Ecofining™, a proprietary biofuel technology

Processing biogenic raw materials into high-quality biofuels. This is the innovation at the basis of the Ecofining™ process, that we have developed with Honeywell UOP. Technology contributes to the decarbonisation goal, especially for the mobility sector. The process, given its great flexibility, allows to treat different types of feedstocks, animal fats and vegetable oils from waste from the agri-food industry and used cooking oils. The raw materials thus become advanced biofuels, such as HVO (Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil), marketed as HVOlution, the first biofuel of Eni Live (Eni Sustainable Mobility) produced with 100% of renewable raw materials (pursuant to Directive 2018/2001, also known as REDII).

Biofuels are already available and can be used immediately on almost all heavy vehicles and on some passenger vehicles that have been validated for XtL fuels: a solution to help reduce CO₂ emissions from transport, a sector that is currently still more than 90 per cent dependent on fossil fuels and emitted almost 8 Gt CO₂ in 2022, more than 20 per cent of global emissions from energy consumption (source IEA 2022). For them to be truly sustainable, however, it is important that they are produced from raw materials that do not compete with the food chain. Thanks to the proprietary Ecofining^TM technology, advanced biofuels are produced, which, as defined by the Renewable Energy Directive REDII, are produced from raw materials that guarantee high CO₂ emission savings as they are obtained from residues and/or waste from the agro-food chain.