An Open-Access Model of the Chemicals and Materials Industry to Enable Equitable Research Toward Sustainability, Circularity and Net-zero

An Open-Access Model of the Chemicals and Materials Industry to Enable Equitable Research Toward Sustainability, Circularity and Net-zero | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article An Open-Access Model of the Chemicals and Materials Industry to Enable Equitable Research Toward Sustainability, Circularity and Net-zero Amrita Sen, Aniket Mali, Nandita Saraf, Jaafar Ballout, Reena Sharma, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6770364/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract To address its environmental shortcomings, the chemicals and materials industry (CMI) has pledged to achieve net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases and a circular economy of plastics within a few decades. Guiding such a transformation in a sustainable manner requires a comprehensive model of the current CMI, emerging alternatives, and their life cycle impacts. Such models exist, but due to their proprietary nature, they fail to meet research requirements of reproducibility, transparency, and fairness. Furthermore, their high cost allows only wealthy research groups to pursue research in this important area. We develop the first open-access model of the global CMI based on publicly available data and knowledge. For 2021, we map material, energy, and carbon flows along with costs for specified flows of products. Models of emerging technologies may be readily integrated in this model and the resulting superstructure will help find pathways for a sustainable, circular and net-zero CMI. Chemical Engineering Net-zero emissions greenhouse gases chemicals industry materials industry material flow analysis sustainability circular economy Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare potential competing interests as follows: Partial funding for this work was provided by the Mitsubishi Chemicals Group through their support of The Global Kaiteki Center at ASU. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6770364","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":463243409,"identity":"9e980cf5-e91c-4f8b-8f38-f426b76b85a8","order_by":0,"name":"Amrita Sen","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Amrita","middleName":"","lastName":"Sen","suffix":""},{"id":463243410,"identity":"25804b14-8184-4fac-afc7-74fbfd6ad9bd","order_by":1,"name":"Aniket Mali","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Aniket","middleName":"","lastName":"Mali","suffix":""},{"id":463243411,"identity":"5bca70d9-961d-40ad-97d8-452c87865104","order_by":2,"name":"Nandita Saraf","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Nandita","middleName":"","lastName":"Saraf","suffix":""},{"id":463243412,"identity":"f24ee24a-e3a7-4872-a3f6-1a53c2626cca","order_by":3,"name":"Jaafar Ballout","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jaafar","middleName":"","lastName":"Ballout","suffix":""},{"id":463243413,"identity":"2f40b272-251e-4302-b71f-2e4fbc4a41a9","order_by":4,"name":"Reena Sharma","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Reena","middleName":"","lastName":"Sharma","suffix":""},{"id":463243414,"identity":"3e693bc9-acf2-4540-be06-b368a44f611a","order_by":5,"name":"Farshid Nazemi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Farshid","middleName":"","lastName":"Nazemi","suffix":""},{"id":463243415,"identity":"be6658d0-c6c9-4058-b444-3fbc53743dd7","order_by":6,"name":"George Stephanopoulos","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"George","middleName":"","lastName":"Stephanopoulos","suffix":""},{"id":463243416,"identity":"35a8abda-a0ef-4d24-b1ca-8dfecfed4bab","order_by":7,"name":"Bhavik R. 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