ChainCraft and the EIC Accelerator: Fatty Acids From Potato Waste

ChainCraft, based in Amsterdam, uses open-culture fermentation to turn food residues into medium-chain fatty acids such as butyric (C4) and caproic (C6) acid, which can replace palm-oil and petrochemical ingredients in animal feed, flavours and fragrances, cleaning products, lubricants and plasticisers. It was selected in the EIC Accelerator's June 2023 cut-off with a "grant first" award and received an EU grant of €2.50 million for CircularChain, a €3.68 million project from October 2023 to September 2025 to take its technology to readiness level 8 on potato industry residues and complete the design of a full-scale factory, according to CORDIS.

The final report says ChainCraft ran pilot tests on fermentation and most downstream steps, produced large batches at its demonstration plant for customers, "almost finalized" the conceptual design of the factory, started basic engineering and began permitting with "positive meetings" with the province and municipality, according to the CORDIS reporting page. It also named a new chief executive, Marc den Hartog, from the waste company Renewi. In May 2026 ChainCraft launched an integrated construction team for its first flagship plant, FS1, next to Royal Avebe's potato starch site in Ter Apelkanaal: about 20,000 tonnes a year, a total investment of "more than €100 million", construction from 2026 and start-up "targeted for early 2028", according to ChainCraft.

Where ChainCraft Stands Now

In June 2025 ChainCraft signed a long-term exclusive supply agreement for butyric acid with Innovad Group, an animal-health company, and in December 2025 delivered its "first full industrial scale" load to Innovad, according to ChainCraft. It works with Eternis Fine Chemicals on fragrance ingredients, and its acids went into Ecover cleaning products in 2023. In November 2024 it agreed with Royal Avebe to convert residual potato juice into fatty acids. The construction partners named for FS1 are Visser & Smit Bouw, SPIE, Verwater, Colsen and Andritz/K-Utec. The company has not announced who is financing the factory.

The Technology: Chain Elongation

Medium-chain fatty acids are usually made from palm kernel oil or petrochemicals. ChainCraft's microbes lengthen short carbon chains from fermented food residues into four- and six-carbon acids, which are then purified. An independent life-cycle assessment by EcoMatters in 2024 found up to six times lower global warming impact than conventional crude and palm oil-based fatty acids, according to ChainCraft.

What the EIC Award Promised, and What the Record Shows

The award funded process optimisation to readiness level 8, the factory's design and market development. ChainCraft reports it did the pilot work, supplied customers from its demonstration plant and moved into basic engineering and permitting. The factory itself, the step that would make the technology commercial, was beyond the project and needs financing that has not been announced.

1. Process at demo scaleDeliveredTRL7 batches, per report.
2. Factory designAdvancedBasic engineering started.
3. Offtake agreementsDeliveredInnovad, exclusive.
4. Full-scale factoryPendingStart-up early 2028.

The Money

The EU covered 68% of the project. The report says the EIC's investment component would "ideally be part" of the funding for the factory; ChainCraft's "grant first" award means the EIC Fund would decide later, and no investment has been announced. ChainCraft's financial statements were not reviewed for this article.

What Cannot Be Checked

Why Europe Should Care

Europe imports palm oil and relies on petrochemicals for many everyday ingredients. A factory that turns local food residues into the same molecules would cut emissions and dependence at once, and bring industrial jobs to the northern Netherlands. ChainCraft has reached the point where only money and construction stand between the design and the plant.

The Verdict

ChainCraft and the EIC have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records and published statements, linked throughout.