Eni unveils new biorefinery project in Lombardy region of Italy
- Eni S.p.A.
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Eni announced Sept. 23 that it has received approval from the Italian ministry of the environment and energy security to convert selected units at the Sannazzaro de’ Burgondi refinery, in the Italian province of Pavia and region of Lombardy, into a biorefinery.
Eni said it has begun the authorization process and has filed an application for an environmental-impact assessment (VIA).
The project involves converting the existing hydrocracker unit using Ecofining™ technology and constructing a pretreatment unit for waste and residues, which are the main biogenic feedstocks Enilive uses to produce hydrotreated biofuels.
Hydrogen will be sourced from existing plants, while supporting infrastructure, including logistics, will be adapted for the new operations, according to Eni.
Traditional fuel production will continue alongside the new production of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), expected to begin in 2028.
The new biorefinery will not impact the capacity of the existing refinery.
Instead, it will operate alongside the existing facilities, enhancing the diversification of products.
Once operational, the biorefinery will have a processing capacity of 550,000 metric tons per year of feedstock, with flexibility to produce SAF and renewable diesel.
The plants will process various biogenic feedstocks, mainly waste and residues.
Through Enilive, Eni is already the second-largest producer of hydrotreated biofuels in Europe, including renewable diesel and SAF.
The new Sannazzaro biorefinery will strengthen the site’s strategic role in supplying traditional jet fuel and SAF to airports in northwestern Italy via both the pipeline connection to Milan Malpensa airport and depots connected to the refinery near other airports.
Eni said the conversion of parts of the Sannazzaro de’ Burgondi refinery into a biorefinery underlines its commitment through Enilive to increase biorefining capacity from the current 1.65 million tons per year to over 3 million in 2028 and over 5 million in 2030, with the potential to produce up to 2 million tons of SAF annually by 2030.
Today, biofuels are produced at Enilive’s biorefineries in Venice and Gela in Italy and at the St. Bernard Renewables LLC biorefinery (a 50/50 joint venture) in Louisiana in the U.S.
A third Italian biorefinery is due to come on stream in Livorno in 2026, followed by two plants currently under construction in Malaysia and South Korea.
A further biorefinery in Italy has been announced for Priolo, Sicily.
