In Italy, global oil and gas major Eni S.p.A. has announced 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 Pavia, Lombardy, into a biorefinery. Eni has now started the authorization process and has filed an application for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
The project involves converting the existing hydrocracker two (HDC2) unit using Ecofining technology and constructing a pre-treatment unit for waste and residues, which are the main biogenic feedstocks Enilive uses.
Hydrogen will be sourced from existing plants, while supporting infrastructure, including logistics, will be adapted for the new operations.
Traditional fuel production will continue alongside the new production of renewable diesel (Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil – HVO), and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), expected to begin in 2028.
Increase renewable fuel capacity
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 tonnes per annum of renewable fuels, with operational flexibility to produce SAF and/or renewable diesel.
The plants will process various biogenic feedstocks, mainly waste and residues. Through Enilive, Eni is already the second-largest producer of HVO biofuels in Europe, including both renewable diesel and SAF.
The new Sannazzaro biorefinery will strengthen the site’s strategic role in supplying traditional jet fuel and SAF to north-west Italian airports, via both the pipeline connection to Milan Malpensa airport (MXP) and depots connected to the refinery near other airports.
Increasing renewable fuel capacity
The conversion of parts of the Sannazzaro de’ Burgondi refinery into a biorefinery underlines Eni’s commitment – through Enilive – to increase biorefining capacity from the current 1.65 million tonnes per annum to over 3 million in 2028 and over 5 million in 2030, with the potential to produce up to 2 million tonnes of SAF annually by 2030.
Currently, advanced biofuels are produced at Enilive’s biorefineries in Venice and Gela and at the St. Bernard Renewables LLC biorefinery (a 50 percent joint venture) in Louisiana, United States (US).
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.
