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Exploration Subgraph Taxonomy Root Page

This is the root page for a taxonomy of exploration relationships.

Role Taxonomy for Materials

A. Composition roles (composition-roles)

Roles where the material becomes part of a thing.

  • A1. Ingredient / Component (ingredient-component)
    • Used as an input that becomes part of the output.
    • ex: corn in tortillas; corn in bourbon mash (via mashbill).
  • A2. Primary ingredient / Major component
    • Dominant share of composition (by mass/volume or rule-of-thumb).
  • A3. Minor ingredient / Additive
    • Small share; may affect taste, stability, texture.
  • A4. Active ingredient
    • The “functional” ingredient (pharma/chemical sense).
  • A5. Filler / Bulking agent
  • A6. Fortifier / Enrichment component
  • A7. Co-product / Byproduct-as-component
    • A byproduct that is deliberately incorporated elsewhere (e.g., DDGS used in feed).

B. Transformational roles

Roles where the material is consumed or transformed into something else (process-centric).

  • B1. Feedstock
    • Primary raw input for a conversion process.
    • ex: corn as ethanol feedstock.
  • B2. Fermentable substrate
    • Specifically used because it can be fermented.
  • B3. Reactant
    • Chemically consumed in reaction.
  • B4. Intermediate
    • Produced/consumed between steps.
  • B5. Precursor
    • A required upstream input to make another input.
  • B6. Catalyst
    • Enables reaction without being consumed (or consumed slowly).
  • B7. Solvent / Carrier
    • Dissolves/transports other substances; may be recovered.
  • B8. Processing aid
    • Used to enable manufacture; not intended to remain in final product (or only traces).

C. Nutritional and biological roles

Roles where the material functions in a living system.

  • C1. Human food
  • C2. Animal feed
    • C2a. Feed base / ration staple
    • C2b. Feed supplement
  • C3. Nutrient source
    • Protein source, carbohydrate source, fat source, etc.
  • C4. Growth medium / substrate
    • Supports biological growth (cultures, agriculture inputs).

D. Energy roles

Roles where the material is used primarily for energy.

  • D1. Fuel
  • D2. Biofuel feedstock
  • D3. Combustion input
  • D4. Energy storage medium (rare for “materials” tables, but possible)

E. Structural and physical roles

Roles where the material provides structure, packaging, containment, or physical function.

  • E1. Structural material
  • E2. Packaging material
    • E2a. Primary packaging (touches product)
    • E2b. Secondary packaging
    • E2c. Tertiary packaging / shipping
  • E3. Container / Vessel
  • E4. Coating / Liner / Barrier
  • E5. Reinforcement / Binder
  • E6. Insulator / Sealant

F. Operational roles

Roles tied to operations and handling rather than composition.

  • F1. Consumable
    • Used up during operations (cleaners, gloves, wipes).
  • F2. Maintenance material
  • F3. Sanitizer / Sterilant
  • F4. Lubricant
  • F5. Coolant
  • F6. Spare / Replacement part material (if “material” includes parts)

G. Quality, safety, and compliance roles

Roles that matter because of rules, hazards, or quality constraints.

  • G1. Regulated ingredient
    • Subject to composition rules, labeling rules, or standards of identity.
  • G2. Allergen / Sensitizer
  • G3. Hazardous material
    • Transport/storage/safety classification matters.
  • G4. Contaminant / Impurity (risk)
    • Not intended; tracked as risk factor.
  • G5. Quality-critical input
    • Drives variance in yield/defects/taste/strength.
  • G6. Traceability-critical input
    • Requires lot-level lineage.
  • G7. Restricted / sanctioned input (trade/compliance)

H. Economic and market roles

Roles that help your TCW/TM discovery because they link to drivers that aren’t “in the recipe.”

  • H1. Price-index driver
    • Its price is used as an index or strongly drives costs.
  • H2. Cost driver
    • Material cost dominates unit economics.
  • H3. Substitute / Alternative
    • Has replacement relationship (e.g., corn vs. wheat in some contexts).
  • H4. Complement
    • Often rises/falls with another input (packaging + product, etc.).
  • H5. Scarcity / bottleneck candidate
    • Availability constrains throughput.
  • H6. Seasonal supply driver
  • H7. Policy-sensitive commodity
    • Subsidies, tariffs, quotas, mandates influence it.
  • H8. Speculation-sensitive commodity
    • Futures/hedging behaviors create dynamics.

I. Environmental and externality roles

Roles that matter because they connect to weather/climate/regulation—often where “non-obvious” correlations live.

  • I1. Water-intensive input
  • I2. Land-use driver
  • I3. Emissions driver
  • I4. Waste stream driver
  • I5. Recycling stream input

J. Knowledge and navigation roles (explicitly for your exploration layer)

These are “roles about roles” that help the system reason about how to explore.

  • J1. Anchor material
    • Well-connected; good stepping stone for graph expansion.
  • J2. Bridge material
    • Connects otherwise separate clusters (e.g., corn bridging agriculture ↔ energy ↔ spirits).
  • J3. Leaf material
    • Niche; low connectivity; likely to be endpoint.
  • J4. Ambiguous label
    • Name collision risk (e.g., “corn” vs “corn starch” vs “sweet corn”).