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Architecture Overview​

The architecture of Material Accounting is designed for decentralized and sovereign data exchange within the Catena-X ecosystem. It enables different actors of the reverse value chain to exchange material-related information in a standardized and interoperable way without directly connecting their internal IT systems.

The following diagram illustrates the high-level architecture of Material Accounting and the interaction between participating companies and Catena-X core services.

architecture overview

Figure 1: Material Accounting Architecture Overview

The architecture is based on digital twins and semantic aspect models that represent vehicles, component sets, components, materials, and recycling processes. Each company acts either as a data provider, a data consumer, or both, depending on its role within the circular value chain.

Each participant operates its own systems and exchanges data through an Eclipse Dataspace Connector (EDC). The EDC acts as a secure and policy-controlled gateway that manages authentication, authorization, and sovereign data exchange between partners. This ensures that data is only shared with authorized participants and according to agreed usage policies.

The exchanged information is structured through standardized semantic models such as VehicleInformation, Composition, Material, WasteCode, RecyclingBatch, and RecyclingInformation. These models enable all actors to interpret and process material-related information consistently across organizational boundaries.

Whenever a physical process occurs — such as dismantling, transport, recycling, or material transformation — corresponding digital information is created or updated. The associated digital twins are continuously enriched throughout the lifecycle, enabling traceability of material flows and transparent tracking of secondary materials.

Data Exchange Flow​

The Material Accounting data exchange follows the Catena-X principles for sovereign and interoperable data sharing. Material-related information is exchanged between participants of the reverse value chain through standardized semantic models and digital twins.

The following diagram illustrates the high-level data exchange flow between actors participating in Material Accounting.

Data Exchange Flow

Figure 2: Data Exchange Flow Material Accounting.

Flow Description​

  1. Asset Registration and Identification Physical assets such as vehicles, component sets, components, and materials are represented digitally using digital twins and globally unique identifiers. Existing Catena-X standards such as PartInstance and SingleLevelBomAsBuilt provide the structural foundation for linking these assets.

  2. Process Execution and Data Generation As physical processes occur, such as dismantling, sorting, transport, recycling, or material transformation, relevant process and material information is generated. This includes process steps, material classifications, waste codes, batch information, and mass balances.

  3. Semantic Data Exchange The generated information is exchanged between actors using standardized aspect models such as VehicleInformation, Composition, Material, WasteCode, RecyclingBatch, and RecyclingInformation. The exchanged data remains interoperable and machine-readable across company boundaries.

  4. End-of-Life Traceability and Data Enrichment Throughout the reverse and forward value chain, digital twins are continuously enriched with additional information from participating actors. This enables traceability of material flows, verification of recycled content, and transparent tracking of secondary materials.

  5. Downstream Use Cases The exchanged and verified material-related information can subsequently be used by downstream circular economy use cases such as Secondary Material Content (SMC) and the Digital Product Passport (DPP).

Exchange Principles​

The data exchange is based on:

  • Sovereign data sharing via Eclipse Dataspace Connector (EDC)
  • Standardized semantic models using SAMM
  • Digital twin-based asset representation
  • Policy-controlled access and usage agreements
  • Cross-company interoperability according to Catena-X standards

NOTICE​

This work is licensed under the CC-BY-4.0.

  • SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0
  • SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 BASF SE
  • SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft (BMW AG)
  • SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Brain of Materials AG
  • SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Gestamp
  • SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Technovative Solutions Limited
  • SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 LRP-Autorecycling Leipzig GmbH
  • SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Asahi Kasei
  • SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Interzero
  • SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Circularise
  • SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Containergrid GmbH
  • SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Contributors to the Eclipse Foundation
  • Source URL: https://github.com/eclipse-tractusx/eclipse-tractusx.github.io