A method for generating a carbon-specific recycling product attribute

Abstract

The invention refers to a method for generating a carbon-specific recycling product attribute allowing a reliable carbon tracking. Input material data of input material streams associated with one or more carbon-specific input material attributes is provided. The input material streams include a recycling material stream for producing output material streams. Output material data associated with output material streams and associated with one or more carbon-specific output material attributes is provided. The carbon-specific recycling product attribute for an output material is generated based on the carbon-specific input material attributes and the carbon-specific output material attributes. The generated carbon-specific recycling product attribute is assigned to the output material.

Description

[0001] A method for generating a carbon-specific recycling product attribute

[0002] FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The present teachings relate generally to computer-assisted industrial processes, e.g. chemical production processes, in particular, in a recycling context.

[0004] BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0005] For determining a quality of a recycling process, today often a product carbon footprint (PCF) is utilized, since it indicates the CO2 output that a product accumulates on its journey from a respective raw material to an end product and depends on the respective individual conditions of all process steps involved. However, the PCF does not cover all carbon-related aspects required for the monitoring and / or controlling of production processes, in particular, recycling processes.

[0006] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] Reducing the CO2 production, in particular, by keeping already processed carbon in valued or valuable products through circular production processes, is an important task of today’s chemical industry but also for other industries producing carbon-based products. However, in order to reduce the CO2 backpack of a product and / or to increase a recycling efficiency, it is firstly important to have a quantity that allows to compare and then also to control and / or monitor respective production processes in order to have an objective quantity with respect to which a production process can be optimized. Accordingly, the most promising candidate for such a quantity is the PCF that determines the CO2 generation during the production of a product from a raw material to the final product taking into account all individual conditions during the production. For example, the PCF takes into account the CO2 production during a respective production process of the product, but also the CO2 production generated by generating the energy utilized in the production process, the CO2 pro- BASF SE 240472 duction generated by the transport processes involved in the production or a CO2 production involved in the mining of the raw materials. Thus, the PCF allows to quantify the CO2 output over the complete value chain of a product.

[0008] However, the PCF only considers total CO2 emissions and therefore has limitations when assessing the efficiency of a process involving the recycling of carbon. For example, if only the PCF is taken into account, technologies and processes with low total CO2 emissions are favoured over technologies that offer the best trade-off between total CO2 emissions and other aspects. This is particularly relevant for recycling processes which intend to retain carbon in the value chain such as production processes converting materials, such as biobased or waste-derived feedstocks into chemical products, and are therefore a prerequisite for an efficient circular economy. However, when determining the PCF for recycling processes also factors that can hardly be influenced, such as transportation and the local energy mix, are taken into account. This often leads to a higher PCF for recycled products than for not recycled products, due to the necessary collection and preproduction steps during a recycling process. Consequently, on the basis of the PCF alone, the efficiency of a recycling process itself can hardly be assessed in order to monitor and control such a process.

[0009] Further, approaches utilizing mass balancing or material accounts are known to provide material attributes to output material streams. These approaches track a balance of a material, like carbon, based on input material information. Such approaches do not take the output material information, other than the amount of an output material, into account, but instead balance out the tracked material in different output streams based on a respective accounting method. Thus, these methods do not really track where a material is actually going from the input to the output stream. Therefore, mass balancing approaches allow to balance a general amount of, for example, recycling material in a process that also comprises non-recycling materials, and are thus important for many applications, however are not really suitable to optimize, control and / or monitor, for instance, a recycling process itself, since they do not provide the necessary information that is process related.

[0010] Thus, it would be advantageous if a parameter could be provided that complements the PCF and mass balancing approaches and allows to quantify and compare carbon-related aspects of respective production processes, in particular, recycling processes, and at the same time allows for a direct controlling and / or monitoring of the respective production processes, in particular, recycling processes. BASF SE 240472

[0011] The inventors have found that to solve this objective, it is most advantageous to track the general carbon content of input and output materials during a production process or a production process chain, for instance, a recycling process or a recycling process chain, in a process-focused manner. The carbon-specific recycling product attributes as defined in claim 1 and subsequent claims are material- and / or process-specific and allow to track in detail where carbon introduced in the production process has been lost, for instance, in the form of CO2. Moreover, the carbon-specific recycling product attributes as defined in claim 1 and subsequent claims allow, due to their process specificity, to determine and quantify the efficiency of the production process or production process chain, in particular, the recycling process or recycling process chain, when it comes to utilizing the introduced carbon. Accordingly, this quantity can easily be utilized for comparing, monitoring and controlling respective production processes in order to minimize the carbon loss and to maximize the amount of recycled carbon in the process. Moreover, the carbon-specific recycling product attribute defined in claim 1 and subsequent claims has the advantage that it can be based on easy measurements performed on samples of the input and output materials such that a continuous monitoring of the quantity and thus also a continuous controlling and monitoring of the process becomes possible. This allows for an easy-to-implement and effective controlling of production processes, in particular, recycling processes or recycling process chains, in order to increase the amount of carbon retained in the value chain and reduce CO2 emissions.

[0012] In a first aspect, a method, particularly a computer-implemented method, is presented for generating a carbon-specific recycling product attribute for at least one output material produced by a recycling process chain comprising at least one recycling step, wherein the method comprises a) providing input material data associated with one or more input material streams into the recycling process chain and associated with one or more carbonspecific input material attributes to a computer interface, wherein at least one input material stream includes a recycling material stream including a recycling material to be processed in the recycling process chain for producing one or more output material streams comprising the at least one output material, wherein the recycling material comprises carbon atoms, b) providing output material data associated with one or more output material streams provided by the recycling process chain and associated with one or more carbon-specific output material attributes to the computer interface, c) generating the carbon-specific recycling product attribute for at least one output material based on the carbon-specific input material attributes and the carbon-specific output material attributes, and d) assigning the generated carbon-specific recycling product attribute to the at least one output material. BASF SE 240472

[0013] In a further aspect, a method, particularly a computer-implemented method, is presented for generating a carbon-specific recycling process attribute for a recycling process chain comprising at least one recycling step, wherein the method comprises a) providing input material data associated with one or more input material streams into the recycling process chain and associated with one or more carbon-specific input material attributes to a computer interface, wherein at least one input material stream includes a recycling material stream including a recycling material to be processed in the recycling process chain for producing one or more output material streams, wherein the recycling material comprises carbon atoms, b) providing output material data associated with one or more output material streams provided by the recycling process chain and associated with one or more carbon-specific output material attributes to the computer interface, c) generating the carbonspecific recycling process attribute for the recycling process chain based on the carbonspecific input material attributes and the carbon-specific output material attributes, and d) assigning the generated carbon-specific recycling process attribute to the recycling process chain.

[0014] In a further aspect, using one or more carbon-specific recycling product attributes generated and assigned as described above and / or one or more carbon-specific recycling process attributes generated and assigned as described above for controlling and / or monitoring a respective recycling process chain is presented.

[0015] In a further aspect, a recycling method is presented for recycling one or more materials in a recycling process chain, wherein the method comprises a) generating and assigning one or more carbon-specific recycling product attributes for one or more input material streams as described above and / or a carbon-specific recycling process attribute as described above, and b) controlling and / or monitoring the recycling process chain based on the one or more carbon-specific recycling product attributes and / or based on the carbon-specific recycling process attribute.

[0016] In a further aspect, an apparatus is presented for generating a carbon-specific recycling product attribute of an output material produced by a recycling process chain comprising at least one recycling step, wherein the apparatus comprises one or more processors configured to perform a method comprising the steps of a) providing input material data associated with one or more input material streams into the recycling process chain and associated with one or more carbon-specific input material attributes to a computer interface, wherein at least one input material stream includes a recycling material stream including a recycling material to be processed in the recycling process chain for producing one or more output material streams comprising the at least one output material, wherein the recycling BASF SE 240472 material comprises carbon atoms, b) providing output material data associated with one or more output material streams provided by the recycling process chain and associated with one or more carbon-specific output material attributes to the computer interface, c) generating the carbon-specific recycling product attribute for at least one output material based on the carbon-specific input material attributes and the carbon-specific output material attributes, and d) assigning the generated carbon-specific recycling product attribute to the at least one output material.

[0017] In a further aspect, an apparatus is presented for generating a carbon-specific recycling process attribute for a recycling process chain comprising at least one recycling step, wherein the apparatus comprises at least one computer element comprising one or more instructions causing the at least one computer element to perform the method comprising a) providing input material data associated with one or more input material streams into the recycling process chain and associated with one or more carbon-specific input material attributes to a computer interface, wherein at least one input material stream includes a recycling material stream including a recycling material to be processed in the recycling process chain for producing one or more output material streams, wherein the recycling material comprises carbon atoms, b) providing output material data associated with one or more output material streams provided by the recycling process chain and associated with one or more carbon-specific output material attributes to the computer interface, c) generating the carbon-specific recycling process attribute for the recycling process chain based on the carbon-specific input material attributes and the carbon-specific output material attributes, and d) assigning the generated carbon-specific recycling process attribute to the recycling process chain.

[0018] In a further aspect, a data element is presented comprising an output material identifier of an output material produced by a recycling process chain comprising at least one recycling step and a carbon-specific recycling product attribute, wherein the carbon-specific recycling product attribute is defined based on a) one or more carbon-specific input material attributes associated with one or more input material streams into the recycling process chain and b) one or more carbon-specific output material attributes associated with one or more output material streams comprising the output material of the recycling process chain.

[0019] In a further aspect, a data element is presented comprising a recycling process identifier of a recycling process chain comprising at least one recycling step and a carbon-specific recycling process attribute defined based on one or more carbon-specific recycling product attributes of output materials of the recycling process chain, wherein the one or more car- BASF SE 240472 bon-specific recycling product attributes are defined based on a) one or more carbon-specific input material attributes associated with one or more input material streams into the recycling process chain and b) one or more carbon-specific output material attributes associated with one or more output material streams comprising the output material of the recycling process chain.

[0020] In a further aspect, a method, particularly a computer-implemented method, is presented for generating a carbon-specific recycling process attribute for a recycling process chain comprising at least one recycling step, wherein the method comprises a) providing input material data associated with one or more input material streams into the recycling process chain and associated with one or more carbon-specific input material attributes to a computer interface, wherein at least one input material stream includes a recycling material stream including a recycling material to be processed in the recycling process chain for producing one or more output material streams comprising the at least one output material, wherein the recycling material comprises carbon atoms, b) providing output material data associated with one or more output material streams provided by the recycling process chain and associated with one or more carbon-specific output material attributes to the computer interface, c) generating the carbon-specific recycling product attribute for at least one output material based on the carbon-specific input material attributes and the carbonspecific output material attributes, d) generating the carbon-specific recycling process attribute based on the one or more carbon-specific recycling product attributes, and e) assigning the generated carbon-specific recycling process attribute to the recycling process chain.

[0021] In a further aspect, a recycling control apparatus is presented for controlling a recycling process chain for recycling one or more materials, wherein the apparatus comprises a) an apparatus as described above, and b) a controller configured for controlling and / or monitoring the recycling process chain based on the one or more carbon-specific recycling product attributes and / or based on the carbon-specific recycling process attribute.

[0022] In a further aspect, a computer program product is presented for generating a carbon-specific recycling product attribute and / or a carbon-specific recycling process attribute, wherein the computer program product comprises program code means for causing an apparatus as described above to carry out a method as described above.

[0023] In a further aspect, a carbon-specific recycling product attribute generated and assigned as described above is presented. BASF SE 240472

[0024] In a further aspect, a carbon-specific recycling process attribute generated and assigned as described above is presented.

[0025] A recycling process chain can refer to any production process of a product, in particular, a chemical product, that includes recycling one or more input materials. A recycling process chain can comprise several process steps, at least one of which is a recycling process. A process step refers to a process that converts one or more input materials into one or more output materials, wherein the output materials can include one or more different substances, one or more different compositions of substances and / or one or more different physical structures as the input materials. For example, the process can refer to a mixing process, a chemical reaction process, a shredding process, a melting process, a purification process, etc. An input material can be a raw material like raw oil or natural gas, or can be an already processed material like biogas from anaerobic digestion of biomass. In general, an input material can be of different origin and can comprise carbon originating, for instance, from fossil sources, from biomass, from waste streams, or from material that has been recycled once or several times. The term “input material” can thus refer to an artificially produced material or a naturally occurring material. A naturally occurring material can, in particular, be a bio-based material, for instance, wood or a wood-based product. The one or more output products produced by utilizing the input material can be any products that are wanted and usable in the industries or the private sector. For example, the output materials can refer to base materials that are the building blocks of other materials, can refer to end consumer products, can refer to intermediate products, etc.

[0026] In this context, recycling refers to a process that converts waste materials into new materials that can be utilized for the production of new products. In this context, waste materials can be regarded as unwanted or unusable materials. The waste material will also be referred to as the to-be recycled material or simply recycling material in the following. For example, the recycling material can include end-of-life products, products from overproduction, by-products, or other products that without being provided to a recycling process chain would be provided to respective waste disposal. In general, the recycling material can be of different origin and can comprise carbon originating, for instance, from fossil sources, from the biosphere or from material that has already been recycled once or several times. The recycling material can thus refer to an artificially produced material or a naturally produced material. A naturally produced material can in particular be a bio-based to-be recycled material, for instance, wood or wood-based products. The one or more new products produced by utilizing the recycling material can be any products that are wanted and usable in the industries or private sector. For example, the new materials can refer to BASF SE 240472 base materials that are the building blocks of other new materials, can refer to end consumer products, can refer to intermediate products, etc. Preferably, the recycling process chain comprises at least one chemical recycling process utilizing chemical methods for recycling the recycling materials. The recycling process chain can also comprise at least one mechanical and / or physical recycling process.

[0027] The input material streams may include any input material entering the recycling process chain performed, for instance, by a recycling system. A recycling system as referred to herein may refer to any system configured for carrying out a recycling process or a recycling process chain, for instance, a waste management facility configured for processing recycling materials to produce recycled materials, a chemical plant configured for processing recycling materials to produce new or recycled products, or a production network comprising multiple individual production facilities configured for processing recycling materials to produce new or recycled materials. The output materials may include any output material exiting the recycling process chain. The recycling process chain may include multiple production steps or processes. The recycling process chain can comprise a single process step which is a recycling step, but it can also comprise a plurality of process steps, wherein at least one process step is a recycling step. For example, the recycling process chain can comprise a recycling step as a first step, followed by several process steps which further process the output of the first recycling step. A recycling process chain can also comprise several recycling steps. A recycling process chain can also comprise several recycling steps and one or more other process steps, wherein the recycling steps and the other process steps can be arranged in any order to produce the output materials. The input materials associated with the input material streams can enter the recycling process chain in a first process step or in any other process step or in between any process step and a subsequent process step. The input materials can enter the recycling process chain in a single process step or in between a single process step and a subsequent process step or the input materials can enter the recycling process chain in multiple process steps or in between multiple process steps and the respective subsequent process steps. The output materials associated with the output material streams can leave the recycling process chain after a first process step or after any other process step or in between any process step and a subsequent process step. The output materials can leave the recycling process chain after a single process step or in between a single process step and a subsequent process step or the output materials can leave the recycling process chain after multiple process steps or in between multiple process steps and the respective subsequent process steps. The recycling process chain may be defined by the production steps or processes included in the recycling of the recycling material. The recycling process chain may be defined by location or control over production steps of the process. The recycling process chain may BASF SE 240472 be defined by the site of a recycling system performing the process. The recycling process chain may be defined by production steps or processes controlled by one entity or multiple entities jointly. The recycling process chain may be defined by value chains with staggered production processes to an end product, which may be controlled by multiple entities separately. The recycling process chain may include a waste collection step, a sorting step, a recycling step such as a physical process (e.g. mechanical recycling, solvent based recycling), a thermochemical process (e.g. gasification, pyrolysis), a chemical process (e.g. depolymerization, solvolysis, enzymolysis), a carbon dioxide capture and utilization step, a cracking step such as steam cracking, a production step such as monomer production, a separation step to separate outputs of one process step and further processing steps to convert such outputs to an output material leaving the recycling system.

[0028] A recycling material stream may relate to materials to be recycled in the recycling process. The recycling material stream may comprise waste material referred to as the to-be recycled material or simply recycling material in the following. The recycling material may be generated by a previous recycling process. The recycling material streams may include recyclate and may refer to recyclate streams. A recycling material stream may be a mix of previously recycled and non-recycled materials. A recycling material stream comprises carbon atoms. The carbon atoms may be of recycling origin, e.g. may have been recycled before. The carbon atoms may be of mixed origin comprising carbon atoms already recycled before and not-recycled before. Preferably, the recycling material stream comprises carbon atoms from an organic carbon source. Preferably, the recycling material stream comprises organic materials or is derived from organic material.

[0029] The input material streams and the output material streams can refer to continuous or discontinuous material streams, wherein the recycling process chain is a respective continuous or discontinuous recycling process chain. For example, the recycling process chain and the respective input and output streams may be continuous, for instance, in a campaign, but can also refer to a discontinuous production process chain, in particular, a batch production process, for example, when catalysts utilized in the process require recovery. Moreover, the input and output material streams even in a continuous process chain can be separated at the end of the process chain into a plurality of individual product packages or batches, for instance, defined by a predefined amount of the material.

[0030] The input material streams may be associated with input material data including at least one input material identifier associated with the respective input material or input material stream, at least one carbon-specific input material attribute associated with the respective input material or input material stream and / or a quantity or an amount of input material BASF SE 240472 provided to the entry point of the recycling process. The input material identifier may be associated with the physical entity of the input material or input material stream. The input material identifier may be uniquely linked to the physical entity of the input material or input material stream. In this way, the virtual or digital identifier of the input material may be uniquely linked to the physical input material. Such linking may include a physical or virtual link of identifiers uniquely associated with the physical input material. For physical linking, a tag or code may be physically connected to the material, e.g., by printing a QR code on the packaging. For virtual linking, different identifiers associated with the physical material may be linked. For example, an order number, a batch number, a LOT number or a combination thereof may be linked.

[0031] The output material streams may be associated with output material data including at least one output material identifier associated with the respective output material or output material stream, at least one carbon-specific output material attribute associated with the respective output material or output material stream and / or a quantity or an amount of output material provided to the exit point of the recycling process chain. The output material identifier might be associated with the physical entity of the output material or output material stream. The output material identifier may be uniquely linked to the physical entity of the output material or output material stream. In this way, the virtual or digital identifier of the output material may be uniquely linked to the physical output material. Such linking may include a physical or virtual link of identifiers uniquely associated with the physical output material. For physical linking, a tag or code may be physically connected to the material, for instance, by printing a QR code on the packaging. For virtual linking, different identifiers associated with the physical material may be linked. For example, an order number, a batch number, a LOT number or a combination thereof may be linked.

[0032] A carbon-specific material attribute, for instance, a carbon-specific input material attribute or a carbon-specific output material attribute, can be associated with, and preferably comprises, a property of the respective material related to the amount of carbon atoms in the material. A carbon-specific material attribute, for instance, a carbon-specific input material attribute or a carbon-specific output material attribute, can be associated with, and preferably comprises, a property of the respective material related to the amount of carbon atoms from an organic material source in the material. For example, the carbon-specific input material attribute can be indicative of a number of carbon atoms in the material, a carbonspecific mass fraction of the material, a molar fraction of carbon in the material, a ratio of carbon in relation to another specific chemical element in the material, etc. Preferably, the carbon-specific material attribute refers to an amount, either an absolute or a relative amount, of carbon atoms in the material. For example, the amount of carbon atoms can be BASF SE 240472 quantified in moles of carbon, wherein one mole of carbon equals 6.022 140 76 x 1023carbon atoms equals 12.000 g of the isotope carbon-12. Preferably, the carbon-specific material attribute of the input and / or output material comprises an amount of carbon as weight percent carbon and thus refers to the weight of carbon in the material compared to the total weight of the material. Preferably, the carbon-specific material attribute further specifies the origin of the carbon in the material. For example, the origin can be “from a previous recycling process”, “from fossil sources”, or “from bio-based sources”. The carbon-specific material attribute can then comprise the amounts of carbon atoms of the respective origin. In an embodiment the carbon-specific material attribute is associated with, and preferably comprises, an amount of recycled carbon, e.g. carbon that has already been recycled in previous process chains and thus is of a recycled origin. This allows to further track the amount of already recycled carbon in the recycling process chain. Since the carbon-specific material attribute that is preferably measured, is utilized to determine the carbon-specific recycling product attribute, the carbon can be tracked from an input material to a specific output material throughout the process. This is in contrast to mass balancing or material account approaches, that only track a balance of a material, like carbon, based on input material information.

[0033] A carbon-specific recycling product attribute can be associated with, and preferably comprises, an amount, either absolute or relative, of carbon in an output material of a recycling process chain. Preferably, a carbon-specific recycling product attribute is associated with, in particular, comprises, an amount, either absolute or relative, of recycled carbon in an output material of a recycling process chain. In particular, the carbon-specific recycling product attribute is indicative of an absolute or relative amount of carbon provided by the input materials, in particular by the input materials that are recycling materials, that is present in a respective output material. Thus, the carbon-specific recycling product attribute is directly indicative of the efficiency of a respective recycling process chain with respect to carbon recycling, i.e. directly provides a measure that determines how much of carbon has been recycled in the process chain and how much of carbon has been lost in the recycling process chain, for instance, as CO2. Thus, this value is particularly suitable for monitoring and / or controlling recycling process chains, in particular, for automatizing and optimizing the recycling process chain with respect to the recycling of carbon and the decrease of CO2 production and of carbon contained waste as a result of the recycling process chain.

[0034] It shall be understood that the amount of carbon provided by the input materials can refer to carbon of different origin. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the carbon-specific recycling product attribute may be associated with an amount of carbon of a particular origin that is recycled in a respective recycling process chain. In a first example, all input materials BASF SE 240472 may comprise only recycling materials. In this example, the carbon-specific recycling product attribute may be indicative of the amount of all carbon provided by the input materials that is present in the respective output material. However, in a second example, only some of the input materials may comprise recycling materials and other input materials may comprise no recycling materials, but instead, for instance, carbon from fossil sources or carbon harvested from the biosphere. In an embodiment associated with the second example, the carbon-specific recycling product attribute is associated with an amount of recycled carbon in an output material, wherein the recycled carbon refers only to carbon which has entered the recycling process chain as part of the recycling material. In this embodiment, the carbon-specific recycling product attribute may thus be indicative of the amount of carbon from the recycling materials which is incorporated into the respective output material. Moreover, in this embodiment, the carbon-specific recycling product attribute is not related to the amount of carbon from the non-recycling materials, for instance, comprising carbon from fossil sources or carbon harvested from the biosphere, which is incorporated into the respective output material. In general, the carbon-specific recycling product attribute may thus be associated with tracking carbon of a particular origin throughout a recycling process chain. Preferably, the recycling process chain is thus described on the basis of a mechanistic, statistic or empirical knowledge of the individual process steps, so that an amount of carbon of a particular origin can be tracked accurately. If mechanistic knowledge of individual process steps is lacking, it may be beneficial to consider statistic or empirical knowledge, for example, utilizing weighted averages of the amount of carbon entering the recycling process as part of recycling material and the amount of carbon entering as part of non-recycling materials.

[0035] In case the carbon-specific material attribute is associated with, and preferably comprises, an amount of recycled carbon, the carbon-specific attribute is associated with, and preferably comprises, an amount, either absolute or relative, of already recycled carbon in an output material of a recycling process chain. In this case only the carbon coming from already recycled materials is tracked allowing to determine the efficiency of the overall recycling process chain with respect to utilizing the already recycled carbon and recycling this carbon again.

[0036] It shall further be understood that, in an embodiment in which the carbon-specific recycling product attribute is associated with an amount of recycled carbon in an output material of a recycling process chain, the recycling process chain under consideration can be taken into account. In an example, the input material streams may comprise a recycling material and a non-recycling material, and the recycling material and the non-recycling material may be chemically identical. Depending on the relative amounts of recycling material and non- BASF SE 240472 recycling material in the input materials stream, the carbon-specific recycling product attribute associated with the recycled carbon may differ, for instance, if the carbon-specific recycling product attribute is associated with an amount of carbon originating from the recycling material only. In this particular example, changing the relative amount of recycling material and non-recycling material in the input materials stream may lead to a different carbon-specific recycling product attribute, even though the input materials are chemically identical and the individual processing steps are identical.

[0037] In some cases, a carbon-specific recycling product attribute can be determined for a complete recycling process chain comprising a plurality of individual steps. In other cases, however, it may be beneficial to restrict the determination to only one part of the recycling process chain, comprising not all steps of the complete production process chain. In particular when the part of the recycling process chain under consideration does not comprise the initial steps, an initial carbon-specific recycling material attribute can be assigned to the input materials of this part of the recycling process chain. In an example, a first part of a recycling process chain may be performed by a first company and may yield intermediate products which can be assigned a carbon-specific material attribute. A second part of the recycling process chain may be carried out by a second company to yield a final product. For the second company it may be desirable to assess the carbon-specific recycling product attribute associated with the amount of recycled carbon in the final product over the complete recycling process. At the same time, the second company may only have control over the second part of the recycling process chain. In this example, it may be beneficial for the second company to consider a carbon-specific recycling product attribute for the process steps leading up to the intermediate product, for instance, supplied by the first company, to further assess the amounts of carbon passed along the second part of the recycling process chain and to finally generate the total carbon-specific recycling product attribute for the final product.

[0038] The assigning of the generated carbon-specific recycling product attribute can refer to linking the generated carbon-specific recycling product attribute to a respective output material stream. The assigning of the generated carbon-specific recycling product attribute to a respective output material may include providing an output material identifier associated with the produced output material and assigning the carbon-specific recycling product attribute to the output material identifier. Assigning the carbon-specific recycling product attribute to the respective output material stream identifier may include linking the output material identifier with the carbon-specific recycling product attribute. The output material identifier may be uniquely linked to the carbon-specific recycling product attribute, for instance, including a physical or virtual link to the respective identifier uniquely associated with the physical BASF SE 240472 output material. For example, for a physical linking, the carbon-specific recycling product attribute can be integrated into a tag or code physically connected to the material, for instance, by printing a respective QR code on the packaging, wherein the respective tag or code can also referto the material identifier. For virtual linking, the carbon-specific recycling product attribute can be linked to different identifiers associated with the physical materials, for instance, with an order number, a batch number, a LOT number or a unique identifier or a combination of those.

[0039] In one embodiment the input material streams may enter the recycling process chain at one or more entry points of one or more chemical production chains. The recycling process chain may include one or more chemical production chains. A chemical production chain may produce from one or more input materials output products that exit the recycling process chain. A chemical production chain may include multiple interlinked processing steps. A chemical production chain may include the sorting, recycling, producing, refining, processing and / or purification of materials. A chemical production chain may also include the storing, the transporting and / or the changing of ownership of materials. However, the storing, the transporting and / or the changing of ownership of a material may not affect the carbon-specific recycling product attribute for the respective material.

[0040] One or more input material streams may be fed to at least one segregated production chain. The input material stream to the at least one segregated production chain may relate to one or more process stages of the segregated production chain. The input material stream may relate to one or more recycled material streams including an end-of-life-product stream, a waste fraction stream, a mechanically recycled recyclate stream and / or a chemically recycled recyclate stream.

[0041] One or more input material streams may be fed to interconnected production chains. Input material streams may be fed to different production chains. An input material stream may relate to one or more recycled material streams including an end-of-life-product stream, a waste fraction stream, a mechanically recycled recyclate stream and / or a chemically recycled recyclate stream. The input material stream may relate to one or more bio-based and / or renewable material streams.

[0042] In an embodiment, the method further comprises providing the assigned carbon-specific recycling product attribute for controlling and / or monitoring the recycling process chain. The providing can comprise providing the carbon-specific recycling product attribute to a respective process control system controlling and / or monitoring one or more processing steps of the recycling process chain performed, for instance, in a recycling system. The BASF SE 240472 providing can comprise providing control data generated based on the carbon-specific recycling product attribute for controlling and / or monitoring to the recycling process chain control system. For example, the method can comprise providing a control signal generated based on the assigned carbon-specific recycling product attribute for controlling and / or monitoring the recycling process chain. The control signal can also be configured for controlling and / or monitoring the recycling process chain. A control signal can be configured such that controlling and / or monitoring actions for controlling and / or monitoring a recycling process chain can be derived, for instance, in a recycling process chain control system, from the control signal. The controlled and / or monitored steps of the recycling process chain can referto any of the steps of the recycling process chain, for instance, to the steps of receiving the input material stream, to the steps of converting the recycling material to be processed into other materials, to the steps of outputting the output material streams, or any of the respective steps of the utilized process chain in between. For example, the controlling and / or monitoring can refer to comparing the carbon-specific recycling product attribute to a target carbon-specific recycling product attribute and changing one or more parameters of the recycling process chain if the target carbon-specific recycling product attribute is not reached and keeping respective parameters currently utilized if the carbonspecific recycling product attribute is reached. This allows for a continuous monitoring and controlling, in particular, adjusting, of the recycling process chain based on the carbonspecific output material attribute. However, the controlling and / or monitoring of the recycling process chain can also comprise optimizing one or more parameters of the recycling process chain with respect to the generated carbon-specific recycling product attribute in order to optimize a respective carbon-specific recycling product attribute, for instance, to maximize the carbon-specific recycling product attribute, leading to a reduction of carbon converted to other output materials, in particular, CO2 or waste materials. In this way, an assessment based on the carbon-specific recycling product attribute can, for example, contribute to reducing the emissions of a recycling system in terms of CO2 or waste materials.

[0043] In an embodiment, the one or more carbon-specific input material attributes are associated with an amount of carbon in the one or more input material streams and the output material attributes are associated with an amount of carbon in the one or more output material streams. Preferably, the amount of carbon associated with the one or more input material streams and the one or more output material streams is determined based on one or more measurements of the amount of carbon in the one or more input material streams and the one or more output material streams. An amount of carbon in an input and output material stream can be measured using, depending on the material, respective measurement methods, for instance, spectroscopic measurement systems and / or coupled systems such as combustion and measurement of the emerging CO2, chemical oxidation and measurement BASF SE 240472 of the emerging CO2, catalytic oxidation and measurement of the emerging CO2, photooxidation and measurement of the emerging CO2, radical oxidation and measurement of the emerging CO2 and acidification and measurement of the emerging CO2 can be utilized. An amount of carbon in an input and output material stream can be measured in accordance with methods defined in generally recognized standards, for instance, DIN ISO 10694:1996-08, DIN EN 13137:2001-12 and / or DIN EN 13639:2002-07 with correction DIN EN 13639 Berichtigung 1 :2006-09. The measurement can be performed continuously, for instance, by continuously monitoring and measuring input and output material streams or measuring samples of input and output material streams according to a predetermined schedule.

[0044] In an embodiment, the generating of the carbon-specific recycling product attribute comprises comparing the one or more carbon-specific input material attributes of the one or more input material streams with the respective one or more carbon-specific output material attributes of the one or more output material streams and generating the carbon-specific recycling product attribute for at least one output material based on the comparison. The comparison allows to determine an amount of carbon atoms in an output material stream with respect to an amount of carbon atoms in the input material streams. Thus, it can be determined by the comparison how many of the carbon atoms in the input material streams are now present in the respective output material stream and thus are, for instance, not lost as CO2 or in other waste products. Preferably, a relation of the amount of carbon atoms in an output material stream to the amount of carbon atoms in the input material streams is determined by the comparison and utilized for generating the carbon-specific recycling process attribute. It shall be noted here that the carbon-specific input material attributes and the carbon-specific output material attributes can also comprise information on the origin of carbon in the input material streams. The comparison of how many of the carbon atoms in the input material streams are now present in the respective output material streams can thus also refer to establishing a comparison for carbon from different origins. In particular, the carbon-specific material attribute can comprise an amount of already recycled carbon atoms referring to a recycling origin of the carbon atoms.

[0045] In an embodiment, the input material data are further associated with amounts of the respective input material in the one or more input material streams, wherein the output material data are associated with amounts of the respective output material in the one or more output material streams, and wherein the generating of the carbon-specific recycling product attribute is further based on the amount of the input materials and the amount of the output materials. Further utilizing the amount of input materials and the amount of output BASF SE 240472 materials allows to determine the carbon-specific recycling product attribute as weight percentage of the respective in- and output material streams. This allows also for an easy measurement and thus also for an easy controlling and / or monitoring of the recycling process chain based on the carbon-specific recycling product attribute.

[0046] In an embodiment, the carbon-specific recycling product attribute rCF O,j) of one output material O7associated with one output material stream j is calculated as wherein mo jis the amount of carbon in the output material O7associated with the output material stream j and wherein the denominator sums the amount of carbon in the input materials I, associated with the respective input material streams i. The input materials Ii are recycling materials comprising carbon atoms and the amount of carbon mo jin the output material O7refers to carbon associated with the input materials I^ Carbon associated with the input materials I, which are recycling materials can particularly refer to carbon that has entered the recycling process chain as part of the input materials / j. The amount of carbon mo jin the output material O7thus may not refer to carbon which has entered the recycling process chain as part of input materials which are not recycling materials.

[0047] In some examples of recycling process chains for processing recycling materials and nonrecycling materials it may not be possible to establish a clear distinction of which amount of carbon in an output material has entered the process chain as part of one of the recycling materials and which amount of carbon in the output material has entered the process chain as part of one of the non-recycling materials. This can be for principal reasons, for instance, if the process chain comprises steps in which the carbon from different input materials is randomly distributed among the different output materials. In an example, a first input material may be a recycling material and a second input material may be based on non-recycling material, but the first and the second input materials may be chemically identical or at least very similar. In this example, it may not be possible to assign the recycled carbon in one of output materials to exactly one of the first and the second input materials. A difficulty to establish a clear distinction about the origin of carbon in an output material can also arise from practical reasons, for instance, if the process chain comprises steps for which a detailed mechanistic knowledge is lacking. In an example, it may not be possible to establish BASF SE 240472 the exact details of all chemical reactions between input materials and / or intermediate products performed in one or more steps of a recycling process chain. Also in this example, it may not be possible to assign the recycled carbon in one of the output materials to exactly one of the input materials. Generally, if a unique assignment of the recycled carbon in an output material to recycled carbon in the input materials cannot be established, it may be beneficial to establish an approximate assignment, for instance, based on statistical or empirical considerations or based on information about a similar process for which a unique assignment has been established already. In equation (1), the amount of carbon mo jin the output material Oj referring to carbon associated with the input materials !, can thus also refer to an amount of carbon which can be associated with specific input materials, in particular recycling materials, based on statistical or empirical considerations or information about a similar process.

[0048] It shall be noted that a value for a carbon-specific recycling product attribute rCF O,j) for an output material generated according to equation (1) generally depends on characteristics of the recycling process chain which produces the output material. Characteristics of the recycling process chain which may be relevant for generating the carbon-specific recycling product attribute may comprise, for instance, the origin and characteristics of the input materials and the details of individual processing steps, but also a distinction as to which process steps are still counted as part of the recycling process chain for producing the output material and which are not. In an example, a first recycling process chain may comprise processing of several input materials, some of which are recycling materials and some of which are non-recycling materials, to produce one or more output materials. In the same example, a second process chain may comprise processing of the qualitatively same input materials to produce the qualitatively same one or more output materials, but the input materials of differing origin may be present in differing quantitative amounts as compared to the first process chain. In this example, the carbon-specific recycling product attributes for the qualitatively same output materials produced by two recycling process chains which comprise chemically identical or at least very similar processing steps may differ due to the differing characteristics of the respective input materials. Still in the same example, a third recycling process chain may comprise processing of the qualitatively same input materials, some of which have been obtained by an upstream recycling process. In order to generate a carbon-specific recycling product attribute for an output material produced by the third recycling process chain, it may then be beneficial to also consider the upstream recycling process as part of the complete recycling process chain. In this example, the third recycling process chain can be extended to include the upstream processing steps to ensure that BASF SE 240472 the carbon-specific recycling product attribute of an output material produced in the third recycling process chain reflects the total amount of recycled carbon in the output material.

[0049] Using equation (1) to calculate a carbon-specific recycling product attribute has the advantage that such a calculation is easy to implement and allows for a reliable assessing of the amount of recycled carbon in the output materials.

[0050] In an embodiment, the method further comprises generating a carbon-specific recycling process attribute for the recycling process chain comprising at least one recycling step, wherein the generating comprises a) generating the carbon-specific recycling process attribute based on the one or more carbon-specific recycling product attributes, and b) assigning the generated carbon-specific recycling process attribute to the recycling process chain. In an embodiment, the one or more carbon-specific recycling product attributes and / or the one or more carbon-specific recycling process attributes as described above are used for controlling and / or monitoring the respective recycling process chain. The controlling of the respective recycling process chain can comprise a) determining, based on the one or more carbon-specific recycling product attributes and / or the one or more carbonspecific recycling process attributes, a recycling efficiency of the recycling process chain, and b) adjusting the respective recycling process chain such that the recycling efficiency of the adjusted recycling process chain is higher than the efficiency of the recycling process chain before adjusting. The monitoring of the respective recycling process chain can comprise a) determining, based on the one or more carbon-specific recycling product attributes and / or the one or more carbon-specific recycling process attributes, a recycling efficiency of the recycling process chain, and b) notifying an operator if the efficiency deviates from a predetermined efficiency range. The carbon-specific recycling process attribute provides an indication for the recycling process chain on how much of the carbon from the input material streams, that is preferably associated with recycling materials, is present in the output material streams and thus on the efficiency of the recycling process chain in converting the input carbon, preferably associated with recycling materials, into respective output products. Moreover, the higher the amount of converted carbon, the lower are the carbon losses in the recycling process chain, for instance, in form of CO2 or other forms of waste products. Thus, this attribute can be utilized to control and / or monitor the total efficiency of the recycling process chain and to optimize the recycling process chain with respect to minimizing the loss of carbon during the process. Thus, it is preferred that the method further comprises providing the assigned carbon-specific recycling process attribute for controlling and / or monitoring the recycling process. The providing can comprise providing the carbon-specific recycling process attribute to a respective process control system controlling and / or monitoring one or more processing steps of the recycling process BASF SE 240472 chain. The providing can comprise providing control data generated based on the carbonspecific recycling process attribute for controlling and / or monitoring to the recycling process chain control system. For example, the method can comprise providing a control signal generated based on the carbon-specific recycling process attribute for controlling and / or monitoring the recycling process chain. The control signal can also be configured for controlling and / or monitoring the recycling process chain. A control signal can be configured such that controlling and / or monitoring actions for controlling and / or monitoring a recycling process chain can be derived, for instance, in a recycling process chain control system, from the control signal. The controlled and / or monitored steps of the recycling process chain can referto any of the steps of the recycling process chain, for instance, to the steps of receiving the input material stream, to the steps of converting the recycling material to be processed into other materials, to the steps of outputting the output material streams, or any of the respective steps of the utilized process chain in between. For example, the controlling and / or monitoring can refer to comparing the carbon-specific recycling process attribute to a target carbon-specific recycling process attribute and changing one or more parameters of the recycling process chain if the target carbon-specific recycling process attribute is not reached and keeping respective parameters currently utilized if the target carbon-specific recycling process attribute is reached. This allows for a continuous monitoring and controlling, in particular, adjusting, of the recycling process chain based on the carbon-specific recycling process attribute. However, the controlling and / or monitoring of the recycling process chain can also comprise optimizing one or more parameters of the recycling process chain with respect to the generated carbon-specific recycling process attribute in order to optimize a respective carbon-specific recycling process attribute, for instance, to maximize the carbon-specific recycling process attribute, leading to a reduction of carbon converted to other output materials, in particular, CO2 or waste materials.

[0051] In an embodiment, the one or more output materials associated with respective output material streams are classified as output recycled material or as output lost carbon material, wherein output material is classified as output recycled material if the output material remains in the value chain, wherein output material is classified as output lost carbon material if the output material leaves the value chain, and wherein the carbon-specific recycling process attribute is generated based on the carbon-specific recycling product attributes associated with the output material streams classified as the output recycled material or output lost material. The output recycled material can be any output material that is wanted and usable in the industries or private sector and thus remains in the value chain. For example, the new output recycled material can refer to base materials that are the building blocks of other new materials, can refer to end consumer products, can refer to intermediate products, etc. The output lost carbon material can be any output material that is not BASF SE 240472 usable in the industries or private sector or any output material that is lost to the environment and thus leaves the value chain. For example, the output lost carbon material can be waste material that is used, for instance, for landfilling or it can be CO2 that is emitted to the atmosphere. In some examples, one and the same material can be categorised as output recycled material or as output lost carbon material, depending on the subsequent processing of the material. For instance, whether a material is categorised as output recycled material or as output lost carbon material can depend on the respective definition of the value chain the material is part of. In an example, a material may be produced as part of a first process chain implemented by a first manufacturer. The same material may be produced as part of a second process chain implemented by a second manufacturer. In this example, it may be beneficial for the first manufacturer to use the material as input to another production process, so that when considering the first process chain, the material may be classified as output recycled material. In the same example, it may not be possible for the second manufacturer to use the material as input to another production process, so that when considering the second process chain, the material may be disposed of and may be classified as output lost carbon material accordingly. Whether a material output by a particular process chain remains in the value chain can thus depend on the subsequent processes or process chains. It shall thus be understood that a distinction whether a material remains a part of a value chain can also depend on the definition of the respective value chain.

[0052] The distinction between output recycled carbon material and output lost carbon material allows for generating the carbon-specific recycling process attribute based on the carbonspecific recycling product attributes associated with the output material streams classified as the output recycled material or output lost carbon material. In an embodiment, the carbon-specific recycling process attribute is generated based on comparing the total amount of carbon in the input materials which are recycling materials to the amount of carbon in the output recycled materials or the output lost carbon materials associated with carbon in the recycling materials. For example, comparing can refer to calculating a ratio of an amount of carbon in the output recycled materials and an amount of carbon in the input materials. Equivalently, comparing may refer to calculating a ratio between an amount of carbon obtained by subtracting the amount of carbon in the lost carbon materials from the amount of carbon in the input materials and the amount of carbon in the input materials.

[0053] In an embodiment, a carbon-specific recycling product attribute rCF(O, p) of one output recycled material Opassociated with one output material stream p is calculated as BASF SE 240472 wherein mO pis the amount of carbon in the output recycled material Opassociated with the output material stream p and wherein the denominator sums the amount of carbon in the input materials I, associated with the respective input material streams i, wherein a carbon-specific recycling product attribute lCF O,k) of one output lost carbon material Okassociated with one output material stream k is calculated as

[0054] ICF(O, k) = 100% x (3)

[0055] LimI,i wherein mo kis the amount of carbon in the output lost carbon material Okassociated with the output material stream k and wherein the denominator sums the amount of carbon in the input materials Itassociated with the respective input material streams i, wherein the carbon-specific recycling process attribute rCF(I,O) is calculated as

[0056] The input materials I, are recycling materials comprising carbon atoms and the amounts of carbon mO pand mo kin the output materials Opand Okrefer to carbon associated with the input materials It. Carbon associated with the input materials I, which are recycling materials can particularly refer to carbon that has entered the recycling process chain as part of the input materials It. The amounts of carbon mO pand mo kin the respective output materials Opand Okthus may not refer to carbon which has entered the recycling process chain as part of input materials which are not recycling materials. As explained above, however, the amounts of carbon mO pand mo kreferring to carbon associated with the input materials Ii can thus also refer to an amount of carbon which can be associated with specific input materials, in particular recycling materials, based on mechanistic, statistical or empirical considerations or information about a similar process. It shall be understood that the parameters k and p in equation (4) are indices and, as such, can take multiple values. That is, the summations in equation (4) can, in general, sum over multiple carbon-specific recycling product attributes ICF O, k) and / or multiple carbon-specific recycling product attribute rCF(O,p), preferably, respective carbon-specific attributes that are associated with all respective output material streams k and p, wherein the parameters k and p are the respective indices of summation. BASF SE 240472

[0057] It shall be noted here that a value for a carbon-specific recycling process attribute rCF(1, 0) for the recycling process chain generated according to equations (2), (3) and (4) can depend on characteristics of the recycling process chain. Characteristics of the recycling process chain which may be relevant for generating the carbon-specific recycling process attribute comprise a distinction as to which process steps are still counted as part of the recycling process chain under consideration or, equivalently, which materials produced in the recycling process chain are considered output materials. In particular, a material produced in the recycling process chain is only considered an output material of the recycling process chain if it is not subjected to further processing steps which are considered part of the respective recycling process chain. Materials produced in the recycling product chain which are subjected to further processing steps as part of the respective recycling process chain are thus considered as intermediate products. For the sake of making the generation of the carbon-specific recycling process attribute more tractable, it may be beneficial to calculate a carbon-specific recycling product attribute for intermediate products as well. However, the carbon-specific recycling product attributes for intermediate products do not directly enter any of equations (2), (3) or (4). Output lost carbon materials can always be regarded output materials, as they are, per definition, not subjected to further processing.

[0058] Further characteristics of the recycling process chain which may be relevant for generating the carbon-specific recycling process attribute may comprise, for instance, the origin and characteristics of the input materials and the details of individual processing steps. For example, one or more of the input materials may refer to recycling materials, while the remaining input materials may refer to non-recycling materials. In this example, the carbonspecific recycling process attribute can depend on the relative amounts of recycling materials and non-recycling materials among the input materials.

[0059] In some embodiments, it may be beneficial to only consider some steps of a recycling process chain in detail and other steps only in an effective way. For instance, if a second part of a recycling process chain is configured to process intermediate product materials, one or more of which have already been subjected to upstream recycling processes, which may be regarded a first part of a recycling process chain, it can be beneficial to not consider the details of the upstream recycling processes for generating the carbon-specific recycling process attribute of the full recycling process chain. Instead, it can be beneficial to consider the upstream recycling processes in an effective manner by assigning a carbon-specific recycling product attribute to the intermediate product materials and generate the carbonspecific recycling process attribute forthe full recycling process chain based on the carbonspecific recycling product attribute of the intermediate product materials and the details of the second part of the recycling product chain. The same procedure may be applicable in BASF SE 240472 embodiments of closed loop recycling process chains, in which one of the output recycled materials is an input material for the same recycling process chain. For generating the carbon-specific recycling process attribute of a closed loop recycling process chain, each iteration of the recycling process chain could be seen as one part of a total recycling process chain, wherein all parts are chained together. In practice, it may be beneficial, however, to generate and assign a carbon-specific recycling product attribute to an output recycled material of one iteration of the closed loop recycling process chain and generate the carbon-specific recycling process attribute for the complete recycling process chain based on considering only one iteration of the closed loop recycling process chain and treating the output recycled material as input material with a carbon-specific recycling product attribute. In an example of generating the carbon-specific recycling product attribute rCF O,j) assigned to an output recycled material Oj according to equation (1), rCF O,j) will always be smaller than or equal to 100 %. If rCF O,j) is smaller than 100 %, then each iteration of the closed loop recycling process chain using output recycled material O7as input material can further decrease the value of rCF O,j), if only the recycled carbon is tracked. In this example, it is thus preferred to specify how many iterations of the closed loop recycling process chain are to be considered when generating a value for rCF O,j).

[0060] Using equations (2) to (4) to calculate a carbon-specific recycling process attribute has the advantage that such a calculation is easy to implement and allows for a reliable assessing of the amount of carbon recovered in a recycling process chain.

[0061] In an embodiment, the sum of the carbon-specific recycling product attributes lCF O, k) of the output lost carbon materials lCF O, k) is calculated as fc ICF(O, k) = \CF(O, CO2emission) + ICF( , CO2CCS) + ICF( , residue), (4a) wherein ICF O, CO2emission) refers to the carbon-specific recycling product attribute of CO2 emitted to the atmosphere, ICF O, CO2CCS) refers to the carbon-specific recycling product attribute of captured and stored CO2 by a carbon capture and storage (CCS) process and ICF(O, residue) refers to the sum of the carbon-specific recycling product attributes of remaining residual materials removed from the value chain. Moreover, the sum of the carbon-specific recycling product attributes rCF O, p) of the output recycled materials p rCF^O. p) can be calculated as BASF SE 240472 wherein YCF(O, open loop) refers to the sum of carbon-specific recycling product attributes of materials recycled in an open loop recycling process chain, rCF 0, closed loop) refers to the sum of carbon-specific recycling product attributes of materials recycled in a closed loop recycling process chain and rCF 0, CO2CCU) refers to the carbon-specific recycling product attribute of CO2 utilized in a carbon capture and utilization (CCU) process. These above equations can be utilized for most cases for receiving results that allow for a technical sensible controlling and / or monitoring with respect to the environmental impact.

[0062] In an embodiment, the one or more output materials associated with respective output material streams are classified as output bound carbon material or as output emitted carbon material, wherein output material is classified as output bound carbon material if the output material is not emitted to the atmosphere, wherein output material is classified as output emitted carbon material if the output material is emitted to the atmosphere, and wherein the carbon-specific recycling process attribute is generated based on the carbon-specific recycling product attributes associated with the output material streams classified as output bound carbon material. The output emitted carbon material can be any output material that is emitted to the atmosphere, in particular CO2 that is emitted to the atmosphere. Output bound carbon material can be any output material that is not emitted to the atmosphere, irrespective of whether the output bound carbon material is wanted and usable in the industries or private sector. For instance, output bound carbon material can be output recycled material that is wanted and usable in the industries or private sector and thus remains in the value chain. However, output bound carbon material can also be solid waste material that is used for landfilling or gaseous waste material that is captured and stored in respective facilities and thus leaves the value chain. Considering the amount of carbon emitted to the atmosphere allows for assessing the impact of the output materials on, for instance, the climate. In general, output emitted carbon material can also be regarded a particular kind of output lost carbon material, since material emitted to the atmosphere cannot be part of a value chain anymore. An example for a material that can be classified as output lost carbon material and output emitted carbon material is CO2 that is emitted to the atmosphere. Output bound carbon material, however, can refer to either output recycled material or output lost carbon material. An example for a material that can be classified as output lost carbon material and output bound carbon material is CO2 that is neither emitted to the atmosphere nor used in subsequent processing, but instead captured and stored, for example as part of a CCS process.

[0063] In a further aspect a system is presented for producing an output material associated with a digital asset, the system comprising a) a chemical production network configured to produce the output material, wherein the output material is produced from one or more input BASF SE 240472 materials through one or more chemical processes of the chemical production network, wherein the one or more input materials and the one or more chemical processes are associated with carbon-specific material attributes, and b) a production operating apparatus configured to generate the digital asset by i) generating a carbon-specific product attribute based on the carbon-specific material attributes, ii) providing a decentral identifier associated with the produced output material and iii) linking the decentral identifier to the carbonspecific product attribute associated with the one or more input materials and / or the one or more chemical processes, wherein the decentral identifier is linked to a digital representation of the carbon-specific product attribute, wherein the digital representation includes a representation for accessing the carbon-specific product attribute or parts thereof, and wherein the carbon-specific product attribute is stored in a data base associated with the output material producer for access by an output material user. The carbon-specific material attributes refer to carbon-specific input material attributes and carbon-specific output material attributes, as described above. Moreover, for generating the carbon-specific product attribute the production operating apparatus can utilize the method and / or apparatus for generating the carbon-specific product attribute as described above. The carbon-specific product attribute is preferably a carbon-specific recycling product attribute.

[0064] In an embodiment, the decentral identifier relates to data associated with at least one product produced from the output material, wherein a carbon-specific product attribute associated with the at least one product is derived from one or more carbon-specific product attributes associated with the output material. For instance, the decentral identifier may be linked to the carbon-specific product attribute associated with the at least one product, wherein the carbon-specific product attribute associated with the at least one product is generated based on one or more carbon-specific product attributes associated with the output material.

[0065] In an embodiment, the decentral identifier relates to data associated with at least one product produced from the output material, wherein a carbon-specific process attribute associated with the at least one product is derived from one or more carbon-specific product attributes associated with the output material. For instance, the decentral identifier may be linked to the carbon-specific process attribute associated with the at least one product, wherein the carbon-specific process attribute associated with the at least one product is generated based on one or more carbon-specific product attributes associated with the output material. The carbon-specific process attribute associated with the at least one product can, in particular, be a carbon-specific process attribute for a production process chain involved in producing the at least one product. Preferably, the carbon-specific process at- BASF SE 240472 tribute associated with the at least one product is a carbon-specific recycling process attribute. In particular, the carbon-specific process attribute associated with the at least one product can be a carbon-specific recycling process attribute for a recycling process chain involved in producing the at least one product.

[0066] In an embodiment, the production operating apparatus is configured to gather one or more carbon-specific material attributes associated with the produced output material before, during and / or after production of the output material by the chemical production network.

[0067] In an embodiment, the one or more carbon-specific material attributes associated with input materials are provided before, during and / or after production of the output material by the chemical production network, wherein the carbon-specific material attributes associated with input materials are allocated to at least one process account utilized for generating the carbon-specific product attribute before, during and / or after production of the output material by the chemical production network.

[0068] In a further aspect a method is presented for producing an output material associated with a digital asset, the method comprising a) producing the output material from one or more input materials through one or more chemical processes of a chemical production network, wherein the one or more input materials and the one or more chemical processes are associated with carbon-specific material attributes, and b) generating a carbon-specific product attribute based on the carbon-specific material attributes, c) providing a decentral identifier associated with the produced output material and d) linking the decentral identifier to the carbon-specific product attribute associated with the one or more input materials and / or the one or more chemical processes, wherein the decentral identifier is linked to a digital representation of the carbon-specific product attribute, wherein the digital representation includes a representation for accessing the carbon-specific product attribute or parts thereof, and wherein the carbon-specific product attribute is stored in a data base associated with the output material producer for access by an output material user.

[0069] In a further aspect a method is presented for generating a digital asset associated with an output material, wherein the output material is produced from one or more input materials through one or more chemical processes of a chemical production network, wherein the one or more input materials and the one or more chemical processes are associated with carbon-specific material attributes, the method comprising a) generating a carbon-specific product attribute based on the carbon-specific material attributes, b) providing a decentral identifier associated with the produced output material and c) linking the decentral identifier to the carbon-specific product attribute associated with the one or more input materials BASF SE 240472 and / or the one or more chemical processes, wherein the decentral identifier is linked to a digital representation of the carbon-specific product attribute, wherein the digital representation includes a representation for accessing the carbon-specific product attribute or parts thereof, and wherein the carbon-specific product attribute is stored in a data base associated with the output material producer for access by an output material user, d) providing the digital asset in association with the produced output material, wherein the carbon-specific product attribute associated with the output material is made accessible to a user of the output material through the digital asset.

[0070] In a further aspect a computer element is presented comprising instructions, which when executed by a computing node or a computing system, direct the computing node or computing system to carry out the steps of the method as described above.

[0071] In a further aspect a digital asset is presented as generated according to the method as described above.

[0072] In a further aspect a method is presented for using a digital asset generated according to the method described above for producing a product from an output material associated with the digital asset.

[0073] In a further aspect, a method is presented for generating a carbon-specific recycling product attribute for at least one output material produced by a recycling process chain comprising at least one recycling step, wherein the method comprises a) providing input material data associated with one or more input material streams into the recycling process chain and associated with one or more carbon-specific input material attributes, wherein at least one input material stream includes a recycling material stream including a recycling material to be processed in the recycling process chain for producing one or more output material streams comprising the at least one output material, wherein the recycling material comprises carbon atoms, b) providing output material data associated with one or more output material streams provided by the recycling process chain and associated with one or more carbon-specific output material attributes, c) generating the carbon-specific recycling product attribute for at least one output material based on the carbon-specific input material attributes and the carbon-specific output material attributes, and d) assigning the generated carbon-specific recycling product attribute to the at least one output material.

[0074] All optional features and embodiments described above or in the dependent claims, in particular those optional features and embodiments described above in connection with the BASF SE 240472 method of the first aspect of the invention, are equally applicable, individually or in any technically reasonable combination, to the method according to this further aspect.lt shall be understood that the methods as described above, the apparatuses as described above, the systems as described above and the computer program products as described above have similar and / or identical preferred embodiments, in particular, as defined in the dependent claims.

[0075] It shall be understood that a preferred embodiment of the present invention can also be any combination of the dependent claims or above embodiments with the respective independent claim.

[0076] These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.

[0077] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0078] Fig. 1 a and 1 b show schematically and exemplarily a pyrolysis and cracker process for recycling a material and the interrelation with a method for generating carbon-specific recycling product attributes for the output materials of the recycling process,

[0079] Figs. 2 to 11 show schematically and exemplarily recycling processes for which carbonspecific recycling product attributes and / or carbon-specific recycling process attributes can be generated, and

[0080] FIG. 12 illustrates schematically an example of a chemical production network

[0081] FIG. 13 illustrates schematically an example of attributing material attributes,

[0082] FIG. 14 illustrates schematically an example of a method or apparatus for providing carbon-specific recycling attributes, and

[0083] FIG. 15 illustrates an example of a participant network of a product ecosystem associated with a decentral peer-to-peer network for exchange of data.

[0084] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS BASF SE 240472

[0085] In most industrial production technology areas, particularly in the field of chemical production, the management of waste is known to be based on different waste categories, like recyclable or recycled, reused, renewed, renewable or reusable materials. In the chemical field, these materials may also include biomass-based materials or renewable energybased materials.

[0086] In the area of chemical recycling, the environmental impact contributors of chemical materials or substances are their hydrocarbon content, their heat value, their heteroatom content next to C and H, their FhO-content, their biomass content, their metal content, the molecular weight of their hydrocarbons, their content of composite materials (for example multilayer packages or glass fiber containing wind blades), their overall density, their material-specific density differences, their particle size, their material distribution, their degree of “polymer” cross-linking or their coloration.

[0087] In the chemical production area, so-called chemical recycling approaches, for instance based on pyrolysis processes (for instance, “ChemCycling®” process of BASF SE), gasification processes, depolymerization processes, hydrocracking processes, hydrogenolysis processes, or chemical production processes processing (recycled) intermediates, (recycled) Naphtha and bio-based Naphtha, (recycled) pyrolysis oil, (recycled) syngas, (recycled) monomers, and (recycled) polymers are known. Other known recycling approaches are so-called mechanical or physical recycling approaches, for instance, based on sorting, washing, drying, grinding, re-granulating and dissolution processes.

[0088] The use of recycled materials may have an impact on known “mass-balance” approaches, which allow to determine the use of chemically recycled or bio-based feedstock materials in a final product. In such mass-balance approaches, both recycled and virgin feedstock or bio-based and fossil feedstock materials or renewable and fossil feedstock materials may be used in the production process.

[0089] More particularly, a mass-balance approach allows to determine the mass fraction of the main component of a high-purity organic material. Therefore, a mass-balance approach is a transparent book-keeping process, like a chain-of-custody approach, that allows fortracking the net amount of sustainable materials as these materials move through a production system or a whole value chain or supply chain. The mass-balance approach thus ensures an appropriate allocation of these materials to the finished goods, based on an auditable bookkeeping. BASF SE 240472

[0090] Nowadays, production facilities and plants being used in different industrial production areas, including the underlying energy flow, the underlying logistics and the given infrastructure, are networked together intelligently in an integrated production facility network (such as the “Verbund” system of BASF SE). In such a system, for instance, chemical processes can run in different production plants or facilities. In such a distributed way, the underlying chemical processes can run in a resource-efficient way with lower energy consumption and higher yields.

[0091] In the case of an integrated chemical production facilities system, the complete value chain of such an integrated chemical production facility includes, for instance, at least one steam cracker and a synthesis gas plant. In this value chain, underlying chemical products may be further processed into a multitude of commercial products through further production process steps. Hereby it is aimed that nothing is wasted in the entire production process, what can be achieved in that any by-products of one facility may serve another facility as a valuable input material.

[0092] Known “integrated chemical production facilities systems” also may comprise efficient value chains that extend from basic chemicals to high-value-added products, such as coatings or crop protection agents. Also in this scenario, the by-products of one plant can be used as the starting materials of another. In such an integrated chemical production facilities system, the underlying chemical processes consume less energy, produce higher product yields and conserve resources. In that manner, raw materials and energy can be saved, emissions minimized, logistics costs cut and production-related synergies exploited.

[0093] An integrated chemical production facilities system (or network) thus ensures competitive supply of key products to all segments with value chains rooted in the integrated chemical production facilities system. Hereby it is distinguished between a "technology network" and a "digital network". A "technology network" leverages technological advantages across all segments by breadth, impact and best in class expertise, e.g., biotech sciences, catalysis, formulation platform. A "digital network" systematically uses and harvests the huge advantages and potential offered by digitalization throughout an integrated chemical production facilities system, e.g. with respect to data management, scale, artificial intelligence, etc.

[0094] Fig. 1 a shows schematically and exemplarily a workflow of a method for generating a carbon-specific recycling product attribute for at least one output material produced by a recycling process chain comprising at least one recycling step. The method comprises in a step providing input material data associated with one or more input material streams into the BASF SE 240472 recycling process chain and associated with one or more carbon-specific input material attributes to a computer interface. The at least one input material stream includes a recycling material stream including a recycling material to be processed in the recycling process chain for producing one or more output material streams comprising the at least one output material. The recycling material comprises carbon atoms. Further, the method comprises providing output material data associated with one or more output material streams provided by the recycling process chain and associated with one or more carbon-specific output material attributes to the computer interface. In a next step, the method comprises generating the carbon-specific recycling product attribute for at least one output material based on the carbon-specific input material attributes and the carbon-specific output material attributes. The generated carbon-specific recycling product attribute is then assigned to the at least one output material.

[0095] Referring now to US 2022 / 0402860 A1 , as depicted in Fig. 1 b, a mentioned pyrolysis and cracker process is described in more detail as part of the technology network. In this chemical production scenario, recycled products are produced after a cracker 20, e.g. cracking furnace, and separated accordingly by means of a separator or fractionator 30. More particularly, in Fig. 1 b a process for employing a recycled content pyrolysis oil composition (r- PyOil) to make one or more recycled content compositions into r-compositions is illustrated. Of course, herein shown are only some of many products that can then be manufactured. Further it has to be mentioned that the shown mixed feedstocks can be fed into the cracker simultaneously and / or mixed beforehand and then fed in as a mixed feedstock.

[0096] The one or more recycled content compositions may be ethylene, propylene, BTX, C4 hydrocarbons and butadiene, in addition to miscellaneous saturated and heavy compounds. The waste for recycling may be subjected to pyrolysis in pyrolysis unit 10 to produce a pyrolysis product or effluent comprising a recycled content pyrolysis oil composition (“r- PyOil”). The r-PyOil may be fed to a cracker 20, along with a non-recycled cracker feed, e.g., propane, ethane, and / or natural gasoline including so-called naphtha. A recycled content cracked effluent (“r-Cracked Effluent”) may be produced from the cracker and then may be subjected to separation in a separation train, e.g. a separator or a fractionator 30.

[0097] Further Fig. 1 b shows schematically and exemplary as part of the digital network the generation of a carbon-specific recycling process attribute as described in Fig. 1 a that can be utilized for controlling and / or monitoring of the recycling process chain and determining the efficiency of the recycling process. The connection of the recycling process chain with the digital processing of the data in order to generate the carbon-specific recycling product attributes and to control and / or monitor the respective recycling process chain based on BASF SE 240472 the carbon-specific recycling product attributes is shown schematically above the processing steps of the recycling process chain and connected to the respective recycling process steps. The input material stream, in this example referring to waste for recycling, is associated in the digital domain with input material data. The input material data can refer, for instance, to an identifier of the input material, an amount of the input material and to an indicator of the carbon content of the input material. Also, the output material of the recycling process, here the recycled materials, for instance, propylene, ethylene, BTX, C4 hydrocarbons and butadiene, are each associated in the digital domain with output material data. The output material data for these output material streams can also refer to respective product identifiers, amounts of material produced and the respective carbon content of the respective output material stream. The input material data and the output material data can then be utilized to determine a respective carbon content of the input material streams and the output material streams of the recycling process chain as carbon-specific input and output material attributes. Based on the carbon-specific input and output material attributes, the carbon-specific recycling product attributes can be generated as will be described in more detail in the following.

[0098] For example, the carbon-specific recycling product attribute can refer to a simple number (0-100%) that absolutely indicates how much carbon of the input recycling material is found in the output products, i.e. the carbon-specific recycling product attribute can be an indicator for a resource efficient, C-based circular economy. Energy consumption, transportation, etc. are not considered, in contrast to a product carbon footprint. CO2 emissions in the chemical process can account for carbon loss, if no Carbon (dioxide) Capture and Utilization (CCU) is performed. Storage of residues and Carbon (dioxide) Capture and Storage (CCS) can also account for carbon loss but are not harmful to the climate as no CO2 is emitted into the atmosphere. Thus, in other embodiments such residues or CO2 that is stored can be regarded as output materials and treated accordingly. Generally, the carbonspecific recycling product attribute allows to distinguish the types of carbon loss, enlightens and explains the efficiency of recycling processes, understandable for non-experts.

[0099] A carbon-specific recycling product attribute can, for instance, be generated for individual products to be recycled, e.g. closed loop recycling of PA6. Closed loop recycling refers to a recycling process chain, in which an output material is identical or at least very similar to a recycling material that is used as input material. Open loop recycling refers to a recycling process chain, in which an output material is different from the recycling materials that are used as input material. Closed loop recycling may require that an output material is chemically identical or at least very similar to a recycling material that is used as input material. Closed loop recycling may also include a specific application or specific characteristics, for BASF SE 240472 instance physical properties, in addition to the chemical identity of the recycling material that is used as input material and the respective output material. In that respect, a process where the recycled output material does not have the original characteristics and is not suitable for the original application is not considered as closed loop but as open loop recycling. Additionally or alternatively a sum of individual carbon-specific recycling product attributes of all closed and open loop products at the end of the value chain and originating from the recycling processes of the given recycling material can be generated as carbonspecific recycling process attribute.

[0100] For example the carbon-specific recycling process attribute can be generated by utilizing the difference between the carbon content of the input materials and the output materials. A possible equation for calculating the carbon-specific recycling process attribute for a recycling process chain can be: rCF(I, 0) = 100% - fc ICF( , k) = 100% - [1CF(O, CO2emission) + ICF O, CO2CCS) + ICF(O, residue)], (5) wherein rCF(I, 0) is the carbon-specific recycling process attribute, ICF(O, CO2emission) refers to the carbon-specific recycling product attribute of CO2 emitted to the atmosphere, ICF O, CO2CCS) refers to the carbon-specific recycling product attribute of captured and stored CO2 by a carbon capture and storage (CCS) process, ICF(O, residue) refers to the sum of the carbon-specific recycling product attributes of remaining residual materials removed from the value chain. Residues might be used, for instance, for landfilling, etc. The carbon in residues, which re-enter chemical value chains, is not regarded as being lost. Such residues can thus be referred to as products as well, i.e. no negative ICF O, residue) is deducted from the rCF(I, 0) for these products. Alternatively, in particular for recycling process chains with multiple resulting output materials, it may be beneficial to reformulate equation (5) as: rCF(I, 0) = rCF(O, open loop) + rCF(0, closed loop) + rCF(0, C02CCU), (6) wherein rCF O, open loop) refers to the sum of carbon-specific recycling product attributes of materials recycled in an open loop recycling process chain, rCF 0, closed loop) refers to the sum of carbon-specific recycling product attributes of materials recycled in a closed loop recycling process chain, rCF 0, C02CCU) refers to the carbon-specific recycling product attribute of CO2 utilized in a carbon capture and utilization (CCU) process. For an individual output recycled material the equation can be formulated as: BASF SE 240472 wherein rCF O, p) refers to the individual carbon-specific recycling product attribute for an output recycled material product Opthat is obtained and Z ' t rCF^O, i) refers to the sum of all carbon-specific recycling product attributes as calculated by equation (2) of all remaining output recycled materials O, that are obtained at the end of the recycling process chain(s). The such generated carbon-specific recycling product attributes or carbon-specific recycling process attributes offer another dimension of sustainability assessment, as e.g. low- PCF recycling processes do not necessarily include high recycling rates regarding carbon.

[0101] The respectively generated carbon-specific recycling product attributes can then be assigned to the respective output material, for instance, to recycled propylene resulting from a cracking process, in particular steam cracking process, of a recycling material. Moreover, the generated one or more carbon-specific recycling product attributes can then be utilized for controlling and / or monitoring the respective recycling process chain, for instance, continuously or with respect to the next production batch. The controlling and / or monitoring can refer to each of the steps of the recycling process chain, for instance, the pyrolysis step, the cracker, in particular steam cracker, step or the separation step; even the step of selecting the respective to-be recycled input materials can be controlled.

[0102] Additionally, based on the carbon-specific recycling product attributes of the output materials, for instance, ethylene, propylene, BTX, C4 hydrocarbons and butadiene, a carbonspecific recycling process attribute for the total recycling process chain can be generated, for instance, by adding the respective carbon content indicated by the attributes as indicated above. In this way, it can be determined how much of the carbon content in the waste for recycling, but not from the non-recycled cracker feed, has been converted into output material streams. If less than 100% of the carbon have been converted, carbon has been lost either as CO2 or as other waste materials. Thus, the recycling process chain can be optimized with respect to the carbon-specific recycling process attribute in order to increase the efficiency of the recycling process chain and to decrease the CO2 or other carbonbased waste production.

[0103] In the following Figs. 2 to 11 different examples for the generation of carbon-specific recycling product attributes and carbon-specific recycling process attributes are provided. In the examples below the nomenclature of some of the quantities has been simplified for an BASF SE 240472 increased readability. In the following examples the carbon-specific recycling process attribute are referred to as process recycling carbon factor (rCFprocess) that generally is equal to rCF(l,O) as described above and the carbon-specific recycling product attributes are referred to as recycling carbon factor (rCF) that is generally equal to rCF(O,j) or, if the recycling carbon factor refers to output recycled materials, to rCF(O,p). Further, a carbonspecific recycling product attribute referring to an output lost carbon material is referred to as lost carbon factor (ICF) that is generally equal to ICF(O,k). Moreover, in the following, ICFresidues maps to IC F (0.residue') , ICFco2 maps to 1CF(O, CO2emission), and ICFccs maps to ICF(O, CO2CCS). Further, rCFciosed loop maps to rCF O, closed loop), and rCFopen loop to rCF O, open loop). Carbon-specific recycling product attributes of CO2 utilized in a carbon capture and utilization (CCU) process rCF 0, CO2CCU) are in the examples not distinguished from other carbon-specific recycling product attributes.

[0104] Fig. 2 shows a first example of a closed loop recycling of polyamide 6. The numbers denote the weight percentage of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen in the respective products. Further, the amount of the respective product for these examples given as the weight of the product is provided to allow for an easy understanding of the generation of the final attributes. This example showcases a simple recycling process for closed loop recycling of polyamide-6 using a depolymerization process without any additional carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technology. Starting from 1000.0 kg polyamide-6 (polycaprolactam, PA6) waste material, containing 63.7% = 637.0 kg of carbon, a depolymerization process, e.g. acidic / alkaline / neutral hydrolysis, alcoholysis, enzymatic hydrolysis, is performed to recover 850.0 kg of caprolactam, containing 541.45 kg of carbon, corresponding to a rCF value of 541 .45 kg 1 637.0 kg = 85.0%. Note that due to virtually identical elemental composition of PA6 and caprolactam, a direct correlation of the total mass to the rCF is possible. During workup a part of the waste material is lost as solid residue (100.0 kg containing 66.8 % = 66.8 kg carbon) that cannot be further purified next to other side reactions that lead to another 50.0 kg, containing 57.8 % = 28.9 kg carbon, fraction is lost as volatiles that are burned off as CO2. For the calculation of the ICF values of the individual lost material streams a carbon content is determined at first to calculate the values (ICF = lost Carbon Factor). As shown, forthe volatiles, a ICFco2 value of 4.5% (= 28.9 kg / 637.0 kg) is obtained and for the solid residues, the ICFresidues is 10.5% (= 66.8 kg I 637.0 kg). In a subsequent step, the purified caprolactam is polymerized to yield recycled PA6 material in quantitative yield thus leading to a closed loop recycled Carbon Factor, rCFciosed ioop, of 85.0%. The total process related recycled Carbon Factorforthis whole process chain, rCFprocess, is also 85%. This is equal to the following calculation: rCFprocess = 100% - Z[ICFco2] - Z[ICFresidues] = 100% - 4.5% - 10.5% = 85.0%. BASF SE 240472

[0105] Fig. 3 shows schematically and exemplarily an example of a more complex recycling process chain comprising carbon capture and utilization processes. This example showcases a simple recycling process for closed loop recycling of polyamide-6 using a depolymerization process with an additional carbon capture and utilization (CCU) step for increasing the process rCFprocess. Starting from 1000.0 kg polyamide-6 (polycaprolactam, PA6) waste material, containing 63.7% = 637.0 kg of carbon, a depolymerization process, e.g. acidic / alka- line / neutral hydrolysis, alcoholysis, enzymatic hydrolysis, is performed to recover 850.0 kg of caprolactam, containing 541 .45 kg of carbon, corresponding to a rCF value of 85.0%. During workup a part of the waste material is lost as solid residue (100.0 kg containing 66.8 % = 66.8 kg carbon) that cannot be further purified next to other side reactions that lead to another 50.0 kg, containing 57.8 % = 28.9 kg carbon, fraction is lost as volatiles that are burned off as CO2. As elaborated in the first example, corresponding factors for solid residues and volatiles are 10.5% and 4.5%, respectively. Yet, in contrast to the first example, a CCU strategy is applied for the volatiles and thus this output stream is not considered as ICF but as a rCF, resulting in a rCF value of 4.5% for the volatiles and a ICFresidues value of 10.5% for the residues In a subsequent step the purified caprolactam is polymerized to yield recycled PA6 material in quantitative yield thus leading to a closed loop recycled Carbon Factor, rCFciosed loop, of 85.0%.

[0106] The 50.0 kg volatile side products are incinerated with 147.0 kg oxygen and the resulting CO2 is separated from the other reaction products. 100.6 kg of CO2 with a carbon content of 27.3% or 27.5 kg are obtained that refer to a rCF value of 4.3%. 96.4 kg of by-products are generated that contain 1.5 kg of carbon translating into an ICFco2 of 0.2%. The 100.6 kg of CO2 are electrolyzed in a high temperature CO2 electrolyzer to form 62.1 kg of carbon monoxide and 38.5 kg of by-products. The carbon monoxide contains 26.6 kg of carbon thus translating into a rCFopen loop value of 4.2% while the by-products contain 0.8 kg of carbon that are incinerated to form CO2, thus translating into a ICFco2 value of 0.1 %. The total process related rCF for this whole process chain looked at, rCFprocess, hence is 85.0% + 4.3% = 89.3%. This is equal to the following calculation: rCFprocess = 100% - Z[ICFco2] - Z[ICFresidues] = 100% - 0.1 % - (10.5% + 0.2%) = 89.3%.

[0107] Fig. 4 shows another example of polyamide-6 recycling. This example showcases a simple recycling process for closed loop recycling of polyamide-6 using a depolymerization process with an additional carbon capture and storage (CCS) step. Starting from 1000.0 kg polyamide-6 (polycaprolactam, PA6) waste material, containing 63.7% = 637.0 kg of carbon, a depolymerization process, e.g. acidic / alkaline / neutral hydrolysis, alcoholysis, enzymatic hydrolysis, is performed to recover 850.0 kg of caprolactam, containing 541.45 kg of carbon, corresponding to a rCF value of 85.0%. During workup a part of the waste material BASF SE 240472 is lost as solid residue (100.0 kg containing 66.8 % = 66.8 kg carbon) that cannot be further purified next to other side reactions that lead to another 50.0 kg, containing 57.8 % = 28.9 kg carbon, fraction is lost as volatiles that are burned off as CO2. As elaborated in the first example, corresponding factors for solid residues and volatiles are 10.5% and 4.5%, respectively. Yet, in contrast to the first example, a CCS strategy will be applied for the volatiles and thus this output stream is not considered as ICF but as a rCF, resulting in a rCF value of 4.5% for the volatiles and a ICFresidues value of 10.5% for the residues. In a subsequent step the purified caprolactam is polymerized to yield recycled PA6 material in quantitative yield thus leading to a closed loop recycled Carbon Factor, rCFciosed loop, of 85.0%.

[0108] As mentioned above, the 50.0 kg volatile side products are incinerated with 147.0 kg oxygen and the resulting CO2 is separated from the other reaction products. 100.6 kg of CO2 with a carbon 27.3% or 27.5 kg are obtained that refer to a rCF value of 4.3%. 96.4 kg of by-products are generated that contain 1 .5 kg of carbon translating into an ICFco2 of 0.2%. The 100.6 kg of CO2 are subsequently transported to a carbon dioxide storage site (optional step) and injected into deep underground where the CO2 is permanently kept preventing further emissions. As no further usage of the carbon is intended, this quantity of carbon is considered as lost, thus accounting for a ICFccs value of 4.3%. The total process related rCF for this whole process chain looked at, rCFprocess, hence is 85.0%. This is equal to the following calculation: rCFprocess = 100% - Z[ICFco2] - Z[ICFresidues] - Z[ICFccs] = 100% - 0% - (10.5% + 0.2%) - 4.3% = 85.0%.

[0109] Fig. 5 shows an example for mechanical recycling tracking only the carbon from the recycled materials. For mechanical recycling, in this case a polyethylene mulch film used in farming, a three step recycling process is shown, involving multiple companies throughout the process. The process for PE mulch film, e.g. mechanical, recycling starts with the collection of the end-of-life films from farmers by a first company A (PE = Polyethylene). 600.0 kg of waste PE mulch film, containing 85.66% = 514.0 kg of carbon, is washed and shredded to obtain 570.0 kg of washed PE flakes, corresponding to a rCF of 95.0%. During the washing step, a reject fraction of 30.0 kg of PE is sorted out that is not suitable for recycling. Thus, 25.7 kg of carbon are lost and burnt, leading to CO2 emissions that account for a ICFCO2 of 5.0%. Company B receives 570.0 kg of washed PE flakes from Company A and refines the properties of the material in a regranulation step to produce recycled PE granules. In order to reach required material specifications for PE mulch films, e.g. mechanical properties, processing requirements, etc, one or more masterbatches containing different additives are added in a compounding step. Since these masterbatches contain carbon, yet no recycled carbon, the 15.0 kg of masterbatches, corresponding to 12.74 kg carbon, do not account for recycled carbon and have, in this example, hence no rCF value BASF SE 240472

[0110] (rCF = 0%). Consequently, the rCF value of the recycled PE granules does not change and stays at 95.0%, although the mass is increased from 570.0 to 585.0 kg. Company C obtains the recycled PE granules from Company B and prepares the final product, recycled PE mulch films in a film blowing step. For film blowing one or more masterbatches are added to further tune the properties according to specific demands of Company C, e.g. color pigments, stabilization, etc. Also in this case, the 30.0 kg of masterbatches do not contribute, in this example, to the rCF value although a portion of 25.44 kg of carbon is added to the product. Thus, the 615.0 kg of recycled PE mulch film that is obtained has an unchanged rCF of 95.0%. Consequently, the process rCF for the total chain from waste PE mulch film to recycled PE mulch film is rCFprocess = 95.0%. As shown in this case, the relevant information is exchanged between the individual companies in order to allow for correct rCF calculation.

[0111] Fig. 6 shows another example for mechanical recycling tracking only the carbon from the recycled materials. Paper recycling is shown as another three step process that does not involve a chemical breakdown of the structure and is a type of physical recycling. For recycling of waste paper, at first a shredding, washing, and deinking step is performed to remove undesired fractions. Starting from 1000.0 kg of waste paper with a carbon content of 430.0 kg, the first process step sorts out 100.0 kg of reject with a carbon content of 29.5 kg. As this fraction is incinerated and eventually generates CO2, a ICFco2 of 6.9% is noted. The major product, crude pulp, is generated in 900.0 kg (C content 44.5% = 400.5 kg) and correlates to a rCF value of 93.1 %. The crude pulp generated in the first step is refined and bleached in a second step to obtain refined pulp. The bleaching step can be done with different technologies, e.g. with elemental chlorine, with chlorine dioxide, with dithionites, with hydrogen peroxides, or with ozone. Refining 900.0 kg of crude pulp requires 32.0 kg of hydrogen peroxide to produce 864.0 kg of refined pulp (C content 44.0%), correlating to a rCF value of 88.4% (380.16 kg C / 430.0 kg C). As a side product, 68.0 kg of by-products are formed that are burned to ultimately lead to CO2 emissions with a ICFco2 value of 4.7%. The final step for preparing recycled paper starts with the refined pulp that enters a paper making step. In this step, the 864.0 kg of refined pulp are further refined with 12.0 kg of paper making additives to give the recycled paper (C content 43.7%) the desired properties (e.g. gloss, hydrophobicity, etc.). Note that, although the additives contain carbon, this fraction is not contributing to the rCF value as it holds no recycled carbon content. In the paper making step, 827.0 kg of recycled paper are generated. For the calculation of a rCF closed loop value it can be taken into account how much of the additive derived carbon ends up in the recycled paper as the atoms themselves cannot be distinguished from each other. In this case, 95% of the carbon from the additives is processed into the recycled paper and thus a rCFciosed loop value of 82.9% is calculated as follows: 827.0 kg * 43.7% C = 361 .40 kg of C BASF SE 240472 in recycled paper; from the total carbon content, the fraction of additives is subtracted: 12.0 kg * 44.0% C * 95% selectivity = 5.02 kg of C; thus the recycled carbon content in the recycled paper is 361 .40 - 5.02 = 356.38 kg 356.38 kg 1430.0 kg = rCFciosed loop = 82.9%. As a by-product (residue) that ends up in incineration (= formation of CO2), 49.0 kg are generated with a carbon content of 49.1 %. As elaborated before, the carbon fraction derived from the additives need to be subtracted for calculation of ICF values: 49.0 kg byproducts * 49.1 % C = 24.06 kg C in by-products; 12.0 kg additives * 44.0% C * 5% selectivity = 0.26 kg C derived from additives; 24.06 kg C in by-products - 0.26 kg C derived from additives = 23.80 kg C in by-products derived from recycling 23.80 kg I 430 kg = ICFCO2 = 5.5%. In summary, the process related rCF in this example is rCFprocess = 82.9%. This is equal to the following calculation: rCFprocess = 100% - Z[ICFco2] - Z[ICFresidues] = 100% - (6.9% + 4.7%) - 5.5% = 82.9%.

[0112] Fig. 7 shows an example of waste wood recycling tracking the recycled carbon content. In case of wood recycling, for instance, based on waste wood from construction, containing residues of paint and inorganics, e.g. nails, metals, etc., a three step process is elaborated to generate a medium density fiberboard (MDF) based on recycled wood. 1000.0 kg of waste wood with a carbon content of 497.0 kg is shredded, washed and sorted to obtain 900.0 kg of wood chips with a carbon content of 450.0 kg, translating to a rCF of 90.5%. The 100.0 kg reject fraction is comprising 47.0 kg of C and is incinerated to eventually generate CO2, leading to a ICFco2 value of 9.5%. In a next step, the wood chips are further processed by e.g. mechanical or chemical processes to obtain refined wood chips. In case of mechanical processing the 900.0 kg crude wood chips are converted into 855.0 kg of refined wood chips with a virtually unchanged composition, thus leading to a rCF value of 86.0%. The fines and residues are sorted out and overall 45.0 kg of material is burnt and lost as CO2. As the composition of the by-product remains unchanged, a ICFco2 of 4.5% is obtained. For the preparation of a medium density fiberboard, the refined wood chips are treated with MDF additives, e.g. urea formaldehyde resins, in a MDF process. For 855.0 kg of refined wood chips, 94.0 kg of additives are used that are not accounting for rCF, thus the rCFopen loop value of the MDF plate (C content 49.4%) remains unchanged at 86.0% albeit the total carbon content of the 949.0 kg of MDF went up from 427.5 kg to 468.8 kg. The process rCF value rCFprocess for this open loop recycling thus is 86.0%. This is equal to the following calculation: rCFprocess = 100% - Z[ICFco2] - Z[ICFresidues] = 100% - (9.5% + 4.5%) - 0.0% = 86.0%.

[0113] Fig. 8 shows an example of tracking recycled carbon through a multistep recycling process. In case of closed loop chemical recycling of PE, a multistep process is performed that also leads to open loop recycled products. 1000.0 kg of waste polyethylene (PE) flakes or BASF SE 240472 shreds, containing 857.0 kg of carbon, are fed into a pyrolysis step to yield 699.5 kg of pyrolysis oil with a carbon content of 86.0%, translating into a rCF of 70.2%. The residual material is lost during pyrolysis as pyrolysis char (150.4 kg total mass, containing 149.9 kg C, ICFresidue = 17.5%) and as non-condensable pyrolysis gas (150.1 kg total mass, 105.5 kg C, ICFCO2 = 12.3%). After pyrolysis, the 699.5 kg of purified pyrolysis oil is entering a steam cracking process to be cracked down into several smaller fragments that are used as building blocks for successive downstream production. In total, the pyrolysis oil is converted into 203.0 kg of ethylene (carbon content 174.0 kg; rCF = 20.3%), 133.0 kg of propylene (carbon content 111.3 kg; rCF = 13.0%), 70.0 kg of aromatic compounds (“rBTX”, mixture of mainly benzene, toluene, xylene; carbon content 63.9 kg; rCF = 7.5%), 112.0 kg of butadiene and butenes (“rC4”, mixture of 1 -butene, 2-butene, isobutene, and butadiene; carbon content 96.0 kg; rCF = 11 .2%), 105.0 kg of saturated hydrocarbons (mixture of methane, ethane, propane and higher linear and branched hydrocarbons until 9 carbon atoms; carbon content 85.9 kg; rCF = 10.0%), 35.0 kg of heavies (mixture of saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons with 10 or more carbon atoms; carbon content 29.3 kg; rCF = 3.4%), as well as 41 .5 kg of char as a side product (undefined carbon-rich deposit due to overcracking; total carbon content 41.2 kg; ICFco2 = 4.8%). While for all product streams from steam cracking one or more downstream valorization possibilities can be listed, only for ethylene and propylene concrete pathways are shown. For ethylene, a transition metal catalyzed coordination insertion polymerization is performed to yield 203.0 kg of closed loop recycled polyethylene (carbon content 174.0 kg; rCFciosed loop = 20.3%). In a similar polymerization reaction, propylene is reacted to 133.0 kg open loop recycled polypropylene (carbon content 111.3 kg; rCF = 13.0%). Assuming that all other product streams are entering their respective value chains, the other rCF values can be combined in a sum parameter to have a combined rCFopen loop value of 45.1 %. In combination with rCFciosed loop from rPE this results in a rCFprocess of 65.4%. This is equal to the following calculation: rCFprocess = 100% - Z[ICFcO2] - Z[ICFresidues] = 100% - (12.3% + 4.8%) - 17.5% = 65.4%.

[0114] Fig. 9 shows an example for tracking recycled carbon in an open loop recycling process. In case of open loop chemical recycling of waste PBT to PE or PP, a multistep process comprising pyrolysis and steam cracking. 1000.0 kg of waste polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) with a carbon content of 655.0 kg is entering the pyrolysis step to prepare 258.0 kg of purified pyrolysis oil with a carbon content of 221.9 kg, resulting in a rCF of 33.9%. The high content of heteroatoms (especially oxygen) leads to formation of oxygenates and carbon monoxide and dioxide that is removed and lost as CO2 (pyrolysis gas, 403.0 kg total mass and 164.4 kg of C; ICFco2 = 25.1 %) whereas the aromatic units in the feedstock lead to coking and formation of a solid pyrolysis char as residue (total mass 339.0 kg, carbon content of 269.2 kg; ICFresidue = 41 .0%). The purified pyrolsis oil enters a steam cracker step BASF SE 240472 to be cracked down into several smaller fragments that are used as building blocks for successive downstream production. In total, the pyrolysis oil is converted into 74.8 kg of ethylene (carbon content 64.1 kg; rCF = 9.8%), 49.0 kg of propylene (carbon content 41 .0 kg; rCF = 6.3%), 26.0 kg of aromatic compounds (mixture of mainly benzene, toluene, xylene; carbon content 23.7 kg; rCF = 3.6%), 41 .0 kg of butadiene and butenes (mixture of 1 -butene, 2-butene, isobutene, and butadiene; carbon content 35.1 kg; rCF = 5.4%), 39.0 kg of saturated hydrocarbons (mixture of methane, ethane, propane and higher linear and branched hydrocarbons until 9 carbon atoms; carbon content 31.9 kg; rCF = 4.9%), 12.8 kg of heavies (mixture of saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons with 10 or more carbon atoms; carbon content 10.7 kg; rCF = 1 .6%), as well as 15.4 kg of char as a side product (undefined carbon-rich deposit due to overcracking; total carbon content 15.3 kg; ICFCO2 = 2.3%). While for all product streams from steam cracking one or more downstream valorization possibilities can be listed, only for ethylene and propylene concrete pathways are shown. For ethylene, a transition metal catalyzed coordination insertion polymerization is performed to yield 74.8 kg of open loop recycled polyethylene (carbon content 64.3 kg; rCFopen loop = 9.8%). In a similar polymerization reaction, propylene is reacted to 49.0 kg open loop recycled polypropylene (carbon content 41.0 kg; rCFopen loop = 6.3%). Assuming that all other product streams are entering their respective value chains, the other rCF values can be combined in a sum parameter: Z[rCFopen loop] = rCFprocess = 9.8% + 6.3% + 3.6% + 5.4% + 4.9% + 1 .6% = 31 .6%. This is equal to the following calculation: rCFprocess = 100% - Z[ICFCO2] - Z[ICFresidues] = 100% - (25.1 % +2.3%) 41 .0% = 31 .6%.

[0115] Fig. 10 shows an example in which not only the recycling material provides carbon input but also non-recycling materials provide carbon of fossil origin. In some cases of recycling processes, there is a non-recycling based material stream that is introduced at any step into the process and a “mixture” of recycling- and virgin-carbon is obtained. In case of an open loop polyethylene recycling, the process starts with 342.0 kg of waste polyethylene, containing 293.1 kg of carbon. In a gasification step, this material is converted into 748.0 kg of syngas with a carbon content of 263.3 kg, thus relating to a rCF of 89.9%. During the process 439.8 kg of water (steam) is added to the reactor and 40.2 kg of hydrogen is added to the syngas stream, and the missing 10.1 % of carbon is lost as off-gas and incinerated (74.0 kg, carbon content of 29.6 kg; ICFco2= 10.1 %). The 748.0 kg of syngas are then turned into 692.0 kg of methanol with a carbon content of 259.5 kg (rCF = 88.5%). As a side reaction, 56.0 kg of by-products are formed with a carbon content of 4.1 kg (ICFco2 = 1 .4%). The 692.0 kg of methanol are oxidized in a Formox step to yield 629.0 kg of formaldehyde with a carbon content of 251.6 kg (rCF = 85.8%). For the oxidation, 335.5 kg of oxygen are needed and 398.5 kg of off-gas are produced with a carbon content of 7.9 kg that are burned to eventually generate CO2 (ICFco2= 2.7%). In the next step, the 629.0 kg BASF SE 240472 of formaldehyde are ethynylated with 250.0 kg of virgin (fossil) acetylene that does not contain any recycled carbon (general carbon content = 230.8 kg; recycled carbon content = 0 kg). The reaction product, butynediol, is formed in 812.0 kg and has a carbon content of 453.1 kg. As recycled carbon cannot be distinguished from virgin carbon, it is preferred that a statistical approach is utilized for determining the fractions of carbon in the respective material for calculation of the rCF. For example, due to careful control of the material input and output streams of the process step it is well known which fraction of the different input streams ends up in which output stream. In this case, 241.9 kg of carbon originating from the 251 .6 kg of carbon in the input formaldehyde stream ends up in the butynediol, thus a formaldehyde to butynediol carbon selectivity of 96.1 % is evident and furthermore a rCF of 82.6% in the butynediol can be calculated. The remaining carbon is found in the by-products, albeit also here a mixture of virgin fossil carbon and recycled carbon is present. Thus, the 67.0 kg of by-product contain 29.1 kg of carbon in general with a recycled carbon share of 9.7 kg (= 251 ,6 kg - 241 .9 kg). This byproduct can be counted as residue with ICFresidue = 3.3%. The 812.0 kg of butynediol are hydrogenated to yield 795.1 kg of 1 ,4-butanediol. Starting from this step, preferably respective information on the history of the materials is taken into account to track the recycled carbon. Since out of the 453.2 kg of carbon from the input stream only 241 .9 kg are considered as recycling carbon, this relates to a fraction of 53.4%. This factor can be used in order to calculate the recycled carbon content of the products and side products. For 1 ,4-butanediol, this means 423.9 kg of general carbon and 226.3 kg of recycled carbon, resulting in a rCF of 77.2%. As by-products (residues), 54.9 kg are generated containing 29.3 kg of carbon in general and 15.7 kg of recycled carbon, thus resulting in a ICFresidue value of 5.3%. For the sake of completeness it is mentioned that for the hydrogenation 38.0 kg of hydrogen are consumed. In a cyclization step, the 795.1 kg of 1 ,4-butanediol are turned into 621 .1 kg of tetrahydrofuran (THF) by dehydration. With the same factor (see above, 53.4%) applied, the recycled carbon content of THF is 220.9 kg (rCF = 75.4%). As a side product, a stream of 174.0 kg is obtained that contains 5.4 kg of recycled carbon and thus translates into a ICFco2 value of 1 .8% after combustion. In the last step, the 621.1 kg of THF are polymerized in a ring-opening polymerization to obtain 621 .1 kg of polyTHF, virtually quantitatively. As the recycled carbon content remains unchanged, so does the rCF value and a final rCF value of 75.4% is obtained. For the complete process a rCFprocess value of 75.4% is obtained. This is equal to the following calculation: rCFprocess = 100% - Z[ICFCO2] - Z[ICFresidues] = 100% - (10.1 % + 1 .4% + 2.7% + 1 .8%) - (3.3% + 5.3%) = 75.4%.

[0116] Fig. 11 shows an example fortracking recycled carbon in a recycling process with a second recycling material input stream. Generally, it is also possible that a second input material stream from a different recycling process is entering the process chain at a later stage. In BASF SE 240472 this example, the process from Fig. 10 is adapted to cover this case by switching fossil acetylene with recycled acetylene. For clarity and simplicity reasons the novel part of the origin of the recycled acetylene is omitted. Nonetheless, some words on the general considerations follow. An exemplary process for “waste to acetylene” can start from PE to prepare syngas (cf. step 1 in Fig. 11) that can be processed to methane (also called “substitute natural gas” (SNG); via methanation step: CO + CH + H2O with 90% C being transformed into methane). The methane can be used as substitute natural gas in a partial oxidation with oxygen to prepare acetylene (converting 30.8% C of methane to acetylene). Depending on the definition of the recycling process, two options are available. In the first option, the acetylene is considered as a second material input stream similar to the waste PE and thus introduces another share of 230.8 kg of carbon to the total carbon used for referencing and calculation of the rCF values. The total quantity of carbon hence is 293.1 + 230.8 = 523.9 kg. In the second possibility, the acetylene is considered as the product from a separate recycling process and thus leads to the extension of the value chain to have two separate waste PE input streams that are combined at the acetylene process step. Forthe second recycling process chain, in summary the following values can be used: 1080.6 kg of PE (926.1 kg of carbon) converted to 2358.8 kg of Syngas (CO:H2 molecular ratio = 1 :3; 831 .9 kg of recycled carbon) converted to 1000.0 kg of methane (748.7 kg of recycled carbon) converted to 250.0 kg of acetylene (230.8 kg of recycled carbon, rCF with respect to this value chain would be 24.9%) and 1496.4 kg of acetylene off-gas (recycled carbon content 518.1 kg) as a by-product that is converted to 1367.0 kg of methanol (recycled carbon content of 512.6 kg, rCF with respect to this value chain would be 55.4%). Hence the total lost carbon is 182.7 kg that can be used to calculate the ICF for this value chain: 100% - 24.9% - 55.4% = 19.7%. For the combined value chains the total quantity of carbon for referencing is 293.1 + 926.1 = 1219.2 kg.

[0117] In the following example, the value chain is extended to go back to the initial waste polymer, polyethylene, also for the acetylene production. Therefore the rCF and ICF values change in comparison to the fossil acetylene example. Here follows the detailed description of the process. In Fig. 1 1 , the process starts with 342.0 kg of waste polyethylene, containing 293.1 kg of carbon. In a gasification step, this material is converted into 748.0 kg of syngas with a carbon content of 263.3 kg, thus relating to a rCF of 21 .6%. During the process 439.8 kg of water (steam) is added to the reactor and 40.2 kg of hydrogen is added to the syngas stream, and the missing 10.1 % of carbon is lost as off-gas and incinerated (74.0 kg, carbon content of 29.6 kg; ICFco2= 2.4%). The 748.0 kg of syngas are then turned into 692.0 kg of methanol with a carbon content of 259.5 kg (rCF = 21.3%). As a side reaction, 56.0 kg of by-products are formed with a carbon content of 4.1 kg (ICFco2 = 0.3%). The 692.0 kg of methanol are oxidized in a Formox step to yield 630.0 kg of formaldehyde with a carbon BASF SE 240472 content of 252.0 kg (rCF = 20.7%). For the oxidation, 336.0 kg of oxygen are needed and 398.0 kg of off-gas are produced with a carbon content of 7.5 kg that are burned to eventually generate CO2 (ICFco2= 0.6%). In the next step, the 630.0 kg of formaldehyde are ethynylated with 250.0 kg of acetylene that originates from a different recycling process (general carbon content = recycled carbon content = 230.8 kg). This second recycling process is not described here in detail, thus the broad arrow is used to indicate that the detailed steps are not shown in Fig. 11. For this second recycling process chain, in summary the following values can be used: 1080.6 kg of PE (926.1 kg of carbon) 2358.8 kg of syngas (CO:H2 molecular ratio = 1 :3; 831 .9 kg of recycled carbon) 1000.0 kg of methane (748.7 kg of recycled carbon) 250.0 kg of acetylene (230.8 kg of recycled carbon) + 1496.4 kg of acetylene off-gas (recycled carbon content 518.1 kg) 1367.0 kg of methanol (recycled carbon content of 512.6 kg, rCF = 42.0%). In this value chain 182.7 kg carbon are lost to yield a ICFco2 of 15.0%. The reaction product, butynediol, is formed in 812.0 kg and has a carbon content of 453.1 kg (rCF = 37.2%). The remaining carbon is found in the 68.0 kg of by-products containing 29.1 kg of carbon (ICFresidue = 2.4%).

[0118] The 812.0 kg of butynediol are hydrogenated to yield 795.1 kg of 1 ,4-butanediol with 423.9 kg of carbon, resulting in a rCF of 34.8%. 54.9 kg of by-products (residues) are generated containing 29.3 kg of carbon, thus resulting in a ICFresidue value of 2.4%. For the sake of completion, it is mentioned that for the hydrogenation 38.0 kg of hydrogen are consumed. In a cyclization step, the 795.1 kg of 1 ,4-butanediol are turned into 621 .1 kg of tetrahydrofuran (THF) by dehydration with 413.8 kg of carbon (rCF = 33.9%). As a side product, a stream of 174.0 kg is obtained that contains 10.1 kg of carbon and thus translates into a ICFCO2 value of 0.8%. In the last step the 621 .1 kg of THF are polymerized in a ring-opening polymerization to obtain 621 .1 kg of polyTHF, virtually quantitatively. As the recycled carbon content remains unchanged, so does the rCF value and a final rCF value of 33.9% is obtained. For the complete process a rCFprocess value of 33.9% + 42.0% = 75.9% is obtained. This is equal to the following calculation: rCFprocess = 100% - Z[ICFco2] - Z[ICFresidues] = 100% - (2.4% + 0.3% + 0.6% + 0.8% + 15.0%) - (2.4% + 2.4%) = 75.9%.

[0119] In the above described example, the recycled carbon, e.g. the carbon originating from the to-be recycled materials, has been utilized for the determination of the carbon-specific recycling product attribute and the carbon-specific recycling process attribute. Since tracking carbon with a specific origin is more complex than simply tracking all carbon throughout the process, these examples were chosen as illustration. Tracking carbon of other origins throughout the process value chain can be performed accordingly. However, also not distinguishing the carbon origin and thus tracking the complete carbon throughout the process can be beneficial. For example, if the carbon-specific recycling product attribute and the BASF SE 240472 carbon-specific recycling process attribute refer to all carbon provided into the process chain, a general efficiency of utilizing the carbon in the process chain can be determined based on the carbon-specific recycling product attribute and the carbon-specific recycling process attribute. Since tracking the whole carbon content is much simpler than tracking carbon of a specific origin, respective examples are omitted.

[0120] Based on the carbon-specific recycling product attribute and the carbon-specific recycling process attribute determined for the above exemplary process a respective planning, monitoring and controlling of the processes can be performed that has not been shown in the examples. For example, if different possible recycling process chains exist for a product recycling, the determined carbon-specific recycling product attributes and the carbon-specific recycling process attributes, allows to determine the most efficient recycling process with respect to the carbon content fast and easily, such that this aspect can already be taken into account in the planning phase of a recycling process. Moreover, measurements of respective output and input material amounts and carbon content can be performed on a test basis and compared with the determined carbon-specific recycling product attributes and / or the carbon-specific recycling process attribute. Based on this comparison, the efficiency of the process can be monitored and, if necessary, the process can be controlled to adapt one or more process parameters, for instance, to increase the efficiency.

[0121] FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a chemical production network 102 producing one or more output materials 104 from one or more input materials 100 in connection with a production operating system 106 including an attribute management system.

[0122] For producing one or more output materials 104, different input materials 100 may be provided as physical inputs to the chemical production network 102. The input materials 100 may be fed to the chemical production network 102 at any entry point. The input materials 100 may be fed to the chemical production network 102 at the start of the chemical production network 102. The chemical production network 102 may include multiple interlinked processing steps for converting input materials 100 to one or more output materials 104. The chemical production network 102 may be an integrated chemical production network 102 with interrelated production chains. The chemical production network 102 may include multiple different production chains that have at least one intermediate product in common. At least one of the production chains may be a recycling production chain recycling one or more input materials 100 as recycling material stream. - M -

[0123] BASF SE 240472

[0124] The physical input materials 100 and output materials 104 may be associated with one or more material, product and / or process attributes, in particular, with carbon-specific recycling product attributes, carbon-specific material attributes and / or carbon-specific recycling process attributes, in the following referred to simply as attributes. The production operating system 106 may be configured to ingest the herein disclosed attributes of the input materials 100 and the output materials 104 and to track, amend and generate those attributes across the chemical production network 102 from input materials 100 to output materials 104, as described with respect to Figs. 1 to 13 above.

[0125] The production operating system 106 of the chemical production network 102 may be configured to monitor and / or control the chemical production network 102, based on operating parameters of the different processes. One process step monitored and / or controlled may be the feed of input materials 100 or the release of output materials 104. Another process step monitored and / or controlled may be the registration of the attributes associated with input materials 100 entering the system boundary of the chemical production network 102. Yet another process step monitored and / or controlled may be the attribution of attributes to the output materials 104 produced via the chemical production network 102, namely as respective product and / or process attributes. The attributes as defined herein make it possible, for example, to determine and quantify the efficiency of the production processes or production process chains of the chemical production network 102 in terms of the use of the carbon introduced with the input materials 100. The production operating system 106 can thus monitor and control the chemical production network 102 in such a way that the amount of carbon retained in the value chain is increased and CO2 emissions are reduced.

[0126] The production operating system 106 may be configured to access data related to the input materials 100, the processes and / or the output materials 104 used in the chemical production network 102. For example, the production operating system 106 may be configured to register a carbon content of the one or more input materials 100 used in the chemical production network 102 as material attribute.

[0127] In the chemical production network 102, multiple value chains may be linked with each other. Additionally, different input materials 100 or chemical processes impacting a carbonspecific product attribute and / or carbon-specific process attribute of output materials produced by the chemical production network 102 may be used. Examples of input materials 100 impacting at least one carbon-specific product attribute of output materials 104 produced from such input materials 100 are input materials containing carbon. Moreover, input materials that are recycled, to be recycled, renewable or bio-based input materials 104 BASF SE 240472 containing carbon can also impact respective more specific product and / or process attributes. Examples of chemical processes impacting the product attribute and / or process attribute include chemical processes using materially friendly technology such as carbon capture or carbon utilization.

[0128] FIG. 13 illustrates schematically an example of the data flows for generating and assigning respective attributes, like carbon specific product attributes, to output materials 104 based on attributes, in particular, carbon-specific material attributes of the input and output materials 100, 104 of the chemical production network 102. As shown in FIG. 12, the chemical production network 102 and operations of the chemical production network 102 may be monitored and / or controlled by the production operating system 106. The production operating system 106 may be configured to track material attributes from input materials 100 fed to the chemical production network 102 and output materials 104 leaving the chemical production network 102 and to generate respective product attributes and assign them to the output materials 104 produced by the chemical production network 102. Moreover, also process attributes can be generated and assigned to one or more processes of the chemical production network 102 or to the output materials 104. For tracking the material attributes, the operating system 106 may be configured to register the material attributes associated with the input materials 100 provided to the chemical production network 102. Moreover, in the same way the operating system 106 may be configured to track the, preferably, measured, material attributes of the output materials 104. The operating system 106 may be further configured to generate product attributes and / or process attributes and to assign the generated product and / or process attributes to the output materials 104 produced by the chemical production network 102.

[0129] On entry of the input material 100, input material data 108 associated with one or more input material streams may be provided via a communication network to a computing interface of the production operating system 106. A data provider, such as a QR code reader, may be configured to provide material data 108 related to the one or more input materials 100 comprising respective material attributes 108 to a computing interface configured to allocate the material attributes associated with the input materials 100. The material data 108 may also include an input material identifier (“ID1 ”) associated with the input materials 100. The input material identifier may be associated with the physical entity of the input material 100 entering the chemical production network 102. The material data may be provided on, prior or after providing of the one or more input materials at entry points to the chemical production network 102. BASF SE 240472

[0130] The input material identifier ID1 may be linked to the material attributes associated with the respective input materials 100, the amount of input material 100 and the certificate and / or measurement determining the material attributes. The amount of input material may be a measured amount of input material 100 fed to a plant or storage of the chemical production network 102 for producing one or more output materials 104 from the input materials 100. The input material identifier ID1 associated with the respective input material 100, the material attributes associated with the respective input materials 100 and the amount of input materials 100 provided to the chemical production network 102 may be provided to the production operating system 106. Such data may be provided via a communication network on entry to chemical production network 102, or the data may be transferred from a computing system to the production operating system 106.

[0131] In the same way as described above respective material data comprising material attributes of the output materials 104 may be registered and assigned (not shown in Fig. 13). For example, aftera measurement of the amount of carbon in an output material, the respective result of the measurement can be associated with an ID of the respective output material, a respective measurement, an amount of the output material, etc. as described with respect to the input materials.

[0132] An inbound allocator 110 may be configured to allocate the one or more material attributes to the respective production processes and thus assign the respective input materials to the respective output materials. The production processes of the chemical production network can be represented as different process accounts 112 associated with the respective material attributes of the input and output materials of the process. By using the process accounts 112, it can be ensured that material attributes of input and output materials 100, 104 are only used for generating the respective product and / or process attribute associated with the respective production process. The production operating system can then generate the product and / or process attributes for the respective process based on the input material and output material attributes assigned to the respective process account 112.

[0133] An identifier provider 116 may be configured to provide an output material identifier (“ID2”) associated with the output material produced by the chemical production network 102 and provided at the exit point from the chemical production network 102. An outbound assignor 114 may be configured to assign a product and / or process attribute from the process account 1 12 associated with the respective production process of the output material to the output material identifier ID2. One or more process and / or product attributes may be assigned to the at least one output material identifier ID2. BASF SE 240472

[0134] Assigning a product and / or process attribute generated based on the material attributes of the input materials and output materials to the respective output materials may include the linking of the output materials identifier ID2 with the product and / or process attribute. The output material identifier ID2 may be associated with the physical entity of the output material. This way the virtual identifier of a material may be uniquely linked to the physical material. Such linking may include a physical or virtual link of identifiers uniquely associated with the physical material. For physical linking, a tag or code may be physically connected to the material, e.g., by printing a QR code on the packaging. For virtual linking, different identifiers associated with the physical material may be linked. For example, an order number, a batch number, LOT number or a combination thereof may be linked.

[0135] The outbound assignor 114 may be configured to provide the material, product and / or process attributes associated with the output material to a data consumer 118, such as a system associated with a user of the output material. The outbound assignor 114 may be configured to provide the material, product and / or process attributes associated with the output material to a decentral network as will be described in the example of FIG. 14. Material, product and / or process attributes may be provided via the above ID based schema in the form of digital assets or output material passports associated with the physical entity of the output material.

[0136] The ID-based schema described herein facilitates easier information exchange between different entities in a decentral network, for example, between different participants in a decentral participant network, as described in more detail below. The individual entities can then more easily control their respective share of a value chain in such a way that the amount of carbon retained in the value chain, in particular the amount of recycled carbon retained in the value chain, is increased and CO2 emissions are reduced.

[0137] FIG. 14 illustrates schematically an example of a method or apparatus for providing material, product and / or process attributes respectively, associated with output materials to a material user as data consumer via a decentral network. The output material 104 as produced by the chemical production network 102 may be provided in association with the digital asset as described in the context of FIGS. 12 and 13. The digital asset may include the output material identifier. The digital asset may include one or more attributes, in particular, carbon-specific material, product and / or process attributes. The digital asset may further include or relate to authentication and / or authorization information linked to the output material identifier. The authentication and / or authorization information may be provided for authentication and / or authorization of a data providing service 208 and / or data consuming service 210. The output material identifier may include or relate to a decentral identifier, BASF SE 240472 that is uniquely associated with the output material. The decentral identifier may be connected to the digital representation of the attributes. The digital representation may include a representation for accessing the attributes or parts thereof. The decentral identifier may include a Universally Unique IDentifier (UUID) or a Digital I Dentifier (DID). The decentral identifier may include any unique identifier uniquely associated with a data owner and / or output material. The data owner may be the producer of the output material. Via the decentral identifier and its unique association with the data owner and / or output material access to the attributes may be controlled by the data owner. This has the advantage that even the exchange of a plurality of data related to the attributes used, which is needed, for example, to generate further attributes or to monitor and control processes, can be designed in such a way that the respective data owner remains in control of their data and, in particular, does not provide more data than is really needed for the respective purpose.

[0138] The output material 104 may be physically delivered to a user of the output material. The output material may be connected with a QR-code having encoded the output material identifier. The user of the output material may read the QR-code through a QR-code reader 206. The output material identifier may be provided to a data base 208 associated with the user or consumer of the output material 104. In other embodiments, the user or consumer of the output material may retrieve the output material identifier through the decentral data base 200.

[0139] The data owner, in this example, may be the input material producer, the output material producer, the output material user and the end-product producer. The data owner may comprise any entity generating data. The data generating node may be coupled to the data owner or the entity owning or producing physical products from or for which data is generated. The data may be generated by a third-party entity on behalf of the entity owning physical products from or for which data is generated. The data consuming service 210 may comprise computer-executable instructions for accessing and / or processing data, such as product attributes, associated with the data owner. The data providing service 214 may comprise computer-executable instructions for providing and / or processing data, such as product attributes, associated with the data owner for accessing and / or processing by the data consuming service 210.

[0140] Based on the received output material identifier, a request to access the attributes associated with the output material identifier may be triggered by the data consuming service 210, as signified by arrow 212. The output material identifier may be provided to the data providing service 214, associated with or of the producer of the output material 104. In addition, BASF SE 240472 authentication and / or authorization information may be provided. The request may be authenticated and / or authorized to access the material attributes associated with the output material identifier. Based on successful authorization and / or authentication access to the material attributes associated with the output material identifier may be granted.

[0141] For access, the output material identifier may be provided to the data providing service 214, as signified by arrow 212. The data providing service 214 may use the received output material identifier to retrieve the attributes associated with the output material 104, as signified by arrows 218 and 220. The attributes associated with the output material 104 provided to the data providing service 214 may be provided to the data consuming service 210 as signified by arrow 216. The attributes associated with the output material 104 may be stored in the data base 208, and may be associated with the user of the output material 104, as signified by arrow 220.

[0142] Through the output identifier or decentral identifier, the attributes can be uniquely associated with the output material. Through the decentral network the attributes may be transferred between the producer of the output material and the user of the output material. This way the attributes can be shared with unique association to the output material, and without central intermediary, directly between the value chain players. This allows for transparency of attributes across the value chain and positive material impacts from output materials produced by the chemical production network 102 can be tracked through the value chain.

[0143] FIG. 15 illustrates an example of a participant network of a product ecosystem associated with a decentral peer-to-peer network for exchange of data, in particular, attributes as defined above, associated with raw materials, chemical products, discrete products, endproducts and recycled materials. The decentral participant network 330 may include one or more decentral network participants, such as decentral participants 302 to 314. The decentral network participants may be part of a product ecosystem including chemical products. The product ecosystem may include production chains to produce an end-product. The product ecosystem may include recycling chains to recycle at least part of an end- of-life product resulting from the use of the end-product. The product ecosystem may include a raw material producer 304, a chemical product producer 302, a chemical product user 306, an end-product producer 308, an end-product user 310, an EOL (“end of life”) product collector 312 and a recycler 314. The decentral participant network 330 may include a chemical supply chain. BASF SE 240472

[0144] The product ecosystem may allow to use recycled materials resulting from recycling of end- of-life products to produce new products, such as chemical products. The product ecosystem may be associated with the production and / or recycling of physical products. The product may be a chemical product, an intermediate chemical product, a component, a component assembly, an end-product, an end-of-life product or a recycled material.

[0145] At least a part of the participants of the decentral participant network 330 may be associated with the production of the product and / or the recycling of end-of-life products resulting from the use of the product by product users, such as end-product users 310. The decentral network participant 302 to 314 may refer to a manufacturer of physical products, such as raw material producer 304, chemical product producer 302, chemical product user 306, end-product producer 308, a user of physical goods, such as end-product user 310, and / or a participant of a recycling chain associated with the physical product, such as EOL product collector 312 and recycler 314. The decentral network participant may be associated with a decentral participant identifier. The decentral participant identifier may uniquely identify the decentral network participant within the decentral participant network 330.

[0146] At least a further part of the participants of the decentral participant network 330 may be associated with the generation of product passports. Such decentral participants may not be associated with the production of the product and / orthe recycling of the end-of-life products. Such decentral participants may gather chemical material data and may generate product passports, including herein disclosed attributes, using at least a part of the gathered chemical material data. The generated product passports may be provided by such participants for access via the decentral network 330.

[0147] The participants of the decentral participant network 330 may be connected via material flows. The material flow may be a loop material flow 336. The loop material flow 336 may be a closed loop material flow. A closed loop material flow may refer to a material loop where recycled material is used to produce the same end-products the recycled material is obtained from via recycling. The loop material flow 336 may be an open loop material flow. An open loop material flow may refer to a material loop where recycled material is used to produce different end-products than the one the recycled material is obtained from. The material flow may be a linear material flow (e.g. not including recycling). The material flow 336, 338 may correspond to the flow of product from one participant of the decentral participant network 330 to the downstream participant of the decentral participant network 330. The material flow 336, 338 may refer to a continuous or a discontinuous flow of product. The material flow 338 may be associated with raw materials used to produce a chemical BASF SE 240472 product, such as virgin raw materials. The raw materials may be provided to chemical product producer 302 for producing chemical products and / or intermediate chemical products (not shown). The loop material flow 336 may be associated with chemical products and discrete products. The chemical products may be provided from chemical product producer 302 to chemical product user 306 for producing discrete products. In contrast to chemical production, the discrete products being produced are distinct units sold as individual products. The loop material flow 336 may be associated with recycled material. The recycled material may be provided from recycler 314 to chemical product producer 302 for the production of chemical products using the recycled material.

[0148] At least part of the participants of the decentral participant network 330 may be associated with decentral participant network nodes 316 to 328. The decentral participant nodes 316 to 328 may be under control of the respective decentral participant associated with the respective decentral participant node. The decentral participant nodes 316 to 328 may form a decentral network 334. The decentral network 334 may be a peer-to-peer communication network. The decentral network 334 may be configured to perform data transactions 332. The data transactions 332 may be based on a transaction protocol including authentication and / or authorization mechanisms. Based on the authentication and / or authorization mechanisms, a peer-to-peer communication between decentral network nodes 316 to 328 associated with decentral network participants 302 to 314 may be established.

[0149] The one or more authentication mechanisms may be associated with or linked to a corresponding identifier. The one or more authentication mechanisms associated with the identifier may be accessible by the decentral participant nodes. The decentral configuration allows for more efficient use of computing resources and strengthens control by the data owners of the decentral network. Data transactions between decentral network participant nodes may be based on such an identifier which is associated with respective data to be accessed. The identifier may be uniquely associated with the physical entity of the respective product and associated product data. The identifier may be a decentral identifier uniquely identifying the product within the decentral network. The identifier may be a local identifier used by the respective product producer to uniquely identify the respective product. The identifier may be associated with further identifiers, such as identifiers of production inputs, e.g. input materials, used to produce the chemical material. This may allow to track the product inputs used to produce a product, such as an end-product. The identifier may, for example, be included in a chemical material data set, i.e. in addition to herein disclosed attributes, associated with the chemical material. BASF SE 240472

[0150] The data flow 332, e.g. transactions, between decentral network participant nodes may be directly or indirectly associated with the material flow 336, 338 between the decentral network participants. For instance, data flow 332 may be directly associated with material flow 336, 338 if data associated with an input material provided from the raw material producer 304 to the chemical product producer 302 is accessed by decentral participant node 318 associated with said chemical product producer 302. For instance, data flow 332 may be indirectly associated with material flow 336, 338 if data associated with a chemical product produced by chemical product producer 302 is accessed by decentral participant node 328 associated with recycler 314. The decentral participant nodes 316 to 328 may be decentral computing nodes. A decentral computing node may be any device or system that includes at least one physical and tangible processor, and a physical and tangible memory capable of having thereon computer-executable instructions that are executed by a processor. The memory may take any form and depends on the nature and form of the computing node.

[0151] At least part of the decentral participant nodes 316 to 328 may be decentral data providing network nodes. At least part of the participant nodes 316 to 328 may be decentral data consuming network nodes. A participant of the decentral participant network 330 may be associated with a decentral data providing network node and / or a decentral data consuming network node depending on whether data is provided to downstream participants and / or consumed from upstream participants. For instance, end-product producer 308 may be associated with a decentral data providing network node configured to provide product data to a downstream participant, e.g. recycler 314. In addition to or alternatively, end-product producer 308 may be associated with a decentral data consuming network node configured to access data associated with a discrete product produced by an upstream participant, e.g. chemical product user 306.

[0152] The decentral network 334 comprising the decentral participant nodes 316 to 328 may include further decentral network nodes. The further decentral network nodes may be decentral infrastructure service nodes (not shown in FIG. 15). The decentral infrastructure service nodes may not be associated with a participant of the product ecosystem. The decentral infrastructure service nodes may provide services for decentral participant nodes 316 to 328, such as verifying the identity of the decentral network participant nodes 316 to 328 prior to performing a data exchange. The decentral network participant nodes 316 to 328 may be associated with or include certificates, such as X.509 certificates. The certificates may be associated with decentral infrastructure service nodes including e.g. a certificate issuing service and / or a dynamic provisioning service providing dynamic attribute tokens, e.g. OAuth Access Tokens. This way the decentral network participant nodes 316 to BASF SE 240472

[0153] 324 possess a unique identifier embedded in a X.509 certificate that identifies the respective decentral network participant node 316 to 328. The information required to verify the certificate may be provided via an authentication registry associated with the certificate issuing service and / or a dynamic provisioning service. For instance, in the IDSA Reference Architecture Model, Version 3.0 of April 2019, a decentral data providing network node associated with a data owner, a Certification Authority (CA), a Dynamic Attribute Provisioning Service (DAPS) and a decentral data consuming network node associated with a data consumer are used to verify the identity prior to performing a data exchange (not shown).

[0154] One or more of the participants of the decentral participant network 330 may be associated with the generation of herein disclosed attributes, for instance, carbon-specific product attributes or carbon-specific process attributes. To this end, the participants of the decentral participant network 330 may exchange data, in particular using the decentral peer-to-peer network as described before. For instance, one or more participants of the decentral participant network 330 may provide input material data associated with one or more input materials, in particular, via decentral data providing network nodes. One or more participants of the decentral participant network 330 may provide output material data associated with one or more output materials, in particular, via decentral data providing network nodes. One or more participants of the decentral participant network 330 may ingest input material data associated with one or more input materials, in particular, via decentral data consuming network nodes. One or more participants of the decentral participant network 330 may ingest output material data associated with one or more output materials, in particular, via decentral data consuming network nodes. One or more of the participants of the decentral participant network 330 may then generate one or more carbon-specific product attributes and / or one or more carbon-specific process attributes based on the provided input material data and the provided output material data using the methods described herein, and assign the generated carbon-specific product attribute to a respective output material and / or assign the generated carbon-specific process attribute to a respective process chain and / or output material. Input material data can, in particular, refer to material data associated with raw materials, for instance provided by a participant of the decentral participant network 330 such as the raw material producer 304, to material data associated with recycled materials, for instance provided by a participant of the decentral participant network 330 such as the recycler 314, or to chemical products, for instance provided by a participant of the decentral participant network 330 such as the chemical product producer 302. Output material data can, in particular, refer to material data associated with chemical products, for instance provided by a participant of the decentral participant network 330 such as the raw chemical product producer 302, discrete products, for instance provided by a participant of the decentral participant network 330 such as the chemical product user 305, and BASF SE 240472 end-products, for instance provided by a participant of the decentral participant network 330 such as the end-product producer 308.

[0155] For example, one participant of the decentral participant network 330 can be associated with the generation of a carbon-specific product attribute for an output material associated with this participant. To this end, the respective participant may use the decentral peer-to- peer network for accessing the respective input material data from other participants, in particular other upstream participants. The respective participant may use the decentral peer-to-peer network for accessing respective output material data from other participants, in particular other downstream participants. The exchange of data between participants may include the exchange of attributes generated in this way. One participant of the decentral participant network 330 can also be associated with the generation of a carbonspecific product attribute assigned to an output material associated with more than one participant of the decentral participant network 330 and / or the generation of a carbon-specific process attribute assigned to a respective process chain involving process steps associated with more than one participant of the decentral participant network. To this end, the respective participant may use the decentral peer-to-peer network for accessing the respective input material data provided by other participants, in particular other upstream participants. The respective participant may use the decentral peer-to-peer network for accessing respective output material data provided by other participants, in particular other downstream participants. The respective participant may use the decentral peer-to-peer network for accessing material data associated with intermediate products. In this way, it is possible for one participant of the decentral participant network 330 to generate a corresponding carbon-specific product attribute and / or a carbon-specific process attribute taking into account material data and / or attributes from one or more other participants. It is thus possible even for a single participant of the decentral participant network 330 to generate a respective carbon-specific product attribute and / or a carbon-specific process attribute taking into account processing steps performed by one or more other participants of the decentral participant network 330. At the same time, the amount of data that needs to be exchanged can be reduced and the available computing resources can be used more efficiently since not all participants of the decentral participant network 330 have to generate and assign carbon-specific product attributes and / or carbon-specific process attributes.

[0156] Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. BASF SE 240472

[0157] For the processes and methods disclosed herein, the operations performed in the processes and methods may be implemented in differing order. Furthermore, the outlined operations are only provided as examples, and some of the operations may be optional, combined into fewer steps and operations, supplemented with further operations, or expanded into additional operations without detracting from the essence of the disclosed embodiments.

[0158] In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality.

[0159] A single unit or device may fulfill the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

[0160] Procedures like the providing of the carbon-specific material attributes, the generating of the carbon-specific product attribute, etc. performed by one or several units or devices can be performed by any other number of units or devices. These procedures can be implemented as program code means of a computer program and / or as dedicated hardware.

[0161] A computer program product may be stored / distributed on a suitable medium, such as an optical storage medium or a solid-state medium, supplied together with or as part of other hardware, but may also be distributed in other forms, such as via the Internet or other wired or wireless telecommunication systems.

[0162] Any units described herein may be processing units that are part of a classical computing system. Processing units may include a general-purpose processor and may also include a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or any other specialized circuit. Any memory may be a physical system memory, which may be volatile, non-volatile, or some combination of the two. The term “memory” may include any computer-readable storage media such as a non-volatile mass storage. If the computing system is distributed, the processing and / or memory capability may be distributed as well. The computing system may include multiple structures as “executable components”. The term “executable component” is a structure well understood in the field of computing as being a structure that can be software, hardware, or a combination thereof. For instance, when implemented in software, one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the structure of an executable component may include software objects, routines, methods, and so forth, that may be executed on the computing system. This may BASF SE 240472 include both an executable component in the heap of a computing system, or on computer- readable storage media. The structure of the executable component may exist on a computer-readable medium such that, when interpreted by one or more processors of a computing system, e.g., by a processor thread, the computing system is caused to perform a function. Such structure may be computer readable directly by the processors, for instance, as is the case if the executable component were binary, or it may be structured to be interpretable and / or compiled, for instance, whether in a single stage or in multiple stages, so as to generate such binary that is directly interpretable by the processors. In other instances, structures may be hard coded or hard wired logic gates, that are implemented exclusively or near-exclusively in hardware, such as within a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or any other specialized circuit. Accordingly, the term “executable component” is a term for a structure that is well understood by those of ordinary skill in the art of computing, whether implemented in software, hardware, or a combination. Any embodiments herein are described with reference to acts that are performed by one or more processing units of the computing system. If such acts are implemented in software, one or more processors direct the operation of the computing system in response to having executed computer-executable instructions that constitute an executable component. Computing system may also contain communication channels that allow the computing system to communicate with other computing systems over, for example, network. A “network” is defined as one or more data links that enable the transport of electronic data between computing systems and / or modules and / or other electronic devices. When information is transferred or provided over a network or another communications connection, for example, either hardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired or wireless, to a computing system, the computing system properly views the connection as a transmission medium. Transmission media can include a network and / or data links which can be used to carry desired program code means in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structures and which can be accessed by a general-purpose or specialpurpose computing system or combinations. While not all computing systems require a user interface, in some embodiments, the computing system includes a user interface system for use in interfacing with a user. User interfaces act as input or output mechanism to users for instance via displays.

[0163] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that at least parts of the invention may be practiced in network computing environments with many types of computing system configurations, including, personal computers, desktop computers, laptop computers, message processors, hand-held devices, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, mobile telephones, PDAs, pagers, routers, switches, datacenters, wearables, such as glasses, and BASF SE 240472 the like. The invention may also be practiced in distributed system environments where local and remote computing system, which are linked, for example, either by hardwired data links, wireless data links, or by a combination of hardwired and wireless data links, through a network, both perform tasks. In a distributed system environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

[0164] Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that at least parts of the invention may be practiced in a cloud computing environment. Cloud computing environments may be distributed, although this is not required. When distributed, cloud computing environments may be distributed internationally within an organization and / or have components possessed across multiple organizations. In this description and the following claims, “cloud computing” is defined as a model for enabling on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources, e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services. The definition of “cloud computing” is not limited to any of the other numerous advantages that can be obtained from such a model when deployed. The computing systems of the figures include various components or functional blocks that may implement the various embodiments disclosed herein as explained. The various components or functional blocks may be implemented on a local computing system or may be implemented on a distributed computing system that includes elements resident in the cloud or that implement aspects of cloud computing. The various components or functional blocks may be implemented as software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware. The computing systems shown in the figures may include more or less than the components illustrated in the figures and some of the components may be combined as circumstances warrant.

[0165] Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope.

[0166] The invention refers to a method for generating a carbon-specific recycling product attribute allowing a reliable carbon tracking. Input material data of input material streams associated with one or more carbon-specific input material attributes is provided. The input material streams include a recycling material stream for producing output material streams. Output material data associated with output material streams and associated with one or more carbon-specific output material attributes is provided. The carbon-specific recycling product attribute for an output material is generated based on the carbon-specific input material attributes and the carbon-specific output material attributes. The generated carbon-specific recycling product attribute is assigned to the output material.

Claims

BASF SE240472Claims:

1. A method, particularly a computer-implemented method, for generating a carbonspecific recycling product attribute for at least one output material produced by a recycling process chain comprising at least one recycling step, wherein the method comprises: providing input material data associated with one or more input material streams into the recycling process chain and associated with one or more carbon-specific input material attributes to a computer interface, wherein at least one input material stream includes a recycling material stream including a recycling material to be processed in the recycling process chain for producing one or more output material streams comprising the at least one output material, wherein the recycling material comprises carbon atoms, providing output material data associated with one or more output material streams provided by the recycling process chain and associated with one or more carbon-specific output material attributes to the computer interface, generating the carbon-specific recycling product attribute for at least one output material based on the carbon-specific input material attributes and the carbon-specific output material attributes, and assigning the generated carbon-specific recycling product attribute to the at least one output material.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises providing the assigned carbon-specific recycling product attribute for controlling and / or monitoring the recycling process chain.

3. The method according to any of claims 1 and 2, wherein the one or more carbonspecific input material attributes are associated with an amount of carbon in the one or more input material streams and the output material attributes are associated with an amount of carbon in the one or more output material streams.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the amount of carbon associated with the one or more input material streams and the one or more output material streams is determined based on one or more measurements of the amount of carbon in the one or more input material streams and the one or more output material streams.BASF SE2404725. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the generating of the carbon-specific recycling product attribute comprises comparing the one or more carbonspecific input material attributes of the one or more input material streams with the respective one or more carbon-specific output material attributes of the one or more output material streams and generating the carbon-specific recycling product attribute for at least one output material based on the comparison.

6. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the input material data are further associated with amounts of the respective input material in the one or more input material streams, wherein the output material data are associated with amounts of the respective output material in the one or more output material streams, and wherein the generating of the carbon-specific recycling product attribute is further based on the amount of the input materials and the amount of the output materials.

7. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the carbon-specific recycling product attribute rCF O,j) of one output material Oj associated with one output material stream j is calculated aswherein mo jis the amount of carbon in the output material Oj associated with the output material stream j and wherein the denominatorsums the amount of carbon in the input materials Itassociated with the respective input material streams i.

8. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the method further comprises generating a carbon-specific recycling process attribute for the recycling process chain comprising at least one recycling step, wherein the generating comprises: generating the carbon-specific recycling process attribute based on the one or more carbon-specific recycling product attributes, and assigning the generated carbon-specific recycling process attribute to the recycling process chain.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the one or more output materials associated with respective output material streams are classified as output recycled material orBASF SE240472as output lost carbon material, wherein output material is classified as output recycled material if the output material remains in the value chain, wherein output material is classified as output lost carbon material if the output material leaves the value chain, and wherein the carbon-specific recycling process attribute is generated based on the carbon-specific recycling product attributes associated with the output material streams classified as the output recycled material or output lost material.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein a carbon-specific recycling product attribute rCF O,p) of one output recycled material Opassociated with one output material stream p is calculated aswherein mO pis the amount of carbon in the output recycled material Opassociated with the output material stream p and wherein the denominatorsums the amount of carbon in the input materials !, associated with the respective input material streams i, wherein a carbon-specific recycling product attribute lCF O, k) of one output lost carbon material Okassociated with one output material stream k is calculated aswherein mo kis the amount of carbon in the output lost carbon material Okassociated with the output material stream k and wherein the denominatorsums the amount of carbon in the input materials !, associated with the respective input material streams i, wherein the carbon-specific recycling process attribute rCF(I, O) is calculated as rCF(I,O) = 100% -klCF(O, k) = £prCF(O,p).1 1 . The method according to claim 10, wherein the sum of the carbon-specific recycling product attributes lCF(O, k) of the output lost carbon materialslCF O, k) is calculated asBASF SE240472> lCF O, k) = \CF O, CO2emission) + ICF(O, CO2CCS) + ICF(O, residue), 4— ifc wherein ICF O, commission) refers to the carbon-specific recycling product attribute of CO2 emitted to the atmosphere, ICF O, CO2CCS) refers to the carbon-specific recycling product attribute of captured and stored CO2 by a carbon capture and storage (CCS) process and ICF(O, residue) refers to the sum of carbon-specific recycling product attributes of remaining residual materials removed from the value chain.

12. The method according to any of claims 10 and 11 , wherein the sum of the carbon-specific recycling product attributes rCF( , p) of the output recycled materialsprCF (O, p) is calculated aswherein rCF O, open loop) refers to the sum of carbon-specific recycling product attributes of materials recycled in an open loop recycling process chain, rCF 0, closed loop) refers to the sum of carbon-specific recycling product attributes of materials recycled in a closed loop recycling process chain and rCF 0, CO2CCU) refers to the carbon-specific recycling product attribute of CO2 utilized in a carbon capture and utilization (CCU) process.

13. The method according to claim 8, wherein the one or more output materials associated with respective output material streams are classified as output bound carbon material or as output emitted carbon material, wherein output material is classified as output bound carbon material if the output material is not emitted to the atmosphere, wherein output material is classified as output emitted carbon material if the output material is emitted to the atmosphere, and wherein the carbon-specific recycling process attribute is generated based on the carbon-specific recycling product attributes associated with the output material streams classified as the output bound carbon material.

14. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the method further comprises providing the assigned carbon-specific recycling process attribute for controlling and / or monitoring the recycling process chain.

15. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the recycling process chain comprises one or more of the following: a waste collection step, a sorting step, aBASF SE240472recycling step, a thermochemical process, a chemical process, a carbon dioxide capture and utilization step, a cracking step, a production step and a separation step.

16. Using one or more carbon-specific recycling product attributes generated and assigned according to any of claims 1 to 7 and / or one or more carbon-specific recycling process attributes generated and assigned according to any of claims 8 to 15 for controlling and / or monitoring a respective recycling process chain.

17. Using the one or more carbon-specific recycling product attributes and / or the one or more carbon-specific recycling process attributes for controlling and / or monitoring the respective recycling process chain according to claim 16, wherein controlling the respective recycling process chain comprises: determining, based on the one or more carbon-specific recycling product attributes and / or the one or more carbon-specific recycling process attributes, a recycling efficiency of the recycling process chain, adjusting the respective recycling process chain such that the recycling efficiency of the adjusted recycling process chain is higher than the efficiency of the recycling process chain before adjusting.

18. A recycling method for recycling one or more materials in a recycling process chain, wherein the method comprises: generating and assigning one or more carbon-specific recycling product attributes for one or more input material streams according to any of claims 1 to 7 and / or a carbonspecific recycling process attribute according to any of claims 8 to 15, controlling and / or monitoring the recycling process chain based on the one or more carbon-specific recycling product attributes and / or based on the carbon-specific recycling process attribute.

19. An apparatus for generating a carbon-specific recycling product attribute of an output material produced by a recycling process chain comprising at least one recycling step, wherein the apparatus comprises one or more processors configured to perform a method comprising the steps of:BASF SE240472providing input material data associated with one or more input material streams into the recycling process chain and associated with one or more carbon-specific input material attributes to a computer interface, wherein at least one input material stream includes a recycling material stream including a recycling material to be processed in the recycling process chain for producing one or more output material streams comprising the at least one output material, wherein the recycling material comprises carbon atoms, providing output material data associated with one or more output material streams provided by the recycling process chain and associated with one or more carbon-specific output material attributes to the computer interface, generating the carbon-specific recycling product attribute for at least one output material based on the carbon-specific input material attributes and the carbon-specific output material attributes, and assigning the generated carbon-specific recycling product attribute to the at least one output material.

20. A recycling control apparatus for controlling a recycling process chain for recycling one or more materials, wherein the apparatus comprises: an apparatus according to claim 19, a controller configured for controlling and / or monitoring the recycling process chain based on the one or more carbon-specific recycling product attributes and / or based on the carbon-specific recycling process attribute.21 . A computer program product for generating a carbon-specific recycling product attribute and / or a carbon-specific recycling process attribute, wherein the computer program product comprises program code means for causing an apparatus according to any of claims 19 and 20 to carry out a method according to any of claims 1 to 15.

22. A method, particularly a computer-implemented method, for generating a carbonspecific recycling process attribute for a recycling process chain comprising at least one recycling step, wherein the method comprises:BASF SE240472providing input material data associated with one or more input material streams into the recycling process chain and associated with one or more carbon-specific input material attributes to a computer interface, wherein at least one input material stream includes a recycling material stream including a recycling material to be processed in the recycling process chain for producing one or more output material streams, wherein the recycling material comprises carbon atoms, providing output material data associated with one or more output material streams provided by the recycling process chain and associated with one or more carbon-specific output material attributes to the computer interface, and generating the carbon-specific recycling process attribute for the recycling process chain based on the carbon-specific input material attributes and the carbon-specific output material attributes, assigning the generated carbon-specific recycling process attribute to the recycling process chain.

23. A carbon-specific recycling process attribute generated and assigned according to any of claims 8 to 15.

24. A data element comprising a recycling process identifier of a recycling process chain comprising at least one recycling step and a carbon-specific recycling process attribute defined based on one or more carbon-specific recycling product attributes of output materials of the recycling process chain, wherein the one or more carbon-specific recycling product attributes are defined based on a) one or more carbon-specific input material attributes associated with one or more input material streams into the recycling process chain and b) one or more carbon-specific output material attributes associated with one or more output material streams comprising the output material of the recycling process chain.

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