The Venice bio-refinery is preparing to eliminate the use of palm oil in its production of biofuels. Recently, it submitted documentation to qualify for an environmental impact assessment to build new units that will upgrade the feedstock pretreatment system installed in June 2018, which allow for the treatment of crude vegetable oils, used plant-based cooking oils and used animal fats.
Currently, the systems in Porto Marghera are able to process about 7.5 tonnes of used cooking oil and animal fats per hour; with the construction of the new biomass treatment lines, the entire production capacity of the EcofiningTM plant will be fulfilled with biological materials from the waste and residue chains, expanding feedstock options beyond those incentivised by European and national standards, thus definitively eliminating palm oil from the production of biofuels.
Since 2014 Eni’s Venice biorefinery has produced hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO), which is added to diesel fuel to meet European and national regulatory requirements which state that an increasing proportion of fuels must be made from raw materials from renewable sources. In 2020, with an authorised capacity of 400,000 tonnes per year, it processed around 220,000 tonnes of raw materials, of which more than 25% consisted of used cooking oils, animal fats and other waste vegetable oils. From 2023 Eni will no longer use palm oil in its production processes.
