Eni renewable diesel to power Aeroporti di Roma vehicles

Photo: Aeroporti di Roma

A new milestone has been reached in the partnership between Eni and Aeroporti di Roma, as part of their strategic agreement aimed at promoting decarbonization initiatives in the aviation sector and accelerating the green transition of airports.

A shipment of 5,000 liters (1,321 gallons) of pure HVO hydrogenated biofuel arrived at Fiumicino airport from Eni’s Venice biorefinery in Porto Marghera, Italy, to further contribute to the decarbonization of road vehicles at airports. The HVO hydrogenated biofuel is used in airport assistance vehicles to transport passengers with reduced mobility around the airports. HVO is a high-quality biofuel of plant and waste origin, produced through Eni’s proprietary Ecofining™ technology in its Venice and Gela biorefineries. Thanks to hydrogenation technology, all impurities such as oxygen and sulfur are removed allowing it to be used in a 100 percent pure form. It also has a high cetane number for optimum combustion, is free of aromatics and polyaromatics, and can reduce CO2 emissions by between 60 and 90 percent (calculated over its entire life cycle) compared with conventional fuel, depending on the type of biogenic feedstock.

An agreement between Eni and Aeroporti di Roma is already in place for the supply of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) produced at Eni’s Taranto refinery through coprocessing with 0.5 percent made up of used cooking and frying oils. This is a further step forward for Aeroporti di Roma in terms of sustainability after Fiumicino airport, the leading Italian airport hub, which was the first airport in Europe to be awarded the highest Airport Carbon Accreditation 4+ “Transition” certification from Airports Council International Europe for CO2 reduction. This is in line with Aeroporti di Roma’s target, announced last year, which set out in the sustainability-linked bond issued last April to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2030, well in advance of the original sector targets.

Over the next few months, Eni will begin production of SAF at its Livorno refinery through distilling biocomponents produced in Eni’s biorefineries. The raw materials used will be exclusively waste vegetable oils and fats, with the resulting product, called “Eni Biojet,” containing 100 percent biogenic components and able to comprise up to 50 percent of a blend with conventional jet fuel.