcodes or QR codes (registered trademarks) linked to the production / recycling inputs.

[0089] The data may include further characteristic data such as performance characteristics, chemical characteristics, e.g., flammability, toxicity, acidity, reactivity, heat of combustion, or the like, and / or physical characteristics, e.g., density, color, hardness, melting point, boiling point, conductivity, or the like.

[0090] By collecting data related to the generation of raw materials or any of their components at each production and / or recycling stage of the product and / or recycling chain, a digital twin of each entity produced by one or more producers or recyclers in the production or recycling chain can be generated. In this way, entities from the final product to the recyclables can be tracked within the material production and / or recycling chain.

[0091] Data related to the generation of supply materials or any of their components may be stored in dedicated storage associated with each participant in the production and / or recycling chain that produces the supply materials or their components. Data related to the generation of supply materials or any of their components may include different datasets related to production or recycling. Such datasets may refer to the aforementioned datasets, such as portions of characteristic data.

[0092] One or more distributed identifiers may be provided that are associated with the generated supply material or its components. One or more distributed identifiers may be uniquely associated with the physical entity of the generated supply material or its components. One or more distributed identifiers may be uniquely associated with any entity produced by any participant in the production and / or recycling chain. One or more distributed identifiers may include any unique identifiers uniquely associated with the supply material or its components, the production participants in the production chain that produce the entity, the recycling participants in the recycling chain that recycle the entity, and / or data related to the generation of the supply material or its components. Distributed identifiers may include, or be associated with, one or more universally unique identifiers (UUIDs) or digital identifiers (DIDs). Through distributed identifiers and their unique associations with the supply material or its components, data access to the data may be controlled by participants such as producers or recyclers. This is in contrast to a centralized authority scheme, in which identifiers are provided by such a centralized authority and access to the data is controlled by such a centralized authority. In this context, decentralization refers to the use of identifiers in an implementation form that is controlled by the data owner.

[0093] A distributed identifier may consist of one or more identifiers used in a distributed network that enable data exchange or peer-to-peer communication over the distributed network. Data exchange may include the discovery of distributed identifiers of participant nodes in the distributed network, authentication of participant nodes in the distributed network, and / or authorization of data transfer via peer-to-peer communication between participant nodes in the distributed network. A distributed identifier may be associated with any participant in the production chain and each entity produced by such participant.

[0094] One or more digital representations of data related to the production and / or recycling of supply materials or their components may be generated. A digital representation may be generated for each dataset contained within the data related to the generation of supply materials or their components. A digital representation may point to the collected data or a portion thereof. A digital representation may be associated with a participant in the production and / or recycling chain that generates supply materials or any of their components, and may be associated with dedicated storage that stores data related to the generation of supply materials or their components. A digital representation may include a locator or pointer that indicates or points to the location of dedicated storage that is associated with a participant in the production and / or recycling chain that generates supply materials or their components, and stores data related to the generation of supply materials or their components. A digital representation may include one or more digital links that point to data related to the generation of supply materials or their components. A digital representation may include a locator or pointer, such as a url or uri, that indicates or points to the location of a dedicated storage address that is associated with a participant in the production and / or recycling chain that generates supply materials or their components, and stores data related to the generation of supply materials or their components. A digital representation may include at least one interface to a data delivery network node or data delivery service. A digital representation may include at least one interface to a data consumption network node or data consumption service. The interface may include an endpoint for data exchange or sharing (resource endpoint) or an endpoint for service interaction (service endpoint) that can be uniquely identified via a data transaction protocol. A digital representation indicating collected data or a portion thereof may be uniquely associated with a distributed identifier. A distributed identifier may be associated with a digital representation of collected data or a portion thereof.

[0095] An access element may be generated that includes one or more distributed identifiers and one or more digital representations. The access element may include, or be associated with, a digital representation of collected data or a portion thereof related to the generation of a supply material or its components. The access element may be associated with a supply material or its components. The digital representation of collected data or a portion thereof may be provided to a data consumption network node or a data consumption service. The digital representation of collected data or a portion thereof may be provided by a distributed network database, a database associated with a data consumption network node, a data provision network node associated with the participants that generate each entity, or a combination thereof. The digital representation may include a locator or pointer for accessing the collected data or a portion thereof. The access element may include, or be associated with, a digital representation of collected data or a portion thereof related to the generation of a supply material or its components, as well as a distributed identifier. The access element may include, or be associated with, a digital representation of collected data or a portion thereof related to the generation of a supply material or its components, a distributed identifier, and authentication information.

[0096] The access element may include one or more authentication mechanisms associated with a distributed identifier and a digital item representation. One or more authentication mechanisms may be associated with or linked to a distributed identifier, such as a distributed participant identifier, a distributed supply raw material identifier, a distributed component identifier, a distributed waste stream identifier, or a distributed final product identifier. One or more authentication mechanisms associated with a distributed identifier may be accessible by a distributed participant network node. The digital access element may further relate to authorization information linked to the distributed identifier. Authorization information may be associated with the distributed identifier and the digital representation. The authorization information may include access rules depending on the dataset to be accessed and the role of the data consumption network node accessing it.

[0097] Access elements may be provided for access to data related to the generation of supply materials by one or more data consumption network nodes under the control of a data provision network node associated with an entity that generates the supply materials or their components. Access elements may be provided to distributed registry nodes, for example, as will be detailed later. Distributed registry nodes may store distributed access elements.

[0098] Figure 3 shows another exemplary method for generating an access element to monitor the generation of a supplying raw material or its components by at least one material participant in a distributed network.

[0099] The data may be collected as described in relation to Figure 1 or Figure 2. Collecting data related to the generation of the supply material or its components may include collecting distributed identifiers associated with one or more production / recycling inputs used to generate the supply material or its components. Distributed identifiers associated with one or more production / recycling inputs used to generate the supply material or its components may be collected by reading identifier elements such as barcodes or QR codes linked to the production / recycling inputs.

[0100] One or more distributed identifiers may be provided that are associated with the generated supply material or any of its components, and one or more digital representations of data related to the generation of the supply material or its components may be generated, for example, as described in relation to Figure 1. The data related to the generation of the supply material or its components may include at least one dataset that is associated with, or contains, distributed identifiers associated with, one or more production / recycle inputs used to generate the supply material or its components. A digital relationship may be generated based on the distributed identifiers associated with one or more production / recycle inputs used to produce the supply material or its components, and the distributed identifiers associated with the generated supply material or its components. For example, the distributed identifier associated with the generated supply material or its components may be a parent identifier, and the distributed identifiers associated with one or more production / recycle inputs used to generate the supply material or its components may be child identifiers. Generating a digital representation may include generating a relational representation based on the distributed identifiers associated with one or more production / recycle inputs used to generate the supply material or its components. The relational representation may include one or more digital links that point to data related to the relationship between the inputs and the supply material or its components. Distributed relational identifiers associated with the digital relationship may be provided. Providing may include providing the relational representation.

[0101] Access elements, including one or more distributed identifiers and digital representations, may be generated and provided as described in relation to Figure 1. In addition, relational access elements, including distributed relation identifiers and relational representations associated with digital relationships, may be generated. Relational access elements may include distributed relation identifiers and relational representations. Access elements may be provided to one or more access element management nodes configured to provide access elements or parts thereof upon request from data consuming network nodes.

[0102] Relational access elements may be provided for one or more data-consuming network nodes to access digital relationships between supply materials or their components and production / recycling inputs, under the control of a data-providing network node associated with the entity generating the supply materials or their components. Relational access elements may be provided to distributed registry nodes, for example, as will be detailed later. Distributed registry nodes may store access elements associated with supply materials and relational access elements.

[0103] Through relational access elements at each stage of the production and / or recycling chain, material flows can be recursively accessed to monitor material flows by accessing their respective data packages. Characteristic data may include one or more datasets related to any entity in the production and / or recycling chain that contributes to the generation of supply materials or any components, such as final products and their components, waste products, waste streams, sorted or recovered waste portions, or similar. Such characteristics may be provided before, during, and / or after the generation of supply materials or their components, and may be accessed recursively in a targeted manner, for example, depending on distributed participant IDs. Such recursive access may be provided to specific participants in the material production and / or recycling chain to protect the confidential recipe data or bill of materials data of producers or recyclers. Recursive access via relational IDs and representations is described in more detail below.

[0104] Figure 4 illustrates an example of a method for accessing data related to the generation of a supplying material or any of its components by one or more data-consuming network nodes under the control of a data-providing network node associated with the entity that generates the supplying material or any of its components.

[0105] Data related to the generation of raw materials or their components, such as characteristic data, may be accessed by distributed data consumption network nodes that communicate with distributed network nodes that receive instructions for collecting data related to the generation of raw materials or their components, particularly characteristic data. Access may be requested by distributed data provision network nodes associated with a storage environment that stores data related to the generation of raw materials or their components, particularly characteristic data, as described in relation to Figures 2 and 3.

[0106] A distributed data provider network node may receive instructions for accessing data related to the generation of the supplying raw materials or their components associated with the determined distributed identifier, particularly characteristic data. The distributed identifier may be determined based on relational representations, as will be described in more detail below in relation to Figures 5 to 8.

[0107] Requests may be authenticated before access to data related to the generation of supply materials or their components, particularly characteristic data, may be provided. Specifically, a distributed network node requesting access to data related to the generation of supply materials or their components, and / or a distributed data-providing network node providing access to data related to the generation of supply materials or their components, may be authenticated. Such authentication may be based on a distributed identifier associated with the distributed network node. The distributed identifier may be associated with an authentication mechanism or identification token, such as a device certificate (X.509v3), a TLS connection certificate (X.509v3), and a "dynamic attribute token" (OAuth access token). A distributed network node requesting access to data may be associated with any participant in the recycling chain, such as a collector, sorter, recycler, or any combination thereof. A distributed data-providing network node providing access to data may be associated with any participant in the production and / or recycling chain.

[0108] If authentication fails, access to data related to the generation of the raw materials or their components, particularly characteristic data, may be denied. If authentication is valid, an authorization step may follow. Such authorization may be based on a distributed identifier associated with the distributed network node, and authorization rules associated with data related to the generation of the raw materials or their components, particularly characteristic data. Authorization rules may be associated with access to and / or use of data related to the generation of the raw materials or their components, particularly characteristic data. Authorization rules may include access rules associated with the distributed identifier of the distributed network node that control access to data related to the generation of the raw materials or their components, particularly characteristic data.

[0109] If authorization fails, access to data related to the production of the raw materials or their components, particularly characteristic data, may be denied or modified. In particular, the requested authorization may be modified to comply with applicable authorization rules. If authorization is valid, access to data related to the production of the raw materials or their components, particularly characteristic data, may be permitted as requested in accordance with authorization rules. The provided data related to the production of the raw materials or their components, particularly characteristic data, may be stored in a storage environment associated with the distributed network node requesting access to the data related to the production of the raw materials or their components, particularly characteristic data.

[0110] Figure 5 illustrates a method for obtaining data related to the generation of raw materials or their components based on distributed product identifiers and relationships. This method can be implemented, for example, in a distributed network as described in relation to Figures 1 to 4.

[0111] A distributed identifier associated with a distributed network participant may be provided to a distributed network node that provides access to data of, for example, the final product producer or recycler in a material chain, as shown in Figure 1. A distributed network participant may be a participant in the production and / or recycling chain. A distributed network participant may be any participant in the material loop shown in the example in Figure 1, including the production and recycling chain. A distributed identifier associated with a distributed network participant requesting access may contain strings and / or numbers. A distributed identifier associated with a distributed network participant requesting access may be associated with an authentication scheme such as a private-key public-key scheme. The use of a distributed identifier associated with a distributed network participant requesting access can improve security regarding access to data related to the production of supply materials or their components, as access to such data may be restricted, for example, as shown in relation to Figure 8, by allowing only designated distributed network participants to access such data. A distributed identifier associated with a distributed network participant requesting access may be provided to a distributed identity management access node of the distributed network. A distributed identity management access node may be configured to perform an authentication step together with the provider of the distributed participant identifier. If authorization is successfully performed, the distributed identity management access node may provide an access token. This access token may be presented to the distributed network node that provides access to the data. Authentication ensures that the collection of data related to the generation of supply materials or their components using the distributed network node requesting access can only be initiated by an authenticated distributed network participant. This enables improved security by preventing an unauthenticated entity from obtaining a complete bill of materials tree for any material entity in a material chain that may contain sensitive data regarding supply chain information.

[0112] A distributed network node requesting access may retrieve data related to a relational representation based on a distributed identifier associated with a supply material provided to a distributed registry node, one or more components of the supply material, or a combination thereof. The distributed registry node may store distributed identifiers associated with the data related to each relational representation, as described, for example, in relation to Figure 3. A relational representation, or equivalent digital relation, is shown, for example, in Figure 7.

[0113] A distributed network node requesting access may access the distributed registry using the distributed identifier associated with the raw material or its components in order to determine the data related to the relational expression associated with the distributed identifier. The data related to the relational expression may include a distributed relational expression identifier and a relational expression that indicates each digital relationship. The relational expression indicating a digital relationship may include at least one interface to the distributed data providing network node associated with the digital relationship. It may further include at least one interface to the distributed data consuming network node associated with the digital relationship. It may include an endpoint for data exchange or sharing (resource endpoint) or an endpoint for service interaction (service endpoint) that is uniquely identified via a communication protocol. Therefore, the relational expression indicating a digital relationship may be uniquely associated with the distributed relational identifier and the distributed identifier associated with the raw material or its components. The relational expression indicating a digital relationship may be considered a locator that indicates the location or dedicated data storage where each digital relationship is stored.

[0114] A digital relationship can specify the relationship between a supply raw material and its components and production / recycle inputs, such as materials used to produce the supply raw material or its components. A digital relationship can be directly or indirectly associated with a distributed identifier associated with the supply raw material or its components. This allows for the determination of each digital relationship using the distributed identifier associated with the supply raw material or its components. A digital relationship can specify that a production / recycle input, such as an input component, was used to produce the supply raw material or its components, and / or that the supply raw material or its components were produced using the input component. A digital relationship can be associated with the relationship between a supply raw material or its components and each production / recycle input, such as an input component used to produce the supply raw material or its components, for example, using a distributed identifier associated with the supply raw material and a component identifier associated with the production / recycle input, such as an input component used to produce the supply raw material or its components. Therefore, such a relationship can also specify the raw materials and intermediate products used in the production of the supply raw material or its components. A digital relationship can be associated with the relationship between input materials and output materials at a single production step or stage in a production chain. Relational datasets can be associated with the relationship between input and output materials at a single recycling step or stage in a recycling chain. Such relationships can be linked to mirror the entire production and / or recycling chain. An example of a digital relationship that can be used to determine distributed component identifiers is shown, for example, in Figure 7. By using digital relationships to determine distributed identifiers associated with supply materials or their components, it may be possible to construct a bill of materials tree structure for the supply materials or their components.

[0115] A distributed network node requesting access to data may be configured to access the relationship based on data related to the digital relationship retrieved from a distributed registry node. The distributed network node may communicate with distributed data consumption network nodes configured to access the digital relationship, as well as data related to the production of the supply raw materials or their components, such as characteristic data. A digital relationship may be accessed from a distributed data provision network node associated with a storage environment that stores each relationship. A distributed data provision network node may be associated with the owner of the data. A distributed data provision network node may be associated with any participant in the production and / or recycling chain, such as the final product producer, or the final product collector, sorter, or recycler. A digital relationship may include a distributed supply raw material identifier and one or more distributed component identifiers (hereinafter referred to as child identifiers) associated with production inputs, such as input components used to generate the supply raw materials.

[0116] The child disperser identifiers associated with a distributed raw material identifier can be determined based on the acquired digital relationship. A distributed raw material identifier can be considered a parent disperser identifier. Child disperser identifiers can correspond to component identifiers associated with the raw material or the materials used to produce its components. A relationship may contain one or more child disperser identifiers. A relationship may contain a distributed raw material identifier. This allows linking a distributed raw material identifier to its respective child identifiers.

[0117] Whether to retrieve data associated with a distributor identifier may be determined depending on whether the distributor identifier has further child identifiers. For example, if a child identifier is associated with characteristic data, the data may be retrieved. If a child identifier is not associated with characteristic data, the data may not be retrieved. The decision may be based on data provided to the distributed network node. For example, data associated with a defined dataset (hereinafter also called an asset) may be provided, and this data may be used to determine whether to retrieve further data. A dataset may be associated with characteristic data. Characteristic data may include one or more datasets associated with a distributed participant identifier associated with a data-consuming network node requesting access to the characteristic data. Whether to provide data may be determined based on such information provided to the registry node and / or data-providing network node. If the characteristic data should be retrieved, the method retrieves the data. Otherwise, it proceeds to checking the distributor identifier.

[0118] Based on the determined devaluator identifier, data related to the generation of the raw materials, such as characteristic data, may be retrieved. This generation-related data, such as characteristic data, may be retrieved from a distributed data-providing network node associated with the aforementioned data related to raw material generation. Each distributed data-providing network node may be determined by the distributed network node using the determined devaluator identifier. For example, the devaluator identifier may be associated with a digital representation that points to data related to raw material generation or a part thereof. This digital representation may correspond to an endpoint address associated with each distributed data-providing network node. The digital representation may be stored in a distributed registry node, which may be determined using the previously determined devaluator identifier. The digital representation may be used to access data related to raw material generation at the distributed data-providing network node associated with the digital representation. A distributed data-providing network node may be associated with a storage environment that stores data related to raw material generation or a part thereof. A distributed data-providing network node may be associated with the data owner of the data related to raw material generation. A distributed data-providing network node may be associated with an entity that generates the raw materials or their components. Data exchange may occur after the respective authentication and authorization processes. Authorization may be based on a distributed entity identifier. For example, a distributed data-providing network node may use authorization or access rules associated with a provided distributed participant identifier to determine whether data related to the production of supply materials can be accessed. Accessed, production-related data may be transferred to and stored in a storage environment associated with the distributed network node requesting access to the data.

[0119] It can be determined whether a relationship exists for the determined distributor identifier. For this purpose, a distributed network node requesting data may access a distributed registry node and determine whether a relationship representation associated with the determined distributor identifier exists in the registry. If it exists, the method proceeds to the determination of the child identifier. If it does not exist, the method proceeds to data access and retrieval.

[0120] Data related to the relational representation associated with the determined disperser identifier can be obtained from the distributed registry network node, as described above. The relational representation can be used to access the associated digital relationship, as described above. The determined disperser identifier can be considered a disperser parent identifier. The method can return to such a determination and repeat the steps using the determined disperser identifier until no further disperser identifiers exist, for example, until a leaf node of a bill of materials tree (see, for example, Figure 6) is reached. By recursively determining the disperser identifier associated with a distributed material identifier, a complete bill of materials tree structure associated with a supply material or its components can be obtained, for example, the relationships between input components used to produce the supply material or its components can be determined.

[0121] In the final step, the collected data related to the generation, such as characteristic data, may be provided. The collected data may include all data related to the generation of raw materials, collected based on child identifiers from different participant network nodes. The collected data related to the generation of raw materials may be provided to a storage environment associated with the network node requesting the data. The network node requesting the data related to the generation of raw materials may be part of a distributed network, for example, a distributed data consumption network node.

[0122] Figure 6 shows a relational expression that specifies the relationship between a supply raw material or its components and the input components used to produce the supply raw material or its components.

[0123] In this example, the supply material is a recycled supply material such as pyrolysis oil. The digital twin (DT) of the supply material may include a digital relationship encompassing a distributed digital twin identifier ID5 and a distributed identifier ID4 associated with the waste portion used to produce the supply material. The digital relationship may be associated with data related to the relationship. This data may be used by the distributed network node to collect relationship representations from distributed data consumption network nodes associated with the relationship representation (e.g., associated with a storage environment that stores the relationship representation), as described in relation to Figure 5. The data associated with the relationship representation may include a distributed relationship identifier and a relationship representation that points to the digital relationship. The data associated with the relationship may be associated with data related to the digital twin. The data related to the digital twin may include a distributed digital twin identifier and a relationship representation that points to the digital twin having the digital relationship or a portion thereof. The data related to the digital twin may further include distributed identifiers associated with datasets contained within the digital twin, and the respective relationship representations that point to the datasets or portions thereof. One such dataset may correspond to a relationship based on a distributed identifier.

[0124] Similarly, the digital twin (DT) of the waste portion may include a relationship encompassing the digital twin identifier ID4 and the distributed identifier ID3 associated with the final product used to produce the waste portion. The digital twin (DT) of the final product may include a digital relationship encompassing the distributed digital twin identifier ID3 and the distributed identifier ID2 associated with the chemical product used to produce the final product. Finally, the chemical product may include a relationship to the raw materials / recycled materials ID1 used to produce the chemical product.

[0125] Based on the digital relationships shown in Figure 6, portions of the bill of materials tree can be obtained from the relationship representation as described above. The bill of materials tree may include supply materials as inputs to the chemical production network at the highest level, and raw materials / recycled materials as inputs to produce the chemical products used for the final product at the lowest level. In order to avoid exposing the complete bill of materials to a single stakeholder, characteristic data, including one or more datasets related to different sets of supply material characteristics, can be accessed in a controlled manner based on distributed stakeholder identifiers, as described in relation to Figures 3 and 5.

[0126] Figure 7 shows an example of a distributed network that includes several distributed network nodes that can be accessed by computing devices. Computing devices may be mobile computing devices such as laptops, smartphones, tablets, or similar devices. Computing devices may also be stationary computing devices such as desktop computers or similar devices. Computing devices may include screens configured to display information provided by the distributed network. For example, a screen may display a graphical user interface that shows data received over the distributed network.

[0127] A distributed network can be a distributed peer-to-peer communication network. A distributed network may include distributed network nodes associated with stakeholders in a supply chain ecosystem and may be configured to perform data transactions. A supply chain ecosystem may include a production chain. A supply chain ecosystem may include a recycling chain. Network nodes associated with stakeholders in a supply chain ecosystem may be associated with, for example, raw chemical suppliers, intermediate chemical manufacturers, intermediate component manufacturers, component manufacturers, component assembly manufacturers, final product manufacturers, and stakeholders in the recycling chain, as illustrated in relation to Figure 1. Final product production may include a supply chain for producing materials used to produce supply chains. Renewable or bio-based supply chain production may include a supply chain for producing renewable or bio-based supply chains from, for example, agricultural waste, fertilizers, municipal waste, plant materials, sewage, green waste, food waste, naturally occurring fats, naturally occurring oils, mixtures of naturally occurring fats and oils, cooking oils, or animal fats. Supply chain recycling may include a recycling chain for recovering, sorting, and / or recycling materials used to produce final products and generating recycled supply chains from such final products.

[0128] Data transactions may be based on a transaction protocol that includes authentication and / or authorization mechanisms. Based on the authentication and / or authorization mechanisms, peer-to-peer communication may be established between distributed participant network nodes associated with participants in the supply material ecosystem. One or more authentication mechanisms may be associated with or linked to distributed identifiers, such as distributed supply material identifiers, distributed component identifiers, and / or distributed final product or waste product identifiers. One or more authentication mechanisms associated with distributed identifiers may be accessible by distributed participant network nodes.

[0129] Distributed network nodes associated with stakeholders in the supply material ecosystem may include distributed data-providing network nodes. Distributed data-providing network nodes may be configured to provide data, such as characteristic data, upon request for access to this data. Data may be provided, for example, upon successful authentication and authorization, as described in relation to Figure 4. Distributed data-providing network nodes may be associated with data owners of characteristic data, for example, as described in relation to Figures 2 to 6. Such distributed network nodes associated with stakeholders in the supply material ecosystem may include distributed data-consuming network nodes, such as distributed network nodes. Distributed data-consuming network nodes may be configured to request access to data, such as characteristic data or material data, at each distributed data-providing network node. Distributed data-consuming network nodes may be configured to access respective characteristic data from distributed registry nodes, such as distributed supply material identifiers / distributed component identifiers / distributed final product or waste product identifiers, as well as data indicating the relevant digital representations that point to the characteristic data. Distributed registry nodes may be configured to store distributed identifiers associated with each digital representation that points to the data or parts thereof. Access to the above data enables distributed data-consuming network nodes to determine the distributed data-providing network node associated with the data to be retrieved. For example, a distributed data consumption network node may access a distributed registry node that has a distributed raw material identifier associated with a raw material or a part thereof, or a distributed component identifier associated with a component of a raw material, and may retrieve the respective digital representations that indicate the respective characteristic data.

[0130] A distributed network node may include a distributed infrastructure node. Such an infrastructure node does not need to be associated with any participant in the supply ecosystem. Such an infrastructure node may provide services to participants in the supply ecosystem. For example, such an infrastructure node may be configured to provide authentication services for the distributed network node, such as a distributed IAM network node. A distributed IAM network node may be configured to provide identity and access management services for the distributed network node and / or for computing devices requesting data from the distributed network. For example, a distributed IAM network node may be configured to generate access tokens for authorized distributed network nodes and / or computing devices and provide such access tokens to the distributed network node or computing device requesting the token. Such access tokens may be used during the authentication process. In another example, such an infrastructure node may be configured to collect data upon receiving a request from a computing device (e.g., a distributed network node). In yet another example, such an infrastructure node may act as a repository that stores data available to one or more distributed network nodes, such as a distributed registry node.

[0131] A distributed configuration enables more efficient use of computing resources, strengthens control by data owners in a distributed network, and allows for targeted data sharing.

[0132] Figure 8 shows an exemplary system for obtaining characteristic data based on distributed supply raw material identifiers, for example, as described in relation to Figures 4 to 7.

[0133] A supply raw material or its components may be associated with a digital twin. The digital twin of a supply raw material or its components may include production / recycling-related data, such as distributed supply raw material identifiers and characteristic data. Production / recycling-related data may include, for example, the data structure described in relation to Figure 2. The digital twin of a component may include production / recycling-related data, such as distributed component identifiers and characteristic data. Production / recycling-related data may include characteristic data related to the waste composition for recycling the final product or its components.

[0134] Digital access elements may be generated before, during, or after the production and / or recycling of supply materials or their components. Digital access elements may be associated with each digital twin or its part. Digital access elements may include a distributed access element identifier and access data. The distributed access element identifier may correspond to or be associated with a distributed supply material identifier or a distributed component identifier. Access data may include a digital representation that points to each digital twin or its part. Access data may include or be associated with a relational representation that points to each digital relationship or its part. Figures 2 and 3 show examples of digital access element generation. Digital access elements may further include or be associated with authentication and / or authorization information linked to the distributed access element identifier. Authentication and / or authorization information may be provided for authentication and / or authorization of distributed network nodes, distributed data consumption network nodes, and / or distributed data provision network nodes. Digital access elements may be provided to distributed registry nodes, for example, as described with respect to Figures 2, 3, 6, or 7. Distributed registry nodes may store the distributed access element identifier and associated access data.

[0135] The supply material or its components may be provided to a company that carries out at least one production step of a chemical product production process, as described in relation to Figure 1, for example, in connection with a digital access element. The company may carry out a production step to produce a chemical product from the supply material or a recycled waste stream. The supply material may be associated with an identifier element, such as a barcode or QR code encoding a distributed access element identifier. The production company that receives the supply material may read the code through a code reader. The code reader may be a smartphone running a code reading application, such as a QR code reader app. The data obtained by the code reading application may be used to determine the distributed access element identifier (hereinafter referred to as DID1). The data obtained by the code reading application may be used to determine the distributed supply material identifier or distributed component identifier (hereinafter referred to as UUID1). The data obtained by the code reading application may be used to determine the final product / component identifier. The data obtained by the code reading application may be used to determine the access data. The distributed access element identifier, distributed supply material identifier, or distributed component identifier, as well as the access data, may be determined by the code reader. For example, the distributed access element identifier determined by the code reader may be a DID, and the code reader may be configured to retrieve the associated DID document containing the distributed supply ingredient identifier or distributed component identifier, as well as the access data, using, for example, a DID resolver. In another case, the supply ingredient identifier / component identifier is determined by the code reader and used, for example, to retrieve the distributed access element identifier and associated access data from a distributed registry node. Therefore, the code reader may be configured to retrieve the digital access element containing the distributed access element identifier and access data from the distributed registry node. The code reader may be configured to perform an authentication step together with the distributed registry node.For example, a code reader may have access to a distributed IAM network node, which may be configured to provide the code reader with an access token upon successful authentication. The access token may then be used by the code reader to access a distributed registry node. The code reader may also provide the distributed IAM network node with a distributed participant identifier associated with a participant in the supply raw materials ecosystem for authentication.

[0136] The code reader may be configured to provide distributed supply material identifiers / distributed component identifiers (e.g., UUID1) to the distributed network nodes. The code reader may also be configured to provide authentication data such as distributed participant identifiers, and optionally authentication data such as access tokens, to the distributed network nodes.

[0137] A distributed network node may be configured to validate authentication data received from a computing device in conjunction with a distributed IAM network node. Upon successful authentication, the distributed network node may be configured to access a distributed registry node using a distributed product identifier / distributed recycled material identifier received from the computing device and retrieve data related to relational expressions associated with a distributed supply material identifier / distributed component identifier. The data related to a relational expression may include a distributed relational expression identifier and the relational expression that points to the respective digital relationship. The relational expression that points to a digital relationship may point to the distributed data-serving network node associated with the respective digital relationship. For example, data related to a relational expression associated with a supply material may include a relational expression that points to the distributed data-serving network node associated with the characteristic data of the component or the production input used to produce the supply material. In another example, data related to a relational expression associated with a component may include a relational expression that points to the distributed data-serving network node associated with the characteristic data of the component or the production input used to produce the component. A distributed network node, or a distributed data consumption network node associated with any participant in the production and / or recycling chain, such as a chemical product manufacturer, may be configured to access the respective distributed data providing network node associated with the relational expression and request the relational expression associated with the distributed relational expression identifier from the distributed data providing network node, for example, as shown in Figure 7. An example of a relational expression is shown in Figure 6. The distributed network node may be configured to determine the distributed material identifier contained within the relational expression, for example, as described in relation to Figure 5. The distributed network node may be configured to access a distributed registry node using the determined disperser identifier and determine the access data associated with the disperser identifier.Distributed network nodes may be configured to access characteristic data using distributed item / component identifiers, access data, and optionally distributed participant identifiers provided by computing devices from each distributed data-providing network node. Distributed network nodes may be configured to determine data related to relational representations associated with the determined distributed supply material / component identifiers, as described above.

[0138] In this example, a distributed network node may receive a distributed raw material identifier associated with a raw material from a computing device. The distributed network node may use the distributed raw material identifier to access a distributed registry node to determine data related to a relational expression associated with the distributed item identifier. The determined data related to the relational expression may include a relational expression that points to a distributed data-providing network node associated with a digital relationship. The digital relationship may be stored in a storage environment associated with the distributed data-providing network node. The digital relationship may include a relationship that points to a distributed component identifier associated with a component used to produce the raw material, such as plastic or bio-waste parts. A distributed network node, or a distributed data-consuming network node associated with a distributed network node, may be configured to access digital relationships from a distributed data-providing network node. A distributed network node, or a distributed data-consuming network node associated with a distributed network node, may be configured to access material configuration data from a distributed data-providing network node. Access to the material configuration data may be authorized based on a distributed participant identifier provided by the computing device. Access to the material configuration data may be controlled by a distributed data-providing network node associated with the characteristic data. This ensures that characteristic data can only be accessed by authorized stakeholders in the supplying raw materials ecosystem, thus preventing uncontrolled access to characteristic data.

[0139] A distributed network node may be configured to retrieve distributed component identifiers from accessed digital relationships, associated with components used to produce supply materials, such as plastic waste, bio-based waste, and refined crude oil. The distributed network node may be configured to access data from a distributed registry node related to the relationship representation associated with the determined distributed component identifiers. A distributed network node or distributed data consumption network node may be configured to access digital relationships from, for example, a distributed data provision network node associated with material composition data. Characteristic data may be stored in a storage environment (DT storage 1) associated with the distributed data provision network node. DT storage may be associated with or under the control of a component producer. The distributed network node or distributed data consumption network node may be configured to access characteristic data as described above. The characteristic dataset may be related to the recycling of waste components by a recycling process, for example, a chemical product recycling process.

[0140] A distributed network node may be configured to retrieve a distributed component identifier associated with a final product waste stream used to produce components from an accessed relational representation. The distributed network node may be configured to use the determined distributed component identifier to access data from a distributed registry node related to the relational representation associated with the distributed component identifier. A distributed network node or a distributed data consumption network node may be configured to access digital relations, for example, from a distributed data providing network node associated with characteristic data. The characteristic data may be stored in a storage environment (DT storage) associated with the distributed data providing network node. The DT storage may be associated with or under the control of a waste stream collector and / or sorter. A distributed network node or a distributed data consumption network node may be configured to access characteristic data as described above. The characteristic dataset may be associated with a waste stream, such as a final product collection and / or sorting process contained within the waste stream.

[0141] The same procedure may be performed for each component of the supply material used to produce the supply material. Therefore, a distributed network node may be configured to determine a bill of materials tree associated with the supply material or its components based on the accessed digital relationships and the distributed identifiers of the starting components and the links between them and the resulting components / supply materials. The bill of materials tree may represent, for example, the relationships between all the components used to generate the supply material or its components up to the final product. Therefore, the recursive determination of distributed component identifiers using digital relationships makes it possible to obtain characteristic data of the components used to generate the supply material or its components, and which indicate what is unique to the supply material or its components.

[0142] Characteristic data collected by distributed network nodes can be provided to computing devices. These computing devices can then display the collected characteristic data, for example, within a graphical user interface.

[0143] Figure 9 shows an example of a method or apparatus for providing material composition and / or article history data via a distributed network 102.

[0144] The raw materials 900 provided by the raw material supplier may be provided in relation to an access element, for example, as described in relation to Figures 2, 3, or 4-8. The access element may be related to a raw material identifier. The raw material identifier may include one or more distributed identifiers. The distributed identifier may be an identifier in the distributed network 102 that enables data exchange over the distributed network 102. The data exchange may include the discovery of a distributed identifier for a distributed network node 103 associated with an participant 101 of the distributed network 102, the authentication of the distributed network node 103 associated with an participant 101 of the distributed network 102, and / or authorization of data transfer via peer-to-peer communication between the distributed network nodes 103 associated with an participant 101 of the distributed network 102.

[0145] The access element may include or be related to data relating to the supply material, such as supply material characteristic data associated with supply material characteristics such as composition, origin, and recycling type. The access element may include a digital representation of the characteristic data associated with article 900. The access element may further include or be related to authentication and / or authorization information linked to the supply material identifier. Authentication and / or authorization information may be provided for authentication and / or authorization of data provision services and / or data consumption services performed by distributed network nodes 103.6, 103.1. The supply material identifier may include or be related to a distributed identifier uniquely associated with the supply material. The distributed identifier may be linked to a digital representation of the characteristic data associated with supply material 904. The digital representation may include a representation for accessing the characteristic data or a portion thereof. The distributed identifier may include a universally unique identifier (UUID) or a digital identifier (DID). The distributed identifier may include any unique identifier uniquely associated with the data owner and / or article.

[0146] The data owner may be the producer of the supplied raw materials. Access to the characteristic data may be controlled by the data owner, for example, as described in relation to Figures 4 to 8, through distributed identifiers and their unique association with the data owner and / or the supplied raw materials.

[0147] Access elements, including digital representations of characteristic data, may be stored in a distributed database or registry node 910. The characteristic data may also be stored in a database or dedicated storage 902 associated with the data owner, such as a recycler producing the supply materials 900.

[0148] For the production chain, the final product 904 may be physically delivered to the user who will use the final product. The final product 900 may be physically collected and / or sorted by a final product collector and / or sorter. The final product may be associated with a QR code encoding a final product identifier. Users, collectors, or sorters of the final product 904 may read the QR code through a QR code reader 906. The final product identifier may be provided to a database 910 associated with the manufacturer producing the final product 900. The final product 904 may be physically delivered to the user who will use the final product.

[0149] For the recycling chain, the supply material 900 may be associated with a QR code that encodes a supply material identifier. Chemical product manufacturers using the supply material 904 may read the QR code through a QR code reader 906. The supply material identifier may be provided to a database 910 associated with the recycling system that produces the supply material 900.

[0150] In these examples, data owners include final product manufacturers, any intermediate product manufacturers producing intermediate products for final products, raw material suppliers, waste stream sorters or recoverers, and waste partial recyclers. Data owners may include any entity that generates data. Data generation nodes may be connected to entities that own or produce the physical products from which data is generated or for which data is generated. Data may be generated by third-party entities on behalf of entities that own the physical articles from which data is generated or for which data is generated.

[0151] The data consumption service performed by node 103.1 may include computer executable instructions for accessing and / or processing data, such as characteristic data, associated with the data owner. The data provision service performed by node 103.6 may include computer executable instructions for providing and / or processing data, such as characteristic data, associated with the data owner, for access and / or processing by the data consumption service performing node 103.1.

[0152] Based on the received raw material identifier, a request to access characteristic data associated with a characteristic identifier may be triggered by a data consumption service performed by node 103.1, as indicated by arrow 912. The raw material identifier may be provided to a data provision service associated with or performed by node 103.6 of the recycler of the raw material 900. In addition, authentication and / or authorization information may be provided. The request may be authenticated and / or authorized to access characteristic data associated with the raw material identifier. Based on the success of the authorization and / or authentication, access to characteristic data associated with the raw material identifier may be permitted.

[0153] For access, the raw material identifier may be provided to the data provision service performed by node 103.6, as indicated by arrow 912. The data provision service performed by node 103.6 may use the received raw material identifier to retrieve characteristic data associated with the raw material 900 from dedicated storage 902, as indicated by arrows 918 and 920. The characteristic data associated with the raw material 904 provided to the data provision service performed by node 103.6 may be provided to the data consumption service performed by node 103.1, as indicated by arrow 916. The characteristic data associated with the raw material 904 may be stored in dedicated storage or database 908 associated with the user of the raw material 904, as indicated by arrow 922.

[0154] Characteristic data can be uniquely associated with supply materials 900, 904 via a supply material identifier or distributed identifier. Supply material data can be transferred between the producers and users of the supply materials via a distributed network. In this way, characteristic data can be directly shared among players in the distributed network 102 using a unique association with the supply materials and without a central intermediary. This enables controlled transparency of characteristic data across the material loop 100.

[0155] Figure 10 schematically illustrates an example of balancing or attributing the characteristics of supplied raw materials to the output materials of a chemical production network.

[0156] Different supply raw materials or input materials 100 may be provided as physical inputs to the chemical production network 102 in order to produce one or more output materials 104. The physical inputs and output materials 104 may be associated with one or more characteristics, such as those related to environmental impact. Characteristics such as those related to environmental impact may be digitized in the form of environmental attributes, such as recycled or bio-derived content of the supply raw materials or input materials. The production operation system 106 may be configured to take in such supply raw material characteristics and track the characteristics across the chemical production network 102 from the supply raw materials or input materials 100 to the output materials.

[0157] The chemical production network 102 may include multiple interconnected processing steps. The chemical production network 102 may be an integrated chemical production network 102 having interrelated production chains. The chemical production network 102 may include multiple different production chains having at least one common intermediate product. The chemical production network 102 may include multiple stages of the chemical product value chain. The chemical production network 102 may include the production, refining, processing, and / or purification of gas or crude oil. The chemical production network 102 may include a synthesis gas plant connected to multiple production chains that produce chemical products 104 from a stream cracker or the effluent of such a plant. The chemical production network 102 may include multiple production chains that produce one or more output materials from one or more supply raw materials 100. The chemical production network 102 may include multiple hierarchies of the chemical value chain. The chemical production network 102 may include physically interconnected mechanisms of production sites. The production sites may be in the same location or in different locations. In the latter case, production sites can be interconnected by dedicated transport systems such as pipelines, supply chain vehicles such as trucks, supply chain vessels, or other means of freight transport.

[0158] The chemical production network 102 can convert supply raw materials or input materials 100 into one or more output materials 104 chemically, physically, or thermally. The chemical production network 102 can convert supply raw materials 100 into one or more output materials 104 through chemical, physical, and / or thermal conversion.

[0159] The supply raw materials 100 can be supplied to the chemical production network 102 at any entry point indicated by the system boundary of the chemical production network 102. The supply raw materials 100 can be supplied to the chemical production network 102 at the start of the chemical production network 102. The supply raw materials 100 may constitute, for example, the supply raw materials for steam crackers. The supply raw materials 100 may include non-fossil supply raw materials, such as bio-derived or recycled materials, and / or fossil supply raw materials for the production of chemical intermediates and chemical output materials 104.

[0160] The chemical production network 102 may include multiple production steps. The production steps included in the chemical production network 102 may be defined by the system boundary of the chemical production network 102. The system boundary may be defined by the location or control of the production process. The system boundary may be defined by the site of the chemical production network 102. The system boundary may be defined by a production process jointly controlled by one or more entities. The system boundary may be defined by a value chain having time-staggered production processes to the final product, and these processes may be individually controlled by multiple entities. The chemical production network 102 may include a waste recovery and sorting step, a recycling step such as pyrolysis, a decomposition step such as steam decomposition, a separation step to separate intermediates from one process step, and a further processing step to convert such intermediates into output material 104 exiting the system boundary of the chemical production network 102.

[0161] The production operation system 106 of the chemical production network 102 may be configured to monitor and / or control the chemical production network 102 based on different process operating parameters. One process step to be monitored and / or controlled may be the supply of input materials 100 or the release of output materials 104. Another process step to be monitored and / or controlled may be the registration of supply material properties, such as environmental attributes, associated with the supply material 100 entering the system boundary of the chemical production network 102. Yet another process step to be monitored and / or controlled may be the attribution of properties, such as environmental attributes, to the output material 104 produced by the chemical production network 102. Yet another process step to be monitored and / or controlled may be the management of supply material properties, such as environmental attributes, associated with the supply material 100 and output material 104 of the chemical production network 102.

[0162] The production operation system 106 may be configured to register inbound supply material characteristics, such as environmental attributes, in order to assign outbound supply material characteristics, such as environmental attributes. The production operation system 106 may be configured to access characteristic data related to the supply materials 100, processes, and / or output materials 104 of the chemical production network 102. For example, the production operation system 106 may be configured to register recycled or bio-derived components of one or more supply materials 100 used in the chemical production network 102 as environmental attributes. The production operation system 106 may be configured to assign supply material characteristics, such as environmental attributes, to at least one balancing account associated with the recycled or bio-derived components of the supply materials 100. The production operation system 106 may be configured to assign at least a portion of the supply material characteristics, such as environmental attributes, from at least one balancing account to at least one output material 104.

[0163] The production operation system 102 may be configured to handle supply material characteristics such as environmental attributes related to the input and output materials 100 / 104 of the chemical production network 102. For example, the production operation system 106 may be configured to determine the environmental attributes related to the use of input materials 100 and output materials 104 produced by the chemical production network 102 that affect the supply material characteristics such as the environmental characteristics of the chemical production network 102. More specifically, the production operation system 102 may be configured to determine supply material characteristics such as environmental attributes associated with the output materials. Thus, the production operation system 102 may be configured to store supply material characteristics such as environmental attributes in a balancing account or to remove supply material characteristics such as environmental attributes from the balancing account. Therefore, supply material characteristics such as environmental attributes can be considered as credits that can be deposited into or withdrawn from accounts related to the input and output materials 104 of the chemical production network 102. In this way, supply material characteristics such as the environmental impact of production can be tracked and / or traced.

[0164] In the chemical production network 102, multiple value chains may be linked. In addition, different input materials 100 or chemical processes may be used that affect the environmental properties of the output material 104 produced by the chemical production network 102. Examples of input materials 100 that affect at least one environmental property of the output material 104 produced from such input materials 100 may be recycled, renewable, or bio-based input materials 104.

[0165] The processing of chemicals in continuous or semi-continuous production, and the complexity of the chemical production network 102, may hinder the traceability of supply materials through the network. In such scenarios, equivalent supply material characteristics, such as environmental attributes indicating the impact of supply materials on the output materials produced by the chemical production network, may be assigned to a balancing account 122 and attached to one or more output materials of the chemical production network 102. Therefore, supply material characteristics such as environmental attributes may be decoupled from the physical material flow within the chemical production network 102. The decoupling may be based on a mass balance model, in that the equivalents attached to one or more output materials cannot exceed the equivalents provided by the supply materials or processes. If equivalents are assigned to a digital account of a supply material characteristic type, such as an environmental attribute type, they cannot be reassigned to another digital account of that characteristic type. Environmental attribute types may include recycled, bio-based, renewable, etc. Environmental attributes may be provided in the form of digital assets attached to the physical entities of the output materials or in the form of chemical product passports.

[0166] The chemical production network 102 and its operation can be monitored and / or controlled by the production operation system 106. The production operation system 106 can be configured to track characteristics such as environmental attributes from the raw materials 100 supplied to the chemical production network 102 to the output materials 104 produced by the chemical production network 102. For tracking raw material characteristics, the operation system 106 can be configured to register characteristics such as environmental attributes associated with the raw materials 100 supplied to the chemical production network 102, and to attribute these raw material characteristics, such as environmental attributes, to the output materials produced by the chemical production network 102.

[0167] A supply material 100, such as pyrolysis oil, bionaphtha, or biogas, may be supplied to the chemical production network 102. The supply material 100 may enter the chemical production network at an inlet point, such as a steam cracker or a synthesis gas plant. The supply material 100 may be used within the chemical production network 102 to produce one or more output materials from the supply material 100. The output materials 104 may be supplied at an outlet point of the chemical production network 102.

[0168] When input material 100 is received, supply material characteristic data 108 may be provided to the computing interface of the production operation system 106 via a communication network. A data provider, such as a QR code reader, may be configured to provide material data 108 related to one or more supply materials 100 and their respective characteristics, such as environmental attributes 108, to a computing interface configured to assign characteristics such as environmental attributes associated with the supply materials 100. The characteristic data 108 may include a supply material identifier and characteristics such as environmental attributes associated with the supply material 100. The supply material identifier may be associated with the physical entity of the supply material 100 entering the chemical production network 102. The characteristic data may be provided at the entry point to the chemical production network 102, either before or after one or more supply materials are provided.

[0169] The raw material identifier may be linked to a certificate that certifies the characteristics of the raw material, such as environmental attributes associated with each raw material 100, the quantity of the raw material 100, and / or the characteristics such as environmental attributes. The quantity of the raw material may be the measured amount of raw material 100 supplied to a plant or storage facility of the chemical production network 102 to produce one or more output materials from the raw material 100. The raw material identifier associated with each raw material 100, the raw material characteristics such as environmental attributes associated with each raw material 100, and the quantity of raw material 100 supplied to the chemical production network 102 may be provided to the production operation system 106. Such data may be provided via a communication network when the raw material is fed into the chemical production network 102, or the data may be transferred from a computing system to the production operation system 106, such as a distributed data provision node 101.6 associated with a recycler 103.6.

[0170] The inbound allocator 110 may be configured to assign one or more supply material characteristics, such as environmental attributes, to at least one balancing account 112 associated with each of those characteristics. For example, one balancing account 112 may be associated with environmental attributes from recycled materials, and another balancing account 112 may be associated with environmental attributes from bio-based or renewable materials. The balancing accounts may be associated with each characteristic type, such as renewable, bio-based, or recycled 100. Based on such associations, a balancing account associated with a characteristic type, such as the environmental attribute type of each supply material 100 may be selected. The supply material characteristics, such as environmental attributes, may be assigned to the selected balancing account. For example, an account 112 for recycled materials may be selected, and environmental attributes for recycled materials may be assigned to that account 122.

[0171] For allocation, supply material properties such as one or more environmental attributes may be converted into balancing units, which may be assigned to balancing accounts 122. The conversion may be based on conversion coefficients such as mass, weight, carbon atoms, hydrogen atoms, methane equivalent, or any other appropriate measure that quantifies the environmental impact of properties such as environmental attributes. Therefore, the conversion coefficients may take into account the differences when producing chemical products from conventional supply materials, from unconventional supply materials, or from a mixture of conventional and unconventional supply materials. The conversion coefficients may relate to the differences in the chemical and / or physical properties of conventional and unconventional supply materials.

[0172] By using the balancing account 112, it is possible to ensure that the characteristics of the supply raw materials 100, such as environmental attributes, are used only once for assigning them to the output materials 104. In this way, double counting of inputs or outputs is avoided, ensuring that characteristics such as positive environmental impacts are reliably tracked and can be assigned to the output materials 104.

[0173] The identifier provider 116 may be configured to provide an output material identifier associated with an output material produced by the chemical production network 102 and provided at an exit point from the chemical production network 102.

[0174] The outbound assigner 114 may be configured to assign at least one characteristic, such as an environmental attribute, from at least one balancing account 112 associated with each characteristic, such as an environmental attribute, to the output material identifier ID2. One or more characteristics, such as environmental attributes, may be assigned to at least one output material identifier ID2. Assignment may include unassigning one or more characteristics, such as environmental attributes, from the balancing account 112 associated with each characteristic type, such as an environmental attribute type. Assignment may include converting one or more balancing units into one or more characteristics, such as environmental attributes.

[0175] Assigning at least one environmental attribute associated with input materials to output materials may include linking the output material identifier ID2 to a characteristic such as the environmental attribute. The output material identifier ID2 may be associated with the physical entity of the output material. In this way, the digital identifier of a material may be uniquely linked to the physical material. Such a link may include a physical or virtual link to an identifier uniquely associated with the physical material. For a physical link, for example, a tag or code can be physically attached to the material by printing a QR code on the packaging. For a digital link, a different identifier associated with the physical material may be linked. For example, an order number, batch number, lot number, or a combination thereof may be linked.

[0176] The outbound assigner 114 may be configured to provide characteristics such as environmental attributes associated with the produced material to data consumers such as systems associated with users of the chemical product or produced material. The outbound assigner 114 may be configured to provide characteristics such as environmental attributes associated with the chemical product to a distributed network by generating access elements, for example, as illustrated in the examples in Figures 1 and 2. Characteristics such as environmental attributes may be provided via the ID-based schema described above in the form of digital assets or chemical product passports related to the physical entity of the chemical product.

[0177] This disclosure has been described in conjunction with preferred embodiments and examples. However, a person skilled in the art who practices the claimed invention can understand and implement other variations by examining the drawings, this disclosure, and the claims.

[0178] Any of the steps presented herein may be performed in any order. The methods disclosed herein are not limited to any particular order of these steps. It is not necessary that the different steps be performed in a specific location or on a specific computing node of a distributed system; that is, each step may be performed on a different computing node using different equipment / data processing.

[0179] This disclosure has been described in conjunction with preferred embodiments and examples. However, a person skilled in the art who practices the claimed invention can understand and implement other variations by examining the drawings, this disclosure, and the claims.

[0180] Any of the steps presented herein may be performed in any order. The methods disclosed herein are not limited to any particular order of these steps. It is not necessary that the different steps be performed in a specific location or on a specific computing node of a distributed system; that is, each step may be performed on a different computing node using different equipment / data processing.

[0181] As used herein, “determine” also includes “initiate or cause to determine,” “generate” also includes “initiate and / or cause to generate,” and “provide” also includes “initiate or cause to determine, generate, select, transmit and / or receive.” “Initiate or cause to perform an action” includes any processing signal that triggers a computing node or device to perform the respective action.

[0182] In the claims and herein, the words “comprising” or “including” or similar expressions do not exclude other elements or steps, nor should they be construed as limiting the elements or steps described. The indefinite articles “a” or “an” do not exclude plural. A single element or other unit may perform the function of multiple entities or items referred to in the claims. The mere fact that certain means are described in different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these means cannot be used in a favorable implementation or that further elements cannot be included.

[0183] Providing information within the scope of this disclosure may include any interface configured to provide data. This may include application programming interfaces, human-machine interfaces such as displays, and / or software module interfaces. Providing information may include the communication of data or the transmission of data to an interface, in particular display to a user or use of the data by a receiving entity.

[0184] Any disclosures and embodiments described herein relate to the methods, systems, apparatus, devices, chemical products, materials, and computer program elements outlined above, and vice versa. Advantageously, any benefits derived from any embodiment and example are equally applicable to all other embodiments and examples, and vice versa. All terms and definitions used herein are to be understood broadly and have their general meanings.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring at least one property of one or more supply materials or components thereof for a chemical production network, wherein the method is - A step of collecting characteristic data associated with at least one characteristic of the one or more supply materials or their components in relation to the generation of the one or more supply materials or their components, wherein the collected characteristic data is related to one or more production and / or recycling inputs used to produce the one or more supply materials or their components, - Providing one or more distributed identifiers associated with one or more of the supply materials or their components, - A step of generating characteristic data associated with at least one characteristic of one or more supply materials or their components, and one or more digital representations associated with one or more production and / or recycling inputs, - A step of generating one or more access elements including one or more distributed identifiers and one or more digital representations, - A step of providing one or more access elements to the distributed network for access to the characteristic data by one or more data consumption network nodes of the distributed network under the control of a data provision network node, wherein the one or more data consumption network nodes are configured to register and / or attribute to at least one characteristic of one or more supply materials or their components to output materials produced by the chemical production network, Methods that include...

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more access elements are configured for accessing characteristic data from one or more stakeholders in the supply raw material usage chain, and the one or more access elements are configured for accessing characteristic data for each generation stage of the supply raw material generation chain by one or more stakeholders in the supply raw material usage chain.

3. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein one or more access elements are configured to recursively access characteristic data for each generation stage of the supply raw material generation chain, and the recursive access is based on one or more relational expressions provided by one or more participants in the supply raw material generation chain.

4. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the characteristic data is collected in connection with the production of one or more supply materials or their components by a party in the supply material production chain, and characteristic data is collected associated with one or more production and / or recycling inputs used to produce the one or more supply materials or their components, in particular, associated with relevant distributed identifiers associated with the one or more production and / or recycling inputs.

5. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one digital representation is generated for accessing a digital relationship between the supply material or its components in the generation stage and each of the one or more production and / or recycling inputs in the generation stage.

6. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the characteristic data includes at least one characteristic of the supply material related to at least one material flow type associated with the generation of one or more supply materials or components thereof.

7. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the characteristic data includes at least one origin, at least one condition relating to the generation of the supply material, at least one environmental attribute, and / or at least one characteristic of the supply material relating to an allocation scheme.

8. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the characteristic data comprises one or more datasets relating to a set of characteristics, and the one or more datasets relating to the type of participant associated with the data-consuming network node requesting access to the characteristic data.

9. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the access element relates to authorization rules that provide access to one or more datasets of the characteristic data depending on the type of participant associated with the data consumption network node requesting access to the characteristic data, and the access element is provided for access to the characteristic data, which includes one or more datasets related to the type of participant in a supply material generation and / or supply material use chain that performs one or more processes for generating and / or using the supply material or its components.

10. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein one or more data consumption network nodes are associated with one or more chemical product producers who attribute the at least one characteristic of the supply raw materials or their components to the output materials produced by the chemical production network.

11. An apparatus for monitoring at least one characteristic of one or more supply materials or components thereof for a chemical production network, wherein the apparatus is - A data collection interface configured to collect characteristic data associated with at least one characteristic of one or more supply materials or their components in relation to the generation of one or more supply materials or their components, wherein the collected characteristic data is related to one or more production and / or recycling inputs used to produce the one or more supply materials or their components, - A distributed identifier provider interface configured to provide one or more distributed identifiers associated with one or more supply materials or their components, - A representation generator configured to generate characteristic data associated with at least one characteristic of one or more supply raw materials or their components, and one or more digital representations associated with one or more production and / or recycling inputs, - An access element generator configured to generate one or more access elements including one or more distributed identifiers and one or more digital representations, - A distributed network interface configured to provide one or more access elements to the distributed network for access to the characteristic data by one or more data consumption network nodes of the distributed network under the control of a data provision network node, wherein the one or more data consumption network nodes are configured to register and / or attribute to at least one characteristic of one or more supply raw materials or their components to the output material produced by the chemical production network, A device equipped with the following features.

12. A method for registering and / or attributing at least one characteristic of one or more feedstocks for entry into a chemical production network, wherein the method is - Providing one or more distributed identifiers associated with one or more supply materials for entering the chemical production network, - A step of collecting characteristic data from one or more producers of the one or more supply material components for entering the chemical production network, and / or from one or more producers of the one or more supply material components for entering the chemical production network, based on one or more access elements generated and / or provided by the apparatus described in any one of claims 1 to 10, - A step of registering at least one characteristic of one or more supply raw materials entering the chemical production network based on the collected characteristic data, - A step of providing at least one registered characteristic of one or more supply raw materials or their components to one or more output materials produced by the chemical production network, Methods that include...

13. An apparatus for registering and / or assigning at least one characteristic of one or more feedstocks for entry into a chemical production network, wherein the apparatus is - An identifier providing interface configured to provide one or more distributed identifiers associated with one or more supply materials for entering the chemical production network, - A data acquisition interface configured to collect characteristic data from one or more producers of the supply materials to enter the chemical production network, and / or from one or more producers of the components of the supply materials to be supplied to the chemical production network, based on one or more access elements generated and / or provided by one or more access elements generated and / or provided by the apparatus described in any one of claims 1 to 10, - A registration interface configured to register at least one characteristic of one or more supply materials entering the chemical production network based on the collected characteristic data, and to provide at least one registered characteristic of the one or more supply materials or their components to one or more output materials produced by the chemical production network, A device equipped with the following features.

14. A distributed network node configured to provide one or more access elements according to the method of any one of claims 1 to 10, or by the apparatus described in claim 11, or a distributed network node configured to register and / or assign at least one characteristic of one or more supply materials according to the method of claim 12, or by the apparatus described in claim 13.

15. A feedstock associated with one or more access elements, which is produced and provided by the apparatus or chemical production network described in any one of claims 1 to 10, or by the apparatus or chemical production network described in claim 11, wherein the feedstock associated with the access elements, which is produced and provided by the apparatus or chemical production network, is available for use in the production of one or more output materials by the chemical production network.

Images