Eni considers transforming refinery in Livorno, Italy, into its 3rd biobased diesel facility

Eni's Livorno site currently houses fuel and lubricant production facilities. (Photo: Eni)

Italian petroleum refiner Eni S.p.A. announced Oct. 17 that it is investigating the opportunity to build a new biorefinery at its industrial site in Livorno, Italy.

The feasibility study involves building three new plants for the production of hydrotreated biofuel: a biogenic feedstock pretreatment unit, a 500,000 metric ton per year Ecofining™ facility and a plant for the production of hydrogen from methane gas.

The construction of the new biorefinery—located in an industrial area that houses fuel and lubricant production facilities—would maximize synergies from the infrastructure already available and secure the site’s future as an employment and production hub.

“We are working to reach an important milestone in Eni’s decarbonization strategy and the path we undertook many years ago, with the transformation of the first refinery in Venice into a biorefinery back in 2014,” said Giuseppe Ricci, chief operating officer of Eni’s Energy Evolution. “The coexistence of bio and traditional plants has been successfully tested with the recent production of Eni Biojet in Livorno, the first SAF (sustainable aviation fuel) exclusively from waste raw materials, animal fats and used vegetable oils thanks to the synergy with Eni’s biorefinery in Gela. Our goal is to increase the availability of decarbonized and sustainable products to our customers and to meet our scope 3 emission-reduction targets.”

Eugenio Giani, the president of Tuscany, added, “I wish to express my deep appreciation for Eni’s decision to investigate the conversion of the Livorno refinery into a biorefinery, focusing on a sustainable energy transition both in terms of the environment and the outlet market. The technological innovation and size of the investment, as well as the plant synergies between new and previous production activities, open up a real pathway for development that maintains the current workforce and the entire production chain. These are forward-looking choices, compatible with the area in which these projects are located, and which will also benefit from the infrastructural competitiveness generated by the modernization of the port of Livorno with the Europa dock.”

Eni stated that it is the second-largest biofuel producer in Europe with 1.1 million tons per year of capacity and a goal to increase the share to 2 million tons by 2025, and to 6 million tons in the next decade.

Its biorefineries in Venice and Gela transform waste raw materials, residues and waste resulting from the processing of vegetable products and oils from crops that do not compete with the food chain into high-quality biofuel—renewable diesel and also bio-LPG and bionaphtha, also for use in the chemical industry.

From 2023, Eni will no longer process palm oil and will make available pure hydrotreated biofuel containing a 100 percent biogenic component, which can reduce greenhouse-gas well-to-wheel emissions by up to 90 percent.

The design of the three new plants in Livorno will be completed by 2023 and construction could take place by 2025.

The transformation plan for the Livorno refinery will be discussed with local institutions and trade unions within the framework of a participatory and inclusive industrial-relations model.