A new European flagship project is set to demonstrate, at industrial scale, how an underutilized side stream from the potato processing industry can become a valuable source of sustainable chemicals.

PACE (Potato Juice to Fatty Acids for New Bio-based Value-Chains in Europe) will establish Europe's first full-scale retrofitted biorefinery by upgrading part of Royal Avebe's existing production facility.

Using advanced fermentation and microbial chain elongation, the project will convert potato juice side streams into bio-based medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) for applications across the chemical industry.

The initiative aims to reduce Europe's dependence on fossil- and palm oil-based chemicals while strengthening local circular value chains through the reuse of industrial side streams.

📍 Project kick-off

The consortium officially launched the four-year project during its kick-off meeting on 17 June 2026 in Amsterdam, where partners aligned on implementation activities, project objectives, and the roadmap for the coming years.

According to Project Coordinator Niels Van Stralen:

"PACE demonstrates how circular chemistry can become part of existing industrial systems at a meaningful scale. By upgrading infrastructure that already exists and using locally available side streams, we show that sustainable chemistry does not have to start from scratch."

🔬 Next steps

The consortium will now focus on:

• Establishing the flagship biorefinery

• Optimising the MCFA production process

• Validating bio-based MCFAs in industrial applications

• Assessing sustainability, circularity and market uptake

• Supporting future replication across Europe

🤝 Project consortium

The consortium brings together leading industrial companies, research organisations and technology partners from the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain and Greece, including ChainCraft, Royal Avebe, ecover + method | Europe, Syensqo France, Symrise AG, Leitat Technological Center and others.

The project is supported by the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) and funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement No. 101292918.