European consortium to evaluate potato waste for fatty acids production
In the Netherlands, a consortium of public and private entities is working to prove that a potato-processing side stream can be converted into renewable chemicals. Dubbed PACE, short for Potato Juice to Fatty Acids for New Bio-based Value-Chains in Europe, the consortium will retrofit a plant owned by potato-starch cooperative Royal Avebe. Using advanced fermentation and microbial chain‑elongation processes, the facility will transform potato‑juice side streams into valuable biobased medium‑chain fatty acids for use across the chemical industry.
“PACE demonstrates how circular chemistry can become part of existing industrial systems at a meaningful scale,” Niels van Stralen, co‑founder and CEO of ChainCraft BV, the Amsterdam‑based biotechnology company leading the PACE project, told Irish Tech News. “By upgrading infrastructure that already exists and using locally available side-streams, we show that sustainable chemistry does not have to start from scratch. PACE is an important example of how Europe can build more resilient and circular chemical value chains.”
Downstream partners will validate the PACE-produced MCFAs in targeted industrial applications.
Category: Chemicals & Materials
