# US 12,603,159 B2 · Methods and systems for treating a heterogeneous mixture of materials > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,603,159 B2 - Document ID: US12603159B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 19/021,506 - Filed: 2025-01-15 - Published: 2025-05-15 - Granted: 2026-04-14 - Earliest claimed: 2023-05-08 - Assignees: Sixone Labs Ltd. - Applicants: Sixone Labs Ltd. - Inventors: Jin Suntivich; Christopher Wai - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12603159B2 ## CPC - G16C 20/30: Prediction of properties of chemical compounds, compositions or mixtures - G16C 60/00: Computational materials science, i.e. ICT specially adapted for investigating the physical or chemical properties of materials or phenomena associated with their design, synthesis, processing, characterisation or utilisation - G06N 20/00: Machine learning - G16C 20/70: Machine learning, data mining or chemometrics - C08J 11/10: by chemically breaking down the molecular chains of polymers or breaking of crosslinks, e.g. devulcanisation (depolymerisation to the original monomer C07) - G01N 21/3563: for analysing solids; Preparation of samples therefor - G01N 21/359: using near infrared light - G01N 2021/8416: {and process controlling, not otherwise provided for} - G16C: COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY; CHEMOINFORMATICS; COMPUTATIONAL MATERIALS SCIENCE - G06N: COMPUTING ARRANGEMENTS BASED ON SPECIFIC COMPUTATIONAL MODELS - C08J: WORKING-UP; GENERAL PROCESSES OF COMPOUNDING; AFTER-TREATMENT NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C08B, C08C, C08F, C08G or C08H (working, e.g. shaping, of plastics B29) - G01N: INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES (measuring or testing apparatus or processes other than immunoassay, involving enzymes or microorganisms C12M, C12Q) ## Abstract A system and method for classifying a material in a heterogeneous mixture of materials, and predicting a processing method for treating the material are disclosed. At least some of the heterogeneous mixture of material pieces comprise different chemical information such as different chemical composition and/or physical characteristics. Embodiments of the system and method of the present invention use machine learning to classify and predict a processing protocol for material pieces based on the chemical compositions or reactivities of each of the material pieces. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for predicting a processing protocol for treating a heterogeneous mixture of desired materials, comprising: performing a plurality of experiments on a control set of materials, each one of the plurality of experiments comprising: acquiring a materials information about the control set of material by one or more sensors; treating the material using a processing protocol from a plurality of processing protocols that identifies conditions for processing materials; obtaining an output of the treatment; and analyzing the output to obtain training results of the experiments; creating a machine-learning model by training a machine-learning algorithm using the materials information, the processing protocol, and the training results from each of the plurality of experiments; receiving an input for a desired material for treating wherein the input comprises a materials information about the desired material obtained by the one or more sensors; creating, by the machine-learning model, a processing protocol for treating the desired material based on the input, wherein the creating of the processing protocol for treating the desired material comprises dynamically mapping the desired material to a newly created category to predict the processing protocol for treating the desired material; treating the desired material using the processing protocol for treating the desired material; obtaining an output from treating the desired material; analyzing the output to obtain further training results; and updating the machine-learning model by further training the machine-learning algorithm using the input, the processing protocol for treating the desired material, and the further training results. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the materials information comprises a spectrum of the material in response to an electromagnetic interaction of the material in a specified frequency range. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method according to claim 2, wherein the specified frequency range is an infrared frequency range. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the materials information comprises a composition of the material. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the materials information comprises one or more physical characteristics of the material. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of experiments comprises in a range of from about 10 to about 1000 experiments. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of experiments comprises less than 500 experiments. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the treating of the material comprises depolymerizing the material in a reactor. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The method according to claim 8, wherein one or more features that define the processing protocol comprise conditions for depolymerizing the material in the reactor to obtain a depolymerized material. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The method according to claim 9, wherein the treating of the material comprises chemically and/or physically treating the depolymerized material. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The method according to claim 10, wherein the one or more features that define the processing protocol comprise conditions for chemically and/or physically treating the depolymerized material. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the treating of the material comprises chemically and/or physically treating the material before inputting the material into a reactor. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The method according to claim 12, wherein one or more features that define the processing protocol comprises conditions for chemically and/or physically treating the material before inputting the material into the reactor. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein at least some of the materials information of the desired material for treating is different from the materials information of the materials in the control set of materials. ### Claim 15 A method for predicting a processing protocol for treating a heterogeneous mixture of desired materials, comprising: receiving an input for a desired material for treating, wherein the input comprises a materials information about the desired material obtained by one or more sensors; creating, by a machine-learning model, a processing protocol for treating the desired material based on the input, wherein the creating of the processing protocol for treating the desired material comprises dynamically mapping the desired material to a newly created category to predict the processing protocol for treating the desired material, wherein the machine-learning model is created by training a machine-learning algorithm using a materials information, a processing protocol, and training results obtained from analyzing an output of a treatment from a plurality of experiments performed on a control set of materials; treating the desired material using the processing protocol for treating the desired material; obtaining an output from treating the desired material; analyzing the output to obtain further training results; and updating the machine-learning model by further training the machine-learning algorithm using the input, the processing protocol for treating the desired material, and the further training results. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The method according to claim 15, wherein the materials information comprises a spectrum of the desired material in response to an electromagnetic interaction of the desired material in a specified frequency range. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The method according to claim 16, wherein the specified frequency range is an infrared frequency range. ### Claim 18 (depends on 15) The method according to claim 15, wherein the materials information comprises a composition of the desired material. ### Claim 19 (depends on 15) The method according to claim 15, wherein the materials information comprises one or more physical characteristics of the desired material. ### Claim 20 (depends on 15) The method according to claim 15, wherein the plurality of experiments comprises in a range of from about 10 to about 1000 experiments. ### Claim 21 (depends on 15) The method according to claim 15, wherein the plurality of experiments comprises less than 500 experiments. ### Claim 22 (depends on 15) The method according to claim 15, wherein the treating of the desired material comprises depolymerizing the desired material in a reactor. ### Claim 23 (depends on 22) The method according to claim 22, wherein one or more features that define the processing protocol for treating the desired material comprise conditions for depolymerizing the desired material in the reactor to obtain a depolymerized material. ### Claim 24 (depends on 23) The method according to claim 23, wherein the treating of the desired material comprises chemically and/or physically treating the depolymerized material. ### Claim 25 (depends on 24) The method according to claim 24, wherein the one or more features that define the processing protocol for treating the desired material comprise conditions for chemically and/or physically treating the depolymerized material. ### Claim 26 (depends on 22) The method according to claim 22, wherein one or more features that define the processing protocol for treating the desired material comprise conditions for chemically and/or physically treating the desired material before inputting the desired material into the reactor. ### Claim 27 (depends on 15) The method according to claim 15, wherein the treating of the desired material comprises chemically and/or physically treating the desired material before inputting the desired material into a reactor. ### Claim 28 (depends on 15) The method according to claim 15, wherein at least some of the materials information of the desired material for treating is different from the materials information of the materials in the control set of materials.