How a record is verified
A record is verified when a primary source states the plant exists at that site, performs the stated process, and gives the capacity attributed to it. The source is kept on the record with its publication date and the date it was last opened. Nothing enters this registry because it appears in another directory.
418
Checked to a primary source
The audit behind those numbers
In November 2026 every record was put through a source check. Three model passes reviewed the same material first and disagreed with each other and with the sources, so the final pass was done record by record against filings, permits, government tables and company technical pages.
201 of the 344 records given a verdict were wrong. The errors were not typing mistakes: plants filed as planned that had been running for years, plants filed as operating that are closed or liquidated, a refinery recorded at 28,000 t/yr whose actual capacity is 40 t/yr, and capacities that were company or country totals attached to a single site.
A model asked to verify a record checks it against the sources the record already carries. When those sources are other directories, confirmation means the directory agrees with itself. That is why the check is a filing, not a vote.
Rules we apply to every record
- A source hierarchyA permit, exchange filing, government table or company technical page outranks trade press, which is never used alone. A directory listing is not a source. Each record carries two to four sources, at least one primary.
- Capacity labelled by basisNameplate, planned design and actual output are three different numbers and are labelled as such. A figure announced for a plant that is not built is design capacity, not nameplate.
- No borrowed totalsA group or country total is never written onto one plant. Where only a national figure exists, the plant says not disclosed and the country number is described in a note instead.
- Status as an eventOperating, Commissioning, Construction, Planned, Paused, Closed. A status changes only when a source says the state changed, never because a directory copied it forward.
- One plant, one recordWhere a site makes two products the record lists both rather than inventing a second dot. Where two sites in one complex are genuinely separate, they stay separate with a cross-reference.
- A correction routeEvery record can be challenged. A reported error is checked against a primary source, then corrected or explained, and the correction is dated.
What the audit found
| Finding | Count |
|---|
| Records checked against a primary source | 418 of 442 |
| Records corrected | 201 |
| Sites listed as operating, actually paused or closed | 28 |
| Sites listed as planned, already operating | 6 |
| Records with no primary source, marked unconfirmed | 21 |
| Records still resting on an undated source | 2 |
What is still missing
21 plants appear in trade lists but in no primary source we could find: no company page, permit, filing or government table names them at that site. They stay in the registry marked unconfirmed rather than being deleted, so the gap is visible rather than hidden. 2 records cite a source with no publication date.
Capacity is disclosed for 310 of the 442 plants. The remainder is not a research failure: most processors do not publish a number, and the field says so.
Questions
- What does verified mean here?
- A primary source states the plant exists, does the stated process, and gives the capacity attributed to it, and that source is stored with its date.
- How many records did the audit correct?
- 201 of 344 given a verdict, 58%.
- Do you use country totals as plant capacity?
- Never. The plant says not disclosed and the country figure is described in a note.
- How do I report a wrong record?
- Every record carries a correction route. The error is checked against a primary source, corrected or explained, and the correction is dated.
- Why does a record say not disclosed instead of a number?
- Because the company has not published one. An estimate would make this the same product as the directories it replaces.