Mechanism and Primitive Description

A modular substrate block, having served its useful life within a building or infrastructure asset, is retired from service. Retirement may be precipitated by planned demolition at end-of-design-life, by structural failure, by adaptive reuse triggering replacement, or by elective upgrade. The decommissioning event is captured by signing a structured attestation against the block's existing credentialed admissibility profile. The attestation records the retirement reason, the date and location of decommissioning, the chosen recovery pathway, and a cryptographic reference to the chain of prior signatures linking the block back to its FJH-derived carbon feedstock.

Once attested, the block enters a recovery flow. Mechanical separation extracts the embedded carbon from the surrounding cementitious matrix; the recovered carbon mass is weighed and characterized; a portion is committed to re-graphenization via FJH or analogous carbonization treatment per Section 2.7 of the parent provisional; the recovered mass is re-incorporated into subsequent structural elements with credentialed history preserved across the transition. The lineage chain is extended, not reset, at each cycle, so a unit of carbon that has cycled multiple times through structural-element generations carries an auditable record of every prior incorporation and recovery event.

The primitive thereby converts what is conventionally a one-way embodied-carbon trajectory (sequestration followed by demolition release) into a closed loop in which the same carbon mass serves multiple structural-element lifetimes. Sequestration is preserved across recovery cycles because the carbon never returns to the atmosphere; instead, it is re-processed and re-deployed under continuous credential continuity. The attestation itself is a structured object containing fields for block serial identifier, decommissioning operator credential, jurisdictional authority signature, recovery pathway selector, and a payload of measured physical state at retirement (residual mass, structural-degradation grade, contamination flags). Once countersigned by the receiving recovery facility, the attestation becomes an immutable lifecycle-completion record, simultaneously closing the predecessor block's outbound credential ledger and opening the inbound feedstock ledger of the recovered mass.

The handoff geometry is engineered to preserve traceability through the discontinuities of mechanical processing. Crushed block fragments are tagged at the lot level with a recovered-feedstock identifier that hashes into the predecessor block's attestation; subsequent re-graphenization batches inherit this identifier as one of their input commitments; the resulting graphenic output is committed back into the lineage chain as the parent of a new generation of substrate blocks. At no point is the carbon mass present without an active credential, and at no point is a credential issued without a corresponding physical commitment of mass.

Operating Parameters and Engineering Envelope

Recovery efficiency, defined as the fraction of original block carbon mass that is successfully recovered and admitted to a subsequent fabrication cycle, is bounded between 70 and 95 percent. The lower bound represents recovery from blocks that have experienced severe structural compromise (e.g. fire damage, chemical contamination), where matrix-separation losses and re-graphenization yields are simultaneously degraded. The upper bound represents recovery from blocks retired in pristine condition, with clean matrix interfaces and minimal contamination. Typical commercial recovery operates in the 80 to 90 percent range.

Mechanical separation parameters include crushing energy, sieving cut-points, and density-based concentration efficiency. Crushing reduces the decommissioned block to a particle distribution from which the carbon-rich fraction can be separated; cut-points are tuned to maximize carbon recovery while minimizing matrix entrainment. Recited crushing-energy budgets fall in the range 5 to 25 kWh per tonne of block input, with the lower end achievable by jaw-and-cone primary crushing and the upper end reflecting attrition milling required to liberate fine carbon particulate from densely bonded matrix. Sieve cut-points are typically 50, 200, and 800 micrometers, defining a graded recovery stream in which the finest fraction carries the highest carbon mass concentration. Density-based concentration uses water tables, dense-media separation, or air classification to elevate carbon fractional purity above 90 percent prior to re-graphenization, since matrix contamination above this threshold meaningfully suppresses graphenic yield.

Chemical separation is admitted as an alternative or complement, dissolving the cementitious matrix while leaving the carbon phase intact. Recited acid-leach embodiments employ dilute hydrochloric or acetic acid at controlled pH to selectively dissolve calcium silicate hydrate phases; recited alkaline embodiments employ NaOH at elevated temperature to dissolve aluminate phases. Chemical separation incurs reagent cost and effluent treatment overhead but can elevate carbon recovery efficiency by five to ten percentage points relative to mechanical-only separation, particularly for blocks with fine intermixed carbon distribution.

Re-graphenization energy budgets follow the FJH operating envelope established in the parent provisional: transient temperatures of 2500 to 3500 K with sub-second residence times, energy intensities of 1 to 5 kJ per gram of feedstock, and atmosphere control under inert or reducing conditions. The recovered carbon feedstock is admitted into the FJH process as a pre-conditioned input whose particle-size distribution and contamination grade have been characterized in the preceding separation step; this characterization is committed to the lineage chain so that downstream graphenic yield can be correlated with input quality across recovery cycles. Pathway selection between FJH re-graphenization, aggregate recycling, and landfill is governed by economic and regulatory criteria, with the decommissioning attestation logging the chosen path so that downstream credit accounting (notably methane-avoidance and carbon-mass credits) reflects actual disposition rather than assumed disposition.

Time-domain bounds on the recovery flow are also recited. The maximum interval between decommissioning attestation and physical recovery commitment is set by the credit-registry rules of the governing jurisdiction; typical bounds run from 30 days for active credit-bearing blocks to 365 days for stockpiled-recovery embodiments. Where the interval is exceeded, the attestation transitions to a deferred-recovery state and the carbon credits attached to the predecessor block are placed in a holding ledger pending resolution.

Alternative Embodiments

Three primary recovery pathways are disclosed. FJH re-graphenization returns the recovered carbon to a graphenic state suitable for full re-incorporation as structural carbon in successor blocks; this pathway maximizes carbon-credit retention and lineage continuity but imposes the highest energy cost. Aggregate recycling employs the recovered carbon as a filler or aggregate in lower-grade cementitious products without re-graphenization; this pathway preserves sequestration but degrades the credentialed grade of the carbon for subsequent uses. Landfill is admitted as a terminal pathway when recovery is infeasible, with the attestation recording the terminal disposition for credit accounting.

Alternative embodiments admit hybrid pathways in which a fraction of the recovered carbon is re-graphenized while the remainder is downcycled to aggregate. Embodiments also admit deferred recovery, in which decommissioned blocks are stockpiled under attestation and processed in batch when economically favorable. Cross-jurisdictional recovery embodiments admit transport of decommissioned mass to centralized FJH facilities under chain-of-custody attestation.

A further class of embodiments substitutes alternative carbonization technologies for FJH where local infrastructure or feedstock characteristics favor them. Plasma-arc re-graphenization, microwave-assisted graphitization, and conventional Acheson-furnace graphitization each provide compatible inputs to the lineage chain provided their energy-intensity, atmosphere-control, and yield-characterization records are committed in the same structured form. Cross-technology recovery is supported because the lineage chain is indexed by mass and credential, not by process; a successor block fabricated from carbon recovered through plasma-arc re-graphenization carries a fully auditable lineage even though its predecessor recovery cycle used FJH.

Distributed-recovery embodiments place small-scale recovery units at the demolition site, eliminating long-distance transport for the bulk fraction of the recovered mass and reducing the embodied-carbon overhead of the recovery cycle itself. Centralized-recovery embodiments aggregate decommissioned blocks from many sources into a regional facility with higher throughput and lower marginal energy intensity. Co-processing embodiments admit recovered carbon into FJH batches that also include virgin biomass or virgin coke feedstock, with the lineage chain tracking the proportional contribution of recovered mass to the resulting graphenic output. Re-credentialing embodiments handle blocks whose original credentials were issued under a now-superseded jurisdictional framework, applying a re-attestation procedure that maps legacy credentials onto the current ledger schema while preserving the historical chain.

Composition with Adjacent Primitives

The decommissioning-and-recovery primitive composes with the credentialed-materials lifecycle primitive that establishes the signed-attestation framework. The lifecycle primitive supplies the cryptographic and procedural infrastructure for signing, verifying, and chaining material-provenance attestations; the recovery primitive defines a specific class of attestation that triggers a specific class of physical action (matrix separation, re-graphenization, re-incorporation). The two primitives compose without modification because the recovery attestation conforms to the same record schema, signature semantics, and chain-extension rules as the upstream commissioning, installation, and service attestations that precede it in the block's lineage.

The primitive composes with the carbon-substrate-flow primitive, closing the carbon flow loop into a multi-generational cycle. Where carbon-substrate-flow tracks mass and credentials forward from feedstock through fabrication and deployment, decommissioning-and-recovery extends the same tracking backward into recovery and onward into the next generation. The primitive also composes with the carbon-credit-registry-composition primitive, providing the per-block lifecycle-completion event that triggers final credit accounting and any necessary credit-state transitions. Where a block carries both carbon-mass credits and methane-avoidance credits, the recovery attestation can selectively retire the methane-avoidance credit while transferring the carbon-mass credit forward into the successor generation, reflecting the underlying physical fact that sequestration continues while the avoidance event has already occurred.

The primitive further composes with the structural-engineering-attestation primitive for jurisdictions that require post-demolition structural disposition records, and with the building-information-modeling primitive for owners that maintain digital twins of their assets. In each case the decommissioning attestation is the canonical event into which downstream registries hook, ensuring that the structural, environmental, and financial records of a retired block resolve to the same underlying signed object.

Prior-Art Distinctions

Conventional concrete demolition releases both the embodied carbon of the cement matrix (CO₂ generated during clinker production) and any sequestered carbon present in the structural element. Demolition debris is typically downcycled into roadbed aggregate or landfilled; no provenance chain is preserved, and any carbon credits previously associated with the structural element are extinguished or rendered unverifiable at end-of-life.

Carbon-aggregate recycling schemes in prior art track only mass, not credentialed provenance. They cannot distinguish between carbon recovered from one credentialed feedstock and carbon recovered from another, so they cannot support per-element credit lifecycle accounting. Building-material reuse standards (e.g. for steel beams, dimensional lumber) preserve physical components but do not preserve credentialed sequestration provenance. Construction-and-demolition waste tracking systems used in regulated jurisdictions track only gross tonnage by waste class and do not attach lineage to individual structural elements; they cannot serve as substitutes for the disclosed recovery primitive because they lack both the per-element granularity and the cryptographic chain continuity.

The disclosed primitive is novel in three respects: (1) per-block attestation of decommissioning events; (2) integration of recovery-pathway choice into the attestation, so credit accounting reflects actual physical disposition; (3) preservation of the credentialed lineage chain across cradle-to-cradle cycles such that recovered carbon entering a successor element retains its full provenance history. No prior art combines these three features in a structural-carbon context.

Disclosure Scope

The disclosure encompasses the per-block decommissioning attestation format, the FJH re-graphenization recovery pathway, the aggregate-recycling pathway, the landfill pathway, the 70 to 95 percent recovery-efficiency envelope, mechanical and chemical matrix-separation methods, deferred and cross-jurisdictional recovery embodiments, and the composition with the credentialed-materials lifecycle primitive. Coverage extends to any structural-carbon system in which decommissioning events are attested per element and trigger downstream recovery flows whose physical disposition matches the attested pathway under credentialed lineage continuity.

The disclosure further encompasses lineage extension across cradle-to-cradle cycles such that recovered carbon entering successor structural elements retains full provenance history; embodiments employing batched stockpile recovery; embodiments employing centralized re-graphenization facilities serving multiple geographically distributed decommissioning sources; and embodiments interoperating with carbon-credit registries via integrated lifecycle-completion accounting. Coverage extends to alternative carbonization technologies (plasma-arc, microwave-assisted, Acheson-furnace) substituted for FJH where the resulting records remain compatible with the lineage chain schema, and to co-processing embodiments in which recovered carbon is admixed with virgin feedstock under proportional mass commitment.

Out of scope are conventional demolition flows lacking per-element credentialing, recycling flows that track mass without credentialed lineage, and reuse schemes that preserve physical components without preserving sequestration provenance. Also out of scope are credit-registry mechanisms that assume disposition without verification against signed physical-recovery records; the disclosed primitive is distinguished in that the attested recovery pathway is the operative authority for downstream credit accounting, with no assumption layer interposed between the physical event and the financial record.