Eni: authorisation process started in Priolo for new biorefinery

Eni has taken a step forward in the process for the sustainable reconversion of the plants in the industrial area of Syracuse. The company has announced the start of the authorisation process for the Environmental Impact Assessment relating to the transformation of the industrial site of Priolo Gargallo (Syracuse), where a new-generation biorefinery and a chemical plastics recycling plant based on Versalis' proprietary Hoop technology will be built. The Priolo transformation plan, announced by Eni in October 2024 and ratified in March 2025 at the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy, is 'fully in line with the group's objectives for decarbonisation and reduction of emissions, confirming Sicily as a key territory in the national energy transition,' the company explained.

In recent days, the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security has granted the application's procedural approval, allowing the official start of the evaluation process for one of the most strategic projects in Eni's decarbonisation roadmap.

The plan envisages the construction of the new biorefinery in the area currently occupied by Versalis's ethylene plant - which is to be gradually dismantled - and on a neighbouring area currently used for plant services. The plant, with a production capacity of 500,000 tonnes per year, will be fuelled mainly by residues and waste of vegetable origin, animal fats and vegetable oils, and will include, in addition to the Ecofining production core, a biomass pre-treatment unit and a hydrogen production plant.

This is Eni's second biorefinery in Sicily, after the one in Gela started up in 2019, and will be able to produce HVO diesel biofuels for road, maritime and rail transport, as well as SAF-biojet for civil aviation. Completion is expected by the end of 2028 and will mark a new stage in the industrial reconversion process of the Priolo area, historically linked to the petrochemical hub.

At the same time, the project envisages the construction of the first industrial Hoop plant for the chemical recycling of plastics, developed by Versalis, Eni's chemical company. The new plant will have a production capacity of 40,000 tonnes per year and will generate about 32,000 tonnes of oil from pyrolysis, which can be used as a raw material for the production of new plastics, including for food and pharmaceutical uses.