Chemical Engineering July 2022 - 13

Carbon Minds
FIGURE 2. A highly regionalized and representative
database helps users to quickly conduct lifecycle
assesments for a wide variety of chemical products
and plastic materials
they can best scale their demand
based on availability, or shift shipments
from one location to another.
" That flexibility is paramount to being
able to survive these challenges
- and also ramp up for the next
wave of shortages or disruptions, "
adds Sagastume.
As more companies and consumers
turn their focus to sustainability,
manufacturers are also increasingly
considering the climate impacts of
their products over their full lifecycle.
Since a significant portion of a company's
emissions may come from
supply-chain considerations, access
to representative and comprehensive
data at all points in a product's lifecycle
is key to fully understanding the
environmental implications of global
production chains.
" As companies and entire industries
become more sustainable, one
of the hardest challenges - and
greatest opportunities - they face
is assessing and reducing environmental
impacts in their supply chains.
Chemical and plastic supply chains
are particularly complex, so it is especially
difficult to gather data and generate
reliable assessments, " explains
Arne Kätelhön, CEO and co-founder
of Carbon Minds GmbH (Cologne,
Germany; www.carbon-minds.com).
Carbon Minds is a data provider and
consultancy that uses a proprietary
model of the global chemical industry
to offer lifecycle assessment data
for over 1,000 chemicals and plastics
in 190 geographical regions (Figure
2). " By modeling so many individual
chemical production facilities, as well
as how these plants are connected
to each other through co-production
and international trade, we generate
a highly representative dataset of the
environmental impacts of chemical
and plastic supply chains. We are the
only company that has modeled environmental
impacts in global chemical
supply chains on a supplier-specific
level with full market coverage, "
Kätelhön says. Depending on where
a company purchases its chemicals
or plastics, the production pathways
- and associated carbon footprint
- can be very different, meaning that
within any supply chain, there are very
likely opportunities for impact reduction.
Carbon Minds' supplier-specific
carbon-footprint data indicate that,
in the CPI, the difference in climate
impact between an average supplier
and a supplier with the lowest climate
impact is around 38%, on average.
Carbon Minds is currently collaborating
with chemicals intelligence
firm ICIS (London, U.K.; www.icis.
com) on an analytics tool using supplier-
and plant-specific data to help
companies assess, manage and reduce
their supply-chain emissions
and make informed sustainabilityfocused
decisions. The company is
also identifying gaps and expanding
its data coverage. Such a comprehensive
level of data accessibility is
key to help companies understand
their supply chain's climate impact.
" Achieving net-zero chemicals and
plastics will be a necessary step for
companies in all sectors to achieve
their net-zero emissions targets, "
emphasizes Kätelhön.
Blockchain supports traceability
Secure blockchain platforms are increasingly
being leveraged to help
validate supply-chain data at each
node of the supply chain. This is particularly
important for raw-material
chains that must meet certain metrics
for sustainability certifications. Such
materials include recycled plastics,
biofuels raw materials, battery metals
and botanical ingredients, such as
palm oils and cocoa.
Palm kernel oil.
In May, BASF SE
(Ludwigshafen, Germany;
www.basf.
com) announced
a
successful
pilot
proof-of-concept
blockchain platform
to establish
greater traceability
and authenticity of
sustainable palm
kernel oil (Figure 3).
In a partnership with
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
the technology company Bext360
(Golden, Colo.; www.bext360.com),
the platform is designed to allow end
users interested in responsible sourcing
to trace palm ingredients using
digitized and secure crypto-blockchain
technology. Marcelo Lu, senior
vice president, BASF Care Chemicals
North America, says, " Using this
technology platform, we believe that
the consumer will be able to access
greater traceability for every step
along the palm value chain - directly
from the farm through to the end
consumer. " Addressing transparency
and traceability is an emerging trend,
BASF says, and it plans to explore
applying this blockchain technology
to other ingredients and supply
chains. Bext 360's digitized supplychain
platform was originally developed
for tracing coffee, and has now
been expanded to cover additional
products, including cotton and textiles,
minerals, recyclables and palmbased
materials. The platform brings
together data related to carbon intensity,
Scope 3 emissions, customer
payments and more at each node
in the supply chain. Customers are
increasingly asking for products that
are sustainably produced, says Lu,
and this
blockchain
platform
provides
validation of suppliers' practices.
BASF is now producing an
emollient product containing palm
kernel oil that was traced using the
blockchain platform.
Recycled polymers. In May, Neste
Corp. (Espoo, Finland; www.neste.
com) launched a project to apply the
Circularise blockchain-based traceability
software to trace renewable and
recycled material flows. The software
creates a digital twin for physical materials,
which provides transparency
BASF
FIGURE 3. Using secure blockchain technology, BASF has been able to procure
palm kernal oils exclusively from sustainably certified sources, with
traceability back to the initial milling process
JULY 2022
13
http://www.bext360.com http://http:// http://www.icis.com http://www.icis.com http://www.neste.com http://www.neste.com http://www.carbon-minds.com http://www.basf.com http://www.basf.com http://WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
Chemical Engineering July 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering July 2022
