Italian oil and gas company Eni is planning to transform its industrial site in Priolo, Sicily, into a hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO)/sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) biorefinery and chemical recycling plant for plastics.
Following approval by the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security, the company said it had launched the authorisation process for the Environmental Impact Assessment (VIA) at the site.
The project would use the area currently occupied by Versalis’ ethylene plant, which would gradually be decommissioned, along with an adjacent area used for site services, Eni said on 9 October.
The 500,000 tonnes/year biorefinery would mainly process residues and waste of vegetable origin, animal fats and vegetable oils, the company said.
In addition to the Ecofining plant, the project included a biogenic feedstock pre-treatment unit and a hydrogen production plant.
The chemical recycling plant would use Versalis’ Hoop technology and would have a processing capacity of 40,000 tonnes/year, producing around 32,000 tonnes/year of pyrolysis oil.
Hoop technology turns mixed plastic waste into raw material for the use in the production of plastic products for a range of applications, including food contact and pharmaceutical packaging.
In June, a Hoop demonstration plant was commissioned at the Versalis plant in Mantua but the Priolo facility would be the first at industrial scale, Eni said.
The plan to transform the Priolo industrial site was announced in October 2024 and formalised in March.
According to its website, Eni is active in the natural gas and oil sectors, as well as the co-generated electricity and renewables sectors. It operates in the domestic and international market, as well as through a wide range of subsidiaries and affiliates, including Enilive.
Through Enilive, Eni is a leading HVO producer in Europe and globally and operates multi-fuel service stations and biorefineries in Italy and overseas.
