ENETCAT aims at the utilisation of enzymes that convert biomass-based fatty acids into partially oxidised, functionalised fatty acids. These functionalised compounds, in turn, find uses in the modification of other bio-based material streams, in particular cellulose and other carbohydrate polymers. Enzymes that process fatty acids are abundant in Nature, but their large-scale utilisation has been hampered by the fact that these enzymes require modifying the fatty acids with a chemically attached tag, a coenzyme, that has to be added prior to enzymatic reaction, and removed at the end. We have previously found methods how to use less expensive tags, and in ENETCAT we aim at functionalising the fatty acids in such a way that the tags are fully recycled, just as coenzymes are recycled in Nature. Such processes would enable the direct conversion of fatty acids to value-added products with enzymes, and allow the scale-up of the processes to industrial scale.

2026

2027