ChainCraft was founded with a vision of turning chemistry circular. Can you tell us about the company’s journey and how your approach to upcycling organic residues is helping create alternatives to conventional fossil- and palm-based chemicals?
ChainCraft was founded with a vision of turning chemistry circular. We spoke with Kristan Rus, Senior Business Developer at ChainCraft, to learn more about the company’s journey and how its approach to upcycling agri-food residues is creating alternatives to conventional fossil- and palm-based chemicals.
Our proprietary chain-elongation technology upcycles organic residues into high-value fatty acids that can directly replace fossil- and palm-based chemical building blocks. By using local food residues and natural, non-GMO fermentation, we create fully biobased and circular products with a substantially lower carbon footprint than conventional alternatives. An independent life cycle assessment found that ChainCraft’s fatty acids can deliver up to six times lower global warming impact compared with crude oil and palm-based equivalents.
Today, with a technically proven and economically viable process, ChainCraft is scaling towards commercial production, with the ambition to become a leading supplier of circular chemicals across a wide range of industries.
Your X-Craft® range includes biobased fatty acids that can be used as building blocks for lubricant applications. What opportunities do these materials offer lubricant manufacturers and formulators looking to develop more sustainable products without compromising performance?
The X-Craft® portfolio provides lubricant manufacturers with a unique combination of sustainability, performance and supply security. Our range includes direct biobased alternatives such as X-Craft® 5 (valeric acid), X-Craft® 6 (caproic acid), X-Craft® 7 (heptanoic acid) and other high-purity fatty acids, as well as n-Hexanol (X-Craft® 6-OL).
For lubricant formulators, these products can be used as building blocks for polyol esters and other advanced lubricant chemistries. Medium-chain fatty acid-based esters offer several attractive performance characteristics, including:
- Low viscosity and low pour point performance
- High thermal and oxidative stability
- Good thermal conductivity
- Excellent biodegradability
- Favorable toxicity profiles
- Improved product carbon footprint performance
- Potential eligibility for environmentally preferred formulations and eco-label requirements
As a result, lubricant manufacturers can develop more sustainable formulations without sacrificing the performance standards required by demanding industrial and mobility applications.
Sustainability is increasingly influencing lubricant formulation, but performance and cost remain critical. What are you seeing from customers, and how can circular and biobased feedstocks help address this balance?
Customers increasingly want solutions that address sustainability goals without creating trade-offs in performance, availability or economics. While reducing carbon footprint is becoming a key driver in lubricant development, customers remain focused on reliability, product performance and competitive cost structures.
ChainCraft is helping to address this balance by producing circular fatty acids from low-cost agri-food residues through a highly efficient fermentation process. Because our feedstocks are sourced from existing agri-food residues, we can offer sustainable alternatives that are both cost-competitive and scalable.
Importantly, sustainability does not need to come at the expense of performance. Products such as X-Craft® 6 can enable the development of high-performance ester-based lubricants with excellent thermal stability, low-temperature properties and biodegradability. Combined with European production and local sourcing, customers gain the opportunity to improve both sustainability and supply resilience while maintaining competitiveness in the marketplace.
ChainCraft is moving towards larger-scale production of its circular fatty acids. What does scaling this technology mean for the availability and supply security of sustainable raw materials for the lubricants industry?
Scaling production is a critical step in making circular chemistry a mainstream alternative for the lubricants industry. ChainCraft is developing its first full-scale commercial facility in Ter Apelkanaal, the Netherlands, which will significantly expand production capacity and increase the availability of circular fatty acids for industrial markets.
For lubricant manufacturers, this means access to a reliable, locally produced supply of key raw materials that are traditionally sourced from petrochemical supply chains or from imported coconut and palm-based feedstocks. By producing these materials in Europe from regional organic residues, we can help customers strengthen supply chain resilience, reduce dependency on volatile global markets and improve their sustainability performance simultaneously.
Looking ahead, the technology is globally deployable, and future production expansions could further enhance supply security and accelerate the transition toward circular raw materials on an international scale.
Looking ahead, where do you see the greatest opportunities for circular chemistry in lubricants, and what conversations are you hoping to have with lubricant manufacturers, formulators and other industry stakeholders at Lubricant Expo Europe?
We see significant opportunities for circular chemistry across both lubricant base stocks and additive technologies. Medium-chain fatty acids and their derivatives offer important building blocks for high-performance ester-based lubricants that combine technical performance with lower environmental impact.
As sustainability requirements continue to evolve, lubricant manufacturers are increasingly looking for practical solutions that reduce carbon footprint, improve biodegradability and strengthen supply chain security. Circular building blocks can contribute meaningfully in all of these areas while maintaining commercial viability.
At Lubricant Expo Europe, we look forward to discussing new product development, sustainable sourcing strategies and collaborations that can accelerate the transition towards a more circular and resilient lubricants industry. We hope to discuss new product development opportunities, sustainable sourcing strategies and collaborative pathways that help accelerate the transition toward a more circular and resilient lubricants industry.
ChainCraft will be at Lubricant Expo Europe on stand 914. Interested in booking? click here to speak to one of our team >>> book a stand
