EIB loans Eni $580M to convert part of its Burgondi refinery into biorefinery
In Italy, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Eni signed a 15-year loan for €500 million to convert selected units of Eni’s Sannazzaro de’ Burgondi refinery, located in the Italian province of Pavia, into a biorefinery. The agreement was signed by EIB Vice-President Gelsomina Vigliotti and Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi.
The project involves converting the refinery’s Hydrocracker (HDC2) unit using Ecofining™ technology, and building a pre-treatment plant for waste materials like used cooking oils and animal fats, as well as waste from the agri-food industry, which comprise the main feedstock used by Enilive (Eni’s company devoted to achieving more sustainable mobility) to produce hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) biofuels.
From 2028, the Sannazzaro plant will start producing HVO diesel biofuels and the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) biojet, with a production capacity of around 550,000 tons per year.
Building on existing utilities and infrastructure, the project will complement conventional fuel production with HVO diesel biofuels and SAF, helping reduce the carbon footprint of transport and decarbonise the aviation sector, for which SAF is currently the only available solution. By diversifying the product offering on the market, the project will also strengthen Italian and EU energy security, and serve the objectives of REPowerEU by expanding Europe’s biofuel production capacity.
Category: Fuels
