Biofuels are fuels that make an important contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector.
We produce our biofuels entirely from renewable feedstocks (pursuant to the European Directive on the promotion of energy from renewable sources 2023/2413, the so-called “RED III”), primarily from waste raw materials such as used cooking oil and residues from the agri-food industry. These are processed using Ecofining™, the technology we developed with Honeywell UOP and use at the Venice Porto Marghera and Gela biorefineries. This process produces HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil), a hydrogenated biofuel that enables a reduction in CO2eq emissions calculated over the entire value chain. We are increasingly distributing the biofuel as HVOlution at Enilive Stations and, for the maritime transport sector, it is available as HVO diesel marine biofuel at the ports of Genoa and Ravenna.
By 2026, the conversion of the Livorno refinery into a biorefinery will be completed, while the Priolo biorefinery, which will be managed in a Joint Venture with Q8 Italia, and the partial conversion of the Sannazzaro de’ Burgondi (Pavia) refinery into a biorefinery are scheduled for completion by 2028. In the United States, we hold an interest in the SBR biorefinery in Chalmette (Louisiana), operated by Enilive in a joint venture with PBF Energy. Other biorefineries in Malaysia and South Corea are under construction. In particular, once on stream the Korean plant will produce HVO and SAF biofuels from used cooking oil and other waste and residues. More broadly, we are also exploring ways to constantly improve the sustainability of our bio-refineries by developing agri-feedstocks from crops grown on degraded or abandoned land, intermediate crops, and the valorization of forest and agro-industrial residues, not in competition with the food supply chain.
Thanks to the solutions developed in our research centres, we are technically capable of obtaining biofuels from a wide range of biogenic raw materials.
Another existing process when it comes to producing biofuels is Proesa®, a proprietary technology that obtains sustainable bioethanol from woody and cellulose-based waste from forestry processing, developed by Versalis and used at the Crescentino plant. Using special enzymes, lignocellulosic biomass is first converted into second-generation sugars and, through a fermentation process, transformed into advanced ethanol, which is used to formulate petrol with a renewable component.
Biomass cultivation and the production of biofuels and biomethane increase production capacity in bioenergy.
Find out moreOur goal is to achieve Net Zero by 2050, including by offering increasingly decarbonized products and services through technological solutions.
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