In Italy, oil and gas major Eni S.p.A. and AMA, a public company of Roma Capitale, have entered into an agreement to launch collection points for used cooking oil (UCO) produced in the homes of its employees at Eni's Rome offices in Piazzale Mattei and Via Ribotta, which will then be converted into high-quality biofuels.
In addition to the twelve AMA collection centers currently available in the city, AMA will install dedicated containers at the sites, while Eni will give each of its 1 800 employees a special oil tank to facilitate collection and transport. An internal information campaign was also launched as part of Eni’s programme to spread and consolidate the message of the benefits of a circular economy in all its business areas, with the aim of greater efficiency and sustainability around energy production and use.
The collected used cooking oil (UCO) will be purified and sent to the Eni Biorefinery in Venice, the first example in the world of an oil refinery that has been converted into a biorefinery, which will convert the recovered cooking oil into high-quality biofuel, Enidiesel +. This fuel contains a 15 percent blend of the renewable product and is available in over 3 500 of Eni’s filling stations.
According to Eni, the agreement signed today is a positive example of cooperation towards the development of the circular economy: waste oil, or that which is no longer suitable for human consumption, can easily leak into the environment and become a potential threat to human, animal and environmental health. It is particularly harmful to the sewer systems of wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) as well as watercourses.
If correctly managed and recovered, however, it can be used as a key feedstock in the production of biofuels, lubricants and detergent bases. Eni says that it is “committed to the development of biofuels and the environmental sustainability of its products, in particular, those derived from non-edible raw materials obtained from urban waste”.
These feedstocks are used to produce biofuels at its Venice Biorefinery, established in 2014, and which will also be processed in its new Gela plant, which will be completed and launched by the end of the year.
