EP4732157A1 - Chemical product passport for biodegradation - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is an apparatus for generating a chemical product passport, the apparatus comprising: one or more computing nodes; and one or more computer-readable media having thereon computer-executable in¬ structions that are structured such that, when executed by the one or more computing nodes, cause the apparatus to perform the following steps: - receiving a request to provide a decentral identifier associated with biodegradation data and a data owner, - in response to the request, providing the decentral identifier and generating the chemical product passport in¬ cluding the decentral identifier and data related to the biodegradation data; - providing the chemical product passport for access by a data consuming service under control or controlled by a data providing service associated with the data owner.

Description

CHEMICAL PRODUCT PASSPORT FOR BIODEGRADATION

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for generating a chemical product passport, a computer-implemented method for generating a chemical product passport, a method for using a chemical product passport and a computer program element.

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

Biodegradability of chemical products gained more attraction in recent years.

Biodegradable chemical products break down in particular naturally and thereby reduce pollution and waste accumulation. Biodegradable chemical products may breakdown into harmless products, such as water, CO2 and minerals. This avoids microplastics. Therefore, biodegradable material ensures protection of the environment, maintenance of biodiversity and reduce of landfill waste. As a consequence for chemical products biodegradability of the chemical product may be a requirement from authorities for market access.

Currently, biodegradation data of a chemical product is stored in central databases and/or safety data sheets. This is static regarding data, prone to error and cumbersome in handling or maintenance. Owing to the highly specific and centralized setup of such systems, exchange and sharing of biodegradation data is laborious. Such systems are not suited for end customers. Furthermore, changes in biodegradability data based on subsequent process steps may not be reflected. Hence there is a need to simplify biodegradation data exchange and sharing to improve biodegradation rates of chemical products.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect an apparatus for generating a chemical product passport is disclosed, the apparatus comprising: one or more computing nodes; and one or more computer-readable media having thereon computer-executable instructions that are structured such that, when executed by the one or more computing nodes, cause the apparatus to perform the following steps: receive a request to provide a decentral identifier associated with biodegradation data the biodegradation data associated with a biodegradation property of a chemical product, in particular a biodegradable chemical product and a data owner, in response to the request, generate the chemical product passport including the decentral identifier and data related to the biodegradation data the biodegradation data associated with a biodegradation property of the chemical product; provide the chemical product passport for access by a data consuming service under control or controlled by a data providing service associated with the data owner. In one aspect an apparatus for generating a chemical product passport is disclosed, the apparatus comprising: one or more computing nodes; and one or more computer-readable media having thereon computer-executable instructions that are structured such that, when executed by the one or more computing nodes, cause the apparatus to perform the following steps: receive a request to provide a decentral identifier associated with a data owner and at least a part of biodegradation data, in response to the request, generate the chemical product passport including the decentral identifier and data related to the at least part of the biodegradation data, provide the chemical product passport for access by a data consuming service under control or controlled by a data providing service associated with the data owner.

In one aspect an apparatus for generating a chemical product passport is disclosed, the apparatus comprising: one or more computing nodes; and one or more computer-readable media having thereon computer-executable instructions that are structured such that, when executed by the one or more computing nodes, cause the apparatus to perform the following steps: receive a request to provide a decentral identifier associated with a data owner and biodegradation data, in response to the request, provide the decentral identifier and generating the chemical product passport including the decentral identifier and data related to the biodegradation data, provide the chemical product passport for access by a data consuming service under control or controlled by a data providing service associated with the data owner.

In one aspect an apparatus for generating a chemical product passport is disclosed, the apparatus comprising: one or more computing nodes; and one or more computer-readable media having thereon computer-executable instructions that are structured such that, when executed by the one or more computing nodes, cause the apparatus to perform the following steps: provide a decentral identifier associated with a data owner and biodegradation data, generate the chemical product passport including the decentral identifier and data related to the biodegradation data, provide the chemical product passport for access by a data consuming service controlled by a data providing service associated with a data owner.

In one aspect disclosed is an apparatus for generating a chemical product passport, particularly including the decentral identifier and data related to the biodegradation data, the apparatus comprising: one or more computing nodes; and one or more computer-readable media having thereon computer-executable instructions that are structured such that, when executed by the one or more computing nodes, cause the apparatus to perform the following steps: receive a request to provide a decentral identifier associated with the biodegradation data and a data owner; in response to the request, provide the decentral identifier and generate the chemical product passport including the decentral identifier and data related to the biodegradation data; provide the chemical product passport for access by the data consuming service controlled by or under control by a data providing service associated with the data owner, particularly wherein the data providing service comprises computer-executable instructions for providing and/or processing biodegradation data associated with the data owner e.g. for accessing and/or processing by the data consuming service.

In one aspect disclosed is an apparatus for generating a chemical product passport, particularly including the decentral identifier and data related to the biodegradation data, the apparatus comprising: one or more computing nodes; and one or more computer-readable media having thereon computer-executable instructions that are structured such that, when executed by the one or more computing nodes, cause the apparatus to perform the following steps: provide a decentral identifier associated with the biodegradation data and a data owner; generate the chemical product including the decentral identifier and the data related to the biodegradation data; providing the chemical product passport for access by the data consuming service controlled by or under control by a data providing service associated with the data owner, particularly wherein the data providing service comprises computer-executable instructions for providing and/or processing biodegradation data associated with the data owner e.g. for accessing and/or processing by the data consuming service.

In another aspect a computer-implemented method for generating a chemical product passport is disclosed, the method comprising the steps: receiving a request to provide a decentral identifier associated with biodegradation data, the biodegradation data associated with a biodegradation property of the chemical product and a data owner, in response to the request, generating the chemical product passport including the decentral identifier and data related to the biodegradation data, the biodegradation data associated with a biodegradation property of the biodegradable chemical product; providing the chemical product passport for access by a data consuming service under control or controlled by a data providing service associated with the data owner.

In another aspect a computer-implemented method for generating a chemical product passport is disclosed, the method comprising the steps: receiving a request to provide a decentral identifier associated with a data owner and at least a part of biodegradation data, in response to the request, generating the chemical product including the decentral identifier and data related to the at least part of the biodegradation data, providing the chemical product passport for access by a data consuming service controlled by a data providing service associated with the data owner.

In another aspect a computer-implemented method for generating a chemical product passport is disclosed, the method comprising the steps: providing a decentral identifier associated with a data owner and biodegradation data, generating the chemical product passport including the decentral identifier and data related to the biodegradation data, providing the chemical product passport for access by a data consuming service controlled by a data providing service associated with the data owner.

Disclosed is in yet another aspect, an apparatus for producing a biodegradable chemical material-associated with a chemical product passport, wherein the biodegradable chemical material comprises at least one first input material of a product supply chain, the apparatus comprising: at least one collector configured to collect biodegradation data associated with at least one first input material of the product supply chain, wherein the at least one first input material comprises at least one physical identifier; at least one assignor configured to assign the physical identifier to a first decentral identifier for generating the product passport associated with the at least one input material; a product passport generator configured to generate the product passport by receiving a request to provide at least the first decentral identifier associated with biodegradation data of the at least one first input material and in response to the request, generating the product passport including the first decentral identifier and data related to biodegradation data of the at least one first input material.

In yet another aspect a computer-implemented method for using a chemical product passport, preferably to determine properties and/or biodegradation treatment of the chemical product associated with the chemical product passport, is disclosed, the method comprising the steps: receiving a request to access the biodegradation data associated with a decentral identifier of the chemical product passport as generated according to the methods disclosed herein or by the apparatuses disclosed herein, optionally authenticating and/or authorizing the request to access the biodegradation data, based on optionally the authentication and/or authorization, providing access to the biodegradation data associated with the decentral identifier of the chemical product passport and/or the digital access element.

Use of the chemical product passport generated for a biodegradable chemical material according to the methods or by the apparatuses lined out herein to determine properties in particular biodegradation properties and/or treatment of the chemical product associated with the chemical product passport and/or the digital access element.

In yet another aspect a biodegradable chemical product associated with a chemical product passport is disclosed, wherein the chemical product passport including a decentral identifier and data related to the biodegradation data is generated for the chemical product according to the methods or by the apparatuses lined out herein. In yet another aspect a system including a chemical product associated with a chemical product passport is disclosed, wherein the chemical product passport including a decentral identifier and data related to the biodegradation data is generated for the chemical product according to the methods or by the apparatuses lined out herein.

In yet another aspect a chemical product passport including a decentral identifier and data related to the biodegradation data is disclosed, wherein the chemical product passport is generated for the chemical product according to the methods or by the apparatuses lined out herein.

In yet another aspect a computer element, in particular a computer program product or a computer readable medium, with instructions, which when executed on one or more computing node(s) is configured to carry out the steps of any of the methods or by the apparatus disclosed herein is disclosed.

In yet another aspect, use of a chemical product passport is disclosed comprising obtaining recipe data of the chemical product passport for controlling producing of a chemical end product from chemical product based on the determined recipe data of the chemical product associated with the chemical product passport.

Any disclosure and embodiments described herein relate to the methods, the apparatuses, the systems, the chemical product, the chemical product passports, the uses, and the computer elements lined out above or below and vice versa. The benefits provided by any of the embodiments and examples equally apply to all other embodiments and examples.

EMBODIMENTS

The methods, apparatuses, systems, chemical products, chemical product passports, uses, and the computer elements disclosed herein provide an efficient, secure and robust way for sharing or exchanging biodegradation data associated with a biodegradation property of the chemical material across different participant nodes in the chemical product value chain, hence allowing to improve biodegradation rates of chemical products, for example by using the biodegradation data to determine the appropriate treatment of used chemical product, e.g. at the end of life.

Appropriate treatment may include introducing the chemical product into an intended habitat. Furthermore, biodegradability of the the chemical product can be tracked along the value chain.

In particular, a) by attaching a decentral identifier to a data owner and associated biodegradation data and b) by providing access by a data consuming service controlled by a data providing service associated with the data owner, biodegradation data can be securely exchanged and shared under the sovereignty of the data owner. The data owner may thus control access by participant nodes or data consuming services of the decentral network to the biodegradation data. This allows for simplified and customizable data sharing or exchange throughout the chemical product ecosystem including input material supplier, chemical material manufacturer, intermediate product manufacturer, end product manufacturer, endproduct distributors, end product retailers, end customers of the end product, end product collectors, such as waste collectors, end product recyclers and waste management facilities. This way, a more reliable and efficient handling of chemical products and end-of-life chemical products by downstream participants of the chemical product ecosystem can be achieved, while the biodegradation data remains in the ownership of the respective data owner. By combining the data related to chemical products directly with the decentral identifier and optionally one or more authentication mechanisms more reliable and secure data sharing and exchange can be provided. By further including one or more authorization mechanisms, the data sharing or exchange can be conducted in a more flexible manner with multiple data consuming services from different participants of the chemical product ecosystem accessing the biodegradation data.

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.

In an embodiment, biodegradation may include a process, where organic materials are broken down into break down products, in particular by enzymes. These enzymes may be produced by living organisms such as microbes, bacteria or fungi. Biodegradation of a chemical material may depend among the chemical structure of the chemical product also on the environment in which biodegradation occurs. Biodegradability may include the ability of a chemical product to biodegrade. Hence, biodegradability may be a property of the chemical product. In this context, a property of a chemical property may include a property of the chemical product that is caused by and thus reflects the nature of a chemical product, e.g. its structure, composition, etc., with respect to a specific context. In particular, the biodegradability may reflect the nature of the chemical product when present in a specific biological active environment. For example, it is preferred that the biodegradability of the chemical product refers to any one of a mineralization characteristic, a biotransformation characteristic and/or a decomposition of the chemical product after a specific timeframe. Moreover, the biodegradation is a technical characteristic of a chemical product, e.g. knowledge of the biodegradation of a chemical product may strongly influences the technical applicability and utilization of a chemical product.

In an embodiment, chemical material may include any chemical substance that is at least partially biodegradable. In an embodiment, it may include input material(s) to a chemical production process. In an embodiment, chemical material may include intermediate products, e.g. products, which may be further processed to end-product(s).

In an embodiment, chemical product may refer to an organic chemical compound. The chemical product may refer to polymer(s) and/or functional chemical compound(s) and or formulations.

In an embodiment polymer may refer to a synthetic polymer. In an embodiment, the synthetic polymer may be a chemical compound which is produced by a chemical production from one or more starting material(s), such as monomers, and which comprises at least two monomer units. The monomer units may be regarded as subunits of the synthetic polymer. The synthetic polymer may be prepared from the monomers by commonly known polymerization reactions. The synthetic polymer may be produced from a single type of monomers or from different monomers. The monomer units may be distributed randomly or may be present as blocks within the synthetic polymer. The synthetic polymer may be a linear polymer. The synthetic polymer may be a branched polymer. The synthetic polymer may be a crosslinked polymer. In an embodiment, synthetic polymer may refer to synthetic organic polymers. Preferably, the synthetic organic polymer corresponds to one of the following classes: polyalkoxylate, polyester, polyamine, polyaminoester, polyamidoamine, polyurethane, polyol.

Examples of biodegradable polymers may include polyesters like aliphatic polyesters and aliphatic-aromatic polyesters, polyamides, polycarbonates, polyurethanes, polyethers, polyols, polyhydroxyalkanoates, polylactic acid, polyglycolic acid, polycaprolactone, starch and starch derivatives like thermoplastic starch, cellulose and cellulose derivatives like cellulose acetate and cellulose hydrate, lignin, proteins and protein based materials like thermoplastic casein, shellac, callose, chitin, chitosan, and polyvinyl alcohol.

Here and throughout the specification, aliphatic polyesters are understood to mean polyesters based on aliphatic dicarboxylic acids and aliphatic dihydroxyl compounds, and polyesters based on mixtures of aliphatic dicarboxylic acids with aliphatic dicarboxylic acids and aliphatic dihydroxyl compounds. To prepare the aliphatic-aliphatic polyesters, instead of the dicarboxylic acids, their respective ester-forming derivatives or mixtures thereof with the dicarboxylic acids may also be used.

Aliphatic dicarboxylic acids and the ester-forming derivatives thereof that are generally considered are those having 2 to 3018 carbon atoms, preferably 4 to 1026 carbon atoms, in particular preferred are aliphatic dicarboxylic acids having 4 to 13 carbon atoms or 18 to 26 carbon atoms. They may be either linear or branched. Preferably, the aliphatic dicarboxylic acids are aliphatic a,co-dicarboxylic acids. However, it is also possible in principle to employ dicarboxylic acids having a greater number of carbon atoms, for example having up to 50 carbon atoms.

Examples of aliphatic dicarboxylic acids and the ester-forming derivatives include, but are not limited to: oxalic acid, malonic acid, succinic acid, 2-methylsuccinic acid, glutaric acid, 2-methylglutaric acid, 3-methy Iglutaric acid, a-ketoglu- taric acid, adipic acid, pimelic acid, azelaic acid, sebacic acid, 1,12-dodecanedioic acid, brassylic acid, fumaric acid, 2,2-dimethylglutaric acid, suberic acid, diglycolic acid, oxaloacetic acid, glutamic acid, aspartic acid, itaconic acid and maleic acid, their anhydrides and their C1 to C4-alkyl esters. These dicarboxylic acids or the ester-forming derivatives thereof may be used individually or as a mixture of two or more thereof.

It is preferable to employ succinic acid, adipic acid, azelaic acid, sebacic acid, 1,12-dodecanedioic acid, brassylic acid or their respective ester-forming derivatives or mixtures thereof. It is particularly preferable to employ succinic acid, adipic acid or sebacic acid or the respective ester-forming derivatives thereof or mixtures thereof. Succinic acid, azelaic acid, sebacic acid and brassylic acid additionally have the advantage that they are obtainable from renewable raw materials.

Preferred examples of suitable aliphatic polyesters are, but not limited to aliphatic polyesters in which the aliphatic dicarboxylic acid is selected from succinic acid, adipic acid, azelaic acid, sebacic acid, 1,12-dodecanedioic acid, brassylic acid and mixtures thereof. Particular preference is given to succinic acid, adipic acid and sebacic acid and mixtures thereof.

Examples of aliphatic diols which are suitable for the preparation of the aliphatic polyesters are, for example, branched or linear alkanediols having 2 to 12 carbon atoms, preferably 4 to 6 carbon atoms, or cycloalkanediols having 5 to 10 carbon atoms. Examples of suitable alkanediols are ethylene glycol, 1 ,2-propanediol, 1,3 propanediol, 1,2-butanediol, 1,4-butanediol, 1,5 pentanediol, 2,4-dimethyl-2-ethylhexane-1 ,3-diol, 2,2-dimethyl-1 ,3-propanediol, 2 ethyl-2-butyl-1 ,3- propanediol, 2 ethyl-2-isobutyl-1,3-propanediol, 2,2,4-trimethyl-1 ,6-hexanediol, especially ethylene glycol, 1,3-pro- panediol, 1,4-butanediol and 2,2 dimethyl-1,3-propanediol (neopentyl glycol). Examples of cycloalkanediols are cyclopentanediol, 1,4-cydohexanediol, 1,2 cyclohexanedimethanol, 1,3-cyclohexanedimethanol, 1,4-cyclohexanedi- methanol and 2, 2, 4,4-tetramethyl- 1 ,3-cydobutanediol. The aliphatic polyesters may also comprise mixtures of different alkanediols condensed. In particular, preference is given to 1 ,4-butanediol and propane-1, 3-diole, more particularly to 1 ,4-butanediol, especially in combination with one or two aliphatic dicarboxylic acids selected from succinic acid, adipic acid and sebacic acid. Propane- 1 ,3-diol has an advantage that it is obtainable as a renewable raw material. 1,4-Bu- tanediol is also obtainable from renewable raw materials. PCT/EP2008/006714 discloses a biotechnological process for the preparation of 1 ,4-butanediol starting from different carbohydrates using microorganisms from the class consisting of the Pasteurellaceae.

The aliphatic polyester may comprise structural units formed from one or more trifunctional alcohols, e.g. 1 ,1 , 1 -trimethylolpropane, 1,1,1 -trimethylolethane, pentaerythrite, polyethertriols, and in particular glycerol, wherein preferably the weight fraction of structural units is 2 wt% or less, based on the total weight of the structural units aliphatic dicarboxylic acid(s) and aliphatic diol(s). Said trifunctional alcohols provide branching units.

The aliphatic polyester may also comprise structural units formed from one or more difunctional or oligofunctional species selected from the group consisting of isocyanates, isocyanurates, peroxides, epoxides, oxazolines, oxazines, caprolactams, carboxylic acid anhydrides and carbodiimides, wherein preferably the weight fraction of such structural units is preferably 4 wt% or less, based on the total weight of the structural units aliphatic dicarboxylic acid(s) and aliphatic diol(s). Said isocyanates, isocyanurates, peroxides, epoxides, oxazolines, oxazines, caprolactams, carboxylic acid anhydrides and carbodiimides act as chain extenders. A preferred chain extender is hexamethylenediisocyanate. Examples of preferred aliphatic polyesters are poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate) (PBSA), poly(butylene succinate) (PBS), poly(butylene sebacate (PBSe), poly(butylene succinate-co-sebacate) (PBSSe)) and mixtures thereof. Even more preferred examples of aliphatic polyesters are poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate), poly(butylene succinate), poly(butylene succinate-co-sebacate) and mixtures thereof. Suitable aliphatic polyesters of this type are commercially available und the following product brands BioPBSTM by PTT-MCC.

Aliphatic-aromatic polyesters are also referred to as semi-aromatic polyesters, i.e. polyesters based on aromatic dicarboxylic acids and aliphatic dihydroxyl compounds, and polyesters based on mixtures of aromatic dicarboxylic acids with aliphatic dicarboxylic acids and aliphatic dihydroxyl compounds. Aliphatic-aromatic polyesters are preferably polyesters based on mixtures of aliphatic dicarboxylic acids with aromatic dicarboxylic acids and aliphatic dihydroxyl compound. “aliphatic-aromatic polyesters” shall also be understood to mean polyester derivatives such as polyetheresters, polyesteramides or polyetheresteramides and polyesterurethanes, as described, for example, in WO 2012/2013506. The suitable aliphatic-aromatic polyesters include linear, non-chain-extended polyesters, as described for example in WO 92/09654. Preference is given to chain-extended and/or branched aliphatic-aromatic polyesters. The latter are known from WO 96/15173, WO 96/15174, WO 96/15175, WO 96/15176, WO 96/21689, WO 96/21690, WO 96/21691, WO 96/21692, WO 96/25446, WO 96/25448 and WO 98/12242, to which explicit reference is made. Likewise considered are mixtures of different aliphatic-aromatic polyesters. Interesting recent developments are based on renewable raw materials and are described inter alia in WO 2006/097353, WO 2006/097354 and WO 2010/034710.

Preferred aliphatic-aromatic polyesters include polyesters comprising as essential components: an acid component formed from i. 20 to 95 mol%, in particular 20 to 90 mol%, especially 20 to 85 mol%, based on the total mol percentage of the components i and ii, of at least one aliphatic dicarboxylic acid or the ester-forming derivatives thereof or mixtures thereof as component i; ii. 5 to 80 mol%, in particular 10 to 80 mol%, especially 15 to 80 mol%, based on the total mol percentage of the components i and ii, of at least one aromatic dicarboxylic acid or the ester-forming derivative thereof or mixtures thereof as component ii; at least one diol as component Hi selected from C2-C 12-alkanediols; optionally a component iv selected from one or more chain extender as component iv.a and/or one or more crosslinking agent as component iv.b.

Aliphatic dicarboxylic acids and the ester-forming derivatives thereof (component i) are as defined above in the context of aliphatic polyesters. Examples thereof are also, as shown above. The aliphatic dicarboxylic acids or the ester-forming derivatives thereof can be used individually or as a mixture.

Preferred aliphatic dicarboxylic acids include, but are not limited to, succinic acid, adipic acid, sebacic acid, azelaic acid, 1,12-dodecanedioic acid, brassylic acid or their respective ester-forming derivatives or mixtures thereof. It is particularly preferable to employ adipic acid, sebacic acid or azelaic acid or the respective ester-forming derivatives thereof or mixtures thereof. As mentioned above, succinic acid, sebacic acid, azelaic acid, and brassylic acid additionally have the advantage that they are obtainable from renewable raw materials.

The aliphatic dicarboxylic acid (component i) is present in particular in an amount from 20 to 90 mol%, especially from 20 to 85 mol% or from 25 to 85 mol% or from 30 to 85 mol%, based on the total mol percentage of the acid components i and ii. Sebacic acid, azelaic acid and brassylic acid are obtainable from renewable raw materials, in particular from castor oil.

The aromatic dicarboxylic acids or the ester-forming derivatives thereof (ii) may be used individually or as a mixture of two or more thereof. Particular preference is given to using terephthalic acid or furan-2,5-dicarboxylic acid and the ester-forming derivatives thereof. The di-C1-C6-alkyl esters, such as dimethyl, diethyl, di-n-propyl, diisopropyl, di— n— butyl, diisobutyl, di-tert-butyl, di— n— pentyl-, di-isopentyl or di-n-hexyl esters may be mentioned in particular as ester- forming derivatives. Anhydrides of the dicarboxylic acids can also be used. A particularly suitable ester-forming derivative of terephthalic acid is dimethyl terephthalate.

In one group of embodiments, the aromatic dicarboxylic acid is terephthalic acid or an ester forming derivative thereof. Preferably, the terephthalic acid (component ii) or the ester forming derivative thereof, respectively, is present in an amount from 30 to 75 mol%, more preferably from 35 to 65 mol% and especially from 40 to 60 mol%, based on the total mol percent of the acid components i and ii. In this case, the total amount of aliphatic dicarboxylic acid or the ester-forming derivative thereof is preferably in the range of 25 to 70 mol%, more preferably in the range of 35 to 65 mol% and especially in the range of 40 to 60 mol%, based on the total mol percent of the acid components i and ii.

In another group of embodiments, the aromatic dicarboxylic acid is furan-2,5-dicarboxylic acid or an ester forming derivative thereof. Preferably, the furan-2,5-dicarboxylic acid (component ii) or the ester forming derivative thereof, respectively, is present in an amount from 40 to 80 mol%, more preferably from 50 to 80 mol% and especially from 60 to 80 mol%, based on the total mol percent of the acid components i and ii. In this case, the total amount of aliphatic dicarboxylic acid or the ester-forming derivative thereof is preferably in the range of 20 to 60 mol%, more preferably in the range of 20 to 50 mol% and especially in the range of 20 to 40 mol%, based on the total mol percent of the acid components i and ii.

Generally, the diols (component Hi) are selected from branched or linear alkanediols having 2 to 12 carbon atoms, preferably 4 to 6 carbon atoms, or cycloalkanediols having 5 to 10 carbon atoms. Examples of suitable alkanediols are ethylene glycol, propane- 1 ,2-diol, propane-1, 3-diol, butane- 1 ,2-diol, butane-1 ,4-diol, pentane-1 ,5-diol, 2,4-dimethyl-2- ethylhexane-1, 3-diol, 2, 2-dimethylpropane-1, 3-diol, 2-ethyl-2-butylpropane-1, 3-diol, 2-ethyl-2-isobutylpropane-1,3- diol, 2,2,4-trimethylhexane-1 ,6-diol, especially ethylene glycol, propane- 1, 3-diol, butane-1, 4-diol and 2,2 dimethylpro- pane-1, 3-diol (neopentyl glycol). Examples of suitable cylcoalkanediols are cyclopentanediol, cyclohexane- 1, 4-diol, cyclohexane-1,2-dimethanol, cyclohexane-1,3-dimethanol, cyclohexane-1,4-dimethanol and 2,2,4,4-tetramethylcyclo- butane-1, 3-diol. The aliphatic-aromatic polyesters may also include combinations of different alkanediols or cycloalkanediols. Particular preference is given to butane-1, 4-diol and propane-1, 3-diol, especially to butane-1, 4-diol. Pro- pane-1, 3-diol has an advantage that it is obtainable as a renewable raw material. 1,4-Butanediol is also obtainable from renewable raw materials. PCT/EP2008/006714 discloses a biotechnological process for the preparation of 1 ,4-bu- tanediol starting from different carbohydrates using microorganisms from the class consisting of the Pasteurellaceae. As a rule, the diol (component Hi) is adjusted with respect to the acids (components i and ii) in a ratio of diol to dioic acids of from 1.0 to 2.5:1 and preferably from 1.3 to 2.2:1 at the beginning of the polymerization. Excess amounts of diol are removed during the polymerization so that an approximately equimolar ratio is established at the end of the polymerization. Approximately equimolar is understood as meaning a diol/dioic acid ratio of from 0.98 to 1.02:1.

In particular, suitable aliphatic-aromatic polyesters comprise: i. from 20 to 95 mol%, in particular 20 to 90 mol%, especially 20 to 85 mol%, based on the total mol percentage of the components i to ii, of one or more aliphatic dicarboxylic acid ester-forming derivatives or aliphatic dicarboxylic acids selected from the group consisting of succinic acid, adipic acid, sebacic acid, azelaic acid, brassylic acid and mixtures thereof; ii. from 5 to 80 mol%, in particular 10 to 80 mol%, especially 15 to 80 mol%, based on the total mol percentage of the components i to ii, of one or more aromatic dicarboxylic acid ester-forming derivatives or aromatic dicarboxylic acids selected from the group consisting of a terephthalic acid and furan-2,5-dicarboxylic acid, and mixtures thereof; Hi. from 98 to 102 mol%, based on the components i to ii, of a C2 to C8-alkylenediol or C2 to C6-oxyalkylenediol; and iv. from 0.00 to 2% by weight, particularly from 0.01 to 2% by weight, especially from 0.2 to 1.5% by weight and particularly especially from 0.35 to 1% by weight, based on the total weight of components i to Hi, of a chain extender (component iv.a) and/or crosslinking agent (component iv.b) selected from the group consisting of di- or polyfunctional isocyanates, isocyanurates, oxazolines, epoxides, carboxylic anhydrides, alcohols having at least three functional groups and carboxylic acids having at least three functional groups.

Examples of such biodegradable aliphatic-aromatic polyesters are poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT), poly(butylene sebacate-co-terephthalate) (PBSeT), poly(butylene azelate-co-terephthalate) (PBAzT), poly(butylene succinate-co- terephthalate) (PBST), poly(butylene adipate-co-sebacate-co-terephthalate) (PBASeT), poly(butylene adipate-co-azelate-co-terephthalate) (PBAAzT), poly(butylene adipate-co-succinate-co-terephthalate) (PBAST), poly(butylene sebacate-co-azelate-co-terephthalate) (PBSeAzT), poly(butylene sebacate-co-succinate-co- terephthalate) (PBSeST), poly(butylene azelate-co-succinate-co-terephthalate) (PBAzST), poly(butylene adipate-co- furanoate) (PBAF), poly(butylene sebacate-co-furanoate) (PBSeF), poly(butylene azelate-co-furanoate) (PBAzF), poly(butylene succinate-co-furanoate) (PBSF), poly(butylene adipate-co-sebacate-co-furanoate) (PBASeF), poly(bu- tylene adipate-co-azelate-co-furanoate) (PBAAzF), poly(butylene adipate-co-succinate-co-furanoate) (PBASF), poly(butylene sebacate-co-azelate-co-furanoate) (PBSeAzF), poly(butylene sebacate-co-succinate-co-furanoate) (PBSeST), poly(butylene azelate-co-succinate-co-furanoate) (PBAzSF) and mixtures thereof. Such biodegradable polyesters are commercially available inter alia under the trade name ecoflex® by BASF.

The synthesis of the aliphatic-aromatic polyesters may be effected by the process described in WO A 92/09654, WO A 96/15173 or preferably in PCT/EP2009/054114 and PCT/EP2009/054116, preferably in a two-stage reaction cascade.

Optionally, the polyester may comprise from 0 to 2% by weight, in particular from 0.2 to 1.5% by weight and especially from 0.35 to 1% by weight, based on the total weight of the components i to Hi, of a chain extender (iv.a) and/or a crosslinking agent (iv.b) selected from the group consisting of di or polyfunctional isocyanates, isocyanurates, oxa- zolines, carboxylic anhydrides, such as maleic anhydride, epoxides, in particular an epoxide-containing poly(meth)acry- late, alcohols having at least three functional groups and carboxylic acids having at least three functional groups are used. Suitable chain extenders (iv.a) are in particular difunctional isocyanates, isocyanurates, oxazolines, carboxylic anhydride or epoxides.

Chain extenders and alcohols or carboxylic acid derivatives having at least three functional groups may also be considered as crosslinking agents. Particularly preferred compounds have from three to six functional groups. The following may be mentioned by way of example: tartaric acid, citric acid, malic acid; trimethylolpropane, trimethylolethane, pentaerythritol; polyethertriols and glycerol, trimesic acid, trimellitic acid, trimellitic anhydride, pyromellitic acid and pyromellitic anhydride. Polyols such as trimethylolpropane, pentaerythritol and in particular glycerol are preferred. Examples of chain extenders are described in more detail below.

Epoxides are in particular selected from homopolymers and copolymers containing epoxide groups. The units carrying epoxide groups are preferably formed from glycidyl esters or glycidyl ethers having an ethylenically unsaturated double bond, in particular from (meth)acrylates. Suitable comonomers are styrene, acrylates and/or methacrylates. Copolymers having a proportion of glycidyl (meth)acrylate of greater than 20% by weight, particularly preferably of greater than 30% by weight, especially preferably of greater than 50% by weight, based on the total amount of monomers forming the epoxide polymer have proven advantageous. The epoxide equivalent weight (EEW) in these polymers is preferably from 150 to 3000 g/equivalent, particularly preferably from 200 to 500 g/equivalent. The average molecular weight (weight average) Mw of the polymers is preferably from 2000 to 25000 g/mol, in particular from 3000 to 8000 g/mol. The average molecular weight (number average) Mn of the polymers is preferably from 400 to 6000 g/mol, in particular from 1000 to 4000 g/mol. The polydispersity (Mw/Mn) is in general from 1.5 to 5. Copolymers of the above- mentioned type which contain epoxide groups are sold, for example, by BASF under the brand Joncryl® ADR. A particularly suitable chain extender is Joncryl® ADR 4468 or Joncryl® ADR 4400.

As a rule, it is expedient to add the crosslinking compounds having at least three functional groups at a relatively early time to the polymerization of the polyester a).

Suitable bifunctional chain extenders are the following compounds: An aromatic diisocyanate (component iv.a) is understood as meaning in particular toluene 2,4 diisocyanate, toluene 2,6-diisocyanate, 2,2’-diphenylmethane diisocyanate, 2,4’ diphenylmethane diisocyanate, 4,4-diphenylmethane diisocyanate, naphthylene 1,5-diisocyanate or xylylene diisocyanate. Among these, 2,2’-, 2,4’- and 4,4’ diphenylmethane diisocyanate are particularly preferred. In general, the latter diisocyanates are used as a mixture. The diisocyanates may also comprise urethione groups in minor amounts, for example up to 5% by weight, based on the total weight of the diisocyanate, for example for blocking the isocyanate groups.

In the context of the present disclosure, an aliphatic diisocyanate is understood as meaning in particular linear or branched alkylene diisocyanates or cycloalkylene diisocyanates having 2 to 20 carbon atoms, preferably 3 to 12 carbon atoms, e.g. hexamethylene 1,6 diisocyanate, isophorone diisocyanate or methylenebis(4-iso-cyanatocyclohexane). Particularly preferred aliphatic diisocyanates are isophorone diisocyanate and in particular hexamethylene 1,6 diisocyanate.

The preferred isocyanurates include the aliphatic isocyanurates which are derived from alkylene diisocyanates or cycloalkylene diisocyanates having 2 to 20 carbon atoms, preferably 3 to 12 carbon atoms, e.g. isophorone diisocyanate or methylenebis(4-iso-cyanatocyclohexane). The alkylene diisocyanates may be either linear or branched. Isocyanurates which are based on n hexamethylene diisocyanate, for example cyclic trimers, pentamers or higher oligomers of hexamethylene 1 ,6-diisocyanate, are particularly preferred.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates are also referred to as polyhydroxy fatty acids and are understood in the context of the present disclosure as meaning those which comprise monomers having a chain length in the polymer backbone of at least 3 carbon atoms. Polylactic acid and polyhydroxyacetic acid (also referred to as polyglycolic acid) are therefore not polyhydroxyalkanoates in the context of the present disclosure. In the context of the present disclosure, polycaprolactones (PCL) are not understood as polyhydroxyalkanoates, either.

In accordance with the present disclosurepresent disclosure, preference is given to using at least one polyhydroxyalkanoate comprising repeating monomer units of the formula (1)

[— 0— CHR— (CH2)m— CO— ] (1) where R is hydrogen or a linear or branched alkyl group having 1 to 20, preferably 1 to 16 carbon atoms, preferably 1 to 6 carbon atoms and m=numbers from 1 to 18, preferably 1 , 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6; and/or homopolymers of 2-hydroxybutyric acid.

The polyhydroxy fatty acids comprise homopolymers, i.e. polyhydroxy fatty acids consisting of identical hydroxy fatty acid monomers and also copolymers, i.e. polyhydroxy fatty acids consisting of different hydroxy fatty acid monomers. Examples of polyhydroxyalkanoates are poly(3-hydroxypropionates) (P3HP); polyhydroxybutyrates (PHB); polyhydroxyvalerates (PHV); polyhydroxyhexanoates (PHHx); polyhydroxyoctanoates (PHO); polyhydroxyoctadecanoates (PHOd); copolyesters of hydroxybutyric acid with at least one monomer selected from the group consisting of 3-hydrox- ypropionic acid, hydroxyvaleric acids, hydroxyhexanoic acids, hydroxyoctanoic acids and hydroxyoctadecanoic acids; copolyesters of hydroxyvaleric acid with at least one monomer selected from the group consisting of 3-hydrox- ypropionic acid, hydroxyhexanoic acids, hydroxyoctanoic acids and hydroxyoctadecanoic acids; and copolyesters of hydroxyhexanoic acid with at least one monomer selected from the group consisting of 3-hy- droxypropionic acid, hydroxyoctanoic acid and hydroxyoctadecanoic acid.

Suitable polyhydroxybutyrates (PHB) may be selected from the group consisting of poly(3-hydroxybutyrates) (P3HB), poly(4-hydroxybutyrates) (P4HB) and copolymers of at least 3 hydroxybutyric acids selected from the group consisting of 3-hydroxybutyric acid and 4-hydroxybutyric acid. Further suitable are copolymers of 3-hydroxybutyric acid and 4- hydroxybutyric acid. These copolymers are characterized by the following abbreviations: [P(3H B-CO-4H B)], where 3HB is 3-hydroxybutyrate and 4HB is 4 hydroxybutyrates.

Poly(3-hydroxybutyrates) are marketed for example by Tianan under the brand name Enmat®. Poly-3-hydroxybutyrate- co-4-hydroxybutyrates have been developed by Metabolix in particular. They are nowadays commercialized by CJ CheilJedang.

Suitable polyhydroxyvalerates (PHV) may be selected from the group consisting of homopolymers of 3-hydroxyvaleric acid [=poly(3-hydroxyvalerates) (P3HV)]; homopolymers of 4-hydroxyvaleric acid [=poly(4-hydroxyvalerates) (P4HV)]; homopolymers of 5-hydroxyvaleric acid [=poly(5-hydroxyvalerates) (P5HV)]; homopolymers of 3-hydroxymethylvaleric acid [=poly(3-hydroxymethylvalerates) (P3MHV)]; and copolymers of at least 3 hydroxyvaleric acids selected from the group consisting of 3-hydroxyvaleric acid, 4- hydroxyvaleric acid, 5-hydroxyvaleric acid and 3 hydroxymethylvaleric acid.

Suitable polyhydroxyhexanoates (PHHx) may be selected from the group consisting of poly(3-hydroxyhexanoates) (P3HHx), poly(4-hydroxyhexanoates) (P4HHx), poly(6-hydroxyhexanoates) (P6HHx) and copolymers of at least 3-hy- droxyhexanoic acids selected from the group consisting of 3-hydroxyhexanoic acid, 4-hydroxyhexanoic acid and 6- hydroxyhexanoic acid.

Suitable polyhydroxyoctanoates (PHO) may be selected from the group consisting of poly(3-hydroxyoctanoates) (P3HO), poly(4-hydroxyoctanoates) (P4HO), poly(6-hydroxyoctanoates) (P6HO) and copolymers of at least 3-hy- droxyoctanoic acids selected from the group consisting of 3-hydroxyoctanoic acid, 4-hydroxyoctanoic acid and 6-hy- droxyoctanoic acid.

Suitable copolyesters of hydroxybutyric acid with at least one monomer selected from the group consisting of 3-hy- droxypropionic acid, hydroxyvaleric acids, hydroxyhexanoic acids, hydroxyoctanoic acids and hydroxyoctadecanoic acids may be selected from the group consisting of copolyesters of 4-hydroxybutyric acid with 3-hydroxyvaleric acid [P(4HB-co-3HV)]; copolyesters of 3-hydroxybutyric acid with 3-hydroxyvaleric acid [P(3HB-co-3HV)]; copolyesters of 4-hydroxybutyric acid with 3-hydroxyhexanoic acid [P(4HB-co-3HHx)]; copolyesters of 3-hydroxybutyric acid with 3-hydroxyhexanoic acid [P(3HB-co-3HHx)]; copolyesters of 4-hydroxybutyric acid with 3-hydroxyoctanoic acid [P(4HB-co-3HO)]; copolyesters of 3-hydroxybutyric acid with 3-hydroxyoctanoic acid [P(3HB-co-3HO)]; and copolyesters of 4-hydroxybutyric acid with 3-hydroxyoctadecanoic acid [P(4HB-co-3HOd)] and copolyesters of 3-hydroxybutyric acid with 3-hydroxyoctadecanoic acid [P(3HB-co-3HOd)].

Preference is given to using poly-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate having a 3-hydroxyhexanoate proportion of 1 to 20 and preferably of 3 to 15 mol % based on the total amount of polyhydroxy fatty acid. Such poly-3-hydroxy- butyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoates [P(3HB-co-3HHx] are known from Kaneka and are commercially available under the trade names Aonilex™ X131A and Aonilex™ X151A.

Suitable copolyesters of hydroxyvaleric acid are preferably copolyesters of 4 hydroxyvaleric acid and/or 3-hydroxyva- leric acid with at least one monomer selected from the group consisting of 3-hydroxypropionic acid, hydroxyhexanoic acids, hydroxyoctanoic acids, especially 3-hydroxyoctanoic acid and hydroxyoctadecanoic acids.

Suitable copolyesters of hydroxyhexanoic acid are preferably copolyesters of 3 hydroxyhexanoic acid with at least one monomer selected from the group consisting of 3-hydroxypropionic acid and hydroxyoctanoic acid, preferably 3-hy- droxyoctanoic acid and hydroxyoctadecanoic acids.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the at least one polyhydroxyalkanoate is selected from the group consisting of poly(3-hydroxypropionates) (P3HP); copolymers of at least 3 hydroxybutyric acids selected from the group consisting of 3-hydroxybutyric acid and 4-hydroxybutyric acid; copolymers of 3-hydroxybutyric acid and 4-hydroxy- butyric acid; poly(3-hydroxyvalerates) (P3HV); poly(4-hydroxyvalerates) (P4HV); poly(5-hydroxyvalerates) (P5HV); poly(3-hydroxymethylvalerates) (P3MHV); copolymers of at least 3 hydroxyvaleric acids selected from the group consisting of 3-hydroxyvaleric acid, 4-hydroxyvaleric acid, 5-hydroxyvaleric acid and 3-hydroxymethylvaleric acid; poly(3- hydroxyhexanoates) (P3HHx); poly(4-hydroxyhexanoates) (P4HHx); poly(6-hydroxyhexanoates) (P6HHx); copolymers of at least 3 hydroxyhexanoic acids selected from the group consisting of 3-hydroxyhexanoic acid, 4-hydroxyhexanoic acid and 6-hydroxyhexanoic acid; poly(3-hydroxyoctanoates) (P3HO); poly(4-hydroxyoctanoates) (P4HO); poly(6-hy- droxyoctanoates) (P6HO); copolymers of at least 3 hydroxyoctanoic acids selected from the group consisting of 3- hydroxyoctanoic acid, 4-hydroxyoctanoic acid and 6-hydroxyoctanoic acid; poly(3-hydroxyoctanoates) (P3HO); poly(4- hydroxyoctanoates) (P4HO); poly(6-hydroxyoctanoates) (P6HO); copolymers of at least 3 hydroxyoctanoic acids selected from the group consisting of 3-hydroxyoctanoic acid, 4-hydroxyoctanoic acid and 6-hydroxyoctanoic acid; copolyesters of 3 hydroxybutyric acid with at least one monomer selected from the group consisting of 3-hydroxypropionic acid, hydroxyvaleric acids, hydroxyhexanoic acids, hydroxyoctanoic acids and hydroxyoctadecanoic acids; copolyesters of 4-hydroxybutyric acid with 3 hydroxyoctanoic acid [P(4HB-co-3HO)], copolyesters of 3-hydroxybutyric acid with 3 hydroxyoctanoic acid [P(3HB-co-3HO)], copolyesters of 4-hydroxybutyric acid with 3 hydroxyoctadecanoic acid [P(4HB-co-3HOd)], copolyesters of 3-hydroxybutyric acid with 3-hydroxyoctadecanoic acid [P(3HB-co-3HOd)]; copolyesters of hydroxyvaleric acid, especially of 3-hydroxyvaleric acid or 4-hydroxyvaleric acid with at least one monomer selected from the group consisting of 3-hydroxypropionic acid, hydroxyhexanoic acids, hydroxyoctanoic acids and hydroxyoctadecanoic acids; copolyesters of 3-hydroxyhexanoic acid with at least one monomer selected from the group consisting of 3-hydroxypropionic acid, hydroxyoctanoic acid, preferably 3 hydroxyoctanoic acid and hydroxyoctadecanoic acids.

Polylactide (PLA), also known as polylactic acid, is a thermoplastic polyester with backbone formula (C3H4O2)n or [- C(CH3)HC(=O)O-]n, formally obtained by condensation of lactic acid C(CH3)(OH)HCOOH with loss of water. It can also be prepared by ring-opening polymerization of either D-lactide, L-lactide, meso-lactide or mixtures thereof. In case only D- or only L-lactide are polymerized, the resulting polymer chains consist essentially of D- or L-lactic acid units, respectively. In case of polymerizing of a mixture of D- and L-lactide longer sequences of -(D) n and -(L)n are obtained due to the random polymerization of D- and L-lactide. In case the PLA is prepared from D-lactide and L-lactide only, i.e. without mesolactide, the minimum block length of the D- and L-lactic units in the polylactide is 2 from a theoretical point of view. This would only be the case in a strict alternating reaction of D- and L-lactide. The latter also holds true if mixtures of either L-lactide and a minor amount of meso-lactide or D-lactide with a minor amount of meso-lactide are polymerized.

The polylactide may be crystalline, semi-crystalline or amorphous. Particularly, suitable polylactide has a melting or softening point below 240°C, particularly below 230°C, especially below 220°C, as determined by DSC. Generally, the melting point of crystalline or semi crystalline polylactide will be at least 120°C.

Polylactides are commercially available from NatureWorks, for example, under the trade name Ingeo™ 6201 D, Ingeo™ 6202D, Ingeo™ 6251 D, Ingeo™ 3051 D, Ingeo™ 4043D, in particular Ingeo™ 3251 D; from Total Corbion under the trade name Luminy LX975, LX930, LX175; LX575, L130, LX530, in particular Luminy L105; from Hisun under the trade name Revode 110, 190, in particular Revode 290.

Polyglycolic acid

Polyglycolic acid, also as known as polyglycolide, is a biodegradable, thermoplastic polymer and the simplest linear, aliphatic polyester. It can be prepared starting from glycolic acid by means of polycondensation or from glycolide by ring-opening polymerization.

Polyglycolic acid includes homopolymer of glycolic acid (inclusive of a ring-opening polymerization product of glycolide, which is a bimolecular cyclic ester of glycolic acid) consisting only of glycolic acid repeating unit represented by a formula of -(O-CH2-CO)- and also a glycolic acid copolymer containing at least 70% by weight of the above-mentioned glycolic acid repeating unit.

Examples of comonomers for providing the polyglycolic acid copolymer together with the glycolic acid monomer such as glycolide, may include, but are not limited to: cyclic monomers, inclusive of ethylene oxalate (i.e., 1,4-dioxane-2,3- dione); lactides; lactones, such as p-propiolactone, p-butyrolactone; pivalolactone, y-butyrolactone, 5 valerolactone, - methyl-5-valerolactone, and s-caprolactone; carbonates, such as trimethylene carbonate; ethers, such as 1 ,3-dioxane; ether-esters, such as dioxanone; and amides, such as s-caprolactam; hydroxycarboxylic acids, such as lactic acid, 3 hydroxypropanoic acid, 4-hydroxybutanonic acid and 6-hydroxycaproic acid, and their alkyl esters; substantially equal molar mixtures of aliphatic diols, such as ethylene glycol and 1,4-butane diol with aliphatic dicarboxylic acids, such as succinic acid and adipic acid, and their alkyl or aromatic esters; and two or more species of these. These monomers may be replaced by polymers thereof, which can be used as a starting material for providing a polyglycolic acid copolymer together with the above-mentioned glycolic acid monomer such as glycolide.

Polycaprolactone

Polycaprolactone, more precisely poly-s-caprolactone, is a class of linear aliphatic polyesters obtained by the ringopening polymerization of w-caprolactone monomers under the catalysis of metal-organic compounds (such as tetraphenyltin). Generally, polycaprolactone has a melting point of 59 to 64°C and a glass transition temperature of -60°C. Its structural repeating unit has 5 non-polar methylene-CH2- and one polar ester group -COO-, namely- (COOCH2CH2CH2CH2CH2-)n. This structure makes polycaprolactone have good flexibility processability, and at the same time, good biocompatibility.

Polycaprolactone is commercially available for example from Daicel under the product name Placcel®, or from I ngevity under the product name CapaTM6400, CapaTM6500, CapaTM6800.

Starch

The term “starch” as used herein means starch itself and polymers derived from starch.

Starch is a natural polymer composed of amylose and amylopectin. Amylose is essentially a linear polymer having a molecular weight in the range of 100,000-500,000, whereas amylopectin is a highly branched polymer having a molecular weight of up to several million. Although starch is produced in many plants, typical sources include seeds of cereal grains, such as corn, waxy corn, wheat, sorghum, rice, and waxy rice; tubers, such as potatoes; roots, such as tapioca (i.e., cassa-va and manioc), sweet potato, and arrowroot; and the pith of the sago palm. Broadly speaking, any natural (unmodified) and/or modified starch may be used as component c) in the biodegrada-ble polymer composition. Modified starches, for instance, are often employed that have been chemically modified by typical processes known in the art (e.g., esterification, etherification, oxida-tion, acid hydrolysis, enzymatic hydrolysis, etc.). Starch ethers and/or esters may be particularly desirable, such as hydroxyalkyl starches, carboxymethyl starches, etc. The hydroxyalkyl group of hydroxylalkyl starches may contain, for instance, 2 to 10 carbon atoms, in some embodiments from 2 to 6 carbon atoms, and in some embodiments, from 2 to 4 carbon atoms. Representative hydroxyalkyl starches such as hydroxyethyl starch, hydroxypropyl starch, hydroxybutyl starch, and derivatives thereof. Starch esters, for instance, may be prepared using a wide variety of anhy-drides (e.g., acetic, propionic, butyric, and so forth), organic acids, acid chlorides, or other esterifi-cation reagents. The degree of esterification may vary as desired, such as from 1 to 3 ester groups per glucosidic unit of the starch.

Thermoplastic starch contains a plasticizer to help render the starch melt-processible. Starches, for instance, normally exist in the form of granules that have a coating or outer membrane that encapsulates the more water-soluble amylose and amylopectin chains within the interior of the granule. When heated, plasticizers may soften and penetrate the outer membrane and cause the inner starch chains to absorb water and swell. This swelling will, at some point, cause the outer shell to rupture and result in an irreversible destructurization of the starch granule. Once destruc-turized, the starch polymer chains containing amylose and amylopectin polymers, which are ini-tially compressed within the granules, will stretch out and form a generally disordered intermin-gling of polymer chains. Upon resolidification, however, the chains may reorient themselves to form crystalline or amorphous solids having varying strengths depending on the orientation of the starch polymer chains. Because the starch is thus capable of melting and resolidifying at certain temperatures, it is generally considered a “thermoplastic starch”.

Suitable plasticizers may include, for instance, water, polyhydric alcohol plasticizers, such as sug-ars (e.g., glucose, sucrose, fructose, raffinose, maltodextrose, galactose, xylose, maltose, lactose, mannose, and erythrose), sugar alcohols (e.g., erythritol, xylitol, malitol, mannitol, and sorbitol), polyols (e.g., ethylene glycol, glycerol, poly glycerol, propylene glycol, dipropylene glycol, butylene glycol, and hexane triol), etc. In case the starch grain contains a sufficient high amount of water, it is also possible to use the water present in the starch grain as plasticizer. Also suitable are hydrogen bond forming organic compounds which do not have hydroxyl group, including urea and urea derivatives; anhydrides of sugar alcohols such as sorbitan; animal proteins such as gelatin; vege-table proteins such as sunflower protein, soybean proteins, cotton seed proteins; and mixtures thereof. Other suitable plasticizers may include phthalate esters, dimethyl and diethylsuccinate and related esters, glycerol triacetate, glycerol mono and diacetates, glycerol mono, di, and tripropionates, butanoates, stearates, lactic acid esters, citric acid esters, adipic acid esters, stea-ric acid esters, oleic acid esters, and other acid esters. Aliphatic acids may also be used, such as copolymers of ethylene and acrylic acid, polyethylene grafted with maleic acid, polybutadiene-co-acrylic acid, polybutadiene-co-maleic acid, poly- propylene-co-acrylic acid, polypropylene-co-maleic acid, and other hydrocarbon based acids. A low molecular weight plasticizer is preferred, such as less than about 20,000 g/mol, preferably less than about 5,000 g/mol and more preferably less than about 1 ,000 g/mol. Preferred plasticizers are water, glycerol, oligo-glycerol, sorbitol and hy-drogenated hydrolysed starch syrup (CAS 68425-17-2).

The relative amount of starches and plasticizers employed in the thermoplastic starch may vary depending on a variety of factors, such as the desired molecular weight, the type of starch, the affinity of the plasticizer for the starch, etc. Typically, however, starches constitute from about 30 wt. % to about 95 wt. %, in some embodiments from about 40 wt. % to about 90 wt. %, and in some embodiments, from about 50 wt. % to about 85 wt. % of the thermoplastic starch. Likewise, plasticizers typically constitute from about 5 wt. % to about 55 wt. %, in some embodiments from about 10 wt. % to about 45 wt. %, and in some embodiments, from about 15 wt. % to about 35 wt. % of the thermoplastic composition. Depending on the intended use of the polymer composition different composition ranges may be more suited, see below.

The starch may be selected from flour, native starch, modified starch, hydrolyzed starch, destructured starch, gelatinized starch, plasticized starch, thermoplastic starch, biofiller comprising complexed starch, and mixtures thereof. Preferably the starch polymer is selected from native starches, more preferably from corn, potato, tapioca, pea, wheat or rice starch and most preferably from native corn or wheat starch, in particular preferred from corn.

In an embodiment, the chemical product may include aliphatic polyester.

In an embodiment, the chemical product may include aliphatic-aromatic polyester.

In an embodiment, the chemical product may include polyhydroxyalkanoates.

In an embodiment, the chemical product may include polylactide.

In an embodiment, the chemical product may include polyglycolic acid.

In an embodiment, the chemical product may include polycaprolactone.

In an embodiment, the chemical product may include starch.

In an embodiment, the chemical product may be a formulation.

In an embodiment, the chemical product may be a personal care product.

In an embodiment, the chemical product may include a detergent.

In an embodiment the chemical product may include functional chemical compound(s).

In an embodiment, functional chemical compound may include chemical materials, providing a functionality associated with an application property of the chemical product. E.g. polymers in detergents, washing material, UV-filtering polymers in sun screen products. In an embodiment functional chemical compound may refer to molecules having a molecular mass below 10000 g/mol. More preferably the chemical compound has a molecular weight of less than 600 g/mol, even more preferably of less than 300 g/mol. Further, it is preferred that the functional chemical compound is present in the environment in a form that allows to completely describe the molecules using simple structural formulas, that contain the relevant information. A simple molecular structure refers to molecules that can be unambiguously described by covalent bindings between the atoms of the molecule. Examples, where this is not the case, are e.g. systems with dynamic equilibria between several forms like monomer and oligomers as in the case of several inorganic acids, or ionic species with very localized charge that strongly interacts with a solvent, e.g. via hydrogen bonding. The functional chemical compound may have one or more of the following properties: having an effect on a living organism’s body, being suitable for influencing the structure or, being suitable for influencing the functioning of a living organism’s body. In an embodiment, the functional chemical compound comprises at least one of the following functional groups: ester group, ether group, lactone group, hydroxyl group, carbonyl group, phenol group, amide group, amine group, alkyl group, alkylene group, phenyl group, ketone group, aldehyde group, acetal group, ketal group, sulfhydryl group, sulfide group or a combination thereof. Preferably, the functional chemical compound corresponds to one of the following compound classes: Carboxyl group derivative, ether group, amine group, hydroxy group, carbonyl group, alkane group, alkene group, benzene derivative, pyridine derivate, halogenide group.

In an embodiment, breakdown product may include a portion of a chemical product after enzymatic induced degradation or conversion of the chemical product. E.g. amines may be converted to alcohols. In an embodiment, initial breakdown product may include a breakdown product after a first step of enzymatic induced degeneration of the chemical material. In an embodiment residual breakdown product may include a breakdown product, that is (substantially) inert to enzymatic induced degradation of the chemical product in the biodegradation habitat. In an embodiment generating breakdown products may refer to determining breakdown products. In an embodiment, providing the breakdown products may refer to providing a digital representation of the breakdown products.

In an embodiment biodegradation habitat may refer to an environment in which biodegradation occurs. In an embodiment the biodegradation habitat may comprise a biological community, such as the presence of microorganisms and other organisms that facilitate the breakdown of the chemical material. The biodegradation habitat may refer to a property of the biodegradation habitat. The biodegradation habitat may refer to a property of the biodegradation habitat and an associated property value. In an embodiment, the biodegradation habitat may refer to one or more properties of the biodegradation habitat. In an embodiment, the biodegradation habitat may refer to one or more properties of the biodegradation habitat and respective associated one or more property values. In an embodiment, the biodegradation habitat property may refer to any one of a marine habitat, a waste-water habitat, a fresh-water habitat, a limnic habitat, an anaerobic habitat, a compost habitat or a soil habitat.

In an embodiment, intended biodegradation habitat may refer to a biodegradation habitat, in which biodegradation of the chemical product is intended. Examples may be waste-water for detergents, compost for biodegradable shopping bags, soil for agricultural films.

In an embodiment, unintended biodegradation habitat may refer to a habitat which is not intended for biodegradation of the chemical product. Reasons why chemical materials may end up in unintended habitats may be littering or mismanagement of waste streams. In an embodiment, access to the biodegradation data associated with an unintended habitat may be restricted. It may be beneficial exclude the end customer from accessing the biodegradation data associated with the unintended habitat to prevent incentives for littering.

In an embodiment, access to biodegradation data may be restricted in accordance with the authentication and/or authorization methods disclosed herein.

In one embodiment, the decentral identifier may comprise any unique identifier uniquely associated with the data owner and biodegradation data. The decentral identifier may include one or more Universally Unique Identifier(s) (UUID(s)) and/or Digital Identifier(s) (DID(s)). The decentral identifier may be associated with a digital twin of the chemical product, the digital twin including the biodegradation data. The decentral identifier may be associated with the physical entity of the chemical product. Any combination of UUID(s) and DID(s) may be possible. The decentral identifier may be issued by a central or decentral identity issuer. The decentral identifier may be generated by the data owner or on behalf of 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 participant nodes of the decentral network, authentication of participant nodes of the decentral network and/or authorization of data transfers via a peer-to-peer communication between participant nodes of the decentral network. The decentral identifier may be associated with any participant of the chemical material ecosystem including raw material supplier, intermediate products manufacturer, chemical product manufacturer, chemical product distributors, chemical product retailers, chemical product end customers, chemical product collectors, such as waste collectors, chemical product recyclers and waste management facilities. The decentral identifier may be associated with a machine, a system, or a device used for producing the chemical product recycling of the chemical product waste collection or treatment in waste management facilities, or a collection of such machine(s), device^) and/or system(s). 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. Such decentral identifier may hence signify physical entities of chemical product in the decentral network and participant nodes may be able to interpret the relation of the decentral identifier to the physical entities of chemical products. The decentral identifier may include authentication information. Via the decentral identifier and its unique association with the data owner and biodegradation data, access to the biodegradation 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 in implementation as controlled by the data owner.

In an embodiment, the chemical product passport may further include the public key of the data owner and/or a chemical product identifier associated with the chemical product. The chemical product identifier may include a batch number, a chemical product name, a chemical product ID, a part number, a LOT number or a combination thereof. The LOT number may be assigned to the chemical product on or after production. The chemical product identifier allows to uniquely identify the physical entity of the respective chemical product, thus linking all data associated with said identifier, e.g. the biodegradation data and the decentral identifier, to the physical entity of the chemical product. The chemical product may be produced from one or more chemical materials. A chemical material may be a chemical raw material or an intermediate chemical product. Chemical raw materials may include monomers and chain extenders used to produce polymers, in particular biodegradable polymers such as described above. Intermediate chemical products may include polymers antioxidants, accelerators and antioxidants.

In an embodiment, the biodegradation data may be associated with a chemical product in particular uniquely associated. The biodegradation data may include data associated to a biodegradation property of the chemical product. Biodegradation data associated to a biodegradation property of a chemical product provides data points indicative of the environmental compatibility of the chemical product.

Biodegradation data associated with a biodegradation property of the chemical product may include data associated with the produced chemical product. The biodegradation data may include data associated to a biodegradation property of the chemical product may include data associated with properties of the chemical material(s) used to produce the chemical product or at least one property related to the use of the chemical material(s) used to produce the chemical product.

The biodegradation data associated to a biodegradation property of the chemical product may include, an identifier of the chemical product, such as a name of the chemical product.

The biodegradation data associated to a biodegradation property of the chemical product may include data associated with a test method, in particular a standardized test method. The data associated with a test method may be associated with one or more elements of the group of the following test methods, DIN EN ISO 17556; December 2012, OECD 301; July 1992, ASTM D 5338, Standard Test Method for Determining Aerobic Biodegradation of Plastics Materials Under Controlled Composting Conditions, September 1998, ASTM D 6002, Standard Guide for Assessing the Compostability of Environmentally Degradable Plastics, October 1996, ASTM D 6400, Standard Specification for Compostable Plastic, May 1999, DIN EN ISO 13432, Anforderung an die Verwertung von Verpackungen durch Kompostierung und biologischen Abbau - Prufschema und Bewertungskriterien fur die Einstufung von Verpackungen, Dezember 2000, DIN EN ISO 11734, Wasserbeschaffenheit - Bestimmung der vollstandigen anaero- ben biologischen Abbaubarkeit organischer Verbindungen im Faulschlamm - Verfahren durch Messung der Bio- gasproduktion, November 1998, DIN 54900-1 Prufung der Kompostierbarkeit von Kunststoffen - Teil 1 : Chemische Prufung, Oktober 1998, DIN V 54900-2, Prufung der Kompostierbarkeit von Kunststoffen - Teil 2: Prufung auf voll- standige Abbaubarkeit von Kunststoffen in Laborversuchen, September 1998, DIN V 54900-3, Prufung der Kompostierbarkeit von Kunststoffen - Teil 3: Prufung unter praxisrelevanten Bedingungen und der Qualitat der Komposte, September 1998 E, DIN 54900-4, Prufung der Kompostierbarkeit von polymeren Werkstoffen - Teil 4: Prufung der Okotoxizitat der Komposte, Januar 1997, ISO 14851, Determination of the ultimate aerobic biodegradability of plastic materials in an aqueous medium - Method by measuring the oxygen demand in a closed respirometer, Mai 1999, DIN EN ISO 14852, Determination of the ultimate aerobic biodegradability of plastics materials in an aqueous medium - Method by analysis of evolved carbon dioxide, May 1999, DIN EN ISO 14855, Determination of the ultimate aerobic biodegradability and disintegration of plastic materials under controlled composting conditions - Method by analysis of evolved carbon dioxide, Mai 1999, ISO/DIS 14853, Plastics-Determination of the ultimate anaerobic biodegradability in an aqueous system - Method by measurement of biogas production, April 1999, and ISO/DIS 15985, Plastics-Determination of the ultimate anaerobic biodegradability and disintegration under high-solids anaerobic-digestion conditions- Method by analysis of released biogas, April 1999.

Standardized tests often strike a balance between a time-efficient testing (from 14 days, up to 24 months) and real- life conditions.

Each of the disclosed test methods may be indicative of a biodegradation habitat.

Providing data associated with a test method enables comprehensibility of the biodegradation data. This is important as it allows reproducibility and comparability of the tests and therefore of the biodegradation data.

The biodegradation data associated to a biodegradation property of the chemical product may include data associated with a biodegradation habitat. The data associated with the habitat may be indicative of a type of habitat, such as a marine habitat, a waste-water habitat, a fresh-water habitat, a limnic habitat, an anaerobic habitat, a compost habitat or a soil habitat. The data associated with the habitat may further include habitat parameters, wherein the habitat parameters may include parameters associated with a property of the biodegradation habitat.

The parameters associated with the property of a marine habitat may include, at least one of a salt concentration, a sedimentation type, an oxygen level, a water temperature, a nutrient concentration, for example, a nitrogen, phosphate, potassium, and/or dissolved organic carbon concentration, a pH value, a oxygen content, a microbial community, a concentration of the microbial community, an enzyme concentration, an enzyme type, a fungi population, a bacterial population.

The parameters associated with a property of a waste-water habitat may include at least one of a water temperature, a microbial community, a sludge concentration, a nutrient concentration, for example, a nitrogen, phosphate, potassium, and/or dissolved organic carbon concentration, a pH value, a solid content, an enzyme environment, a concentration of the microbial community, an enzyme concentration, an enzyme type, a fungi population, a bacterial population. In an embodiment, the with a property of a waste-water habitat may further include data associated with the sludge comprising data associated with at least one of a sludge solid content, a sludge pH value, a sludge nutrient content, a sludge heavy metal content, sludge microbial community, an enzyme concentration, an enzyme type, a fungi population, a bacterial population.

The parameters associated with a property of a soil habitat may include at least one of a temperature, a soil composition, for example, a sand and/or clay content, a pH value, a moisture content, a nutrient concentration, for example, a nitrogen, phosphate, potassium, and/or dissolved organic carbon concentration, a microbial community, a water holding capacity and, a enzyme environment, a concentration of the microbial community, and an enzyme concentration, an enzyme concentration, an enzyme type, a fungi population, a bacterial population.

The parameters associated with a property of a compost habitat may include at least one of temperature, compost activity, a pH value, a moisture content, humidity, desired compost maturity, compost composition, compost origin, a nutrient concentration, a microbial community, a solid content, a water holding capacity, and an enzyme environment, an enzyme concentration, an enzyme type, a fungi population, a bacterial population.

The biodegradation data associated to a biodegradation property of the chemical product may include data associated with an intended habitat. The biodegradation data associated with the intended habitat may include the data disclosed in relation to the biodegradation habitat. The biodegradation data associated to a biodegradation property of the chemical product may include data associated with an unintended habitat. The data associated with the unintended habitat may include the data disclosed in relation to the biodegradation habitat.

It may be a requirement for market access of the chemical product that the chemical product is also biodegradable in unintended habitats. Providing data associated with the unintended habitat allows to identify, whether the chemical material is able to biodegrade various habitat conditions.

The biodegradation data associated to a biodegradation property of the chemical product may include data associated with quantifications of the degree of biodegradation of the chemical product. For example, the biodegradation data may include only one value, for instance, a half-life of the chemical product in a respective habitat or may refer to more than one value, for instance, may refer to a degradation function over time of the chemical product in a specific habitat. Preferably, the biodegradability may refer to a value of the percentage of biodegradation after a predetermined timeframe. In an embodiment, biodegradation data may be associated to a ratio of biochemical oxygen demand (mg), which may be the amount of oxygen consumed by micro-organisms (BOD) when metabolising a chemical product; also expressed as mg oxygen uptake per mg test compound over theoretical oxygen demand (mg), which may be the total amount of oxygen required to oxidise the chemical product completely (ThOD); ThOD may be calculated from the molecular formula of the chemical product, alternatively or additionally, the biodegradation data may include a ratio of CO2 produced over theoretical carbon dioxide quantity of carbon dioxide calculated to be produced upon full biodegradation (ThCO2) from the known or measured carbon content of the chemical product when fully biodegraded. Biodegradation data may further include emission data associated with a Co2 emission caused by biodegradation, data associated with a lag phase, i.e. the period from inoculation until a biodegradation level has reached about 10%. In an embodiment, data associated with quantifications of the degree of biodegradation of the chemical may be associated to a respective test method.

This is important because biodegradability of a chemical product greatly varies depending on the habitat. In particular, a certain chemical product may for example biodegradable in compost, but not biodegradable in water. Including data associated with a biodegradation habitat allows determining the biodegradability in multiple environments.

In an embodiment, the biodegradation data may be associated with microplastic data associated with the amount of microplastic introduced in a habitat by biodegradation.

While microplastics in personal care products have often been looked for, it has so far been overlooked, that during the biodegradation process, breakdown products may occur, that do not further degrade. These breakdown products that do not further biodegrade may form microplastics.

In an embodiment, the microplastic data may be associated with the degree of biodegradation a habitat.

In an embodiment, the microplastic data may be associated with the degree of biodegradation in the intended habitat. Different methods for determining a degree of biodegradation are disclosed with reference to the biodegradation tests described herein.

In an embodiment, the microplastic data may be associated with the degree of biodegradation in unintended habitat(s). In an embodiment, the microplastic data may be indicative of microplastic free biodegradation, if the degree of biodegradation in the intended habitat and the unintended habitats is 100%. Including the microplastic data in the biodegradation data allows to assess, that the environmental impact of the chemical material.

The amount of microplastic generated by biodegradation is a huge concern problem with plastics.

The biodegradation data associated to a biodegradation property of the chemical product may include data associated with break-down products. Data associated with the breakdown products may include a digital representation of the breakdown product. Data associated with the breakdown products may include toxicity data associated with toxicity of the breakdown product.

Providing toxicity data associated with toxicity of the breakdown products is important, because it allows to control, that during biodegradation of the chemical product no toxicological breakdown products are released. This helps protecting the environment.

The data associated with the breakdown products may include the respective life-time of the breakdown product in particular, in the biodegradation habitat of the chemical product.

In an embodiment, the biodegradation data may include a list of compatible chemical products for further processing. Compatible chemical products may include chemical materials, that are biodegradable. Additionally, or alternatively, compatible chemical products may include product(s) that when processed with the biodegradable chemical material results in a biodegradable end product and/ or biodegradable intermediate product. Using compatible chemical products secures biodegradability along the value chain until the end-product.

In an embodiment, recipe data associated with a recipe may include instructions for producing a biodegradable chemical product from more than one input materials, including the chemical material. In particular, the recipe data associated with the recipe may include data associated with the more than one input material and the respective amount. The recipe data may further include data associated with feed rates of individual input materials. The recipe data may further include, data associated with a reaction temperature and/or temperature profile. The recipe data may further include data associated with a dosing time. The recipe may further include data associated a pressure. The recipe may further include data associated a post reaction time. The recipe may further include data associated a mixing speed. In particular, the recipe data includes control data suitable for controlling the production of the biodegradable chemical product.

The following table shows an example of a recipe of a polymer in accordance with the disclosure.

In an embodiment, the chemical product produced by a recipe may be a formulation, Formulations may include mixtures of at more than one input materials mixed in defined ratios. The use of formulations encompasses amongst others coatings, personal care products, washing detergents, lubricants. In particular, personal care products and washing detergents are consumables. They are often intended to use with water. As such, the intended habitat for personal care products and/or detergents may be waste-water. Consequently, the biodegradation data for personal care products may comprise data indicative of OECD 301. Raw materials for formulations may include a combination of polymers and/or functional chemical compounds. A bio-degradable formulation may refer to a formulation that can be degraded by biological processes, in particular, a bio-degradable formulation may include a formulation that can be assimilated by bacteria and/or fungi.

In an embodiment, the biodegradation data associated to a biodegradation property of a chemical product may include recipe data associated with a recipe for producing a biodegradable intermediate product and/or biodegradable end-product from the chemical material.

In an embodiment, the recipe data may include instructions for producing a biodegradable chemical product from more than one input materials, including the chemical material.

Providing the instructions for producing secures, that following the instructions results in that the produced intermediate product and/or end-product is biodegradable. This enables the producer of the intermediate and/or end product to obtain a biodegradable chemical product.

In an embodiment, the recipe data associated with the recipe may include data associated with the more than one input material, including the chemical material and the respective amount for producing a biodegradable chemical intermediate and/or end-product.

Including the data associated with the more than one input material, including the chemical material and the respective amount secures that use a biodegradable intermediate and/or end product is generated.

The recipe data may include a temperature and/or a temperature profile. The recipe a data may include a pressure and/or a pressure profile.

In an embodiment, the recipe data may include operating parameters for producing a biodegradable chemical intermediate and/or end-product, from input materials, including the chemical material. In particular, the operating parameters may be provided as control signals suitable for controlling the plant for producing the biodegradable material. This allows operating a production plant based on the operating parameters and or control data enabling production of a biodegradable intermediate and/or end-product.

In an embodiment, the operating parameters may include a temperature and/or a temperature profile. Temperatures directly influence chemical reactions and bond-building. By providing a target temperature it can control that bonds are formed that can be broken by enzymatic reaction, hence the produced intermediate and/or end-product is biodegradable.

In an embodiment, the operating parameters may include a pressure. Pressure influences chemical reactions and bond-building. By providing a target pressure it can be controlled that that bonds are formed that can be broken by enzymatic reaction, hence the produced intermediate and/or end product is biodegradable.

In an embodiment, the operating parameters may include a reaction time. Reaction time influences chemical reactions and bond-building. By providing a target reaction time it can be controlled that that bonds are formed that can be broken by enzymatic reaction, hence the produced intermediate and/or end-product is biodegradable. In an embodiment, the recipe data may include control data suitable for controlling the production of the biodegradable chemical intermediate and/or end-product. In an embodiment, the control data suitable for controlling the production may include any one or any combination of the disclosed recipe data.

Including control data in the biodegradation data of the chemical material enables control of the production process, thereby assuring that the produced intermediate chemical product and/or end-product is biodegradable.

In an embodiment, the biodegradation data associated with the chemical material may include waste treatment data associated with treatment instructions for treating the biodegradable end-product at the end of life.

Including treatment data in the biodegradation data can increase the rate of biodegradation.

As laid out above, biodegradability of a chemical product depends highly on the habitat.

Improvement of biodegradation rates may rely on appropriate treatment of the biodegradable product.

In an embodiment, the data associated with treatment instructions may comprise one or more of one of a desired temperature, a desired temperature range, a desired microbial community, and a desired retaining time, a desired enzyme.

Providing treatment data associated with treatment instructions including a desired retaining time ensures that the chemical product remains in the waste management treatment plant until biodegradation has occurred. This reduces the risk of environmental pollution.

Providing treatment data associated with treatment instructions comprising a desired temperature or a desired temperature range, ensures that the time for biodegradation is reduced. This allows a higher throughput in the waste management plants.

Providing treatment data associated with treatment instructions comprising a desired microbial community ensures that the time for biodegradation is reduced. This allows a higher throughput in the waste management plants.

In an embodiment, the treatment data may include habitat specific instructions for specific habitats.

In an embodiment, the habitat specific instructions for salt water, may include at least one of a desired salt concentration, a desired sedimentation type, desired oxygen level, a desired water temperature, a desired nutrient concentration, for example, a nitrogen, phosphate, potassium, and/or dissolved organic carbon concentration, a desired pH value, a desired oxygen content, a desired microbial community, a desired concentration of the desired microbial community, a desired enzyme concentration.

In an embodiment, the habitat specific instructions for waste-water, may include at least one of a desired water temperature, a desired microbial community, a desired sludge concentration, a desired nutrient concentration, for example, a nitrogen, phosphate, potassium, and/or dissolved organic carbon concentration, a desired pH value, a desired solid content, a desired enzyme environment, a desired concentration of the desired microbial community, and a desired enzyme concentration. In an embodiment, the biodegradation data associated with treatment instructions may comprise further data associated with the sludge comprising data associated with at least one of a desired sludge solid content, a desired sludge pH value, a desired sludge nutrient content, a desired sludge heavy metal content, desired sludge microbial community.

In an embodiment, the habitat specific instructions for soil, may include at least one of a desired temperature, a desired soil composition, for example, a sand and/or clay content, a desired pH value, a desired moisture content, a desired nutrient concentration, for example, a nitrogen, phosphate, potassium, and/or dissolved organic carbon concentration, a desired microbial community, a desired water holding capacity and, a desired enzyme environment, a desired concentration of the desired microbial community, and a desired enzyme concentration.

In an embodiment, the habitat specific instructions for compost, may include at least one of desired temperature, desired compost activity, a desired pH value, a desired moisture content, desired humidity, desired compost maturity, desired compost composition, desired compost origin, a desired nutrient concentration, a desired microbial community, a desired solid content, a desired water holding capacity, and a desired enzyme environment.

In an embodiment, the biodegradation data associated with treatment instructions may include operating data suitable for operating the waste management facility.

The biodegradation data may be generated or collected before, during or after production of the chemical product. The biodegradation data may be generated by any participant of the chemical product ecosystem, such as raw material supplier, intermediate products manufacturer, chemical product manufacturer, test laboratories performing biodegradation tests.

The biodegradation data may be associated with the produced chemical product. The biodegradation data may be updated based on subsequent process and/or production steps. A subsequent process step may for example alter the biodegradation data, in particular the biodegradation data associated with the degree of biodegradability. Raw materials may for example be biodegradable, the produced polymer however, may no longer biodegrade. This may be reflected in the chemical material passport. The biodegradation data may be associated with properties of the chemical material(s) used to produce the chemical product or at least one property related to the use of the chemical material(s) used to produce the chemical product. The biodegradation data may include, an identifier, such as a name of the chemical product, data associated with properties of the raw material (s) used to produce the chemical product or at least one property related to the use of the chemical material(s) used to produce the chemical product, an identifier of the produced chemical product, such as a name of the produced chemical product include data associated with a test method, in particular a standardized test method The data associated with a test method may be associated with one or more elements of the group of the following test methods, DIN EN ISO 17556; December 2012, OECD 301; July 1992, ASTM D 5338, Standard Test Method for Determining Aerobic Biodegradation of Plastics Materials Under Controlled Composting Conditions, September 1998, ASTM D 6002, Standard Guide for Assessing the Compostability of Environmentally Degradable Plastics, October 1996, ASTM D 6400, Standard Specification for Compostable Plastic, May 1999, DIN EN ISO 13432, Anforderung an die Verwertung von Verpackungen durch Kompostierung und biologischen Abbau - Prufschema und Bewertungskriterien fur die Einstufung von Verpackungen, Dezember 2000, DIN EN ISO 11734, Wasserbeschaffenheit - Bestimmung der vollstandigen anaeroben biologischen Abbaubarkeit organischer Verbindungen im Faulschlamm - Verfahren durch Messung der Biogaspro- duktion, November 1998, DIN 54900-1 Prufung der Kompostierbarkeit von Kunststoffen - Teil 1 : Chemische Pru- fung, Oktober 1998, DIN V 54900-2, Prufung der Kompostierbarkeit von Kunststoffen - Teil 2: Prufung auf vollstan- dige Abbaubarkeit von Kunststoffen in Laborversuchen, September 1998, DIN V 54900-3, Prufung der Kompostierbarkeit von Kunststoffen - Teil 3: Prufung unter praxisrelevanten Bedingungen und der Qualitat der Komposte, September 1998 E, DIN 54900-4, Prufung der Kompostierbarkeit von polymeren Werkstoffen - Teil 4: Prufung der Okotoxizitat der Komposte, Januar 1997, ISO 14851, Determination of the ultimate aerobic biodegradability of plastic materials in an aqueous medium - Method by measuring the oxygen demand in a closed respirometer, Mai 1999, DIN EN ISO 14852, Determination of the ultimate aerobic biodegradability of plastics materials in an aqueous medium - Method by analysis of evolved carbon dioxide, May 1999, DIN EN ISO 14855, Determination of the ultimate aerobic biodegradability and disintegration of plastic materials under controlled composting conditions - Method by analysis of evolved carbon dioxide, Mai 1999, ISO/DIS 14853, Plastics-Determination of the ultimate anaerobic biodegradability in an aqueous system - Method by measurement of biogas production, April 1999, and ISO/DIS 15985, Plastics-Determination of the ultimate anaerobic biodegradability and disintegration under high-solids anaerobic-digestion conditions- Method by analysis of released biogas, April 1999.

The raw material biodegradation data may include data associated with a biodegradation habitat. The biodegradation data associated to a biodegradation property of the produced product may include data associated with quantifications of the degree of biodegradation of the chemical product. The biodegradation data associated to a biodegradation property of the produced chemical product may include microplastic data associated with the amount of microplastic introduced in a habitat by biodegradation. The biodegradation data associated to a biodegradation property of the raw material may include data associated with break-down products. The data associated with the breakdown products may include toxicity data associated with toxicity of the breakdown product. The biodegradation data may include a list of compatible chemical products for further processing. The biodegradation data may include recipe data associated with a recipe may include instructions for producing a biodegrable chemical product from the raw material, including the chemical material. The biodegradation data may include data related to the production conditions as provided by the operating system 402 of the chemical product production 304. The biodegradation data may include data related to the producer, such as producer name, producer brand or producer identifier. The biodegradation data may include the chemical product name, brand or chemical product identifier.

Biodegradation data may include, an identifier, such as a name of the chemical product digital representations of breakdown products, data associated with treatment instructions, the data associated with treatment instructions may comprise one or more elements of the group of a desired temperature a desired temperature range, a desired microbial community, and a desired retaining time, biodegradation data of raw materials and/or intermediate products, where in the biodegradation data of raw materials and/or intermediate products may include any combination of the biodegradation data as disclosed with reference to the biodegradation data of the chemical product. Biodegradation data may further include chemical composition data, emission data and/or production data. The biodegradation data may be stored in a data base of or associated with the data owner. The biodegradation data may be stored in a data base accessible by the data owner.

In an embodiment, emission data may comprise data relating to greenhouse gas emissions e.g. released by biodegradation of the chemical product. Greenhouse gas emissions may include emissions such as carbon dioxide (CO2) emission, methane (CH4) emission, nitrous oxide (N2O) emission, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) emission, perfluorocarbons (PFCs) emission, sulphurhexafluoride (SFe) emission, nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) emission, combinations thereof and additional emissions. In an embodiment, production data may comprise any data related to the production of a chemical product. Production data may include chemical product production data from the production of the chemical product. Production data may include monitoring and/or control data associated with the production of the chemical product. Production data may include measurement data related to a quality of the chemical product.

In an embodiment, the data owner may comprise any entity generating biodegradation data or a part thereof. The data generating node may be coupled to the entity owning chemical products for which biodegradation data is generated. The data generating node may be coupled to the entity producing chemical products for which biodegradation data is generated. The biodegradation data may be generated by a third-party entity on behalf of the entity owning chemical product for which biodegradation data is generated. The biodegradation data may be generated by a third- party entity on behalf of the entity producing chemical products for which biodegradation data is generated. The data owner may be the chemical product producer. The data owner may be the raw material producer. The data owner may be the intermediate chemical product producer owner. The biodegradation data or the part thereof may be accessible for the data owner. The data owner may hence directly or indirectly own the biodegradation data or the part thereof. The biodegradation data or the part thereof may be stored in a data base of or associated with the data owner. The biodegradation data or the part thereof may be stored in a data base accessible by the data owner. The biodegradation data or the part thereof may be stored in a data base of or under control by the data owner. The biodegradation data or the part thereof may be associated with the data owner. The data owner may be the owner of the biodegradation data or the part thereof. In this sense, the data owner is to be construed broadly as the entity having access to the biodegradation data or the part thereof and controlling access by data consuming services of the decentral network to the biodegradation data or the part thereof. Via the decentral identifier and its unique association with the data owner and biodegradation data or a part thereof, access to the biodegradation data or a part thereof may be controlled by the data owner via the data providing service.

In an embodiment, the data consuming service may comprise computer-executable instructions for accessing and/or processing data, such as biodegradation data, associated with the data owner.

In an embodiment, the data providing service may comprise computer-executable instructions for providing and/or processing data, such as biodegradation data, associated with the data owner for accessing and/or processing by a data consuming service.

In an embodiment, physical entity may relate to the physical embodiment of a chemical product.

In an embodiment, processor may refer to a circuitry configured to perform basic operations of a computer or system, and/or, generally, to a device which is configured for performing calculations or logic operations. In particular, the processor, or computer processor may be configured for processing basic instructions that drive the computer or system. It may be a semi-conductor based processor, a quantum processor, or any other type of processor configures for processing instructions. As an example, the processor may be or may comprise a Central Processing Unit ("CPU"). The processor may be a (“GPU”) graphics processing unit, (“TPU”) tensor processing unit, ("CISC") Complex Instruction Set Computing microprocessor, Reduced Instruction Set Computing ("RISC") microprocessor, Very Long Instruction Word ("VLIW") microprocessor, or a processor implementing other instruction sets or processors implementing a combination of instruction sets. The processing means may also be one or more special-purpose processing devices such as an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit ("ASIC"), a Field Programmable Gate Array ("FPGA"), a Complex Programmable Logic Device ("CPLD"), a Digital Signal Processor ("DSP"), a network processor, or the like. The methods, systems and devices described herein may be implemented as software in a DSP, in a micro-controller, or in any other side-processor or as hardware circuit within an ASIC, CPLD, or FPGA. It is to be understood that the term processor may also refer to one or more processing devices, such as a distributed system of processing devices located across multiple computer systems (e.g., cloud computing), and is not limited to a single device unless otherwise specified. The processor may be seen as a subpart of a processor wherein this subpart is executing the methods disclosed herein in form of a thread, a container and/or a virtual machine.

In an embodiment, a computing node may refer to 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 may, for example, be handheld devices, production facilities, sensors, monitoring systems, control systems, appliances, laptop computers, desktop computers, mainframes, data centers, or even devices that have not conventionally been considered a computing node, such as wearables (e.g., glasses, watches or the like). The memory may take any form and depends on the nature and form of the computing node.

In an embodiment, distributed computing may be implemented. Distributed computing may refer to any computing that utilizes multiple computing resources. Such use may be realized through virtualization of physical computing resources. One example of distributed computing is cloud computing. “Cloud computing” may refer a model for enabling on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services). When distributed, cloud computing environments may be distributed internationally within an organization and/or across multiple organizations. In an embodiment, distributed computed may be realized in a federated network.

In an embodiment, memory may refer to a physical system memory, which may be volatile, non-volatile, or a combination thereof. The memory may include non-volatile mass storage such as physical storage media. The memory may be a computer-readable storage media such as RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM, or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, or other magnetic storage devices, non-magnetic disk storage such as solid-state disk or any other physical and tangible storage medium which can be used to store desired program code means in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structures and which can be accessed by the computing system. Moreover, the memory may be a computer-readable media that carries computer- executable instructions (also called transmission media). Further, upon reaching various computing system components, program code means in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structures can be transferred automatically from transmission media to storage media (or vice versa). For example, computer-executable instructions or data structures received over a network or data link can be buffered in RAM within a network interface module (e.g., a “NIC”), and then eventually transferred to computing system RAM and/or to less volatile storage media at a computing system. Thus, it should be understood that storage media can be included in computing components that also (or even primarily) utilize transmission media.

In an embodiment a wireless communication protocol may be used. The wireless communication protocol may comprise any known network technology such as GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), GPRS (General Packet Radio Services), EDGE (Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) /HSPA (High Speed Packet Access), LTE (Long Term Evolution) technologies using standards like 2G, 3G, 4G or 5G, The wireless communication protocol may further comprise a wireless local area network (WLAN), e.g. Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi).

In one embodiment, the request to provide the decentral identifier includes biodegradation data and/or an owner or chemical product identifier associated with the data owner or the chemical product, respectively. The owner/chemical product identifier may be a string identifier associated with a data owner name or the chemical product name. The owner or chemical product identifier may be provided by a physical identifier provider, such as a bar code or a tag like a RFID tag, or a QR code. Such physical identifier providers may be associated with data sheets or packages. In particular, where the chemical product is provided in liquid form, the physical identifier provider may be provided on the package of the chemical material. Such communication can be completed via ad hoc WIFI, BLE beacon, and/or NFC. The communications between wallet apps may be performed via any available communication channel, including but not limited to, web servers, ad hoc WIFI, BLE beacon signal, NFC, a barcode or QR code scanning, etc. Through the owner identifier the generated chemical product passport may be associated with the biodegradation data owner by including the owner identifier. The owner identifier may be used for data transaction, such as sharing or exchanging of biodegradation data. The owner identifier may be provided to a transaction manager. By providing the decentral identifier and the owner identifier of the data owner to a transaction manager or a data consuming service may simplify tracking of data transactions. Any transaction in the data ecosystem can e.g. be associated with the clear name of the data owner.

The request may further contain an authentication mechanism, such as the public-private key pair, and/or an identifier associated with a unit providing the decentral identifier. This allows to route the request to a specific decentral identifier provider. The authentication mechanisms may be retrieved from an authentication data storage, such as a vault, depending on the decentral identifier to be requested.

The request to provide the decentral identifier may be associated with the chemical product production producing the chemical product. The request to provide the decentral identifier may be generated by a computing system, such as an operating system, of the chemical product production producing the chemical product. The request may be triggered at predefined occurrences. For instance, a detector may detect produced chemical products. Based on such recognition a computing apparatus, such as the operating system of the chemical product production, may generate the request to provide the decentral identifier. The generated request may be provided to a decentral identifier generator contained in an apparatus for generating the chemical product passport. In response to receiving said request, the decentral identifier generator may generate the decentral identifier and provide the generated decentral identifier.

In one embodiment, the decentral identifier is provided by one central node or by one or more decentral nodes. The decentral identifier as generated by one central node or by one or more decentral nodes may be provided to a node generating the chemical product passport and/or the digital access element and to at least one authentication data registry node, preferably accessible by the data providing service and/or the data consuming service. This enables customized data sharing or exchange with respect to the chemical product and the chemical product value chain the chemical product is used in. In particular, the data providing service and/or the data consuming service may customize data sharing or exchange protocols based on the anchoring of the decentral identifier to the biodegradation data. The authentication data registry node may be a central registry node such as a central file system, a centrally managed distributed database, and/or a centrally managed peer-to-peer network. The central configuration allows for more control and standardization via a central node. The authentication data registry node may be a decentral registry such as a distributed ledger, a decentralized file system, a distributed database, and/or a peer-to-peer network. The decentral configuration allows for more efficient use of computing resources and strengthens control by the data owner. In addition, the decentral configuration is independent from centrally managed nodes and as such increases reliability and flexibility of the system.

In one embodiment, the generation of the chemical product passport includes providing the decentral identifier associated with a physical entity of a chemical product. In this context the physical entity may relate to a physical chemical product that is associated with the decentral identifier. The decentral identifier may be associated with the physical entity of the chemical product the biodegradation data or chemical product passport is associated with. For instance, the decentral identifier may be associated with the physical entity of the chemical product. The decentral identifier may be associated with the chemical product via a physical identifier. The physical identifier may contain or correspond to an identifier element contained within or attached to the chemical product. The physical identifier may refer, for instance, to a chemical product identifier. The identifier element may comprise a passive or active element such as, for instance, a barcode, a QR code an embossed code or an RFID tag. The decentral identifier may be assigned to the physical identifier. Assigning may include generating a code having embedded the provided decentral identifier. Assigning may include correlating the provided decentral identifier with a physical identifier of the chemical product. For instance, an identifier element may be physically attached to or contained within the chemical product, wherein the identifier element may contain or correspond to the physical identifier. The determination, or acquisition, of the physical identifier may be viewed as triggering the providing of the decentral identifier, and possibly also a subsequent assignment between the physical identifier and the decentral identifier. The decentral identifier may be associated with the physical entity the chemical product will be supplied for and the biodegradation data is associated with. For instance, the decentral identifier may be associated with the physical entity the chemical product is attached to. The decentral identifier may be associated with more than one physical entity the chemical product will be supplied for and the biodegradation data is associated with. Associating the decentral identifier with different physical entity stages in the chemical product value chain allows for virtually tracking the chemical product in the chemical product value chain. This way the chemical product with its associated biodegradation data may be tracked e.g. up to the end of the life.

In one embodiment, the chemical product passport includes one or more authentication mechanisms associated with the decentral identifier and the biodegradation data or a part thereof. The authentication mechanism may directly or indirectly relate to the decentral identifier and the data related to the biodegradation data. In an example of indirect relation, the authentication mechanism may relate to a certificate mechanism. For example, on access request by the data consuming service, a dynamic access token may be generated based on the certificate mechanism. Such dynamic access token may be used to open peer-to-peer communication channel between a data consuming service and the data providing service associated with the chemical product passport. The authentication mechanism may include a token, such as private and public key infrastructure, a certificate mechanism or a biometric mechanism, such as fingerprints, face recognition or voice recognition or the like. One common public key certificate is for instance the X.509 certificate. Through the authentication mechanism, access by a data consuming service can be controlled in a secure manner and integrity of the data providing service can be ensured. This allows for more reliable, controlled and secure data exchange or sharing.

The one or more authentication mechanisms associated with the decentral identifier as generated by one central node or by one or more decentral nodes may be provided to a node generating the chemical product passport and to at least one decentral authentication data registry, preferably accessible by the data providing service and/or the data consuming service. The authentication data registry may be a central registry such as a central file system, a centrally managed distributed database, and/or a centrally managed peer-to-peer network. The central configuration allows for higher control and standardization via a central node. The authentication data registry may be a decentral registry such as a distributed ledger, a decentralized file system, a distributed database, and/or a peer-to-peer network. The decentral configuration allows for more efficient use of computing resources and strengthens control by the data owner.

In one embodiment, the chemical product passport is related to or includes one or more authorization mechanisms associated with the decentral identifier and the data related to the biodegradation data. The authorization mechanisms may include authorization rule(s) including data transaction instructions or data transaction protocols, such as data usage policies, smart data contracts or mor complex data processing instructions associated with data providing and/or data consuming services. Through the authorization mechanism, access to biodegradation data or a part thereof and usage of said data by a data consuming service can be controlled in a secure manner. The one or more authorization mechanisms associated with the decentral identifier as generated by one central node or by one or more decentral nodes may be provided to a node for generating or processing the chemical product passport, or for accessing the biodegradation data or a part thereof. Additionally, or alternatively, the one or more authorization mechanisms may be provided to at least one central or decentral authorization data registry, preferably accessible by the data providing service and/or the data consuming service. In one embodiment, the one or more authorization mechanisms associated with the decentral identifier as generated by one or more decentral nodes may be provided to a node generating or processing the chemical product passport, and to at least one of a central file system, a centrally managed distributed database, a centrally managed peer-to- peer network, a distributed ledger, a decentralized file system, a distributed database, and/or a peer-to-peer network, preferably accessible by the data providing service and/or the data consuming service.

In one embodiment the data related to biodegradation data includes biodegradation data or parts thereof. In one embodiment the data related to biodegradation data includes one or more digital representation(s) pointing to the biodegradation data or parts thereof. In this context pointing means any network representation or address that is suitable for accessing the biodegradation data or a part thereof. Hence, the digital representations may be regarded as access data and the chemical product passport may represent a digital data structure allowing third parties to access the biodegradation data or a part thereof. The data related to biodegradation data may include multiple digital representations pointing to distinct parts of the biodegradation data. The data related to biodegradation data may include multiple digital representations pointing to different parts of the biodegradation data. Such different parts may overlap in some data points. The digital representation may include an access point to the biodegradation data or a part thereof, a link to access biodegradation data or a part thereof, an endpoint to access biodegradation data or a part thereof or a service endpoint to access biodegradation data or a part thereof. This way the biodegradation data or a part thereof can be maintained and controlled by a data owner. Access can be provided via the representation of an access point, simplifying data verification, integrity checks or quality checks and access control, since not multiple distributed data points need to be checked and access controlled. The biodegradation data or a part thereof may be stored in a data base of or associated with the data owner. The biodegradation data or a part thereof may be stored in a data base accessible by the data owner. The digital representation pointing to biodegradation data or parts thereof may be associated with or relate to any such data base associated with or accessible by the data owner. For enhanced security the digital representation pointing to biodegradation data or parts thereof may indirectly relate to any such data base associated with or accessible by the data owner.

The digital representation(s) may be used - in combination with the decentral identifier - to access the biodegradation data or parts thereof. For instance, the decentral identifier and corresponding digital representation(s) may be used by a data consuming service to request the biodegradation data or a part thereof. The data related to the biodegradation data my correspond to a DID document associated with or including the decentral identifier (e.g. DID), digital representation(s) pointing to the biodegradation data or parts thereof and a public key. The DID document or parts thereof may be propagated to a distributed ledger. The DID document or parts thereof may be used to retrieve the digital representation(s) using the DID as described later on.

In one embodiment, the biodegradation data or a part thereof may include a producer of the chemical product, chemical product identifier(s), data on chemical materials used to produce the chemical product, emission data of the chemical product, , production data or a combination thereof. Data related to a property of the chemical product, and production data may include the data mentioned previously. The biodegradation data may be updated with data associated with subsequent production steps of the chemical product as previously described. Biodegradation data associated with the subsequent production of the chemical product may be added to already existing biodegradation data, for instance using the decentral identifier.

In one embodiment, the biodegradation data may include one or more dass(es) of biodegradation data. At least one class of biodegradation data may be associated with or includes data required by regulation or regulatory data for chemical materials, such as labelling information and/or chemical product data associated with regulatory aproval of chemical materials used to produce the chemical product. At least one class of biodegradation data may be associated with data related to a habitat of the chemical product for biodegradation, in particular an intended habitat. At least one class of biodegradation data may be associated with data associated with a test for biodegradability. At least one class of biodegradation data may be associated with treatment instructions, at least on class of biodegradation data may be associated with recipe data.

The emission data, and/or production data may be associated with more than one raw material or chemical product such as those used to manufacture the chemical product.

Access to the biodegradation data may be controlled based on classes. At least one class of biodegradation data may be associated with or may include access restricted biodegradation data associated with the physical entity of the chemical product. For instance, emission data, production data, composition of chemical materials used to produce the chemical product or combinations thereof may be access restricted. Such access restriction may be provided by an authorization mechanism. For instance, the authorization mechanism may include a rule that specifies which data consuming services get access under which conditions. At least one class of biodegradation data may include non-access restricted biodegradation data associated with the physical entity of the chemical product. For instance, such as labelling information and/or chemical product data associated with regulatory approval of chemical materials used to produce the chemical product may not be access restricted or non-access restricted. Such access may be provided by an authorization mechanism. For instance, the authorization mechanism may include a rule that specifies that certain regulatory data for the chemical product is accessible. Classes of biodegradation data may include one or more of, recipe data, habitat data, treatment data, intended habitat data, unintended habitat data, operating data and test data.

In one embodiment, the chemical product passport further includes decentral identifier(s) associated with chemical materials used to produce the chemical product and/or decentral identifier(s) associated with the production of the chemical product (herein referred to as second decentral identifier(s)). The second decentral identifier(s) may be included along with the relationship between the decentral identifier associated with the chemical product and the decentral identifier(s) of chemical materials used to produce the chemical product and/or the decentral identifier(s) associated with the production of the chemical product. The second decentral identifier(s) may be used to generate a concatenation with the decentral identifier of the chemical product passport (denoted as first decentral identifier hereinafter) according to a relationship representation according to which the first digital identifier is associated with the second identifier(s). The relationship representation may be associated with a relationship between the chemical product and each chemical material used for its production. The relationship representation may specify that the chemical materials(s) may be used to produce the chemical product and/or that the chemical product may be produced by using the chemical material(s). One or more hash value(s) may be generated based on the relationship representation. Hash value(s) may be generated based on the concatenation of decentral identifiers. Hash value(s) may be generated for the concatenation of decentral identifiers. Hash value(s) may signify the concatenation of decentral identifiers. The hash values may be generated based on data associated with the first decentral identifier and the second decentral identifier(s). The hash value may be generated based on a combined data set associated with the first decentral identifier and the second decentral identifier(s). By concatenating decentral identifiers associated with chemical materials used to produce the chemical product, the chemical product, the chemical materials involved in the production of chemical product can be tracked and traced virtually. This allows to link the decentral identifier associated with the chemical product to decentral identifiers associated with chemical materials used to produce the chemical product. Hence, the relationship of biodegradability between the chemical product and chemical materials used to produce the chemical product can be reflected within the chemical product passport and/or the digital access element.

The request to provide the decentral identifier may include the second identifier(s). The request to provide the decentral identifier may include biodegradation data or a part thereof. Based on said biodegradation data or the part thereof, data associated with chemical material(s) to produce the chemical product and/or data associated with the production of the chemical product may be determined and may be used to retrieve the respective second decentral identifier(s).

A decentral identifier associated with a chemical material used to produce the chemical product may be associated with chemical material data indicative of whether the chemical material is a virgin or a recycled material, of an environmental impact and/or of an origin of the chemical material. The decentral identifiers associated with the chemical material(s) may be determined based on physical identifiers attached to the packaging of the chemical materials. The chemical materials may be raw materials, including virgin or recycled materials, raw materials may include monomers and chain extenders used to produce polymers, in particular biodegradable polymers such as described above. The chemical materials may be intermediate products manufactured from raw material(s) and/or other intermediate product(s). Intermediate chemical products may include polymers antioxidants and accelerators.

The chemical material may be produced from raw materials and/or intermediate products. The chemical materials may be used directly or indirectly for manufacturing the chemical material. That is to say, some of the chemical materials may be used for manufacturing one or more intermediate products based on which, in turn, the chemical product is manufactured.

A chemical product of one process may be the raw or input material or chemical material for a further production process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the following, the present disclosure is further described with reference to the enclosed figures. The same reference numbers in the drawings and this disclosure are intended to refer to the same or like elements, components, and/or parts.

FIG. 1 illustrates schematically a material and data flow in a production network.

FIG. 2 illustrates schematically a chemical product in accordance with the disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a chemical product ecosystem.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a chemical product production controlled by an operating system comprising an apparatus to generate chemical product passports.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a production system providing a chemical product associated with a chemical product passport.

FIGs. 6A to 6B illustrates schematically an example of a method or apparatus for providing data associated with the production of chemical products, the use of chemical products and the handling of end-of-life chemical products across a chemical product value chain via a decentral network.

FIG. 7 shows an example method for generation of a chemical product passport.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example system and associated methods for generating a chemical product passport associated with a produced chemical product and providing access to the generated chemical product passport.

FIG. 9 shows an example method for using the chemical product passport to further process the biodegradation data associated with the chemical product passport.

FIGs. 10A, 10B show examples of authentication protocols.

FIG. 11 shows an example method for authorizing access to biodegradation data.

FIG. 12 shows a schematic illustration of providing access via a data providing service associated with a data owner to a chemical product passport associated with a chemical product using a data consuming service associated with a data user. FIG. 13 shows an example of ID-based owner data, ID-based chemical product passport data and a decentral identity infrastructure.

FIG. 14 shows an example of a chemical product passport including certificate-based data, ID- based chemical product passport data and a decentral identity infrastructure.

FIGs. 15A to 17B show different example configurations for chemical product passports anchored by decentral identifiers.

FIGs. 18A, 18B illustrate examples of relationship representations which may be used for generating a concatenation.

Figs. 19 A, B- illustrates schematically biodegradation of chemical products under various conditions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

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

Fig. 1 illustrates an example embodiment of a material chain network 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 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 disposal chain, in which the produced end product is collected, sorted and biodegraded up to a waste management system operator 101.6. and the biodegraded chemical material is used to produce soil, e.g. for sale in agricultural applications. The material chain may include one or more supply and/or disposal chain(s). The material chain may include one or more connected supply and/or disposal chain(s). One or more linear material chain(s) may be connected to the material chain network 100.

The material chain network 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 biodegraded, a biodegradation end product.

Material or chemical product may include achemical 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 produces). A recycled product may refer to a new product that has been produced using end-of-life product(s).

The material chain network 100 illustrated in Fig. 1 may include multiple participants 101.1-6 forming the material chain network 100. The material chain network 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-fur- bishing 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 chain network 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 chain network 100 may include the chemical product producer 101.1, the chemical product user 101.2, the original equipment manufacturer, OEM 101.3, the end product user 101.4, the EOL product collector and/or sorter 101.5, the waste management system operator 101.6 and combinations thereof. The participant(s) may include various participant(s) of the material chain not shown in Fig. 1.

The participant(s) 101.1-6 of the material chain network 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 chain network to the downstream participant 101.1-6 of the material chain network 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 chain network 100, such as the material flow 104 from the waste management 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 chain network 100. For example, material may flow 104 from the chemical product user 101.2 to the chemical product producer 101.1, e.g. when the chemical product not adhere to biodegradation specifications and needs further treatment.

The input 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. The material flow 106 may further 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 material(s), chemical product(s) and/or intermediate chemical produces) (not shown).

The material chain network 100 illustrated in Fig. 1 is based on the example of biodegradable plastic materials. 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-con- taining product producer, the polymer-containing product user 101.4 such as the retailer or the consumer, the waste collector and/or sorter 101.5, the waste management system operator 101.6.

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 or biodegraded. 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 chain network 100.

In addition to the connection through material flows 104, the material participants 101.1-6 of the circular material chain network 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 chain network 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 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 waste management system 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. In particular, the waste management system operator may be configured to access biodegradation data.

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-contain- ing product or article produced or processed within the material chain network 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 material chain network 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 material chain network 100 (see for example Fig. 4). 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 material chain network 100. The data owner may be the respective participant 101.1-6 of the material chain network 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 material chain network 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 material chain network 100 by the data owner. At the same time this enables sharing of data associated with material or product produced or processed within the material chain network 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 material chain network 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 material chain network 100. For instance, the decentral data consuming network node 103.4 may be associated with polymer-containing product user 101.4 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 material chain network 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 certificate(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 material chain network 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 material chain network

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 chain network 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 chain network 100. For instance, the data flow 105 may be directly associated with the material flow 104, if data associated with a chemical product provided from the chemical product producer 101.1 to the chemical product user 101.2 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 101.1 is accessed by a decentral data consuming network node 103.1-6 associated with the waste management 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 identifier(s), 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. 4.

Figure 2 A, B illustrates schematically an example for a biodegradable chemical product 202. In this example this example, the biodegradable chemical product may be a container comprising a biodegradable laminating film. The container 202 only serves as example and shall not be considered limiting. The same principles, methods and apparatus embodiments apply to other biodegradable chemical products. The biodegradable chemical product may be produced by a producer in a biodegradable material production chain as described with reference to Figure 1, e. g. Polymer-containing product producer 101.3. Polymer-containing product producer may include an operating system as disclosed with reference to Fig. 4.

Fig. 2 B illustrates an example structure of the biodegradable chemical product 202. The biodegradable chemical product may comprise a biodegradable laminated film 209.

The biodegradable chemical product 102 may comprise biodegradable substrate 209 A. The biodegradable substrate 209 A may include a paper product. Paper product may include paper and cardboard.

Suitable fibers for the production of the paper products mentioned are all types commonly used, eg mechanical pulp, bleached and unbleached cellulose, paper pulp from all annual plants and waste paper (also in the form of broke, either coated or uncoated). The foregoing fibers can be used either alone or in any mixture thereof to form the pulps from which the paper products are made. The term mechanical pulp includes z. B. groundwood, thermomechanical pulp (TMP), chemithermomechanical pulp (CTMP), Compression groundwood, semi-chemical pulp, high yield chemical pulp and refiner mechanical pulp (RMP). By way of example, sulphate pulps, sulphite pulps and soda pulps are suitable chemical pulps. Examples of suitable annual plants for the production of paper pulp are rice, wheat, sugar cane and kenaf. The biodegradable laminated film 109 may further include a biodegradable adhesive layer 209 B. The biodegradable adhesive layer may include a biodegradable polyurethane adhesive or biodegradable acrylate adhesive. The adhesive layer is suitable to bond a biodegradable polymer foil 209 C to the biodegradable substrate 209 A The biodegradable polymer foil 109 C may include aliphatic polyester and/or aliphatic-aromatic polyester.

In this example, the biodegradable chemical product includes an optional biodegradable oxygen and aroma barrier 209 D. The oxygen and aroma barrier may include polyglycolic acid (PGA), ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) or polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH).

The biodegradable chemical product 202 may be produced by folding sheets of the biodegradable laminated film. The produced biodegradable product(s) 202 may be tagged with an identifier element 203.

The biodegradable chemical product(s) may be a bottle 404.

The identifier element 203 may include a machine-readable code for storing the physical material identifier of the biodegradable chemical product 202. For example, the identifier element 203 may include a printed one or two-dimensional code such as a barcode or a QR-code or other codes. The identifier element 203 may include an array of black and white squares storing at least the physical material identifier of the one or more thermal insulation or packaging material(s) 202. Further for example, the identifier element 203 may include an electronic tag such as a RFID tag for storing the physical material identifier of the biodegradable chemical product (s) 202. The physical material identifier and any information attached to such identifier may be accessed through a code reader such as a mobile phone or other devices with camera for scanning QR codes or a RFID reader for reading out RFID tags.

The biodegradable chemical product(s) 202 may include paper bags for dry foods, e.g. coffee, tea, soup powder, sauce powder; for liquids, e.g. cosmetics, detergents, beverages; tubing laminates; paper carrier bags, paper laminates and coextrudates for ice cream, confectionery (e.g. chocolate and muesli bars) and paper adhesive tape; paper cups, yoghurt cups; ready meal trays; wrapped cardboard (cans, barrels), wet-strength cardboard for outer packaging (wine bottles, food); Coated cardboard fruit boxes; fast food plate; bracket shells; Beverage cartons and cartons for liquids, such as detergents and cleaning agents, cartons for frozen products, ice cream packaging (e.g. sundaes, wrapping material) e.g. B. sundae, wrapping material for conical ice cream cones); paper labels; flower pots and plant pots.

These products are for end consumers. It is desired to biodegrade biodegradable chemical products and avoid incineration or landfill.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a chemical product ecosystem. The chemical product 404 may be a biodegradable chemical product in this example a bottle 404, as described with reference to figure 2. Step 301 in the chemical product ecosystem may include the production of a chemical material, in particular a biodegradable chemical material in a chemical material production 303. The chemical material may be produced in one or more production steps. The chemical product production may be connected to an operating system (see for example FIG. 4). The operating system may control the production of the chemical products. The chemical material may be produced from one or more input materials 302. input materials 302 may include, for example, chemical raw material or an intermediate chemical product. Chemical raw materials may include monomers and chain extenders, starters used to produce the biodegradable polymer, in particular biodegradable polymers such as described above. Intermediate chemical products may include polymers antioxidants, accelerators and antioxidants. Chemical materials 302 may be sourced from one or more chemical material suppliers, for example as described in the context of FIG. 6A.

Further steps along the value chain are depicted in FIG. 3 The chemical material produced in step 301 may be used as input material into a production step 307 for an intermediate material. The intermediate material may then be used as input material into end product production, which produces chemical product 404. Intermediate chemical materials may may be sourced from one or more chemical material suppliers, for example as described in the context of FIG. 6A.

The produced chemical products may be supplied from the chemical product production 304 to retailers. The produced chemical products may be supplied from the chemical production 304 to refiners, the refiners may further process the chemical product. This may alter biodegradation data.

The use phase 308 may include use of the chemical product, in this example the bottle. Usage may include filling the bottle with a liquid.

The chemical product value chain may further include collection of used and end of life chemical product 310. Used and end of life chemical products may be collected at waste collector return points. The used and end of life chemical product may be provided to the return points by end customers. The used and end of life chemical product may be provided to return points by retailers (not shown). The used and end of life chemical product may be collected from end customers and/or retailers and stored at the return points. The return points may be initial collection centers. The initial collection centers may provide the collected used and end of life chemical product to central return points. The return points may be central return points.

The collected chemical product may be inspected, and further handling may be determined. Further handling may depend on the condition of the chemical product, chemical product properties such as type, age, size, and/or the presence of hazardous chemical substances. In particular, the further handling may depend on the biodegration data of the chemical product. The collected chemical product may be introduced into a recycling stream (not shown).

The collected chemical products may be provided to incineration facilities or disposed on landfills.

In an example, the chemical product may be sorted according to the intended biodegradation habitat and provided to a corresponding waste management facility. The intended habitat of the bottle in this example may be compost. Consequently, the bottle may be provided to a waste management facility for composting.

In an advantageous embodiment, instead of incineration and/or disposing on landfills, the chemical product value chain may further include waste management 312 of used chemical products for biodegradation. Biodegradation conditions may be based on biodegradation data provided with the chemical product through the chemical product passport. In this case, the biodegradation data may comprise data associated with treatment instructions which may comprise at least one of a desired temperature a desired temperature range, a desired microbial community, and a desired retaining time.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a chemical product production 304 producing one or more chemical product(s) 404 from one or more inbound material(s) 302 in connection with an operating system 402 including an apparatus to generate chemical product passports of chemical products. The operating system 402 may be used to operate the chemical product production 304, for example by managing different production chains present within the chemical product production. The chemical product production 304 may produce chemical products from one or more chemical materials, for example by reacting one or more of the chemical materials and/or by physically processing one or more chemical materials. The chemical materials may include raw materials as mentioned in the context of FIG. 3. The chemical materials may include intermediate products as mentioned in the context of FIG. 3. The chemical materials may be supplied to chemical product production 304 from one or more suppliers, such as chemical companies producing said chemical materials, for example as described in the context of FIG. 6A.

For producing one or more chemical product(s) 404, different materials 302 (also called inbound material 302 hereinafter) may be provided as physical inputs from material providers or suppliers. The physical inputs to the chemical product production 304 may include chemical materials, such chemical raw materials, intermediate products or a combination thereof. Raw materials may be virgin or recycled raw materials as described in the FIG. 3.

The chemical product production 304 may convert inbound material 302 by way of chemical and/or physical conversion to one or more chemical product 404, that exit the chemical product production 304. The conversion may be performed via intermediate products or components. The conversion may be a chemical reaction or any other processing step. The inbound material 302 may be fed into the chemical product production 304 at any entry point. The inbound material 302 may be fed into the chemical product production 304 at the start of the chemical product production 304. The inbound materials may be considered input for the chemical product production 304.

The chemical product production 304 may include multiple production steps. The production steps included in the chemical product production 304 may be defined by the system boundary of the chemical product production 304. The system boundary may be defined by location or control over production processes. The system boundary may be defined by the site of the chemical product production 304. The system boundary may be defined by production processes controlled by one entity or multiple entities jointly. The system boundary may be defined by value chain with staggered production processes to an end product, which may be controlled by multiple entities separately.

The operating system 402 of the chemical product production 304 may monitor and/or control the chemical product production 304 based on operating parameters associated with the different processes performed by the chemical product production 304. One process step monitored and/or controlled may be the feed of inbound materials or the release of produced chemical product s(s). Another process step monitored and/or controlled may the generation of chemical product passports associated with chemical products produced by chemical product production 304, for example using an apparatus for generating chemical product passports, such as the apparatus in the context of FIG. 8. The operating system 402 may comprise such an apparatus for generating chemical product passports. The operating system 402 may be configured to generate a chemical product passport associated with a chemical product produced by chemical product production 304, for example as described in the context of FIGs. 7 and 8. The operating system 402 may be communicatively coupled to such an apparatus for generating chemical product passports, e.g. the operating system 402 and the apparatus for generating chemical product passports may be separate units.

The operating system 402 may further comprise a requestor. The operating system may be communicatively coupled to such a requestor. The requestor may be configured to generate a request to generate the chemical product passport, for example as described in the context of FIG. 8.

The operating system 402 may further comprise an ID assignor. The operating system may be communicatively coupled to such an ID assignor. The ID assignor may be configured to assign a decentral identifier included in the chemical product passport, and associated information to a physical identifier of the produced chemical product (s), for example as described in the context of FIGs. 5 and 8. For instance, the ID assignor may generate a physical identifier having embedded the decentral identifier(s) and may provide the physical identifier to a labeling device attaching the physical identifier to the produced chemical product.

The ID assignor, the requestor and/or the apparatus for generating chemical product passports may be configured as decentral services or applications executed via the decentral network.

While FIG. 4 has been described in relation to input materials 302 and end-product 404 and operating system 402 to generate a request to generate a chemical product passport associated with the chemical product 404, the generation for respective product passports may also be requested in each step of the process chain desrcibed with reference to FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example for providing a chemical product associated with a chemical product passport. The chemical product may be produced by a chemical product production 304 comprising an operating system 402, for example as described in the context of FIG. 4.

For producing the chemical product, intermediate products and/or raw materials may be provided as physical inputs. The intermediate products may comprise precursor materials. The precursor materials and raw materials may include virgin or recycled materials. The raw materials may be associated with a decentral identifier. The decentral identifier may be associated with a raw material passport of the raw material which may be generated as described in the context of FIGs. 7 and 8 below.

The decentral identifier may be associated with raw material biodegradation data which may, include data associated with properties of the raw material (s) used to produce the chemical product or at least one property related to the use of the chemical material(s) used to produce the chemical product, an identifier of the chemical product, such as a name of the chemical product include data associated with a test method, in particular a standardized test method, The data associated with a test method may be associated with one or more elements of the group of the following test methods, DIN EN ISO 17556; December 2012, OECD 301; July 1992, ASTM D 5338, Standard Test Method for Determining Aerobic Biodegradation of Plastics Materials Under Controlled Composting Conditions, September 1998, ASTM D 6002, Standard Guide for Assessing the Compostability of Environmentally Degradable Plastics, October 1996, ASTM D 6400, Standard Specification for Compostable Plastic, May 1999, DIN EN ISO 13432, Anforderung an die Verwertung von Verpackungen durch Kompostierung und biologischen Abbau - Prufschema und Bewertungskriterien fur die Einstufung von Verpackungen, Dezember 2000, DIN EN ISO 11734, Wasserbeschaffenheit - Bestimmung der vollstandigen anaeroben biologischen Abbaubarkeit organischer Verbindungen im Faulschlamm - Verfahren durch Messung der Biogasproduktion, November 1998, DIN V 54900-1 Prufung der Kompostierbarkeit von Kunststoffen - Teil 1 : Chemische Prufung, Oktober 1998, DIN V 54900-2, Prufung der Kompostierbarkeit von Kunststoffen - Teil 2: Prufung auf vollstandige Abbaubarkeit von Kunststoffen in La- borversuchen, September 1998, DIN V 54900-3, Prufung der Kompostierbarkeit von Kunststoffen - Teil 3: Prufung unter praxisrelevanten Bedingungen und der Qualitat der Komposte, September 1998 E, DIN 54900-4, Prufung der Kompostierbarkeit von polymeren Werkstoffen - Teil 4: Prufung der Okotoxizitat der Komposte, Januar 1997, ISO 14851, Determination of the ultimate aerobic biodegradability of plastic materials in an aqueous medium - Method by measuring the oxygen demand in a closed respirometer, Mai 1999, DIN EN ISO 14852, Determination of the ultimate aerobic biodegradability of plastics materials in an aqueous medium - Method by analysis of evolved carbon dioxide, May 1999, DIN EN ISO 14855, Determination of the ultimate aerobic biodegradability and disintegration of plastic materials under controlled composting conditions - Method by analysis of evolved carbon dioxide, Mai 1999, ISO/DIS 14853, Plastics-Determination of the ultimate anaerobic biodegradability in an aqueous system - Method by measurement of biogas production, April 1999, and ISO/DIS 15985, Plastics-Determination of the ultimate anaerobic biodegradability and disintegration under high-solids anaerobic-digestion conditions- Method by analysis of released biogas, April 1999.

The raw material biodegradation data may include data associated with a biodegradation habitat. The biodegradation data associated to a biodegradation property of the raw material may include data associated with quantifications of the degree of biodegradation of the chemical product. The biodegradation data associated to a biodegradation property of the raw material may include microplastic data associated with the amount of microplastic introduced in a habitat by biodegradation. The biodegradation data associated to a biodegradation property of the raw material may include data associated with break-down products. The data associated with the breakdown products may include toxicity data associated with toxicity of the breakdown product.

The biodegradation data may include a list of compatible chemical products for further processing. The biodegradation data may include recipe data associated with a recipe may include instructions for producing a biodegrable chemical product from the rawmaterial, including the chemical material. The raw material biodegradation data may further include for example, the raw material name, the raw material composition, chemical and/or physical properties of the raw material, emission data of the raw material, recyclate content data of the raw material, bio-based content data of the raw material, renewable content data of the raw material, raw material production data, raw material declaration data, raw material safety data, certificate of analysis data associated with the raw material, certificates associated with the raw material.

The production of a chemical product may comprise a two-step process: 1) production of intermediate product(s), and 2) production of the chemical product from intermediate product(s) and optionally further raw materials (not shown). To produce the intermediate product(s), raw materials may be used as physical inputs. The operating system, such as an operating system of an intermediate product production, may access data related to the raw materials based on the decentral identifier e.g. from a raw materials provider. Such data may be used to operate the intermediate product production. The intermediate product may be formed by chemically reacting the raw materials or by physically processing the raw materials. Chemical reactions may include polymerization, precipitation and other chemical reactions commonly known. Physical processing may include mixing, grinding, extruding, etc.. An intermediate product passport may be generated for the produced intermediate product as described in the context of FIGs. 7 and 8 below. The intermediate product data may include data from the intermediate product production and further data previously described in relation with the biodegradation data, the intermediate product data may further comprise data such as data on the physical properties of the intermediate product, certificate of analysis data, material safety data, product declaration data, emission data, etc.. The produced intermediate product(s) may be packaged, and the packaging may include a physical identifier, such as a QR code, an embossed code or an optical holographic code, such as zero-order diffractive microstructure. The physical identifier may be assigned to the decentral identifier of the intermediate product passport, in the context of FIG. 6 and FIG. 7.

In a second step, the intermediate product(s) may be provided to a chemical product production to produce the chemical product, for example as described in the context of FIG. 4. Apart from the intermediate product, further raw materials may be provided to the chemical product production (not shown). Production data from the intermediate product production of the intermediate product may be used by the operating system, such as operating system 402 described in the context of FIG. 4, of the chemical product production to produce the chemical product as described above. The intermediate products may comprise recycled material or material produced by a different entity. Such intermediate products may be associated with a decentral identifier via which intermediate product data may be accessible. An ID reader may be used to read the physical identifier associated with the decentral identifier as described in the context of FIG. 4 above. Intermediate product data may be retrieved using the decentral identifier, for example as described in the context of FIG. 12. Production steps comprising chemical reactions, such as polymerization may change the biodegradation data such that they differ from the biodegradation data of the raw materials.

A chemical product passport may be generated for the produced chemical product as described in the context of FIGs. 7 and 8, said chemical product passport including a decentral identifier and data related to the biodegradation data. The decentral identifier of the chemical product passport may be associated with the chemical product via a physical identifier. For instance, the chemical product may comprise the physical identifier, such as a QR-Code, embossed code, optical holographic code, physically attached to the chemical product. Such physical identifier element may be assigned to the decentral identifier(s). The assignment of physical identifier element and decentral identifiers) may be executed through an ID assignor (see for example FIG. 4) running locally, in a decentral system and/or in a distributed system. For instance, the packaging line may comprise a labelling device detecting the produced chemical product. Based on such recognition, a requestor may generate a request to generate the chemical product passport and the decentral identifier included in the generated chemical product passport may be assigned, for example by an ID assignor, to the physical identifier (see also FIGs. 7 and 8 below). Assigning may include encoding the decentral identifier in a physical identifier and providing the physical identifier, such as a code, to the labelling device configured to attach the physical identifier to the chemical product. The ID assignor may be part of the labelling device or may be a separate device.

The generated chemical product passport may include the decentral identifier and data related to the biodegradation data. The generated chemical product passport may further include a chemical product identifier associated with the produced chemical product (e.g. intermediate and/or end product). Data related to the biodegradation data may include biodegradation data. The biodegradation data may be recorded prior and/or during and/or after production and/or during use of the chemical product. The biodegradation data may include, an identifier, such as a name of the chemical product, data associated with properties of the raw material (s) used to produce the chemical product or at least one property related to the use of the chemical material(s) used to produce the chemical product, an identifier of the produced chemical product, such as a name of the produced chemical product include data associated with a test method, in particular a standardized test method The data associated with a test method may be associated with one or more elements of the group of the following test methods, DIN EN ISO 17556; December 2012, OECD 301; July 1992, ASTM D 5338, Standard Test Method for Determining Aerobic Biodegradation of Plastics Materials Under Controlled Composting Conditions, September 1998, ASTM D 6002, Standard Guide for Assessing the Compostability of Environmentally Degradable Plastics, October 1996, ASTM D 6400, Standard Specification for Compostable Plastic, May 1999, DIN EN ISO 13432, Anforderung an die Verwertung von Verpackungen durch Kompostierung und biologischen Abbau - Prufschema und Bewertungskriterien fur die Einstufung von Verpackungen, Dezember 2000, DIN EN ISO 11734, Wasserbeschaffenheit - Bestimmung der vollstandigen anaeroben biologischen Abbaubarkeit organischer Verbindungen im Faulschlamm - Verfahren durch Messung der Biogasproduktion, November 1998, DIN 54900-1 Prufung der Kompostierbarkeit von Kunststoffen - Teil 1 : Chemische Prufung, Oktober 1998, DIN V 54900-2, Prufung der Kompostierbarkeit von Kunststoffen - Teil 2: Prufung auf vollstandige Abbaubarkeit von Kunststoffen in Laborversuchen, September 1998, DIN V 54900-3, Prufung der Kompostierbarkeit von Kunststoffen - Teil 3: Prufung unter praxisrelevanten Bedingungen und der Qualitat der Komposte, September 1998 E, DIN 54900-4, Prufung der Kompostierbarkeit von polymeren Werkstoffen - Teil 4: Prufung der Okotoxizitat der Komposte, Januar 1997, ISO 14851, Determination of the ultimate aerobic biodegradability of plastic materials in an aqueous medium - Method by measuring the oxygen demand in a closed respirometer, Mai 1999, DIN EN ISO 14852, Determination of the ultimate aerobic biodegradability of plastics materials in an aqueous medium - Method by analysis of evolved carbon dioxide, May 1999, DIN EN ISO 14855, Determination of the ultimate aerobic biodegradability and disintegration of plastic materials under controlled composting conditions - Method by analysis of evolved carbon dioxide, Mai 1999, ISO/DIS 14853, Plastics-Determination of the ultimate anaerobic biodegradability in an aqueous system - Method by measurement of biogas production, April 1999, and ISO/DIS 15985, Plastics-Determination of the ultimate anaerobic biodegradability and disintegration under high-solids anaerobic-digestion conditions- Method by analysis of released biogas, April 1999.

The raw material biodegradation data may include data associated with a biodegradation habitat. The biodegradation data associated to a biodegradation property of the produced product may include data associated with quantifications of the degree of biodegradation of the chemical product. The biodegradation data associated to a biodegradation property of the produced chemical product may include microplastic data associated with the amount of microplastic introduced in a habitat by biodegradation. The biodegradation data associated to a biodegradation property of the raw material may include data associated with break-down products. The data associated with the breakdown products may include toxicity data associated with toxicity of the breakdown product. The biodegradation data may include a list of compatible chemical products for further processing. The biodegradation data may include recipe data associated with a recipe may include instructions for producing a biodegrable chemical product from the raw material, including the chemical material. The biodegradation data may include data related to the production conditions as provided by the operating system 402 of the chemical product production 304. The biodegradation data may include data related to the producer, such as producer name, producer brand or producer identifier. The biodegradation data may include the chemical product name, brand or chemical product identifier.

Data related to the chemical product may include digital representation(s) pointing to the biodegradation data or parts thereof. The data related to biodegradation data may include multiple digital representations pointing to distinct parts of the biodegradation data or parts thereof. The data related to biodegradation data may include multiple digital representations pointing to different parts of the biodegradation data or a part thereof. Such different parts may overlap in some data points. The representation may include an access point to the biodegradation data or a part thereof, a link to access biodegradation data or a part thereof, an endpoint to access biodegradation data or a part thereof or a service endpoint to access biodegradation data or a part thereof.

The generated chemical product passport may include further decentral identifier(s) associated with chemical materials, such as intermediate products and raw materials used to produce the chemical product(s). The further decentral identifier(s) (also called second decentral identifiers)) may be included along with the relationship between the decentral identifier of the chemical product passport and the second decentral identifier(s). This allows to link the decentral identifier associated with the chemical product to decentral identifiers associated with chemical materials used to produce the chemical product. Hence, the relationship between the chemical product and chemical materials used to produce the chemical product can be reflected within the chemical product passport.

FIGs. 6A and 6B illustrate schematically an example of a method or apparatus for providing biodegradation data associated with the production of chemical products and the use of chemical products as well as chemical product biodegradation data associated with the handling of end-of-life chemical products across a chemical product value chain via a decentral network. In FIG. 6A, part of the chemical product ecosystem including the chemical product production and the use of the produced chemical product, is illustrated. In this example, the input material provider, the chemical product producer and the chemical product consumer may be connected to a decentral network, for example as described in the context of FIG. 12. Data on input materials and produced chemical product s may be provided via an ID based schema described in the context of FIGs. 8 and 12 in the form of passports associated with the physical entity of the input material, the chemical product or a further chemical product comprising the produced chemical product.

The input material provider may provide the input material 302. The input material 302 may include raw materials or intermediate products described in the context of FIG 3 above, such as dispersing agents, fillers, monomers and polymers. The input material data of said input material 302 may be provided through data provider(s) (also called data providing service(s)) 602 associated with the input material provider(s) connected to the decentral network as described in the context of Fig. 12. The chemical product producer may produce the chemical product (s) 404 from the input material(s) 302 provided to the chemical product production, for example as described in the context of FIGs. 3 to 5. The chemical product producer may access the input material data associated with the input material 302 through a data consumer (also called data consuming service) 606 connected to the decentral network as described in the context of Fig. 12. Said input material data may be retrieved from data provider(s) 602 associated with the respective input material provider(s). The chemical product producer may generate a chemical product passport associated with the produced chemical product 404, for example as described in the context of FIGs. 7 and 8. The chemical product producer may provide the chemical product passport and biodegradation data contained in said passport through data provider 602 connected to the decentral network as described in the context of Fig. 12. The chemical product consumer, such as an end customer, a retailer or in case of the bottle the filler, may access the biodegradation data or a part thereof associated with the produced chemical product 404 through data consumer 606 connected to the decentral network as described in the context of Fig. 12.

The respective data owners in this example may be the input material producer, the chemical product producer, and the chemical product consumer. The data owner may comprise any entity generating data. The data generating node may be coupled to the data owner or the entity owning or producing physical products from or for which data is generated. The data may be generated by a third-party entity on behalf of the entity owning physical products from or for which data is generated.

In the example of Fig. 6A, the decentral identifier of the chemical product passport may relate to the chemical product. Such decentral identifier may be provided to the value chain participants. Via the chemical product specific decentral identifier, data associated with the chemical product may be gathered across the production chain and during the use of the chemical product assigned to chemical product specific decentral identifier. For example, one or more environmental attribute(s) associated with the chemical product may be derived from the environmental attribute(s) associated with the input material 302 or any other product entity present in the value chain of the chemical product. Furthermore, biodegradation data associated with the chemical product may be derived from biodegradation data of the input materials 302. In an example, where the chemical product relates to a formulation, the biodegradation data of the formulation may directly be derived from the biodegradation data of the input materials.

The biodegradation data may include, an identifier, such as a name of the chemical product, , digital representations of breakdown products occurring during biodegradation. This may be accompanied with the respective life-time of the breakdown products. Biodegradation data may further include data associated with the intended habitat, examples of habitats may be a marine habitat, a waste water habitat, a fresh water habitat, a limnic habitat, an anaerobic habitat, a compost habitat or a soil habitat, data associated with an unintended habitat, , examples of habitats may be a marine habitat, a waste water habitat, a fresh water habitat, a limnic habitat, an anaerobic habitat, a compost habitat or a soil habitat, data associated with a test method, in particular a standardized test method. The data associated with a standardized test may be associated with one or more elements of the group of the following test methods ISO13432; December 2000, ISO14852; October 2004, ISO14855; April 2013, ISO17556; December 2012 and OECD 301; July 1992). Biodegradation data may include quantifications of the degree of biodegradation of a chemical product, in partiulcar a ratio of Biochemical oxygen demand (mg) is the amount of oxygen consumed by micro-organisms (BOD) when metabolising a chemical product; also expressed as mg oxygen uptake per mg test compound over theoretical oxygen demand (mg) is the total amount of oxygen required to oxidise the chemical product completely (ThOD); ThOD may calculated from the molecular formula of the chemical product, alternatively or additionally, the biodegradation data may comprise a ratio of CO2 produced over theoretical carbon dioxide quantity of carbon dioxide calculated to be produced upon full biodegradation (ThCO2) from the known or measured carbon content of the chemical product when fully biodegraded, emission data associated with a CO2 emission caused by biodegradation, data associated with a lag phase, i.e. the period from inoculation until a biodegradation level has reached about 10%, data associated with treatment instructions, the data associated with treatment instructions may comprise one or more elements of the group of a desired temperature a desired temperature range, a desired microbial community, and a desired retaining time, data associated with a remaining biomass, biodegradation data of raw materials and/or intermediate products, where in the biodegradation data of raw materials and/or intermediate products may include any combination of the biodegradation data as disclosed with reference to the biodegradation data of the chemical product, may relate to or include properties of the chemical product(s) in association with the use of the chemical product(s) to produce the chemical product as previously described. Via the chemical product specific decentral identifier, data associated with the chemical product may be gathered during the use of the chemical product. The decentral identifier associated with the chemical product may be used to update the biodegradation data using data gathered during the use of the chemical product, such as exposure to hazardous material e.g. by filling of the bottle with toxic elements, for example by updating the biodegradation data associated with the decentral identifier or by adding the gathered data to the biodegradation data associated with the decentral identifier.

This way, the biodegradation data may signify a digital twin of the chemical product related to biodegradability of the chemical product. Including data related to the use of the chemical product allows to update the digital twin of the chemical product such that it reflects the current status of biodegradability of the chemical product. Moreover, biodegradability can be tracked such that the information can be made transparent across the value chain while the information flow can be controlled by the participants in the supply chain. Data on the components used to produce the chemical product and data on the use of the chemical product may be used by the return points, and or/waste management facilities to determine appropriate handling of end of life chemical products based on said data. For instance, the waste management facility (see for example FIG. 6B) may determine appropriate treatment of the chemical product for biodegradation based on said data.

As described in the context of FIG. 3, end of life chemical products may be provided to waste management facilities. The end of life chemical products may correspond to input material 302 for the waste management facilities 608 as illustrated in FIG. 6B. The end of life biodegradation data of said end of life chemical products 302 may be provided through data provider(s) 602 associated with the chemical product producers, retailers, distributors, further processing companies, end customers and/or waste collectors connected to the decentral network as described in the context of Fig. 12. The waste management facility 608 may biodegrade the end of life chemical product(s), for example as described in the context of FIG. 3. The waste management facility may access the end of life biodegradation data associated with the end of life chemical products 302 through a data consumer (also called data consuming service) 606 connected to the decentral network as described in the context of Fig. 12. Said end of life biodegradation data may be retrieved from data provider(s) 602 associated with the chemical product producer. The waste management facility may generate a biodegraded product passport associated with the end of the biodegradation process, e.g. biomass obtained from biodegradation and/or minerals obtained from the biodegradation process, for example as described in the context of FIGs. 7 and 8.

The waste management facility 608 may provide the biodegraded product data or parts thereof contained in the biodegraded product passport through data provider 602 connected to the decentral network as described in the context of Fig. 12. The respective data owners in this example may be the chemical product producer 304 and/or regulatory authorities, and the waste management facility 608. This allows tracking of removal of the chemical product by biodegradation.

In the example of Fig. 6B, the decentral identifier may relate to the biodegraded product. Such decentral identifier may be provided to the value chain participants. Via said decentral identifier, data associated with the biodegradation of the chemical product may be gathered and assigned to said decentral identifier. The decentral identifier may relate to the chemical product specific decentral identifier. This way, data on the chemical product which was used to produce the biodegraded product may be derived from the decentral identifier contained in the product passport. For instance, the biodegraded material passport may contain the decentral identifier included in the chemical product passport as well as data on the relationship between the decentral chemical product identifier and the decentral identifier included in the biodegraded material passport.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example method for generation of a chemical product passport. The chemical product passport may be generated for a chemical product 404 produced by a chemical product production 304 from one or more inbound materials 302, for example as described in the context of FIGs. 4 to 6A. The chemical product passport may be generated by the operating system 402 of the chemical product production 304. The chemical product passport may be generated by an operating system of a further processing company. The operating system may comprise an apparatus for generating chemical product passport(s), for example as described in the context of FIG. 8.

In block 702, a request to generate a chemical product passport for a produced chemical product may be received. The request may contain a data owner identifier and/or a chemical product identifier. The data owner may be the data owner of the gathered data and/or the data contained in the distributed data sources. The data owner may be the chemical product producer. The data owner may be a data owner as previously described. The chemical product identifier may be a batch number, a LOT number, a chemical product name and/or a chemical product ID. The request may be generated by a requestor, for example as described in the context of FIG. 7. The request may be received at a computing node (that acts as a DID owner’s management module, user agent, ID hub and/or certification issuer). The decentral identifier may be requested from a central or decentral node.

In block 704, authentication mechanism(s) may be provided or selected, this block being generally optional. The authentication mechanism may include a private-public key pair. The authentication mechanism may be selected or provided if the decentral identifier to be generated includes a DID.

In block 706, a decentral identifier associated with biodegradation data and a data owner may be generated or provided. The decentral identifier may include one or more DID(s) and/or UUID(s). The decentral identifier and data related to the authentication mechanism may be generated or provided.

In block 708, data related to the biodegradation data may be provided. Data related to the biodegradation data may include biodegradation data mentioned previously, for example in the context of FIGs. 4 to 6B. Biodegradation data may be collected before, during or after production and/or during use of the chemical product. The biodegradation data may be stored on a data storage medium, such as one or more databases. Providing the biodegradation data may include retrieving the biodegradation data based on a chemical product identifier, such as a chemical product identifier contained in the request received in block 702. Data related to the biodegradation data may include digital representation(s) pointing to biodegradation data or parts thereof, for example as described in the context of FIGs. 4 to 6B.

In block 710, the chemical product passport may be generated based on the provided or generated decentral identifier and data related to the biodegradation data. The chemical product passport may include the decentral identifier provided or generated in block 706 and data related to the biodegradation data provided in block 708. The chemical product passport may correspond to a DID document being associated with the decentral identifier being a DID. The DID document may contain the digital representation(s) pointing to biodegradation data or parts thereof. The chemical product passport may further include a chemical product identifier. The chemical product identifier may be the chemical product identifier contained in the received request. The generated chemical product passport may be stored in a database. The generated chemical product passport or a part thereof may be provided for access by a data consuming service controlled by a data providing service associated with the data owner, for example as described in the context of FIGs. 8 and 12.

In block 714, a physical identifier may be assigned to the decentral identifier included in the chemical product passport, this block being generally optional. Assigning the decentral identifier to the physical identifier may include generating a physical identifier having embedded the decentral identifier. The physical identifier may be generated by an ID assignor, for example as described in the context of FIG 5, and may be attached to the chemical product, for example using a labelling device.

The generated chemical product passports allow a simplified and customizable data sharing or exchange of biodegradation data associated with produced checmial product from the chemical product industry to further participants of the chemical product value chain, such described with reference to Figs. 3 to 6B. Use of said biodegradation data may allow to increase biodegradation rates of end of life chemical products, for example by using the biodegradation data to determine appropriate biodegradation conditions for the end of life chemical products.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example system and associated methods for generating a chemical product passport associated with a produced chemical product and providing access to the generated chemical product passport.

The chemical product production 304 may produce chemical product (s) 404 from one or more inbound materials (also denoted as precursor materials) 302. Inbound materials may include chemical raw materials and/or intermediate products, for example raw materials and/or intermediate products described in the context of FIGs. 3 to 6A. The chemical product production 304 may be a chemical product production as described in the context of FIGs. 3 to 6A. The inbound material(s) 302 may enter the system boundary 804 of the chemical product production 304. The chemical product(s) 404 may be produced using the inbound material(s) 302, for example as described in the context of FIGs. 3 to 6A. The chemical product(s) 304 may exit the system boundary 804 of the chemical product production 304.

Upon producing the chemical product 404 or upon exiting of the chemical product 404 of the chemical product production 304, the chemical product passport(s) associated with produced chemical product(s) 404 may be generated. The chemical product passport associated with produced chemical product may be generated upon production of a further chemical product comprising the respective chemical product. The chemical product passport(s) may be generated by an apparatus for generating chemical product passport(s) 802. The apparatus 802 may be configured to generate chemical product passport(s) according to the method described in the context of FIG. 7. The apparatus 802 may be configured to receive a request to provide a decentral identifier. The decentral identifier may be associated with biodegradation data and a data owner. The data owner may comprise any entity generating biodegradation data or a part thereof. The data owner may be the data owner of the biodegradation data or a part thereof. The data owner may be the chemical product producer. The biodegradation data or a part thereof may be accessible for the data owner. The data owner may hence directly or indirectly own the biodegradation data or a part thereof. The decentral identifier may be associated with the chemical product passport and a data owner. The apparatus 802 may be configured to generate - in response to the received request - the chemical product passport.

A requestor 806 may be configured generate the request for the decentral identifier. Said request may be triggered by a labelling system such as a QR Code generator. Said request may be triggered by a code reading system, such as a QR Code reader. The request to provide the decentral identifier may be provided to a decentral ID generator 808 configured to generate the decentral identifier. The decentral ID generator 808 may be configured to generate a decentral identifier associated with biodegradation data and a data owner. The decentral ID generator 808 may provide the generated decentral identifier to decentral ID provider 810. While the decentral ID generator 808 and the decentral ID provider 810 are shown in FIG. 8 as separate units, their functions may be combined within a single unit such that the apparatus 802 comprises a decentral ID providing unit configured to generate or retrieve the decentral identifier and to provide the generated decentral identifier.

The decentral ID provider 810 may provide the decentral identifier received from decentral ID generator 808 to requestor 806. The requestor 806 may be configured to associate the received decentral identifier(s) with the produced chemical product 404. The requestor 806 may hence contain an ID assignor as described in the context of FIGs. 4 and 5. Such association may include encoding the decentral identifier into a code and providing the code for labelling the chemical product 404. Such association may include interrelating the decentral identifier to a physical identifier of the chemical product. This way a physical identifier may be provided that relates the physical entity of the chemical product with the provided decentral identifier and hence with the chemical product passport the decentral identifier is associated with.

The decentral ID provider 810 may provide the decentral identifier to chemical product passport generator 812 configured to generate the chemical product passport including the decentral identifier received from decentral ID provider 810 and data related to the biodegradation data. The chemical product passport generator 812 may generate the chemical product passport as described, for example in the context of FIG. 7. Biodegradation data or a part thereof may be provided to chemical product passport generator 812 from a data storage medium, such as a database (not shown). Digital representation(s) pointing to the biodegradation data or parts thereof may be generated by chemical product passport generator 812. The generated chemical product passport may be stored on a data storage medium (not shown).

The generated chemical product passport may be provided to chemical product passport provider 814. The chemical product passport provider 814 may be configured to provide the chemical product passport for access by a data consuming service 818. The data consuming service 818 may be part of a decentral network 816. The data consuming service 818 may be associated with the chemical product recipient, for example as described in the context of FIG. 6B. The chemical product passport provider 814 may control the access by the data consuming service 818. The chemical product passport provider 814 may be a data providing service associated with the chemical product production 304. The chemical product passport provider 814 may be associated with or under control of a data owner of the biodegradation data associated with the generated chemical product passport. The biodegradation data or a part thereof contained in the chemical product passport may be provided to the data consuming service 818 for example described in the context of FIG. 12. This allows transfer of or access to the chemical product passport and biodegradation data or parts thereof in a controlled and secure manner.

FIG. 9 shows an example method for using the chemical product passport to further process the biodegradation data associated with the chemical product passport.

For using the chemical product passport, an indication to access the biodegradation data associated with a decentral identifier of the chemical product passport may be received in block 902. The chemical product passport may be structured as lined out in FIGs. 13 and 14. The chemical product passport may be generated as lined out in FIGs. 7 and 8.

Before access may be provided to the biodegradation data, the request may be authenticated in block 904. In particular, the data consuming service requesting to access the biodegradation data and/or the data providing service providing access to the chemical process data may be authenticating. Such authentication may be based on the decentral identity and the data related to the authentication mechanism. The authentication may be performed through different communication patterns, which will be lined out in more detail in FIGs. 10A and 10B.

If the authentication fails, access to the biodegradation data may be denied (see block 908). If the authentication is valid, an authorization step may follow in block 910. Such authorization may be based on the decentral identifier and data related to the authorization rules. Said data may be associated with the decentral identifier.

If the authorization fails, access to the biodegradation data may be denied (see block 914) or access may be adapted. In particular, the authorization as requested may be adapted to be in line with the applicable authorization rules. If the authorization is valid, access to the biodegradation data may be granted according to the authorization rules as requested and the requested biodegradation data may be provided according to the authorization rules in block 916. Such access to biodegradation data associated with the decentral identifier may be provided using digital representation(s) contained in the chemical product passport.

The received biodegradation data may be processed in block 918. For instance, the received biodegradation data may be used to determine handling of used chemical products, such as biodegradation according to data associated with treatment instructions.

FIGs. 10A and 10B show example methods for authentication to access the biodegradation data associated with the chemical product passport. In the process of authentication, various communication patterns may be implemented to verify identities. FIG. 10A illustrates one example communication pattern that may occur between a data providing service 602 and a data consuming service 606. In this case, the data providing service 602 may act as verifying entity and no separate service may be used for authentication.

The data consuming service 606 may request a service from the data providing service 602 (see step [1]). The request may include a decentral identifier of the data consuming service decentral identifier, such as a decentralized identifier (DID) or a verifiable credential.

In response to the request, the data providing service may access a registry such as a central or decentral authentication registry to retrieve data related to the authentication mechanism(s) associated with the decentral identifier. For instance, the central authentication registry may provide data related to authentication mechanism via an authentication service issuing access token. Further for instance, the decentral authentication registry may provide data related to authentication mechanism by generating a request token. Data related to authentication mechanism may include a public key of the data consuming service.

Based on the retrieved data related to the authentication mechanism(s), the data providing service may generate an authentication request (corresponding for example to authentication request tokens or dynamic attribute tokens) (see step [2]). The authentication request may be generated based on a public key of the data consuming service and/or the private key of the data providing service 602. The generated authentication request may be sent to the data consuming service 606 (see step [3]).

Based on the received authentication request, the data consuming service 606 may generate authentication data for responding to the authentication request (step [4]). The generated authentication data may be sent back to the data providing service 602 (step [5]).

Receiving the response including the authentication data from data consuming service 606, the data providing service 602 may then validate the authentication data (see step [6]). In response to the validation, the data providing service 602 may grant or deny the service request of the data consuming service 606 (step [7]).

FIG. 10B illustrates yet another communication pattern that can occur amongst data providing 602 service, an authentication service 1004, and data consuming service 606.

First, the data consuming service 606 may request a service or initiate a communication with the data providing service 602 (step [1]). The request may include a decentral identifier of the data consuming service decentral identifier, such as a decentralized identifier (DID) or a verifiable credential. Receiving the request, the data providing service 602 may access a distributed ledger to retrieve one or more authentication mechanism(s) associated with the decentral identifier. Based on the retrieved authentication mechanisms^), the authentication service 1004 may generate an authentication request.

Here, the at least one of the retrieved authentication mechanism(s) may be provided via the authentication service 1004. As such, in some embodiments, the generated authentication request may be sent to the authentication service 1004 directly (steps [2], [3]). Receiving the authentication request from the data providing service 602, the authentication service 1004 may generate the authentication data (step [4]). The authentication data generated by the authentication service 1004 may be sent to the data consuming service 606 (step [5]).

Data consuming service 606 then, in turn, may pass on the authentication data to the data providing service 602 (step [6]). Receiving the authentication data, the data providing service 602 may then validate the authentication data (step [7]). In response to the validation, the data providing service may grant or deny the service request of the data consuming service 606 (step [8]).

Alternatively, in some embodiments, after the data providing service 602 may generate an authentication request and may send the authentication request to data consuming service 602. The data consuming service may pass on the authentication request to the authentication service 1004 (not shown).

Further, after the authentication service 1004 may generate the authentication data, in some embodiments, the authentication service merely contacts the data consuming service 606 to notify the receipt of the authentication request and to obtain consent. When the data consuming service 606 receives the notification, the data consuming service 606 may consent and send the consent back to the authentication service 1004. Receiving the consent, the authentication service 1004 may then send the authentication data directly to the data providing service 602.

Finally, in many transactions, the authentication may be mutually performed by both parties. In such a mutual authentication situation, each involved party may be both a subject entity and a verifying entity. Data consuming service 606 and data providing service 602 may have control over their decentral identifies. At the beginning, services may exchange their decentral identifiers. Next, each of the services may access a distributed ledger to obtain each other's authentication mechanism(s). Each service may then generate its own authentication request based on the other ID's authentication method(s). The generated authentication data may then be sent to the other service. Receiving each other's authentication data, each service may validate the received authentication data. Based on the validation results, the services may then perform additional communications, e.g. one service may grant or deny the service request of the other service.

FIGs. 10A and 10B only show examples of authentication protocols. Also, although the communication arrows were discussed in a certain order or illustrated in a sequence of communications, no particular ordering is required unless specifically stated, or required because a communication is dependent on another communication being completed prior to the communication being transmitted.

FIG. 11 shows an example method for authorizing access to biodegradation data. The biodegradation data may be associated with a chemical product passport including a decentral identifier and data related to the biodegradation data. The chemical product passport may be generated as described in the context of FIGs. 7 and 8.

In block 1102, a decentral identifier of the chemical product passport (denoted as decentral chemical product identifier hereinafter) and a set of authorization rules for the biodegradation data associated with the decentral identifier may be provided. The set of authorization rules may include usage instructions defining usage policies for entities accessing the biodegradation data associated with the decentral identifier. The set of rules may include one or more local rules that are specific to a particular location. The one or more local rules may be based on a location of where the decentral identifier was generated, where the data providing service was implemented, where the data consuming service was implemented or a combination thereof.

The one or more sets of local rules may be based on a location provided by the data providing service or the data providing service. The location may refer to a jurisdiction and the local rules may be associated with legal requirements related to the production, supply and end of life treatment of chemical product. For instance, access to chemical product may be provided via an authorization rule that may include jurisdictional or local rules. Biodegradation data may include the data mentioned in the context of FIGs. 3 to 6B. The set of authorization rules may include at least one regulatory instruction configured to provide access to biodegradation data relating to regulatory requirements for chemical product. The provided set of authorization rules may be related to accessing entity decentral identifiers. The authorization rule may include computer-executable instructions to allow access to biodegradation data associated with the decentral chemical product identifier, deny access to biodegradation data associated with the decentral chemical product identifier, to modify access to biodegradation data associated with the decentral chemical product identifier or to modify biodegradation data associated with the decentral chemical product identifier. The authorization rule may relate to each data point of the biodegradation data or classes of biodegradation data, wherein the selected authorization rule may be bound to the biodegradation data, classes of biodegradation data, individual data points or combinations thereof. The set of authorization rules may include one or more of prescribed rules relating to obligations of the data consuming service associated with the accessing entity decentral identifier.

The set of authorization rules may include one or more of prescribed rules relating to emission data, production data, recyclate content data, bio-based content data, provenance data, labor conditions data, biodegradation data or combinations thereof. The set of authorization rules may include one or more processing rules relating to the processing of emission data, production data, recyclate content data, bio-based content data, provenance data, labor conditions data, biodegradation data or combinations thereof by a data consuming service associated with an accessing entity decentral identifier. In block 1104, a decentral identifier or data related to the decentral identifier of the accessing entity (denoted as accessing entity decentral identifier hereinafter) may be provided.

In block 1106, the authorization rule for the biodegradation data associated with the decentral chemical product identifier may be selected based on the accessing entity decentral identifier or data related to the accessing entity decentral identifier. The authorization rule may include computer-executable instructions to allow, deny or modify biodegradation data. The authorization rule may relate to each data point of the biodegradation data or sets or classes of biodegradation data. The selected authorization rule may be stored for application to the biodegradation data. Such authorization rule may be applied before or on data transaction. The selected authorization rule may be bound to the biodegradation data, individual data points or classes of biodegradation data for application to the biodegradation data.

In block 1108, the selected authorization rule may be applied to the biodegradation data associated with the decentral chemical product identifier. The selected authorization rule may be applied prior to access of the biodegradation data. The selected authorization rule may be applied during run-time on access of the biodegradation data.

In block 1110, the biodegradation data associated with the decentral chemical product identifier may be provided according to the selected authorization rule.

FIG. 12 shows a schematic illustration of providing access via a data providing service associated with a data owner to a chemical product passport associated with a chemical product using a data consuming service associated with a chemical product consumer via a decentral network.

The chemical product 402 as produced by the chemical product production 304 may be provided in association with the chemical product passport. The chemical product passport may be generated as described in the context of FIGs. 7 and 8. The chemical product passport may include a decentral identifier associated with biodegradation data and a data owner. The chemical product passport may include data related to the biodegradation data. The data related to the biodegradation data may include digital representation(s) pointing to the biodegradation data or parts thereof (see for example FIG. 13).

The chemical product passport may further include or relate to authentication and/or authorization information linked to the decentral identifier. The authentication and/or authorization information may be provided for authentication and/or authorization of a data proving service 602 and/or data consuming service 606. The decentral identifier may include Universally Unique Identifier(s) (UUID(s)) and/or Decentralized Identifier(s) (DID(s)). The decentral identifier may include any unique identifier uniquely associated with a data owner and/or biodegradation data and/or the chemical product. The data owner may be the producer of the chemical product. The data owner may own or have access to the biodegradation data or parts thereof. Via the decentral identifier and its unique association with the data owner and/or the chemical product, access to the biodegradation data may be controlled by the data owner. 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 chemical products from or for which data is generated. The data may be generated by a third- party entity on behalf of the entity owning chemical products from or for which data is generated.

The chemical product 404 may be physically delivered to a consumer of the chemical product, such as a retailer, a distributor, an end customer and/or, a waste management facility. The chemical product 404 may comprise a code, such as a QR code, having encoded the decentral identifier. In certain cases, the code may be provided on a container. This is advantageous, when the chemical product relates to a liquid. The consumer of the chemical product 404 may read the code through a code reader 1202. The decentral identifier may be provided to a data base 1204 associated with the consumer of the chemical product 404. In other embodiments the consumer of chemical product 404 may retrieve the decentral identifier through registry 1206. For instance, the chemical product identifier encoded in the code may be used to retrieve the decentral identifier from registry 1206. Registry 1206 may store decentral identifiers associated with chemical product passports. Registry 1206 may further store access data associated with decentral identifiers. Access data may include digital representations pointing to the biodegradation data or parts thereof. The access data may hence allow to identify the data providing service 602 providing the biodegradation data or parts thereof.

Based on the received decentral identifier, a request to access the biodegradation data associated with the decentral identifier may be triggered by the data consuming service 606 as signified by arrow 1210. The decentral identifier may be provided to the data providing service 602 associated with or of the producer of the 404. In addition, authentication and/or authorization information may be provided.

The request may be authenticated (see FIGs. 10A and 10B) and/or authorized to access the biodegradation data associated with the decentral identifier. Based on successful authorization and/or authentication, access to the associated with decentral identifier may be granted.

The data providing service 606 may use the received data to retrieve the biodegradation data or parts thereof associated with the produced chemical product 404 as signified by arrows 1212 and 1214. The biodegradation data or parts thereof associated with the chemical product 404 retrieved by the data providing service 602 may be provided to the data consuming service 606 as signified by arrow 1216. The received biodegradation data or parts thereof may be stored in the data base 1204 associated with the consumer of the chemical product 404 as signified by arrow 1218.

Through the decentral identifier, the biodegradation data or parts thereof can be uniquely associated with the chemical product. Through the decentral network, biodegradation data or parts thereof may be transferred between the producer of the chemical product and the consumer of the chemical product and further participants in the chemical product value chain in a standardized and secure way. This way, the biodegradation data or parts thereof can be shared with unique association to the chemical product and without central intermediary directly between the value chain players. This allows for transparency of biodegradation data sets across the value chain. The chemical product passport hence allows to share biodegradation data under simplified and customizable conditions without compromising data security and data sovereignty.

While FIG. 12 has been described in relation to the chemical product producer and the chemical product consumer, exchange of biodegradation data may also be performed between the chemical product producer and further participants of the value chain, such as reatailers, recycling companies, waste collectors, waste management facilities and/or authorities.

FIG. 13 shows an example of ID-based owner data, ID-based chemical product passport data and a decentralized identity manager.

The decentral identifier may be a decentralized ID (DID). The chemical product passport may be a DID document associated with the DID. The ID-based owner data may include a DID associated with a subject such as biodegradation data and may include authentication mechanisms. The ID-based owner data may include owner data that is electronically owned and controlled by the DID owner. In this context electronically owned may refer to data that is stored in an owner repository or wallet. Such data may be securely stored and/or managed on an organizational server or client device. The ID-based owner data may include a DID, a private key and a public key. The ID-based owner may own and control the DID that represents an identity associated with the DID subject, a private key and public key pair that are associated with the DID. DID may be understood as an identifier and authentication information associated with or uniquely linked to the identifier.

The DID subject may be a chemical product. The DID subject may be a machine, a system, or a device used for producing the chemical product, or a collection of such machine(s), device(s) and/or system(s). The DID owner may be a chemical product producer. The DID owner may be an upstream participant in the chemical product value chain of the chemical product producer such as a supplier that supplies raw chemical products or precursors to produce chemical products. The DID owner may be a downstream participant in the chemical product value chain of the chemical product producer such as a customer that consumes chemical products. The DID owner may be any participant of the chemical products supply chain including raw chemical product supplier, intermediate chemical products manufacturer, chemical product producer, chemical product collectors, such as waste collectors collector, retreading company or recycling companies.

The DID may be any identifier that is associated with the DID subject and/or the DID owner. Preferably, the identifier is unique to the DID subject and/or DID owner. The identifier may be unique at least within the scope in which the DID is anticipated to be in use. The identifier may be a locally or globally unique identifier for the chemical product; the machine, the system, or the device used for producing chemical product, or the collection of such machine(s), device(s) and/or system(s); the chemical manufacturer producing chemicals, the chemical product producer, the downstream participant in the chemical product value chain of the chemical product producer or a collection thereof; any participant of the chemical product value chain including raw material supplier, intermediate products manufacturer, chemical product manufacturer, chemical product distributors, chemical product retailers, chemical product end customers, chemical product col-lectors, such as waste collectors, chemical product recyclers and waste management facilities, or a collection thereof.

The DID may be a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) such as a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). The DID may be an Internationalized Resource Identifier (IRI). The DID may be a random string of numbers and letters for increased security. In one embodiment, the DID may be a string of 128 letters and numbers e.g. according to the scheme did:method name: method specific-did such as did:example:ebfeb1f712ebc6f1c276e12ec21. The DID may be decentralized independent of a centralized, third party management system and under the control of the DID owner.

The DID document 1304 may be associated with the DID. Accordingly, the DID document 1304 may include a reference to the DID, which may be associated with the DID subject that is described by the DID document. The DID document 1304 may include an authentication information such as the public key. The public key may be used by third- party entities that are given permission by the DID owner/subject to access information and data owned by the DID owner/subject. The public key may be used for verifying that the DID owner, in fact, owns or controls the DID. The DID document 1304 may include authentication information, authorization information e.g. to authorize third party entities to read the DID document or some part of the DID document 1304 e.g. without giving the third party the right to prove ownership of the DID.

The DID document 1304 may include further identifier(s), such as identifier(s) associated with different parts or classes of biodegradation data. The DID document 1304 may further include one or more representations that digitally link to the biodegradation data, e.g. by way of service endpoints. A service endpoint may include a network address at which a service operates on behalf of the DID owner. In particular, the service endpoints may refer to services of the DID owner that give access to biodegradation data or parts thereof. Such services may include services to read or analyze biodegradation data or a part thereof. Biodegradation data may include the data described in the context of FIGs. 3 to 6B.

The DID document 1304 may include various other information such metadata specifying when the DID document 1304 was created, when it was last modified and/or when it expires.

The DID and DD document 1340 may be associated with a data registry node such as a centralized data service system or a decentralized data service system 1306, e.g. a distributed ledger or blockchain or a decentralized file system. The distributed ledger or blockchain may be used to store a representation of the DID that points to the DID document 1304. A representation of the DID may be stored on distributed computing nodes of the distributed ledger or blockchain 1306. For example, DID hash may be stored on multiple computing nodes of the distributed ledger and point to the location of the DID document 1304. In some embodiments, the DID document 1304may be stored on the distributed ledger 1306. Each of the computing nodes may store a copy of the distributed ledger 1306. In this way, each DID hash can be stored redundantly, thereby allowing for an increased data safety. DI Ds associated with a plurality of different DID document 1304may be included in the distributed ledger 1306. In some embodiments, the DID document 1304 may be stored on the distributed ledger 1306, i.e. either additionally or alternatively to the associated DID representation being stored on the distributed ledger 1306. In other embodiments, the DID document 1304 may be stored in a data storage (not illustrated) that is associated with the distributed ledger or blockchain or decentralized file system.

The distributed ledger or blockchain 1306 may be any decentralized, distributed network that includes various computing nodes that are in communication with each other. For example, the distributed ledger 1306 may include a first distributed computing node, a second distributed computing node, a third distributed computing node, and any number of additional distributed computing nodes (not shown). The distributed ledger or blockchain 1306 may include known technology stacks like Bitcoin (see e.g. Bitcoin documentation of November 11, 2022 published https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Protocol_documentation), Ethereum (see e.g. Ethereum documentation of August 15, 2022 published on https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/), Solana (see e.g. Solana documentation of November 11, 2022 published on https://spl.solana.com/), Polygon (see e.g. Polygon documentation of November 11, 2022 published on https://wiki .polygon.technology/) or other implementations with varying degree of data transactions performed on the distributed ledger. The description of the example framework is only for illustrative purposes and shall not be considered limiting.

FIG. 14 shows an example of ID-based certificate data, ID-based chemical product passport data and an identity manager.

In contrast to the example of FIG. 13, the example of FIG. 14 is certificate-based. Certificate data 1402 may include authentication data of the subject and the certificate issuer. The subject may be the data owner or the data providing service 602 operated by or being under control of the data owner. Certificate data 1402 may further include the subject name the certificate is issued for, such as a data owner name, the data owner ID, the data provider name, the data provider ID or a combination thereof. The certificate may be a X.509 certificate such as X509v3. The certificate data 1402 may be associated with an IDS infrastructure 1406 including e.g. a certificate issuing service (CA) 1408 and/or a dynamic provisioning service (DAPS) 1410 providing dynamic attribute tokens (e.g. OAuth Access Tokens). Certificate data 1402 may further include various other information such metadata specifying when the certificate was created, when it was last modified and/or when it expires. The information required to verify the certificate data 1402 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 data providing service 602 associated with or under control of the data owner, a Certification Authority (CA) 1408, a Dynamic Attribute Provisioning Service (DAPS) 1410 and a data consuming service (not shown) are used to verify the identity prior to performing a data exchange (see for example Figs. 10A and 10B).

The certificate data 1402 and the chemical product passport data 1404 may be stored within the data providing service 602. The data providing service 602 may be associated with or under control of the data owner of the biodegradation data. The chemical product passport data 1404 may include a decentral identifier, authorization data and endpoints associated with the biodegradation data or parts thereof. The decentral identifier may be a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID), such as a UUIDv4. The UUIDv4 may conform to the following format: [0-9a-fA-F]{8}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA- F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{12}. The authorization information may be used to control access to the biodegradation data or a part thereof, for example as described in the context of FIG. 9. Endpoints may include any digital representation pointing to the biodegradation data or a part thereof. Biodegradation data may include the data mentioned in the context of FIGs. 3 to 6B.

The chemical product passport data 1404 may include various other information such metadata specifying when the chemical product passport was created, when it was last modified and/or when it expires.

FIGs. 15 to 17 show different example configurations for chemical product passports anchored by digital identifiers. The configurations include different relationships for passports generated in the chemical product value chain including raw material supplier, intermediate products manufacturer, chemical product manufacturer, chemical product distributors, chemical product retailers, chemical product end customers, chemical product collectors, such as waste collectors, chemical product recyclers and waste management facilities. The passports may be generated using the method described in the context of FIG. 7.

Fig. 15A illustrates an individual configuration for different passports generated in the chemical product value chain, for example as described in the context of FIG. 3. For multiple product stages in the chemical product value chain individual passports may be generated. The passport generation may include the providing of a decentral identifier and data related to the respective product data for each of the multiple product stages. The passport generation may further include providing authentication mechanism. The passports for the multiple product stages may be based on crypto signatures. For instance, the passports for the multiple product stages may be concatenated through hash values based on different data sets. As shown in Fig. 15A hash 1 may be based on data of the raw material passport, hash 2 may be based on data of the intermediate product passport and hash 3 may be based on data of the raw material passport plus data of the intermediate product passport. Likewise, hash 4 may be based on data of the chemical product passport and hash 5 may be based on data of the chemical product passport and the chemical product passport. Further concatenation may be done for other combinations of passports up to hash 7, which may concatenate the chemical product passport and the biodegraded product passport. The hashes may be used to generate a hash chain allowing to determine the raw materials and chemical products used to produce a chemical product as well as determine the end of life of the chemical product at a waste management facility. The sequence of hashes from hash 1 to hash 7 can be viewed as a “mirror'’ of the value chain, since it reflects the relationships between the respective passports. Concatenation via hashes of the crypto signature is only one example concatenation. Other examples include permission aggregations with different scope of data that may be embedded in child passports, public key aggregations with different crypto signatures or service endpoint aggregation with different links. Fig. 15B illustrates different passports including a concatenation associated with multiple digital identifiers based on a relationship representation for different products associated with product stages of the chemical product value chain. Among the passports, one passport is associated with a chemical product. In this particular example, hash values are used for the concatenation associated with multiple decentral identifiers. The data sets to generate the hash values are schematically illustrated in Fig. 15A.

The raw material passport may be provided to the intermediate product producer using the raw material to produce the intermediate product. Raw materials and intermediate products may include the ones described in the context of FIGs. 3 to 6B. The raw material passport may be connected to a hash value “hash 1”. The hash value “hash 1” may be generated via a hashing algorithm such as MD5, SHA-1, SHA-2, SHA-3 or any other suitable algorithm based on a one-way function that can’t be reverse engineered. The hash value “hash 1” may be generated based on data included in or connected to the raw material passport. The data for hash generation may include the decentral identifier and the data related to the raw material data. The data for hash generation may include the decentral identifier associated with the raw material, the data related to the raw material and/or cryptographic information connected to the digital identifier. The hash value “hash 1” may be used by participant nodes of the chemical product value chain to check integrity of the data package transferred from the raw material supplier e.g. to the intermediate product producer.

Similar to the raw material passport, the intermediate product passport may be provided to the chemical product producer using the intermediate product to produce a chemical product. The generation of the chemical product passport may be based on the intermediate product passport provided to the chemical product producer using the intermediate product to produce the chemical product. The chemical product passport may be connected to one or more hash value(s) “hash 4”, “hash 5”. The hash values “hash 4”, “hash 5” may be generated via a hashing algorithm such as MD5, SHA-1, SHA-2, SHA-3 or any other suitable algorithm based on a one-way function that can’t be reverse engineered. The hash values “hash 4”, “hash 5” may be generated based on data included in or connected to the intermediate product passport and/or the raw material passport. The hash value(s) “hash 4”, “hash 5” may be generated based on clear data itself or based on hash value(s) generated from the clear data. For instance, hash 5 may be generated based on intermediate product passport data and the chemical product passport data or based on hashed intermediate product data and the hashed chemical product passport data. The data for hash generation may include the decentral identifier associated with the intermediate product used to produce the chemical product, the decentral identifier associated with the chemical product, the data related to the intermediate product and/or the data related to the chemical product.

The concatenation associated with multiple decentral identifiers may relate to the decentral identifiers associated with the biodegraded product, the chemical product and the precursor material(s) used to produce the chemical product. Hashing data related or included in the respective passports may provide for such concatenation. The data for hash generation may include the data mentioned in the context of FIG. 15A. Hash value “hash 4” may be generated in relation to the chemical product passport as illustrated in Fig. 15A. Hash value “hash 5” may be generated in relation to the intermediate product passport and chemical product passport as illustrated in Fig. 15A. The hash value(s) may be used by participant nodes of the chemical product value chain to check integrity of the transferred data package. The combined hash value(s) may further be used by participant nodes of the chemical product value chain to determine the relation of products at different stages and to check integrity of such relation.

As illustrated in FIGS. 15A and 15B, the hash value(s) may be connected to the passports associated with one or more product stage(s) of the chemical product value chain.

FIG. 16A illustrates an anchored configuration for different passports generated in the chemical product value chain. For the chemical product in a waste management facility, a biodegraded product passport may be generated. For multiple further product stages in the chemical product value chain, individual passports may be generated and embedded in or linked with the biodegraded product passport. The passport generation may include the providing of a decentral identifier and data related to the respective product data for each of the multiple product stages. The passport generation may further include providing authentication mechanism. The passports for the multiple product stages may be based on crypto signatures. For instance, the passports for the multiple further product stages may be concatenated through hash values based on different data sets. As shown in Fig. 16A, hash 1 may be based on data of the raw material passport, hash 2 may be based on data of the chemical product passport and hash 3 may be based on data of the raw material passport plus data of the chemical product passport. Likewise, hash 4 may be based on data of the chemical product passport and hash 5 may be based on data of the chemical product passport and the chemical product passport. Further concatenation may be done for other combinations of passports up to hash 7, which may concatenate the chemical product passport. Further concatenation may be done for other combinations of passports up to hash 7, which concatenates all passports up to the biodegraded product passport. The sequence of hashes from hash 1 to hash 7 can be viewed as a “mirror'’ of the value chain from the raw material to the waste management facility, since it reflects the relationships between the respective passports. Concatenation via hashes of the crypto signature is only one example concatenation. Other examples include permission aggregations with different scope of data that may be embedded in child passports, public key aggregations with different crypto signatures or service endpoint aggregation with different links.

FIG. 16B illustrates different passports including a concatenation associated with multiple decentral identifiers based on a relationship representation for different products associated with product stages of the chemical product value chain. Among the passports, one passport is associated with a chemical product. In this particular example, hash values are used for the concatenation associated with multiple decentral identifiers. The data sets to generate the hash values are schematically illustrated in FIG. 16A.

The intermediate product passport may be provided to the chemical product producer using the intermediate product to produce the chemical product. The intermediate product passport may be connected to a hash value hash 2 that may be generated as described in the context of FIG. 16A. Similar to the intermediate product passport, the chemical product passport may be provided to the end customer and or the waste management facility. The hash values may be generated as described in the context of FIG. 16A. The hash values may be generated in a similar fashion for the passports up to the biodegraded product passport.

In the anchored configuration, the biodegraded product passport may include hash values that relate to the passports associated with the products up to biodegradation in the waste management facility, such as the chemical product. The concatenation associated with multiple decentral identifiers may in this case relate to the decentral identifiers associated with the raw materials(s), intermediate products(s) and the chemical product (s). Hashing data related or included in the respective passports may provide for the concatenation. The data for hash generation may include any data included in respective passports. The hash value “hash 6” may be based on at least the decentral identifier associated with the passport and data related to the biodegraded product data. Hash value “hash 7” may be generated in relation to the passports associated with products at different product stages as illustrated in FIG. 16A. The combined hash value “hash 7” may be used by participant nodes of the chemical product value chain to determine the relation of products at different stages and to check integrity of such relation. For example, authorities may assess if the chemical product has reached its end of life by biodegradation at a waste management facility.

As illustrated in FIGs. 16A and 16B, the hash value(s) may be connected to the passports associated with one or more product stage(s) of the chemical product value chain.

FIG. 17A illustrates a fully embedded configuration for different passports generated in the chemical product value chain. For multiple product stages in the chemical product value chain, individual passports may be generated. The passport generation may include the providing of a decentral identifier and data related to the respective product data for each of the multiple product stages. The passport generation may further include providing authentication mechanism. The passports for the multiple product stages may be based on crypto signatures. For instance, the passports for the multiple product stages may be concatenated through hash values based on different data sets. As shown in FIG. 17A, hash 1 may be based on data of the raw material passport. Hash 2 may be based on data of the raw material passport and the intermediate product passport. Further concatenation may be done for other combinations of passports up to hash 7, which concatenates product up to the biodegraded product passport. Concatenation via hashes of the crypto signature is only one example concatenation. Other examples include permission aggregations with different scope of data that may be embedded in child passports, public key aggregations with different crypto signatures or service endpoint aggregation with different links.

FIG. 17B illustrates different passports including a concatenation associated with multiple decentral identifiers based on a relationship representation for different products associated with product stages of the chemical product value chain. Among the passports, one digital access element is associated with a chemical product. In this particular example, hash values are used for the concatenation associated with multiple decentral identifiers. The data sets to generate the hash values are schematically illustrated in FIG. 17A. The intermediate product passport may be provided to the chemical product producer using the intermediate product to produce the chemical product. The intermediate product passport may be connected to a hash value hash 2 that may be generated as described in the context of FIG 17A. Similar to the intermediate product passport, the chemical product passport may be provided to the biodegradation management facility using the chemical product to produce at the biodegraded chemical product. The hash values may be generated as described in the context of FIG. 17A. The hash values may be generated in a similar fashion for the passports up to the biodegraded product passport.

In the fully embedded configuration, the combined hash values may be generated from passports associated with all products preceding the respective product. The concatenation associated with multiple decentral identifiers may in this case relate to the decentral identifiers associated with all preceding products, such as the raw materials(s), the intermediate product(s), and the chemical products(s). Hashing data related or included in the respective passport may provide for the concatenation. The data for hash generation may include any data included in respective passport. The hash value “hash 5” for example may be based on at least the decentral identifiers associated with the products up to the chemical product passport. Hash value hash 7 for example may be based on at least the decentral identifiers associated with the products up to and including the chemical product at the waste management facility. The combined hash values “hash 3”, “hash 5” and “hash 7” may be used by participant nodes of the chemical product value chain to determine the relation of products at different stages and to check integrity of such relation. As illustrated in FIGs. 17A and 17B, the hash value(s) may be connected to the passports associated with one or more product stage(s) of the chemical product value chain.

The configurations shown in FIGs. 15A to 17B relate to passports generated in the chemical product value chain up to a waste management facility. This way the biodegradation of products involving chemical product s may be virtually represented and tracked.

FIGs. 18A and 18B illustrate examples of relationship representations which may be used for generating a concatenation, for example the concatenation described in relation to FIGs. 15A to 17B above.

The relationship representation may relate to different stages of the chemical product value chain, such as the chemical product value chain described in the context of FIG. 3. The passports at different stages of the chemical product value chain may be connected to the relationship representation. The relationship representation may be associated with the product produced at the respective stage of the chemical product value chain and at least one product used to produce the respective product. The relationship representation may be associated with the product produced at a respective stage of the chemical product value chain and at least one product produced at a previous stage of the chemical product value chain. The relationship representation may specify the relation between physical entities. The relationship representation may specify that the second physical entity may be used to produce the first physical entity as illustrated in Fig. 18A and/or that the first physical entity may be produced by using the second physical entity as illustrated in Fig. 18B. The relationship representation may relate to at least one intermediate product used to produce the chemical product. The relationship representation may relate to the chemical product produced by using at least one intermediate product. FIG. 19 A illustrates how a chemical product in particular a solid chemical product may end up in different habitat conditions. Starting from disposal 100, the product may be littered 102 by an end customer. Littering may occur into various habitats, in particular unintended habitats such as open water 104, soil 106 and marine 108. In the example, where the chemical product is a bottle, the bottle may be tossed into a river, in the woods, or into the ocean. Biodegradation does not only depend on the chemical product, but also on the microbial environment of the habitat. Therefore, it may occur that a chemical product biodegrades to a 100% in its intended habitat, but does not fully biodegrade in an unintended habitat.

As littering cannot be efficiently controlled or prevented, it is important that the biodegradation data associated with the chemical products includes biodegradation data associated with an unintended habitat may be provided. This allows authorities to restrict market access to chemical products that biodegrade also in unintended habitats. Therefore, it is beneficial if authorities are able to access biodegradation data of the chemical product for unintended habitats. Methods and systems to ensure data availability, and controlling access are disclosed herein and described in more detail with reference to figures 3 to 18.

For biodegradation of the example bottle in the intended habitat, the bottle is disposed into a controlled waste disposal workstream 110 by the end consumer. The end consumer may instructed for properly disposable by accessing biodegradation data associated with the chemical product. Methods and systems to ensure data availability, and controlling access are disclosed herein and described in more detail with reference to figures 3 to 18.

The chemical product may be disposed with a waste collector. The waste collector may then access biodegradation data associated with the chemical product. Based on the biodegradation data associated with the intended habitat 112, the waste collector may provide the chemical material to an appropriate waste management facility. The appropriate waste management facility may access the biodegradation data associated with the chemical product to retrieve treatment instructions. The waste management facility may then follow the retrieved treatment instructions to control biodegradation, here composting 114. Methods and systems to ensure data availability, and controlling access are disclosed herein and described in more detail with reference to figures 3 to 18. Eventually, the chemical product may end as compost 116.

Figure 19 B illustrates how a liquid chemical product such as a formulation, in particular a detergent or personal care product may end up in different environments.

Starting from use 200, the product may be littered 202 by an end customer, e.g. by using the chemical product in the wildlife. Littering may occur into various habitats, in particular in unintended habitats such as open water 204, soil 206 and marine 208. Biodegradation does not only depend on the chemical product, but also on the microbial environment of the habitat. Therefore, it may occur that a chemical product biodegrades to a 100% in its intended habitat, but does not fully biodegrade in an unintended habitat.

As littering cannot be efficiently controlled or prevented, it is important that the biodegradation data associated with the chemical products includes biodegradation data associated with an unintended habitat may be provided. This allows authorities to restrict market access to chemical products that also biodegrade in unintended habitats. Therefore, it is beneficial if authorities are able to access biodegradation data of the chemical product for unintended habitats. Methods and systems to ensure data availability, and controlling access are disclosed herein and described in more detail with reference to figures 3 to 18.

For biodegradation of the example bottle in the intended habitat, the bottle is disposed into a controlled waste workstream 210 by the end consumer.

The chemical product in this example may be used such that it is collected in a controlled environment of a sewer and consequently ends in the intended habitat waste-water 212, which may be controlled by a waste managing facility. Based on the biodegradation data associated with the intended habitat 212. The appropriate waste management facility may access the biodegradation data associated with the chemical product to retrieve treatment instructions. The waste management facility may then follow the retrieved treatment instructions to control biodegradation, in waste-water. Methods and systems to ensure data availability, and controlling access are disclosed herein and described in more detail with reference to figures 3 to 18. Eventually, the chemical product may end as diluted as minerals in water 214.

The present disclosure has been described in conjunction with a preferred embodiment as 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. Notably, in particular, the any steps presented can be performed in any order, i.e. the present invention is not limited to a specific order of these steps. Moreover, it is also not required that the different steps are performed at a certain place or at one node of a distributed system, i.e. each of the steps may be performed at a different nodes using different equipment/data processing units.

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, “can” or “may” refers to optional features. 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 or further elements may be included.

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.

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

Claims

1. An apparatus for generating a chemical product passport, the apparatus comprising: one or more computing nodes; and one or more computer-readable media having thereon computer-executable instructions that are structured such that, when executed by the one or more computing nodes, cause the apparatus to perform the following steps:

- receive a request to provide a decentral identifier associated with biodegradation data the biodegradation data associated with a biodegradation property of a chemical product and a data owner,

- in response to the request, generate the chemical product passport including the decentral identifier and data related to the biodegradation data the biodegradation data associated with a biodegradation property of the chemical product;

- provide the chemical product passport for access by a data consuming service under control or controlled by a data providing service associated with the data owner.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the decentral identifier is provided to a node generating the chemical product passport and to at least one authentication data registry, preferably accessible by the data providing service and/or the data consuming service.

3. The apparatus of any of claims 1 or 2, wherein the generation of the chemical product passport includes providing the decentral identifier associated with a physical entity of the chemical product.

4. The apparatus of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the chemical product passport includes one or more authentication mechanisms associated with the decentral identifier and the data related to the biodegradation data.

5. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the chemical product passport is related to one or more authorization mechanisms associated with the decentral identifier and the data related to the biodegradation data.

6. The apparatus of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the chemical product passport is associated with data related to different classes of biodegradation data.

7. The apparatus of any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the chemical product passport is associated with at least one class of biodegradation data that includes data related to a habitat for biodegradation of the chemical product and/or data associated with a biodegradation test and/or treatment instructions, and/or recipe data.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the data associated with a biodegradation test is associated with a standardized test.

9. The apparatus according to any one of claims 7 or 8 wherein biodegradation data includes data related to a habitat for biodegradation of the chemical product includes data associated with a microbial community of the habitat.

10. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the biodegradation data is associated with the microplastic data associated with the amount of microplastic introduced in a habitat by biodegradation.

11. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-10, wherein the recipe data includes control data for controlling production of a chemical product based on the chemical material.

12. A computer-implemented method for generating a chemical product passport, the method comprising the steps:

- receiving a request to provide a decentral identifier associated with biodegradation data, the biodegradation data associated with a biodegradation property of the chemical product and a data owner,

- in response to the request, generating the chemical product passport including the decentral identifier and data related to the biodegradation data, the biodegradation data associated with a biodegradation property of the biodegradable chemical product;

- providing the chemical product passport for access by a data consuming service under control or controlled by a data providing service associated with the data owner.

13. Use of the chemical product passport as generated according to the method of claim 11 or by the apparatus of any of claims 1 to 10 to obtain recipe data of the chemical product passport for controlling producing of a chemical end product from chemical product based on the determined recipe data of the chemical product associated with the chemical product passport.

14. Use of the chemical product passport generated according to the method of claim 11 , comprising controlling of a waste management facility based on the biodegradation data associated with a biodegradation property of the biodegradable chemical product, associated to an intended habitat.

15. A biodegradable chemical product associated with the chemical product passport, wherein the chemical product passport including the decentral identifier and data related to the biodegradation data is generated according to the method of claim 12 or by the apparatus of any of claims 1 to 11.

16. A biodegradable chemical product according to claim 15, wherein the biodegradable chemical product is a biodegradable polymer.

17. A chemical product passport including the decentral identifier and data related to the biodegradation data, wherein the chemical product passport is generated according to the method of claim 12 or by the apparatus of any of claims 1 to 11.

18. A computer element with instructions, which when executed on one or more computing node(s) is configured to carry out the steps of the method of claim 12 or by the apparatus of any of claims 1 to 11.