EP4731353A1

EP4731353A1 - Plastics waste sorting and recycling

Info

Publication number: EP4731353A1
Application number: EP24825426.0A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Nicole Graf; Bastian GRUMBRECHT; Mathias Feyen; Mathias Haake; Robert Pack; Steffen Thomas KLOSTERHALFEN; Marion Mayer; Georg Arnold Krei; Stefan STREGE; Bodo FREY
Original assignee: BASF SE
Current assignee: BASF SE
Priority date: 2023-06-20
Filing date: 2024-06-18
Publication date: 2026-04-29
Also published as: KR20260025847A; CN121443402A; WO2024261634A1

Abstract

A method for sorting a plastic waste stream including one or more article (s) comprises the steps of: detecting at least one identifier element per article, wherein the at least one identifier element is related to at least one decentral identifier associated with the article; providing the decentral identifier associated with the one or more article (s) and providing, based on the decentral identifier, material composition data and/or article history data by one or more network node (s) of a decentral network; assigning the one or more article (s) to one or more plastic waste fraction (s) based on the material composition data and/or article history data; generating, based on the assigned waste fraction, control data for sorting the one or more article (s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction (s); providing the generated control data to the assigned plastic waste fraction (s). It further discloses an apparatus for sorting a plastic waste stream, the use of composition data and/or article history data of waste articles for sorting a plastic waste stream into one or more waste fraction (s), and a decentral data consuming network node or data consuming service configured to provide the composition data and/or article history data.

Description

PLASTIC WASTE SORTING AND RECYCLING

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to the field of sustainability, in particular to the field of plastics sorting and recycling. The invention relates to methods, systems, apparatuses, and computer elements for sorting plastic waste streams in a data driven manner via a decentral network.

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

Chemical products for plastic are used in diverse applications and end up in multiple supply chains to produce a diversity of products containing plastics. Recycling of plastic articles is challenging owing to the complexity of sorting the diverse set of waste articles. The refeed of plastics into chemical value chains is particularly difficult, since chemical plants such as steam crackers are world scale plants with narrow specifications. Chemical producers are hence hampered to recycle and refeed plastics in material value chains.

Recycling of plastic waste requires separation and a sorting of the plastic waste due to the big variety of polymer types, grades, blends and/or additives. Therefore, sorting is a major issue for recycling of plastic waste. Recycling has a significant effect on economic aspects of recycling of plastic waste and on a sustainability of plastics in a value chain.

WO2022106625A1 discloses a computer-implemented method for sorting of plastic compounds, comprising the steps of: providing a computer-based database comprising entries on a plurality of markers each identifying a specific plastic compound; receiving scan data from a sample of a plastic compound; identifying a marker in the sample of the plastic compound based on the received scan data and the plurality of markers of the database; sorting of plastic compounds based on the identified marker of the sample of the plastic compound.

WO2018099549A1 relates to a raw material and/or recycling system, comprising at least one tagging unit configured to provide at least one recyclable material element with at least one identifier, at least one first peer-to-peer module assigned to the tagging unit, at least one peer-to-peer network comprising at least one peer-to-peer application, wherein the first peer- to-peer module is configured to provide the provided identifier and at least one status parameter data set related to the recyclable material element to the peer-to- peer application, wherein the peer-to-peer application comprises at least one registering means executable upon provision of the provided identifier by at least a part of the nodes of the peer- to-peer network, wherein the registering means is configured to register at least the recyclable material element by storing at least the provided identifier and the provided status parameter data set in at least one registry storage.

SUMMARY

In one aspect disclosed is a method for sorting a plastic waste stream, in particular a mixed plastic waste stream, wherein the plastic waste stream includes one or more article(s) containing plastic material, the method comprising the steps of:

- detecting at least one identifier element per article, wherein the at least one identifier element is related to at least one decentral identifier associated with the article;

- providing the decentral identifier associated with the one or more article(s) and providing based on the decentral identifier material composition data and/or article history data, wherein the material composition data and/or article history data is provided based on the provided decentral identifier by one or more network node(s) of a decentral network;

- assigning the one or more article(s) based on the material composition data and/or article history data to one or more plastic waste fraction(s), wherein the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) relate to a waste fraction to be processed by one or more recycling process(es) to produce recyclate for a specific use, in particular to one or more of the following waste fraction(s) to be processed by a chemical recycling process to produce a hydrocarbon recyclate for a petrochemical process, by a chemical recycling process to produce a recyclate mixture including at least hydrogen and carbon monoxide for a hydrogen-based chemical process, by a chemical recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for a polymer, component and/or article production process, by a solvent-based recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for a polymer, component and/or article production process, and/or a mechanical recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for monomer, polymer, component and/or article production process; or wherein the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) are pre-determined waste fraction(s) relating to material type(s), range(s) for material quantity per type, specific compounds contained in the material, the exclusion of specific compounds contained in the material, recycled material content, bio-based material content or combinations thereof;

- generating, based on the assigned waste fraction, control data for sorting the one or more article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction(s); - providing the generated control data for sorting the one or more article(s) to the assigned waste fraction^).

In another aspect disclosed is an apparatus for sorting a plastic waste stream, in particular a mixed plastic waste stream, wherein the plastic waste stream includes one or more article(s) containing plastic material, the apparatus comprising:

- a identifier reader configured to detect at least one identifier element per article, wherein the at least one identifier element is related to at least one decentral identifier associated with the article;

- a decentral network communication interface configured to provide the decentral identifier associated with the one or more article(s) and to provide based on the decentral identifier material composition data and/or article history data, wherein the material composition data and/or article history data is provided based on the provided decentral identifier by one or more network node(s) of a decentral network;

- a fractioning unit configured to assign the one or more article(s) based on the material composition data and/or article history data to one or more plastic waste fraction(s), wherein the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) relate to a waste fraction to be processed by one or more recycling process(es) to produce recyclate for a specific use, in particular to one or more of the following waste fraction(s) to be processed by a chemical recycling process to produce a hydrocarbon recyclate for a petrochemical process, by a chemical recycling process to produce a recyclate mixture including at least hydrogen and carbon monoxide for a hydrogen-based chemical process, by a chemical recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for a polymer, component and/or article production process, by a solvent-based recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for a polymer, component and/or article production process, and/or a mechanical recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for monomer, polymer, component and/or article production process; or wherein the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) are pre-determined waste fraction(s) relating to material type(s), range(s) for material quantity per type, specific compounds contained in the material, the exclusion of specific compounds contained in the material, recycled material content, bio-based material content or combinations thereof;

- a control signal generator configured to generate, based on the assigned waste fraction, control data for sorting the one or more article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction(s) and configured to provide the generated control data for sorting the one or more article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction^).

In another aspect disclosed is a sorting system for sorting a plastic waste stream, in particular a mixed plastic waste stream, wherein the plastic waste stream includes one or more article(s) containing plastic material, the sorting system comprising:

- a decentral network interface including an identifier reader configured to detect at least one identifier element per article, wherein the at least one identifier element is related to at least one decentral identifier associated with the article; and a decentral network communication interface configured to provide the decentral identifier associated with the one or more article(s) and to provide based on the decentral identifier material composition data and/or article history data, wherein the material composition data and/or article history data is provided based on the provided decentral identifier by one or more network node(s) of a decentral network;

- a control unit including a fractioning unit configured to assign the one or more article(s) based on the material composition data and/or article history data to one or more plastic waste fraction(s), wherein the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) relate to a waste fraction to be processed by one or more recycling process(es) to produce recyclate for a specific use, in particular to one or more of the following waste fraction(s) to be processed by a chemical recycling process to produce a hydrocarbon recyclate for a petrochemical process, by a chemical recycling process to produce a recyclate mixture including at least hydrogen and carbon monoxide for a hydrogen-based chemical process, by a chemical recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for a polymer, component and/or article production process, by a solvent-based recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for a polymer, component and/or article production process, and/or a mechanical recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for monomer, polymer, component and/or article production process; or wherein the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) are pre-determined waste fraction(s) relating to material type(s), range(s) for material quantity per type, specific compounds contained in the material, the exclusion of specific compounds contained in the material, recycled material content, bio-based material content or combinations thereof; a control signal generator configured to generate, based on the assigned waste fraction, control data for sorting the one or more article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction(s) and configured to provide the generated control data for sorting the one or more article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction^).

In another aspect disclosed is a method for controlling a sorting of a plastic waste stream, in particular a mixed plastic waste stream, wherein the plastic waste stream includes one or more article(s) containing plastic material, the sorting system comprising:

- providing, based on one or more decentral identifier(s) associated with the one or more article(s), material composition data and/or article history data, wherein the material composition data and/or article history data is provided based on the provided decentral identifier by one or more network node(s) of a decentral network, and configured to assign the one or more article(s) based on the material composition data and/or article history data to one or more plastic waste fraction(s), wherein the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) relate to a waste fraction to be processed by one or more recycling processes) to produce recyclate for a specific use, in particular to one or more of the following waste frac- tion(s) to be processed by a chemical recycling process to produce a hydrocarbon recyclate for a petrochemical process, by a chemical recycling process to produce a recyclate mixture including at least hydrogen and carbon monoxide for a hydrogen-based chemical process, by a chemical recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for a polymer, component and/or article production process, by a solvent-based recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for a polymer, component and/or article production process, and/or a mechanical recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for monomer, polymer, component and/or article production process; or wherein the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) are pre-determined waste fraction(s) relating to material type(s), range(s) for material quantity per type, specific compounds contained in the material, the exclusion of specific compounds contained in the material, recycled material content, bio-based material content or combinations thereof;

- generating, based on the assigned waste fraction, control data for sorting the one or more article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction(s); and

- providing the generated control data for sorting the one or more article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction(s). In another aspect disclosed is an apparatus for controlling and/or sorting of a plastic waste stream, in particular a mixed plastic waste stream, wherein the plastic waste stream includes one or more article(s) containing plastic material, the sorting system comprising:

- a fractioning unit configured to provide, based on one or more decentral identifier(s) associated with the one or more article(s), material composition data and/or article history data, wherein the material composition data and/or article history data is provided based on the provided decentral identifier by one or more network node(s) of a decentral network, and configured to assign the one or more article(s) based on the material composition data and/or article history data to one or more plastic waste fraction^), wherein the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) relate to a waste fraction to be processed by one or more recycling process(es) to produce recyclate for a specific use, in particular to one or more of the following waste fraction(s) to be processed by a chemical recycling process to produce a hydrocarbon recyclate for a petrochemical process, by a chemical recycling process to produce a recyclate mixture including at least hydrogen and carbon monoxide for a hydrogen-based chemical process, by a chemical recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for a polymer, component and/or article production process, by a solvent-based recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for a polymer, component and/or article production process, and/or a mechanical recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for monomer, polymer, component and/or article production process; or wherein the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) are pre-determined waste fraction(s) relating to material type(s), range(s) for material quantity per type, specific compounds contained in the material, the exclusion of specific compounds contained in the material, recycled material content, bio-based material content or combinations thereof;

In another aspect disclosed is a method for controlling a fraction composition sorted according to the methods disclosed herein, wherein composition data and/or article history data are aggregated to fraction composition data per sorted waste fraction, preferably wherein a decentral identifier is assigned to the fraction composition data, wherein the decentral identifier associated with the sorted fraction is provided for access by one or more decentral network node(s) of the decentral network. In another aspect disclosed is an apparatus for controlling a fraction composition sorted by the apparatuses disclosed herein, wherein the apparatus further includes a data aggregator configured to aggregate composition data and/or article history data to fraction composition data per sorted waste fraction, preferably wherein the apparatus includes a decentral network interface configured to assign a decentral identifier to the fraction composition data and to provide the decentral identifier associated with the sorted fraction for access by one or more decentral network node(s) of the decentral network.

In another aspect disclosed is a sorting method for sorting a plastic waste stream, in particular a mixed plastic waste stream, wherein the plastic waste stream includes one or more article(s) containing plastic material, the sorting system comprising:

- providing a decentral identifier associated with the one or more article(s) and to provide based on the decentral identifier material composition data and/or article history data, wherein the material composition data and/or article history data is provided based on the provided decentral identifier by one or more network node(s) of a decentral network;

- assigning the one or more article(s) based on the material composition data and/or article history data to one or more plastic waste fraction(s), wherein the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) relate to a waste fraction to be processed by one or more recycling process(es) to produce recyclate for a specific use, in particular to one or more of the following waste fraction(s) to be processed by a chemical recycling process to produce a hydrocarbon recyclate for a petrochemical process, by a chemical recycling process to produce a recyclate mixture including at least hydrogen and carbon monoxide for a hydrogen-based chemical process, by a chemical recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for a polymer, component and/or article production process, by a solvent-based recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for a polymer, component and/or article production process, and/or a mechanical recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for monomer, polymer, component and/or article production process; or wherein the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) are pre-determined waste fraction(s) relating to material type(s), range(s) for material quantity per type, specific compounds contained in the material, the exclusion of specific compounds contained in the material, recycled material content, bio-based material content or combinations thereof; - generating, based on the assigned waste fraction, control data for sorting the one or more article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction(s) and providing the generated control data for sorting the one or more article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction(s); and

- separating the one or more waste article(s) in one or more waste fraction(s) based on the generated control signal; and

- wherein optionally the waste article(s) are provided to the sensor system if no identification element was detected, wherein the one or more waste article(s) are sensed, a control signal based on the sensing for separating the one or more waste article(s) in one or more waste fraction(s) is generated, and the waste article(s) are separated in one or more waste fraction(s) based on the sensing.

- a computing unit including a decentral network communication interface configured to provide a decentral identifier associated with the one or more article(s) and to provide based on the decentral identifier material composition data and/or article history data, wherein the material composition data and/or article history data is provided based on the provided decentral identifier by one or more network node(s) of a decentral network; a control interface including a fractioning unit configured to assign the one or more article(s) based on the material composition data and/or article history data to one or more plastic waste fraction(s), wherein the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) relate to a waste fraction to be processed by one or more recycling process(es) to produce recyclate for a specific use, in particular to one or more of the following waste fraction(s) to be processed by a chemical recycling process to produce a hydrocarbon recyclate for a petrochemical process, by a chemical recycling process to produce a recyclate mixture including at least hydrogen and carbon monoxide for a hydrogen-based chemical process, by a chemical recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for a polymer, component and/or article production process, by a solvent-based recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for a polymer, component and/or article production process, and/or a mechanical recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for monomer, polymer, component and/or article production process; or wherein the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) are pre-determined waste fraction(s) relating to material type(s), range(s) for material quantity per type, specific compounds contained in the material, the exclusion of specific compounds contained in the material, recycled material content, bio-based material content or combinations thereof; a control signal generator configured to generate, based on the assigned waste fraction, control data for sorting the one or more article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction(s) and configured to provide the generated control data for sorting the one or more article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction^); and a sorting device including an identifier reader configured to detect at least one identifier element per article, wherein the at least one identifier element is related to at least one decentral identifier associated with the article; a separator configured to sperate waste article(s) in one or more waste fraction(s) based on the generated control signal; and optionally a sensor-based sorting system configured to receive the waste article(s) if no identification element was detected, wherein the sensor-based sorting system is configured to sense the one or more waste article(s), to generate a control signal based on the sensing for separating the one or more waste article(s) in one or more waste fraction(s) and to separate the waste article(s) in one or more waste fraction(s) based on the sensing.

In another aspect disclosed is a decentral data consuming network node or data consuming service configured to provide the composition data and/or article history data for sorting or controlling the sorting according to the methods disclosed herein or by the apparatuses or systems disclosed herein.

In another aspect disclosed is a decentral data providing network node or data providing service configured to provide fraction data generated according to the methods disclosed herein or by the apparatuses or systems disclosed herein.

In another aspect the present disclosure relates to a computer element, such as a computer program or computer readable medium, with instructions, which when executed on one or more computing node(s) e.g. of a decentral network is configured to carry out the steps of the method(s) disclosed herein or is configured to be carried out by the apparatus(es) or systems disclosed herein.

In another aspect disclosed is a waste fraction associated with a decentral identifier relating to fraction data characterizing the waste fraction and generated according to the methods for controlling a fraction composition or by the apparatus for controlling a fraction composition. In another aspect disclosed is a use of composition data and/or article history data for sorting a plastic waste stream into one or more waste fraction(s) or controlling sorting of a plastic waste stream into one or more waste fraction(s) according to the methods disclosed herein or by the apparatuses or systems disclosed herein. Use of fraction data generated according to the methods disclosed herein or by the apparatuses or systems disclosed herein for recycling a plastic waste fraction.

A classification instruction configured to receive material composition data and/or article history data and to relate the material composition data and/or article history data to the waste fraction to be processed by a chemical recycling process to produce a hydrocarbon recyclate for a petrochemical process, the waste fraction to be processed by a chemical recycling process to produce a monomer recyclate for a polymer production process, the waste fraction to be processed by a chemical recycling process to produce a monomer recyclate for a polymer production process, the waste fraction to be processed by a solvent-based recycling process to produce a polymer recyclate for an article production process, and/or a mechanical recycling process to produce a polymer recyclate for an article production process, wherein the classification instructions are usable in the methods disclosed herein or by the apparatuses disclosed herein.

In another aspect disclosed is a decentral classification instruction providing network node or providing service associated with one or more chemical producer(s) using hydrocarbon recyclate for a petrochemical process, a recyclate mixture including at least hydrogen and carbon monoxide for a hydrogen-based chemical process, a monomer recyclate for a polymer production process, and/or a polymer recyclate for an article production process is configured to provide classification instructions, wherein the classification instructions are configured to receive material composition data and/or article history data and to relate the material composition data and/or article history data to the waste fraction to be processed by a chemical recycling process to produce a hydrocarbon recyclate for a petrochemical process, the waste fraction to be processed by a chemical recycling process to produce a monomer recyclate for a polymer production process, the waste fraction to be processed by a chemical recycling process to produce a monomer recyclate for a polymer production process, and/or the waste fraction to be processed by a solvent-based recycling process to produce a polymer recyclate for an article production process, wherein the classification instructions are used in the methods disclosed herein or by the apparatuses disclosed herein.

Any disclosure, embodiments and examples described herein relate to the methods, the systems, apparatuses, articles, waste fractions, uses and computer elements lined out above and below. Advantageously, the benefits provided by any of the embodiments and examples equally apply to all other embodiments and examples. EMBODIMENTS

To improve the recycling of plastic and the reuse in material value chains, a data driven approach using data accessible through a decentral network for sorting is proposed. Known sorting machinery is sensor based and requires a lot of effort and investments to sort waste into valuable waste fractions. This becomes even more apparent with the development to close material chains towards circular material loops. The approach presented here allows for simple extension of existing sorting facilities to produce reliable sorting results with high value waste streams.

In particular, by accessing the material composition data and/or article history data based on the decentral identifier per waste article from one or more network node(s) of a decentral network and assigning the one or more article(s) based on the material composition data and/or article history data to one or more plastic waste fraction(s), the quality of the waste fractions can be controlled in a simple and reliable manner. Furthermore, by specifically defining the sorting by plastic waste fractions that relate to a waste fraction to be processed by a chemical recycling process to produce a hydrocarbon recyclate for a petrochemical process, by a chemical recycling process to produce a recyclate mixture including at least hydrogen and carbon monoxide for a hydrogen-based chemical process, by a chemical recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for a monomer and/or a polymer production process, and/or by a solventbased recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for an article, a monomer and/or a polymer production process, the waste fraction can be tailored to the refeed of recyclate into chemical value chains. This way the recycling of materials can be improved by increasing the quantity of materials refeedable into material loops. As a result, the environmental impact of materials can be reduced.

In the following, embodiments of the present disclosure will be outlined by ways of examples. It is to be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to said embodiments and/or examples.

The article containing plastic, the waste article or the plastic article may include any product made of plastic material, any product including plastic material or any product including the article containing plastic. Plastic material may relate to a plastic compound, a combination of plastic compounds, a composite material, a combination of composite materials, a foamed material, a combination of foamed materials, an additive, a combination of additives, or combinations thereof. Plastic material may comprise one or more elements selected from the group consisting of: polyethylene (PE), low density polyethylene (LDPE), linear LDPE (LLDPE), high density polyethylene (HDPE), polyoxmethylene (POM), polypropylene (PP), polyamide (PA), poly ethylene terephthalate (PET), poly butylene terephthalate (PBT), acrylnitril-butadiene-styrene (ABS), polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polyurethane (PU), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), polystyrene (PS), polylactic acid (PLA), polyvinylchloride (PVC) or polycarbonate (PC). Articles containing plastics may include thermosets, e.g. hard and durable plastics used, for instance, in car parts, thermoplastics e.g. easily moulded into packaging and/or elastomers, e.g. soft plastics with rubber-like properties. Uses of articles containing plastics may include packaging for food or non-food products, textiles, building and construction, batteries, automotive or electronics. Application of articles containing plastics may include bottles, mattresses, foils, fibers, or the like.

Plastic waste stream may include one or more article(s) containing plastic or waste article(s). The plastic waste stream may include articles of one or more type(s). The type may refer to the type of article, the type of plastic material the article contains, the type of material the article contains, the type of use of the article and/or the type of application of the article. The plastic waste stream may be a uniform plastic waste stream including articles of one type, particularly articles containing one type of plastic material. The plastic waste stream may be a mixed plastic waste stream including articles of different types, particularly articles containing multiple types of plastic material. The plastic waste stream may include non-plastic articles or non-plastic parts such as glass, stone, or inorganics, and/or non-plastic impurities such as biogenic impurities. The plastic waste stream may include industrial waste and/or post-consumer waste.

The plastic article may be associated with a digital twin including data characterizing the plastic article. The plastic article may be associated with article data characterizing the plastic article. The article data may relate to at least one property of the plastic article and/or to the use of the article. The plastic article data may include composition data and/or article history data.

The composition data may relate to the material composition of the plastic article. The plastic article data may specify the material composition of the plastic article. For example, the plastic article data may specify plastic compound, combination of plastic compounds, composite material, combination of composite materials, foamed material, combination of foamed material or combinations thereof. The material composition data may further include contaminants for recycling in relation to one or more recycling process(es), degradation level, recyclate content, monomer content and/or polymer content

The article history data may relate to the origin, use, and/or application of the plastic article. The article history data may specify the origin, use, and/or application of the plastic article. For example, the origin may relate to a location, a region and/or a manufacturer of the plastic article or any part thereof. The origin may refer to the location, the region and/or the manufacturer of a monomer, a polymer and/or a processed polymer such as a compounded, moulded or converted polymer. For example, the use may relate to a use of the plastic article or any part thereof. The use may refer to the article’s use in a specific application such as food packaging, non-food packaging, car parts, furniture parts, electronics parts, battery parts or the like. For example, the application may relate to any application of the plastic article or any part thereof. The application may refer to the article’s application such as bottle, foil, fibre, mattress, crates or the like.

Sorting of plastic waste stream may provide plastic waste fraction(s). Plastic waste fraction(s) may include articles containing plastic material sorted by article(s) of one or more type(s), in particular material type(s). The waste fraction may be tailored to specific recycling process(es). Plastic waste fraction may relate to a waste fraction to be processed by a chemical recycling process to produce a hydrocarbon recyclate for a petrochemical process. The petrochemical process may include at least one process configured to break saturated hydrocarbons at least partially into unsaturated hydrocarbons. The hydrocarbon recyclate may be produced by pyrolysis. Plastic waste fraction may relate to a waste fraction to be processed by a chemical recycling process to produce a recyclate mixture including at least hydrogen and carbon monoxide for a hydrogen-based chemical process. The recyclate mixture may include 30 to 60 % carbon monoxide and 25 to 30 % hydrogen. The recyclate mixture may be used as hydrogen source in chemical process chemically converting educts to products. The recyclate mixture may be produced by gasification. Plastic waste fraction may relate to a waste fraction to be processed by a chemical recycling process to produce a polymer and/or monomer recyclate for a monomer, polymer and/or article production process. The monomer recyclate may include one or more building block(s) of the polymer. The monomer recyclate may include the building block(s) to produce one or more polymer(s). The monomer recyclate may include pre-monomer to produce one or more polymer(s). The polymer recyclate may include one or more polymer type(s) or plastic compound(s). The monomer recyclate may be produced by depolymerization. Plastic waste fraction may relate to a waste fraction to be processed by a solvent-based recycling process to produce a polymer and/or monomer recyclate for monomer, polymer and/or article production process. The polymer recyclate may include one or more polymer type(s) or plastic compound(s). The polymer and/or monomer recyclate may be produced by dissolution.

Recyclate may include production input(s) used to produce the plastic article or component thereof and/or reaction products produced during production the plastic article or component thereof. Recyclate may relate to any products resulting from one or more recycling process(es). Recyclate may refer to any mixture resulting from one or more recycling process(es). Recyclate may refer to any products or mixtures resulting from one or more recycling process(es) and associated pre- or post-processing steps, e.g. as performed by one participant of the material chain. The polymer recyclate may contain one or more polymer(s), one or more oligomer(s) or mixtures thereof. The monomer recyclate may contain one or more monomer(s), one or more monomer precursor(s) or pre-monomers or mixtures thereof. Polymer may relate to a substance consisting of molecules characterized by the sequence of one or more types of monomer units. Examples of polymers include oligomers, homopolymers and copolymers. Oligomer may relate to a polymer consisting of only a few monomer units up to about ten monomer units, for example a dimer, trimer or tetramer. Monomer relates to a substance which is capable of forming covalent bonds with a sequence of additional like or unlike molecules under the conditions of the relevant polymer- forming reaction used for the particular process. The monomers and oligomers contained in the recyclate may be used to prepare a polymer and may hence be regarded as prepolymer. Oligomeric compounds are typically liquid at room temperature and ambient pressure whereby the dynamic viscosity is preferably less than 500 Pa*s and more preferably less than 200 Pa*s at 23° C measured according to DIN EN ISO 2555 (Brookfield method).

The control data for sorting the one or more article(s) to the assigned waste fraction may include control signals for controlling a sorting equipment such as separators configured to separate waste articles into waste fractions. The fraction control data may relate to individual waste articles. The fraction control data may relate individual waste articles to a specific waste fraction. The waste fractions may relate to spatially separated fractions for sorting the waste articles.

The identifier element per article may relate to at least one decentral article identifier associated with the article. The identifier element may include any physical arrangement that associates the article identifier with the article or at least one component of the article. The identifier element may comprise a passive or active element, e.g. QR-code, RFID-tag, but is not limited thereto. The identifier element may be a physical identifier physically connected to the article or at least one component of the article. The identifier element may include markers embedded in materials, a bar code, a QR-Code, a tag like a RFID tag or similar physical arrangement that allows to digitally identify the article or at least one component of the article.

The identifier element may uniquely relate to the article. The identifier element may uniquely relate to the digital article identifier. The digital article identifier may uniquely relate to the article. This way material composition data and/or article history data may be provided per article or for individual articles. The article identifier may include one or more decentral identifier(s) uniquely related to the article. The article identifier may relate to one or more decentral identifier(s) signifying the digital twin of the physical entity of the article. The decentral identifier may be a digital identifier of or for the decentral network. The decentral identifier may be a digital identifier provided to the decentral network and participant nodes of the decentral network. The decentral identifier may hence signify physical entities of articles in the decentral network and participant nodes may be able to interpret the relation of the decentral identifier to the physical entities of articles. The decentral identifier may comprise any unique identifier uniquely associated with the data owner and article. The decentral identifier may include one or more Universally Unique Identifier(s) (UUID) or a Digital Identifier(s) (DID). The decentral identifier may be issued by a central or decentral identity issuer. The decentral identifier may include authentication information. Via the decentral identifier and its unique association with the data owner and article access to article property data may be controlled by the data owner. This contrasts with central authority schemes, where identifiers are provided by such central authority and access to data is controlled by such central authority. Decentral in this context refers to the usage of the identifier as controlled by the data owner.

The decentral identifier may include one or more identifier(s) used in the decentral network and allowing for data exchange via the decentral network. Data exchange may include discovery of the decentral identifier for network nodes of the decentral network, authentication of network nodes of the decentral network and/or authorization of data transfers via a peer-to-peer communication between network nodes of the decentral network. The decentral identifier may be associated with participants of a material chain network, particularly a material loop, including chemical product producer, intermediate chemical product producer, intermediate part producer, component producer, component assembly producer, end product producer, end product user, end product collector, end product sorter and/or end product recycler. The decentral identifier may be associated with chemical product, intermediate chemical product, intermediate articles, articles, articles to be recycled or end-of-life articles of a material chain network, particularly a material loop.

The article may be associated with an article passport for the decentral network, that may include a digital representation of the plastic article data associated with the plastic article. The article passport may comprise or be associated with a digital representation of plastic article data. The plastic article data may be associated with the plastic article. The digital representation of the plastic article data may be provided to the decentral network. The digital representation of the plastic article data may be provided by a decentral network node associated with a dedicated storage of the data owner. The digital representation may include a representation for accessing the plastic article data or part thereof. The digital representation may include a representation of plastic article data or parts thereof. The article passport may include data related to the plastic article data, the public key and the decentral identifier. The data related to the plastic article data may include the digital representation of the plastic article data.

The decentral network may include one or more decentral network node(s) configured to perform data transactions. The decentral network node(s) may be associated with participants of the material chain network, particularly the material loop. The data transactions may be based on a transaction protocol including authentication and/or authorization mechanism(s). Based on the authentication and/or authorization mechanism^) a peer-to-peer network between decentral network node(s) of the decentral network may be established.

The one or more authentication mechanism(s) may be associated with or linked to the decentral identifier. The one or more authentication mechanism(s) associated with the decentral identifier may be provided to decentral network node(s). The one or more authentication mechanism(s) associated with the decentral identifier may be accessible by decentral network node(s). The decentral configuration allows for more efficient use of computing resources and strengthens control by each data owner of the decentral network.

In one embodiment assigning of one or more waste article(s) includes classification according to classification instructions relating material composition data and/or article history data to one or more plastic waste fraction(s). By classification the data-driven sorting can be conducted, simplifying the sorting process and ensuring the quality of waste fractions. The classification instructions may be configured to classify the one or more waste articles according to the material composition data and/or article history data. This may include classifying the one or more plastic article(s) based on the material composition data and/or the article history data per article to the waste fraction to be processed. Assigning the one or more article(s) to one or more plastic waste fraction(s) may include providing classification instructions configured to relate material compositions data per waste article and/or article history data per waste article to the waste fraction to be processed.

In one embodiment assigning of one or more waste article(s) includes providing classification instructions that gather decentral identifiers per waste fraction based on the material compositions data per waste article and/or article history data per waste article. The classification instructions may gather decentral identifiers associated with the waste article(s) according to waste fraction(s) to be processed by the chemical recycling process to produce a hydrocarbon recyclate for a petrochemical process, by the chemical recycling process to produce a recyclate mixture including at least hydrogen and carbon monoxide for a hydrogenbased chemical process, by the chemical recycling process to produce a monomer recyclate for a polymer production process, and/or by the solvent-based recycling process to produce a polymer recyclate for an article production process. The gathered decentral identifiers per article and waste fraction may be provided as control data to sort the one or more article(s). The position or location of the articles associated with the decentral identifiers per article and waste fraction may be provided as control data to sort the one or more article(s). The control data may be provided to a sorting system configured to sort the one or more article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction(s). Assigning the one or more article(s) to one or more plastic waste fraction(s) may include providing classification instructions, wherein the classification instructions specify the waste fraction to be processed by fraction composition per plastic waste fraction, a fraction history per plastic waste fraction, a recycling process per plastic waste fraction, a recyclate use per plastic waste fraction or combinations thereof. Assigning the one or more article(s) to one or more plastic waste fraction(s) may include providing classification instructions, wherein the classification instructions specify the waste fraction to be processed by origin, use, application, material composition, contaminants for recycling, degradation level, recyclate content, monomer content and/or polymer content.

In another embodiment the plastics waste fraction(s) may specify a fraction composition per plastic waste fraction, a fraction history per plastic waste fraction, a recycling process per plastic waste fraction, a recyclate use per plastic waste fraction or combinations thereof. The plastics waste fraction(s) may specify a material composition, one or more contaminants for recycling, a content per contaminant for recycling, a degradation level per material type, one or more local origin(s), one or more manufacturer origin(s), one or more article application(s), one or more article use(s), a monomer content and/or a polymer content. The plastics waste fraction(s) may specify the waste fraction to be processed to include at least one polyolefin- rich and at least one polyolefi n-depleted waste fraction, at least one contaminant for recycling-rich and at least one contaminant for recycling-depleted waste fraction, at least one degraded and at least one nonedegraded waste fraction, at least one monomer-rich and at least one monomer-depleted waste fraction and/or at least one polymer-rich and at least one polymer-depleted waste fraction. By way of accessibility of data through the decentral network, the sorting depth can be enhanced and more reliable sorting can be ensured.

In one embodiment the classification instructions are provided by one or more decentral network node(s) associated with one or more chemical producer(s) using hydrocarbon recyclate for petrochemical processes, recyclate mixture including at least hydrogen and carbon monoxide for hydrogen-based chemical processes, monomer and/or polymer recyclate for monomer and/or polymer production processes, monomer and/or polymer recyclate for monomer and/or polymer production processes, and/or monomer and/or polymer recyclate for monomer, polymer and/or article production processes. This way the sorting in waste fractions can be tailored to the recyclate use. The classification instructions may additionally or alternatively, be provided by one or more decentral network node(s) associated with one or more recycler(s) operating recycling processes including pyrolysis, gasification, depolymerization and/or dissolution. This way the sorting in waste fractions can be tailored to the recycling process.

The classification instructions may be executed by one or more decentral network node(s) of the decentral network, such as the decentral network node associated with the sorter, the chemical product producer, the monomer producer and/or the polymer producer. The classification instructions may be provided by one or more decentral network node(s) of the decentral network such as the decentral network node associated with the chemical product producer, the monomer producer, the polymer producer, the polymer user and/or the article producer. The classification instructions may be executed by the sorting system. The execution of the classification instructions by the chemical product producer, the monomer producer and/or the polymer producer may be required for information protection e.g. if the classification instructions include secret process know-how. The execution of the classification instructions by the sorting system may reduce latency.

In another embodiment the material composition data relates to a chemical composition specifying the plastic material contained in the article. The plastic material may comprise one or more elements selected from the group consisting of: polyethylene (PE), low density polyethylene (LDPE), linear LDPE (LLDPE), high density polyethylene (HDPE), polyoxmethylene (POM), polypropylene (PP), polyamide (PA), poly ethylene terephthalate (PET), poly butylene terephthalate (PBT), acrylnitril-butadiene-styrene (ABS), polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polyurethane (PU), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), polystyrene (PS), polylactic acid (PLA), polyvinylchloride (PVC) or polycarbonate (PC). By providing material composition details the sorting depth of waste streams can be enhanced through data access via the decentral network. Complex sensor systems can thus be avoided leading to simpler sorting facilities that can be build and maintained at lower cost.

In another embodiment the article history data relates to the use, application and/or origin of the article containing plastic. By providing origin, use and/or application data for sorting closed material loops e.g. for specific origins, applications and/or uses can be enabled through more tailored sorting.

The one or more network node(s) providing the material composition data and/or the article history data may be associated with a producer of at least one monomer or polymer contained in the article, a producer of an intermediate product contained in the article, a producer of the article, a user of the article, a collector of the article, or combinations thereof. The producer of at least one monomer or polymer contained in the article may provide monomer or polymer data associated with the article. The producer of an intermediate product contained in the article may provide intermediate product data associated with the article. The producer of the article provide article property data associated with the article. A user of the article may provide article data associated with the use of the article. A collector of the article may provide article data associated with the collection of the article. This allows for higher sorting depth by accessing material composition data and/or the article history data from different participant of the material chain up from monomer production to the articles use and collection. In another embodiment the material composition data and/or article history data associated with the one or more waste article(s) is gathered and aggregated to fraction data including fraction composition data and/or fraction history data. A fraction identifier may be provided and the fraction composition data and/or fraction history data may be assigned to the fraction identifier. The fraction identifier may include at least one decentral fraction identifier. The decentral fraction identifier and a representation linked to the fraction composition data and/or fraction history data may be provided for access by one or more network node(s) of a decentral network. The fraction composition data and/or fraction history data may be provided for access by the decentral network node associated with the recycler further processing the waste fraction and/or the decentral network node associated with the chemical producer further processing the waste fraction. This way the fraction properties can be tracked from the waste articles to the use of recyclates in chemical production processes.

In another embodiment the waste fraction to be processed is associated with a recycling process identifier, wherein the recycling process identifier is assigned to the fraction identifier. The recycling process identifier may include at least one decentral recycling identifier. The fraction composition data and/or fraction history data may be provided for access by one or more network node(s) associated with the recycler further processing the waste fraction and/or the chemical producer further processing the waste fraction based on the decentral recycling identifier. This way the material flow of waste fractions or recyclates can be controlled and/or monitored to reach suitable recyclers and producers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following, the present disclosure is further described with reference to the enclosed figures.

Fig.1 illustrates an example embodiment of a circular material loop including material participants connected through a decentral network with decentral network nodes associated with material participants.

Fig. 2 illustrates an example of a sensor-based sorting system for sorting plastics waste including sensors and separation mechanisms.

Fig. 3 illustrates an example of waste fraction separation by the sensor-based sorting system.

Fig. 4 illustrates an example of an intelligent sorting system with decentral network interface. Fig. 5 illustrates an example of waste stream separation by the sorting system with decentral network interface.

Fig. 6 illustrates the flow chart for an example of an intelligent sorting method that may be implemented in the sorting system with decentral network interface.

Figs. 7a, b illustrate example data structures used for the intelligent sorting method based on material composition data and/or article history data accessible by way of the decentral network interface.

Fig. 8 illustrates an example of a method or apparatus for providing material composition data and/or article history data by way of the decentral network.

Fig. 9 illustrates an example of the pre-defined classification configured to separate plastic articles by material composition, article history and recycling process.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following embodiments are mere examples for implementing the methods, the apparatuses, the systems or applications disclosed herein and shall not be considered limiting.

Fig. 1 illustrates an example embodiment of a circular material loop 100 including material participants 101.1-6 connected through a decentral network 102 with decentral network nodes 103.1-6 associated with material participants 101.1-6.

The participant network shown in Fig. 1 may be a material chain network. The material chain network may include one or more linear material chain(s). The linear material chain(s) may include a material supply chain, in which the material is produced by a material producer 101.1 and used to produce an end product by an original equipment manufacturer 101.3 (OEM). The linear material chain(s) may include a material recycling chain, in which the produced end product is collected, sorted and recycled up to a recycling system operator 101.6 and the recyclate is used to produce new material by the material producer 101.1. The material chain may include one or more supply and/or recycling chain(s). The material chain may include one or more connected supply and/or recycling chain(s). One or more linear material chain(s) may be connected to the material loop 100. The material chain network may include a material loop network 100 including the use of recycled materials) to produce new materials. One or more material loop(s) 100 may allow to use materials resulting from recycling of end-of-life products to produce new products, such as chemical products or materials, associated with one or more material chain(s). The material chain network, preferably the material loop 100, may include the production, use and/or recycling of physical materials and products. The product may be a material, a chemical product, an intermediate chemical product, a component, a component assembly, an end product, an end-of-life product, a product to be recycled, a recycled product or a recyclate.

Material or chemical product may refer to a chemical compound, a chemical ingredient, a chemical molecule, a chemical composition, a chemical mixture, a chemical formulation, an intermediate chemical product, or a chemical base material that may be used to produce discrete products. Chemical material or product flows may include non-discrete material flows that may be further processed to produce discrete products or components. Chemical material or product flows may include liquids, pellets, beats, powders or the like. The discrete product may refer to a component, a component assembly, an end product, an end-of-life product, a product to be recycled, or a recycled discrete product. The recyclate may refer to a mechanically or chemically recycled material. Recyclate or recycled material flows may include non-discrete material flows that may be further processed to produce new materials or chemical products. Recyclate or recycled material flows may include liquids, pellets, beats, powders or the like.

End product may refer to a product that is the result of a material supply chain. End product may refer to a product that is used by the end product user. End-of-life (EOL) product may refer to a product that has been used by end product user. End-of-life product may refer to a product that does no longer fulfill the requirements for its use. End-of-life product may refer to a product that is no longer required. End-of-life products may be products disposed in waste, such as plastic waste. A recycled product may refer to any product that has been produced using end-of-life product(s). A recycled product may refer to a new product that has been produced using end-of-life product(s).

The material loop 100 illustrated in Fig. 1 may include multiple participants 101.1-6 forming the material loop 100. The material loop 100 may include all stages of the material from production of the material via use of the material to re-use of the material. The material may hence flow in a closed loop from production of constituents, the end product via use to re-use. Re-use may include re-purposing of the end-of-life product, re-furbishing of the end-of-life product and/or recycling of the end-of-life product to refeed recyclate into material production. The participant(s) 101.1-6 of the material loop may be associated with the production of any material or product and/or recycling of any material or product. The participant(s) of the material loop 100 may include the chemical product producer 103.1, the chemical product user 103.2, the original equipment manufacturer, OEM 103.3, the end product user 103.4, the EOL product collector and/or sorter 103.5, the recycling system operator 103.6 and combinations thereof. The participant(s) may include various participant(s) of the material chain or loop not shown in Fig. 1.

The participant(s) 101.1-6 of the material loop 100 may be connected through material flow(s) 104. The material flow 104 may correspond to the flow of product or material from one participant 101.1-6 of the material loop to the downstream participant 101.1-6 of the material loop 100. The material flow 104 may refer to a continuous or a discontinuous flow of product or material. The flow of product or material may include any means of transportation suitable to transport the product from one participant 101.1-6 to another downstream participant 101.1-6. The means of transportation may include pipes, containers, barrels, packages or the like. The material flow 104 may be a one-sided flow, such as a directional material flow 104. The material flow 104 may flow from the upstream participant 101.1-6 to the downstream participant 101.1-6 of the material loop 100, such as the material flow 104 from the recycling system operator 101 .6 to the chemical product producer 101.1. The material flow may include reverse material flow 104 from the downstream participant 101.1-6 to the upstream participant 101.1-6 of the material loop 100. For example, material may flow 104 from the chemical product producer 101.1 to the recycling system 101.6, e.g. when the recycled product or recyclate does not adhere to quality specifications and needs further treatment.

The material flow 106 may be associated with raw materials used to produce the material or chemical product, such as virgin raw material(s). Virgin raw material may be unused raw material that has not been subjected to any processing other than for its production. Instead of virgin raw material(s) the material flow 104 may include recycled material(s). Recycled material(s) may be made from waste material that can be recycled. The raw and recycled materials may be provided to the chemical product producer for producing materials), chemical product(s) and/or intermediate chemical product(s) (not shown).

The material loop 100 illustrated in Fig. 1 is based on the example of plastic materials and their circular loop. Plastic materials may include a synthetic material made from a wide range of organic polymers such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyethylene terephthalate, polyvinyl carbon, polyamide, polyurethane or the like. The material participants may include the monomer and/or polymer producer 101.1 , the monomer and/or polymer user 101.2 such as the compounder, moulder or converter, the original equipment manufacturer 101.3 such as the polymer-containing product producer, the polymer-containing product user 101 .4 such as the retailer or the consumer, the waste collector and/or sorter, the recycling system operator 101 . 5 such as the recycler or refiner.

The monomers and/or polymers may be produced by the chemical producer. The monomers and/or polymers may be provided to a polymer user, such as a compounder, moulder and/or converter. The monomers and/or polymers may be compounded, moulded and/or converted. The compounded, moulded and/or converted polymer may be provided to a polymer-containing product producer (Original Equipment Manufacturer - OEM). The polymer-containing product or article may be produced using the compounded, moulded and/or converted polymer. The polymer-containing product or article may be provided to a polymer-containing product user. The polymer-containing product or article may be used by the user. At the end-of-life the polymer-containing product or article may be disposed by the user. The disposed polymer- containing product or article may be provided to the plastic waste collector and/or sorter. The disposed polymer-containing product or article may be collected in a plastic waste stream. The plastic waste stream may be sorted. The plastic waste stream may be provided to a sorter for sorting fractions of polymer-containing products or articles to be recycled. The sorted fractions of polymer-containing products or articles may be provided to a recycler for recycling the polymer-containing product fraction. The recycled fraction may be provided to the chemical producer for producing new monomers and/or polymers thus closing the material loop 100. The material flow 104 may close the loop between the material participants.

In addition to the connection through material flows 104, the material participants 101.1-6 of the circular material loop 100 may be connected through data flows 105 via the decentral network 102. The decentral network 102 may include one or more decentral network nodes 103.1-6 associated with material participants 101.1-6 of the material loop 100. In a decentralized or decentral network 102, the decentral network nodes 103.1-6, in contrast to a centralized network, do not exclusively rely on a central network node. In other words, no single entity is the sole authority of the network. The decentral network 102 may include decentral and central network nodes. The decentral network 102 may include central network nodes that may control and/or monitor the decentral network nodes 103.1-6. For example, central network node(s) may provide authentication information, which allows at least two decentral network nodes 103.1-6 to establish a peer-to-peer communication channel between respective decentral network nodes 103.1-6.

The network nodes 103.1-6 may be computing nodes. The 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. Computing nodes are now increasingly taking a wide variety of forms. Computing nodes may, for example, be handheld devices, monitoring systems, control systems, laptop computers, desktop computers, mainframes and/or data centers. The memory may take any form and depends on the nature and form of the computing node. The decentral network nodes 103.1-6 may be connected via a wired and/or wireless connection such as one of Ethernet, USB, LAN, WLAN and the like. Wireless communication may use, for example, WLAN, Wi-Fi, cellular, and/or Bluetooth. The decentral network nodes 103.1-6 may be configured to perform peer-to-peer data transactions, illustrated by the arrows 105 indicating data flow.

The decentral network nodes 103.1-6 may be configured as data consuming and/or providing network nodes. The decentral network nodes 103.1-6 may be configured to provide data to other network node(s) of the decentral network 102 and/or to consume data from other nodes of the decentral network 102. For instance, the decentral network node 103.1 ,3 associated with the monomer and/or polymer producer 101.1 or the polymer containing product producer 101 .3 may be configured to provide chemical product data associated with properties of the polymer to downstream participants such as the plastic waste collector or sorter 101.5 or the recycling operator 101.6. Further for instance, the decentral network node 103.5,6 associated with the plastic waste collector or sorter 101 .5 or the recycling operator 101 .6 may be configured to access data from the network node 103.1-5 associated with upstream participants such as the monomer and/or polymer producer 101.1 or the polymer containing product producer 101.3.

The decentral network node(s) 103.1-6 may comprise computer-executable instructions configured to provide, consume and/or process data, such as chemical product data associated with the monomer, polymer, polymer-containing product or article produced or processed within the circular loop 100. The network node(s) may run a data providing service configured to provide data to another decentral network node 103.1-6 of the decentral network 102. The decentral network node(s) 103.1-6 configured to provide data may be associated with a data owner or a data generating node associated with a material or product produced or processed within the circular loop 100. The decentral network node(s) 103.1-6 may be connected to one or more dedicated data storage(s) storing the data associated with material or product produced or processed in the circular loop 100 (see for example Fig. 8). The dedicated data storage(s) may be under control of the data owner or data generating node associated with the material or product produced or processed in the circular loop 100. The data owner may be the respective participant 101.1-6 of the circular loop 100, the data generating node 103.1-6 is associated with. The data generating node 103.1-6 may have access to the dedicated data storage(s). Access to data associated with material or product produced or processed within the circular loop 100 may hence be under control of the data owner the respective decentral network node 103.1-6 is associated with. This allows to retain full control over data associated with material or product produced or processed within the circular loop 100 by the data owner. At the same time this enables sharing of data associated with material or product produced or processed within the circular loop 100 under controlled conditions, for example by using appropriate protocols including authorization and authentication mechanisms or schemes to establish peer-to-peer communication.

The decentral network node 103.1-6 configured to consume data may comprise computer-executable instructions for accessing and/or processing data within the decentral network 102, such as data associated with material produced or processed within the circular loop 100 and provided by a decentral data providing network node 103.1-6. The decentral data consuming network node 103.1-6 may be controlled or owned by or associated with any upstream or downstream participant of the circular loop 100. For instance, the decentral data consuming network node 103.4 may be associated with polymer-containing product user 103.4 to allow access to monomer and/or polymer data associated with the supplied monomer and/or polymer of the monomer and/or polymer producer through the decentral data providing network node 103.1 associated with the monomer and/or polymer producer 101.1.

The decentral network 102 may include further decentral network nodes 103.1-6. The further decentral network nodes 103.1-6 may not be associated with further participants of the circular loop 100. The further nodes may be decentral infrastructure service nodes (not shown in Fig. 1). The decentral infrastructure service nodes may provide services for decentral participant nodes 103.1-6, such as verifying the identity of the decentral network participant nodes 103.1-6 prior to performing a data ex-change. The decentral network participant node(s) 103.1-6 may be associated with or include certificate(s), such as X.509 certifi- cate(s). The certificate(s) may be associated with an identity manager 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 node(s) 103.1-6 may be associated or connected to a unique identifier embedded in a X.509 certificate that identifies the respective decentral network node(s) 103.1-6. 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 the data owner, a Certification Authority (CA), a Dynamic Attribute Provisioning Service (DAPS) and a decentral data consuming network node associated with the data consumer are used to verify the identity prior to performing a data exchange (not shown).

The material or product produced by participant(s) 101.1-6 of the circular loop 100 may be associated with material or product data associated with properties of the material or product produced by participant(s) 101.1-6 of the circular loop 100. The material or product data may be provided for access by the decentral data providing network node 103.1-6 associated with the material or product producer. Access to the material or product data may be controlled by the decentral data providing network node 103.1-6. The material or product data may be accessed by decentral data consuming network node(s) 103.1-6 associated with further participants 101.1-6 of the material loop 100, such as any downstream participant 101.1-6.

The data flow 105 between decentral network nodes 103.1-6 may be directly or indirectly associated with the material flow 104, 106 between the participants 101.1-6 of the material loop 100. For instance, the data flow 105 may be directly associated with the material flow 104, 105, if data associated with a chemical product provided from the chemical product producer 103.1 to the chemical product user 103.2 is accessed by a decentral data consuming network node 103.1-6 associated with said chemical product user 101.2.

For instance, the data flow 105 may be indirectly associated with the material flow 104, 106, if data associated with a chemical product produced by chemical product producer 103.1 is accessed by a decentral data consuming network node 103.1-6 associated with the recycling system operator 101.6.

Data transactions between decentral network nodes 103.1-6 may be based on a decentral identifier associated with the material or product data to be accessed. The decentral identifier may be associated with the physical entity of the material or product. The decentral identifier may be uniquely associated with the physical entity of the material or product. The decentral identifier may uniquely identify the material or product within the decentral network 102. The decentral identifier may be associated with further decentral identifiers), such as decentral identifier(s) of material(s) or product(s) used to produce the end product. This may allow to track the material(s) or product(s) used to produce a product, such as an end-product. The decentral identifier may be included in a material passport associated with the material or product as is described in more detail in the context of Fig 8.

Fig. 2 illustrates an example of a sensor-based sorting system 200 for sorting plastic waste including sensors 202, 212 and separation mechanisms 204 associated with the sensors 202, 212.

The sorting system 200 may be any type of sorting system 200 suitable to sort plastic waste 208. One example with a conveyer belt 206, a sensor system 202 and separation mechanism 204 is illustrated in Fig. 1 . Other sorting systems may include density-based sorting processes such as centrifugal or float sink processes. The sorting systems in general may conduct any staged sorting.

The conveyer belt 206 may carry the plastic waste 208 to pass a first separator 204 that positions the plastic waste articles 208 on the conveyer belt 206 (not shown). The conveyer belt 206 may carry the individualizes articles 208 to the first sensor system 202 such as a camera. The sensor system 202 may include one or more sensors configured to detect one or more properties of the plastic waste articles 208. The conveyer belt 206 may further carry the plastic waste articles 208 to pass a second separator 204 that separates the waste articles 208 in different waste fractions 21 Oa-d. The separation may be based on sensor data collected by the first sensor system 202. For example, a camera sensor and an associated processing unit may be configured to determine shape, color and/or size (not shown). Depending on the detected shape, color and/or size, the separator 204 may separate respective articles 208 into different fractions 21 Oa-d.

The conveyer belt 206 may carry the fractionized articles 208 to the second sensor system 212 such as a spectrophotometric system, e.g. UV/VIS (ultraviolet/visible), NIR (near infra-red), or laser/optical sensor system. The second sensor system 212 may include one or more sensors configured to detect one or more properties of the plastics waste articles 208.

The conveyer belt 206 may carry the plastics waste to a second separator 204 that further separates the waste articles 208 in different waste fractions 21 Oa-d. The separation may be based on sensor data collected by the second sensor system 212. For example, a NIR sensor and associated processing unit may be configured to determine material composition of the articles 208 (not shown). Through multiple sensor systems 202, 212 and associated separators 204, the sorting depth can be increased to separate by article shape, color, size and/or material composition.

Fig. 3 illustrates an example of waste fraction separation by the sensor-based sorting system 200 with multiple sensor systems 202, 212. This is only an example based on the sorting system illustrated in Fig. 2. Other sorting mechanisms such as density-based mechanisms may include a similarly stage sorting process. The waste fractions resulting from such sorting may differ from the one illustrated as an example in Fig. 3.

As shown in the example of Fig. 2, mixed plastic waste may be sorted by way of the sensor-based 202, 212 sorting system 200. Fig. 3 illustrates the camera-based sorting into fractions such as light and heavy fraction. The heavy fraction may be further sorted by way of NIR-based sorting 212 into a waste fraction for incineration and articles containing polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), high density polyethylene (HDPE), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) may be separated. The PET fraction may be further separated through camera-based 202 sorting by color. Similarly, the light fraction may be further sorted (not shown).

The multi-sensor systems, as for example illustrated in Fig. 2, required to reach the sorting depth for the waste fractions to be further processed are complicated, costly and are limited with regards to the quality of the waste fractions required for re-use. For example, in circular value chains mechanical recycling is a prominent re-use process. Such process, however, requires highly pure waste fractions that can be achieved in closed re-use circles such as PET bottles. Even in such closed re-use circles, the number of times the material can be re-used through mechanical recycling is limited. In the case of PET bottles for example, ten times may be the maximum reuse rate per material. To overcome some of these challenges, chemical recycling including pyrolysis and depolymerization are other prominent re-use processes to decompose the material into its chemical constituents such as polymers, monomers or hydrocarbons. Particularly, pyrolysis is thought to process mixed waste streams while delivering sufficient quality of the recyclate to be used as feedstock in chemical plants such as steam crackers. One example recyclate is pyrolysis oil. To date the challenge remains that only few pyrolysis techniques deliver pyrolysis oil with sufficient quality to be refed into chemical value chains. For example, large scale plants like steam crackers operate large scale equipment under conditions that is sensitive to impurities in the feed stream. In particular, heteroatoms can have severe effects on steam crackers leading to fouling, coke formation, corrosion or downstream catalyst poisoning. These and other degradation mechanisms lead to less reliable operation up to operation break-down. Even if pyrolysis oil can be produced with sufficient quality from the plastic waste streams, the availability of such waste streams is to date insufficient to produce sufficient quantities of pyrolysis oil to operate large scale chemical plants like steam crackers.

More enhanced plastics waste sorting is thought to overcome such shortage and quality problems. Plastics waste is, however, a challenging waste to be separated into fractions for re-use. For example, plastics blends or multilayer materials may be less suitable for some recycling processes than pure plastics. Further for example, the fraction’s composition may critically influence the quality and/or the yield of recyclate such as pyrolysis oil that can be extracted from the waste fraction. Such oil may be produced through pyrolysis of waste fractions. However, the quality of the pyrolysis oil depends on the wase fraction composition. For example, contaminates influence the quality despite manual collection schemes and reduce the quality of pyrolysis oil. Moreover, a steam cracker grade pyrolysis oil has very narrow specification to avoid plant break-downs or down times due to degradation caused by contaminants.

Said differently, for plastic waste such as packaging collected through mixed collection, sorting can be disrupted due to excessive contamination or additional sorting steps can be required, while the value of recyclate is automatically lowered and therefore the range of applications the recyclate could be used for is limited. Creating more intelligent sorting schemes to separate streams for mainstream plastic types (PET, PE, PP and PS) with fluctuating waste composition will lower contamination levels, increase the efficiency of sorting and increase the quantity and quality of recyclates.

Fig. 4 illustrates an example of an intelligent sorting system 400 with decentral network interface 408. The sorting system 400 may include an optical measurement system 402 configured to read identifier elements 406 such as codes, e.g QR codes or RF ID tags, attached to the plastic waste articles 404. The sorting system 400 may further include an interface 408 to a decentral network node 103.5 associated with the sorting system 400. The decentral network node 103.5 may be connected to a decentral network 102 as for example illustrated and described in the context of Fig. 1 .

The sorting system 400 may detect the identifier element 406 of the plastic waste article 404. Based on the detection, the decentral identifier associated with the waste article 404 may be provided either directly from the optical measurement system 400 or by gathering the decentral identifier from an identifier management node of the decentral network 102. Based on the decentral identifier, property data associated with the waste article 404 may be gathered from decentral network nodes 103.1-6 of the decentral network 102. The property data of the waste article 404 may include the material composition and/or article history data. For example, the material composition data may relate to the chemical compounds used to manufacture the material, the chemical compounds contained in the material, the recyclate content of the material and/or the bio-based content of the material. Further for example, the article history data may relate to the number of cycles the material was used and recycled. This may be particularly relevant for recycling streams, where the material degrades after a certain number of recycling loops. Examples are closed loop recycling schemes like PET bottles, where the material is not usable for further recycling after about ten loops. Further for example, the article history data may relate to the application of the material and/or the article type. The article history data may specify the application the material was used in such as food packaging. The article history data may specify the product type the material was used for in the current cycle and/or prior cycles. This may be particularly relevant for materials and recyclates that are used in food industry. The article history data may specify origin, application, or use of the materials. This may include origin such as specific product manufacturers, locations or regions. This may include application types such as bottle, medical packaging or the like. This may include uses in food industry only.

By accessing the digital material twins of the waste articles 404 via the decentral identifier, the material composition and/or article history may be retrieved from the decentral network node(s) 103.1-4 associated with the participant 101.1-4 owning or providing such data.

Based on such data retrieved via the decentral network 102, the separator 410 may separate waste articles 408 according to properties of the waste articles 404 such as material composition and/or article history. This allows for simple sorting of waste articles 404 by accessing data through the decentral network 102. As a result, the data available through the decentral network 102 enhances the sorting depths without the need for further sensor system 202, 212 and multi-layer sorting machinery 204. The proposed simple data- driven sorting system 400 may be used as extension or in combination with sensor-based sorting systems 200 such as the one illustrated in Fig. 1 . This way plastics articles 404 where the identifier element 406 is not accessible or detectable may be sorted by sensor-based systems 404, while plastic articles 404 with accessible or detectable identifier element 406 may be sorted with higher sorting depth.

In addition, to the enhanced sorting depth through the data availability by way of the decentral network 102, the tracking and tracing of the material composition of sorted waste fractions 21 Oa-d can be enhanced. For example, the decentral identifiers associated with waste articles 404 gathered by the sorting system 400 may be stored according to the sorting fraction 21 Oa-d. Based on the decentral identifier and the sorting logic (described in more detail in Figs. 5 and 6) a control signal for the separator 410 may be generated to sort the respective waste articles 408 to a dedicated waste fraction 21 Oa-d. The decentral identifier associated with the waste article 404 may be assigned to a fraction ID associated with the respective waste fraction 21 Oa-d the waste article 404 is sorted to. This way the property data of the respective waste article 404 accessed by way of the decentral identifier can be stored in connection with the waste fraction ID. Once the batch of the waste fraction 21 Oa-d is completed the gathered property data may be aggregated to fraction data by assigning the decentral identifier associated with the fraction. Such assignment may be executed on controlling the sorting. For example, the composition data per decentral identifier may be aggregated by composition compounds or constituents contained in the waste fraction 21 Oa-d and their respective quantities, such as amounts. Further for example, the article history per decentral identifier may be aggregated to signify the origin, application, or use of the materials. This may include uses in food industry only, application types such as bottle, medical packaging or the like and/or specific locations, regions and/or product manufacturer(s). The fraction ID and the fraction data may be provided to the decentral network 102 for access by decentral network nodes 103.1-6 associated with other participants 101.1-6 of the decentral network 102.

Fig. 5 illustrates an example of waste stream separation by a sorting system 400 with interface to a decentral network 102.

In contrast to the examples illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, where multiple sensors 202, 212 are required for achieving a meaningful sorting depth, the sorting system 400 with the interface 408 to the decentral network 102 allows for simpler and more reliable sorting. As illustrated in Fig. 4 the sorting can be executed in a single step based on the decentral identifier and the data accessible for such decentral identifier through the interface 408 to the decentral network 102. As a result, staged sorting processes based on different sensor techniques can be avoided and the sorting can be conducted more efficiently. Fig. 5 illustrates the single-shot sorting depth achievable by the sorting system 400 with decentral network interface 408 in comparison to the sensor-based sorting system 200 with staged sorting depth as illustrated in Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 illustrates the flow chart for an example of an intelligent sorting method that may be implemented in a sorting system 400 with the decentral network interface 408.

The waste articles 404 may include an identification element 406 associated with the decentral identifier per waste article 404. The identification element 406 may be detected. The identification element 406 may be an optical identification element such as a QR code or an electronic identification element such as an RFID tag. The reader 402 may detect the identification element 406. The decentral identifier per waste article 404 may be provided based on such detection. For example, a QR code may be detected by the optical reader. The reader may translate the QR-code to the decentral identifier. Alternatively, the reader may translate the QR-code into an identifier of the QR-code. The identifier may be provided to the decentral identifier management system of the decentral network 102. The decentral identifier management system may store identifier pairs of QR-code identifiers and decentral identifiers. The decentral identifier connected to the provided QR-code identifier may be provided. Similarly, an RFID tag identifier may be used. Further for example, the identification element 406 may include a physical tracer material contained in the waste article 404. The identification element may be detected by a method detecting the tracer, such as X-ray detector configured to detect tracer molecules or metals. The tracer identification may be provided to the decentral identifier management system. Based on the tracer identification the decentral identifier may be provided by the decentral identifier management system.

If no identifier element is detected, control data may be generated to separate the waste article 404 without ID element detection from the waste articles 404 for which the identifier element is detected. The waste article 404 without ID element detection may be fed to a sensor-based sorting system 200 such as the one described in the context of Figs. 2 and/or 3.

Based on the decentral identifier article property data associated with the waste article 404 such as material composition and/or article history data may be gathered by accessing decentral network nodes 103.1-6 of the decentral network 102, that are associated with other participants 103.1-6 of the decentral network 102 such as illustrated in the context of Fig. 2.

The material composition data may be gathered from one or more decentral network node(s) 103.1-6 of the decentral network 102. For example, the monomer(s), polymer(s) and/or additive(s) present in the waste article 404 may be provided by the decentral network node 103.3 associated with the polymer-containing product producer 101 .3. Further for example, the monomer type, polymer type and/or additive type present in the waste article 404 may be provided by the decentral network node 103.3 associated with the polymer- containing product producer 101 .3. Further for example, the plastic material(s) present in the waste article 404 may be provided by the decentral network node 103.3 associated with the polymer-containing product producer 101 .3. Further for example, the monomer(s) and/or polymer(s) present in the waste article 404 may be provided by the decentral network node 103.1 associated with the monomer and/or polymer producer 101.1. Further for example, the monomer(s), polymer(s) and/or additive(s) present in the waste article 404 may be provided by the decentral network node 103.2 associated with the monomer and/or polymer user 101 .1 . To provide data associated with properties of the waste article 404 from decentral network node(s) 103.1-4, the decentral identifier associated with the waste article 404 may be linked to decentral identifiers associated with physical entities of the materials or products used to produce the waste article 404. The decentral identifier(s) associated with the monomer(s), polymer(s) and/or additive(s) used to produce the waste article may be linked to the decentral identifier associated with the waste product 404. The linking of the decentral identifiers along the material flow allows for tracking the composition and/or history of the polymer-containing product. The linking of identifiers may be resolved by the identifier management system of the decentral network 102 based on the decentral identifier associated with the waste article 404. Depending on the data requested by the decentral network node 103.5 associated with the plastic waste sorter and/or collector 101 .5 the identifier management system may resolve linked identifiers and manage the process for accessing the respective data providing network node(s). The linking of identifiers may be provided on providing the decentral identifier associated with the waste article 404. For example, the identifier linking may be part of the article passport associated with the plastic-containing waste article. The article passport may include the decentral identifier associated with the waste article 404, the digital representation or link to the article property data and the decentral identifier(s) associated with the monomer(s), pol- ymer(s) and/or additive(s) used to produce the waste article and linked to the decentral identifier associated with the waste product 404.

The article history data may be gathered from one or more decentral network node(s) 103.1-6 of the decentral network 102. For example, the origin, application and/or use of the waste article 404 may be provided by the decentral network node 103.3 associated with the polymer-containing product producer 101 .3. Further for example, the origin, application and/or use of the waste article 404 may be provided by the decentral network node 103.4 associated with the polymer-containing product user 101.4. As described above for the material composition, the decentral identifier associated with the waste article 404 may be linked to further decentral identifiers associated with stages of the waste article along the material flow 104. Based on the material composition and/or the article history data fraction control data may be generated. Waste articles 404 may be sorted according to the fraction control data. For example, the sorting system 400 may include classification instructions configured to match the material composition to a pre-determined fraction for such material composition. The pre-determined fraction may specify the material type(s), range(s) for material quantity per type, specific compounds contained in the material, the exclusion of specific compounds contained in the material, recycled material content, bio-based material content or combinations thereof. The pre-determined waste fraction may for example specify the material types to be included in the waste fraction depending on the recycling process and further use of the recyclate. The predefined waste fraction may include at least one of four types of waste fractions. The type of waste fraction may be tailored to pyrolysis to produce hydrocarbon recyclate, for gasification to produce recyclate mixture containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide, for depolymerization to produce monomer recyclate, to dissolution to produce polymer recyclate or to mechanical recycling to produce polymer recyclate. A first waste fraction may specify a mixed plastic waste and polyolefin-rich fraction e.g. including PE, PS and/or PP, for pyrolysis as recycling process to produce hydrocarbon recyclate. A second waste fraction may specify a mixed plastic waste and polyolefin-depleted fraction e.g. including polymers containing oxygen or halogens such as PET, PVC or compounds containing brominated flame retardants, for gasification as recycling process to produce the recyclate mixture including at least hydrogen and carbon monoxide as recyclate. A third waste fraction may specify a uniform plastic waste fraction e.g. including PP, PE or PS, for depolymerization as recycling process to produce the monomer recyclate. A fourth waste fraction may specify a uniform plastic waste fraction e.g. including PP, PS or PA, for dissolution as recycling process to produce the polymer recyclate. Further waste fractions may specify uniform or mixes waste fractions for mechanical recycling.

Further for example, the sorting system 400 may include classification instructions configured to match the article history to a pre-determined fraction for such history. The pre-determined fraction may specify the number of loops the material was re-used or recycled, the origin of the material such as specific manufacturer, location and/or region, the application of the material such as bottles, foils or fibers, the use of the material such as food or non-food or combinations thereof. For example, the pre-determined fraction may specify mechanical recycling as recycling process for uniform waste fraction, e.g. including PET, and the number of loops below or equal to a threshold or chemical recycling as recycling process for uniform waste fraction, e.g. including PET, and the number of loops above or equal to a threshold. Further for example, the pre-determined fraction may specify origin, use and/or application to enable closed material loops for specific origins, applications and/or uses. Through matching the property data accessed via the decentral network 102 for the specific waste article 404 with the classification instructions, the waste articles 404 may be separated per pre-defined fraction. The property data and/or decentral IDs per waste article 404 per fraction may be gathered. The gathered decentral IDs and/or property data per fraction may be assigned to a fraction identifier, such as a decentral identifier per fraction. The gathered decentral identifiers and/or property data may be aggregated to fraction data. Fraction data may relate to a fraction composition and/or a fraction history. For example, the composition data per decentral identifier may be aggregated by composition, compounds contained in the waste fraction and/or their respective quantities, such as amounts. Further for example, the article history per decentral identifier may be aggregated to signify the origin, application, or use of the materials. This may include origin such as specific product manufacturers. This may include application types such as bottle, medical packaging or the like. This may include uses in food industry.

Based on the classification and/or the aggregated fraction data, the recycling process may be determined and/or assigned to the fraction identifier. The classification may include a recycling process specific classification. For example, the material composition per fraction may be specified to include a first class of plastics or compounds and to exclude a second class of plastics or compounds. The first class may include polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and/or polystyrene (PS). For pure PE, PP, PS streams mechanical recycling may be specified as recycling process. In addition, the number of recycling loops may be part of the pre-determined classification. For example, a threshold value for the number of recycling loops may be specified to collect pure PE, PP, PS streams that are not suitable for mechanical recycling and need to be assigned to chemical recycling processes.

The second class of plastics may exclude plastics not suitable for chemical recycling via pyrolysis and contaminants impeding the quality of the recyclate. Plastics not suitable for chemical recycling via pyrolysis may include polyvinylchloride (PVC) and/or polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The second class of compounds may exclude contaminants specifically for use of pyrolysis oil in stream crackers. Contaminants may include sulfur, halogens, oxygen, phosphorus, metals and inorganics such as aluminum, antinomy, barium, calcium chromium, copper, iron, potassium, sodium, lead, silicon, titanium, zinc, arsine, mercury, nickel, vanadium, or combinations thereof. The presence of these compounds in the sorted fraction and hence on pyrolysis oil produced from such fraction can have adverse effect on steam cracker operation. Thus, by excluding such substances or contaminants for recycling already at the sorting stage of plastic waste reliably through the tracked composition data accessible via the decentral network results in higher quality waste fractions, pyrolysis oil and when fed to a cracker in safe and reliable operation.

Per fraction a fraction ID and a recycling process ID specifying a recycling process, such as mechanical, chemical and/or thermal (incineration), may be assigned. The fraction ID may include a decentral identifier. The recycling process ID may include a decentral identifier. The decentral identifier(s) may be associated with the aggregated fraction data.

The fraction data may be provided for access to decentral network node(s) 103.1-4,6. The fraction data may be provided by providing the decentral identifier associated with the fraction to the decentral network 102. The fraction data may be provided by the decentral network node 103.5 associated with the plastic waste sorter and/or collector 101 .5. The fraction data may be stored in a dedicated storage associated with the plastic waste sorter and/or collector 101 .5. Access to the fraction data may be provided by providing a representation linking or pointing to the fraction data. The decentral I D(s) and the representation linking to or pointing to the aggregated fraction data stored in dedicated storage associated with the plastic waste collector and/or sorter 101.5 may be provided to the decentral network 102 for access by nodes associated with other participants of the decentral network 102. The fraction data may be provided by the decentral data providing service of the decentral network node 103.5 associated with the plastic waste sorter and/or collector 101 .5. The fraction data may be accessed by the decentral data consuming service of the decentral network node 103.6 associated with the recycling system operator 101.6 or the monomer and/or polymer producer.

Figs. 7a, b illustrate example data structures for the intelligent sorting scheme using material composition and/or article history data accessible by way of the decentral network 102.

Fig. 7a illustrates the data structure based on the material composition data. The material composition data may be retrieved based on the decentral identifier from nodes 103 associated with participants 101 of the decentral network 102. The material passport may be retrieved from the node(s) 103 associated with partic- ipant(s) 101 of the decentral network 101 that own the respective data. For example, the waste article data packages 1, 2 and 3 may be retrieved from the decentral network 102. The waste article data packages 1 , 2 and 3 may specify the material composition per waste article. The pre-defined classification may be configured to sort PE containing articles with a level of contaminants below a threshold value, e.g. contaminant mass fraction below 10%, 9%, 8%, 7%, 6%, 5%, 4%, 3%, 2%, 1 % or 0.5%, into one waste fraction. The pre-defined classification may be configured to sort PE containing articles without contaminants such as nitrogen or chlorine, into a first waste fraction. The pre-defined classification may be configured to sort PET articles into a second waste fraction. This way the quality of the sorted waste fraction can be increased with respect to the re-use of the waste fraction.

Fig. 7b illustrates a data structure based on the article history. The article history data may be retrieved based on the decentral identifier from decentral network nodes 103 associated with participants 101 of the decentral network 102. The material passport may be retrieved from the node(s) 103 associated with participant(s) 101 of the decentral network 102 that own the respective data. For example, the article data packages 1, 2 and 3 may be retrieved from the decentral network 102. The article data packages 1 , 2 and 3 may specify the material composition and the article history per waste article. The article history may specify the use, application, and origin of the waste article. In the example of Fig. 7b this may include the use in food industry, the manufacturer, the application in a closed loop PET bottle scheme and the loop count. The pre-defined classification may be configured to sort PE containing articles by material composition as explained for example in the context of Fig. 7a. In addition, the waste articles may be sorted by use. For example, food industry use may require the first waste fraction to be directed to a cleaning step for cleaning the articles from biological residues. The pre-defined classification may be configured to sort PET containing articles by material composition as explained for example in the context of Fig. 7a. In addition, the pre-defined classification may be configured to sort according to application PET bottles in the closed loop recycling scheme and the loop count. Closed loop PET bottles can be sorted to the waste fraction for mechanical recycling, if the loop count does not exceed a threshold value such as 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 , 12, 13, 14, or 15.

For bottles exceeding the loop count threshold, the pre-defined classification may sort the PET bottles to the waste fraction for chemical recycling, since the material degradation requires chemical recycling to renew the loop count of the material. This way the waste articles can be sorted with more depth in sorting allowing for tailored processing. The quality of the sorted waste fraction can be increased with respect to the re-use of the waste fraction.

Fig. 8 illustrates an example of a method or apparatus for providing material composition and/or article history data via a decentral network 102.

The waste article 900 as provided by the article user or producer may be provided in association with a material passport. The article passport may relate to an article identifier. The article identifier may include one or more decentral identifier(s). The decentral identifier may be an identifier in the decentral network 102 allowing for data exchange via the decentral network 102. Data exchange may include discovery of the decentral identifier for decentral network node(s) 103 associated with participant(s) 101 of the decentral network 102, authentication of decentral network node(s) 103 associated with participant(s) 101 of the decentral network 102 and/or authorization of data transfers via a peer-to-peer communication between decentral network node(s) 103 associated with participant(s) 101 of the decentral network 102. The article passport may include or be related to data related to the article such as article property data associated with the article properties like composition and/or article history data. The article passport may include a digital representation of the article data associated with the article 900. The article passport may further include or relate to authentication and/or authorization information linked to the article identifier. The authentication and/or authorization information may be provided for authentication and/or authorization of a data providing service and/or data consuming service implemented by decentral network node(s) 103.5, 103.3. The article identifier may include or relate to a decentral identifier, that is uniquely associated with the article. The decentral identifier may be connected to the digital representation of the of the article data associated with the article 104. The digital representation may include a representation for accessing the article data or parts thereof. The decentral identifier may include a Universally Unique I Dentifier (UUID) or a Digital I Dentifier (DID). The decentral identifier may include any unique identifier uniquely associated with a data owner and/or article.

The data owner may be the producer of the article. Via the decentral identifier and its unique association with the data owner and/or article access to the article data may be controlled by the data owner.

The article passport including the digital representation of article data may be stored in a decentral data base 910. The article data may be stored in a data base 902 associated with the data owner, such as the producer of the article 900.

The article 904 may be physically delivered to the user using the article and disposing the article. The article 900 may be physically collected and/or sorted by the article collector and/or sorter. The article may be connected with a QR-code having encoded the article identifier. The user, collector or sorter of the article 904 may read the QR-code through a QR-code reader 906. The article identifier may be provided to a data base 910 associated with the producer producing the article 900. In other embodiments the producer producing the article 900 may retrieve the article identifier through the decentral data base 910.

The data owner in this example may be the article producer, any intermediate product producer producing an intermediate product for the article or any producer producing a product based on the article. 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 articles from or for which data is generated. The data consuming service implemented by node 103.5 may comprise computer-executable instructions for accessing and/or processing data, such as article data, associated with the data owner. The data providing service implemented by node 103.3 may comprise computer-executable instructions for providing and/or processing data, such as article data, associated with the data owner for accessing and/or processing by the data consuming service implementing node 103.5.

Based on the received article identifier a request to access the article data related to the article identifier may be triggered by the data consuming service implemented by node 103.5 as signified by arrow 912. The article identifier may be provided to the data providing service implemented by node 103.3 associated with or of the producer of the article 900. In addition, authentication and/or authorization information may be provided.

The request may be authenticated and/or authorized to access the article data related to the article identifier. Based on successful authorization and/or authentication access to the article data related to the article identifier may be granted.

For access the article identifier may be provided to the data providing service implemented by node 103.3 as signified by arrow 912. The data providing service implemented by node 103.3 may use the received article identifier to retrieve the article data associated with the article 900 from a dedicated storage 902 as signified by arrows 918 and 920. The article data associated with the article 904 provided to the data providing service implemented by node 103.5 may be provided to the data consuming service implemented by node 103.5 as signified by arrow 916. The article data associated with the article 904 may be stored in the dedicated storage or data base 908 associated with the user, collector or sorter of the article 904 as signified by arrow 922.

Through the article identifier or decentral identifier, the article data can be uniquely associated with the article 900, 904. Through the decentral network the article data may be transferred between the producer of the article and the user, collector or sorter of the article. This way the article data can be shared with unique association to the article and without central intermediary directly between the players of the decentral network 102.

This allows for controlled transparency of article data across the material loop 100.

Fig. 9 illustrates an example use of the pre-defined classification configured to separate plastic articles by recycling method. As illustrated in Figs. 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and/or 8 the material composition and/or the article history data may be provided to the sorting system 400 via an interface 408 configured to retrieve data from node(s) 103 of a decentral network 102. The data may relate to material composition and/or article history. The pre-defined classification may be configured to sort waste articles according to the material composition and/or article history into waste fraction(s). The gathered data per waste article 404, 900, 904 may be aggregated to determine the material composition of the sorted waste fraction. The pre-defined classification may be configured to sort the waste articles according to the material composition and/or article history into waste fraction^). The pre-defined classification may be additionally configured to assign the recycling process to the respective sorted waste fraction. Recycling processes may include mechanical, chemical and/or solventbased recycling processes. The chemical recycling process types may include depolymerization, pyrolysis, gasification. The solvent-based recycling process type may include dissolution. The different recycling process types may be applicable to different fraction compositions. For example, PET that is not usable for mechanical recycling owing to degradation as e.g. specified by loop counts, may be assigned depolymerization as recycling process type. The depolymerization process may be further defined with regard to the depolymerization process type such as polycondensation via hydrolysis, glycolysis, methanolysis or transesterification. Further for example, fractions including mixed waste with limited oxygen content such as PE, PP, PS, may be assigned pyrolysis as recycling process type. The pyrolysis process may be further defined with regard to pyrolysis type based on operating conditions such as temperature, pressure, residence time, catalyst or thermal profiles. Further for example, fractions including mixed waste and biomass with oxygen content may be assigned gasification as recycling process type. The gasification process may be further defined with regard to gasification type based on operating conditions such as temperature. Further for example, fractions including contaminated waste of e.g. PP, PS, LDPE, PA or multi-layer films may be assigned dissolution as recycling process type. The dissolution process may be further defined with regard to dissolution type based on target polymer.

As illustrated in Fig. 9 the sorted fractions IDs may be assigned to recycling process IDs. The pre-defined classification may be used for sorting by the sorter. The sorter may connect the identifier element 406 associated with the fraction ID to the fraction. The fraction ID may include or relate to the decentral identifier of the fraction. The fraction ID and associated fraction data may be provided for access by decentral network node(s) 103 of the decentral network 102 by the decentral network node 103.3 associated with the sorter 101.3 sorting the plastic waste stream. The recycling process ID in association with the fraction ID may also be provided for access by decentral network node(s) 103 of the decentral network 102 by the decentral network node 103.3 associated with the sorter 101 .3 sorting the plastic waste stream. The fraction ID and recycling process ID may be accessed by the decentral network node 103.5 of the recycling system operator 101.5. The recycling system operator 103.5 may based on the fraction ID retrieve the fraction data and/or recycling process ID from the decentral network node 103.4 associated with the recycling system operator. The recycling system operator 103.5 may store the fraction data and/or recycling process ID in a dedicated storage associated with the recycling system operator 103.5. Based on the fraction ID, fraction data and the recycling process ID the recycling process may be operated by the recycling system operator. The fraction data may be used to aggregate recyclate data. Recyclate IDs may be assigned to the recy- clate produced from respective fractions. This way not only the sorting process but also the recycling process may be monitored and/or controlled.

The present disclosure has been described in conjunction with preferred embodiments and examples as well. However, other variations can be understood and effected by those persons skilled in the art and practicing the claimed invention, from the studies of the drawings, this disclosure and the claims.

Any steps presented herein can be performed in any order. The methods disclosed herein are not limited to a specific order of these steps. It is also not required that the different steps are performed at a certain place or in a certain computing node of a distributed system, i.e. each of the steps may be performed at different computing nodes using different equipment/data processing.

As used herein ..determining" also includes ..initiating or causing to determine", “generating" also includes ..initiating and/or causing to generate" and “providing” also includes “initiating or causing to determine, generate, select, send and/or receive”. “Initiating or causing to perform an action” includes any processing signal that triggers a computing node or device to perform the respective action.

In the claims as well as in the description the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. A single element or other unit may fulfill the functions of several entities or items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in the mutual different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used in an advantageous implementation.

Any disclosure and embodiments described herein relate to the methods, the systems, devices, the computer program element lined out above and vice versa. Advantageously, the benefits provided by any of the embodiments and examples equally apply to all other embodiments and examples and vice versa.

All terms and definitions used herein are understood broadly and have their general meaning.

Claims

1 . A method for sorting a plastic waste stream, in particular a mixed plastic waste stream, wherein the plastic waste stream includes one or more article(s) containing plastic material, the method comprising the steps of:

- assigning the one or more article(s) based on the material composition data and/or article history data to one or more plastic waste fraction(s), wherein the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) relate to one or more waste fraction(s) to be processed by by a chemical recycling process to produce a hydrocarbon recyclate for a petrochemical process, by a chemical recycling process to produce a recyclate mixture including at least hydrogen and carbon monoxide for a hydrogen-based chemical process, by a chemical recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for a polymer, component and/or article production process, by a solvent-based recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for a polymer, component and/or article production process, and/or a mechanical recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for monomer, polymer, component and/or article production process;

- generating based on the assigned waste fraction control data for sorting the one or more article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction(s);

- providing the generated control data for sorting the one or more article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction(s).

2. The method of any of claim 1 , wherein assigning of one or more article(s) includes classification according to classification instructions relating material composition data and/or article history data to one or more plastic waste fraction(s), wherein the classification instructions are configured to classify the one or more article(s) based on the material composition data per article and/or article history data per article to the waste fraction to be processed.

3. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein assigning of one or more article(s) includes providing classification instructions that gather decentral identifiers per waste fraction based on the material compositions data per article and/or article history data per article.

4. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the plastics waste fraction(s) specify a fraction composition per plastic waste fraction, a fraction history per plastic waste fraction, a recycling process per plastic waste fraction, a recyclate use per plastic waste fraction or combinations thereof.

5. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein assigning the one or more article(s) to one or more plastic waste fraction(s) includes providing classification instructions, wherein the classification instructions are provided by one or more decentral network node(s) associated with one or more chemical producer(s) using hydrocarbon recyclate for petrochemical or refinery processes, recyclate mixture including at least hydrogen and carbon monoxide for hydrogen-based chemical processes, monomer recyclate for polymer production processes, and/or polymer recyclate for article production processes.

6. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the material composition data relates to a chemical composition specifying a plastic material contained in the article, wherein the plastic material comprises one or more elements selected from the group consisting of: polyethylene (PE), low density polyethylene (LDPE), linear LDPE (LLDPE), high density polyethylene (HDPE), polyoxmethylene (POM), polypropylene (PP), polyamide (PA), poly ethylene terephthalate (PET), poly butylene terephthalate (PBT), acrylnitril-buta- diene-styrene (ABS), polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polyurethane (PU), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), polystyrene (PS), polylactic acid (PLA), polyvinylchloride (PVC) or polycarbonate (PC).

7. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the article history data relates to the use, application and/or origin of the article.

8. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the waste fraction control data is provided to a sorting system configured to sort the one or more article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction(s).

9. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the material composition data and/or article history data associated with the one or more waste article(s) is gathered and aggregated to fraction data including fraction composition data and/or fraction history data.

10. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein a fraction identifier is provided and fraction data including fraction composition data and/or fraction history data are assigned to the fraction identifier, wherein the fraction identifier includes at least one decentral fraction identifier, wherein the decentral fraction identifier and a representation linked to the fraction data is provided for access by one or more network node(s) of the decentral network.

11 . The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the waste fraction to be processed is associated with a recycling process identifier, wherein the recycling process identifier is assigned to the fraction identifier.

12. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the recycling process identifier includes at least one decentral recycling identifier, wherein the fraction composition data and/or fraction history data is provided for access by one or more network node(s) associated with the recycler further processing the waste fraction and/or the chemical producer further processing the waste fraction based on the decentral recycling identifier.

13. A apparatus for sorting a plastic waste stream, in particular a mixed plastic waste stream, wherein the plastic waste stream includes one or more article(s) containing plastic material, the apparatus comprising:

- a fractioning unit configured to assign the one or more article(s) based on the material composition data and/or article history data to one or more plastic waste fraction(s), wherein the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) relate to a waste fraction to be processed by a chemical recycling process to produce a hydrocarbon recyclate for a petrochemical process, by a chemical recycling process to produce a recyclate mixture including at least hydrogen and carbon monoxide for a hydrogen-based chemical process, by a chemical recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for a polymer, component and/or article production process, by a solvent-based recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for a polymer, component and/or article production process, and/or a mechanical recycling process to produce a monomer and/or polymer recyclate for monomer, polymer, component and/or article production process; - a control signal generator configured to generate, based on the assigned waste fraction, control data for sorting the one or more article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction(s);

- a control interface configured to provide the generated control data for sorting the one or more article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction(s).

14. Use of composition data and/or article history data for sorting a plastic waste stream into one or more waste fraction(s) according to any of the methods of claims 1 to 12 or by the apparatus of claim 13.

15. A decentral data consuming network node or data consuming service configured to provide the compo- sition data and/or article history data for sorting a plastic waste stream into one or more waste fraction(s) according to any of the methods of claims 1 to 12 or by the apparatus of claim 13.