Our activities in Porto Marghera

At the Porto Marghera site,  Eni Rewind, Eni's environmental company, is engaged in soil and aquifer reclamation and decommissioning activities with an expenditure (until December 2022) of about 320 million euros, of which 81 million were spent for the demolition of old decommissioned plants. The company has planned to spend an additional 180 million euros to complete all the works, of which approximately 65 million euros are for the management of the water treatment plant.

The first environmental works at the Porto Marghera site date back to the 1990s, between 1995 and 1999, with safety works on decommissioned plants, old landfill sites and some areas, the start of investigations into environmental matrices, and the construction of an initial network of piezometers to monitor the aquifer. The results of the characterisations led to the presentation of reclamation projects in 2005 for the Eni Rewind areas, including safety measures, subdivided by macro-areas "Vecchio and Nuovo Petrolchimico, Ex AM8, Isola 46, Malcontenta C, Bacino SR14” and the “ex Agricoltura” sedimentation tank. To date, all permanent safety works have been completed and certified, surface scouring operations are nearing completion, and a certification of successful reclamation has been obtained for some areas of the Old and New Petrochemical Plant.

In order to complete soil remediation at the New and Old Petrochemical Plant, Eni Rewind is working on the submission of a project variant that would allow the areas to gradually be officially deemed as reclaimed and the environmental work to be carried out in line with the upgrading prospects.

With regard to the aquifer, since 2010 Eni Rewind, also on behalf of its subsidiaries, has activated a pumping system in the Old and New Petrochemical Plant with water flowing into the treatment plant and subsequently into the consortium's chemical-physical-biological purification plant. In addition, the company is continuing with demolition work and with the follow-up of areas that have already been reclaimed or made safe and certified.

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As part of Eni's investment plan for the upgrading of Porto Marghera, in November 2022 Eni Rewind presented a project for the drying and subsequent energy valorisation of sludge from municipal sewage. The proposal, which is currently being examined, originates from an analysis carried out by Eni's environmental company on the flows of sludge produced in Veneto, which highlighted a lack of facilities resulting in the disposal of this type of waste outside the region. The need also emerged from the Regional Municipal and Special Waste Management Plan.

The plant, which has been designed in line with the Best Available Techniques (BATs) is consistent with practices already established in Northern Europe, where the use of sludge in agriculture is very limited if not forbidden, due to the risk associated with the possible release of hazardous chemicals into cultivated land. Also in Italy, the reform of regulations on municipal sewage sludge will result in a change of scenario with further restrictions on its use in agriculture.

The plant is planned to be built in an area owned by Eni Rewind, already reclaimed and found in the middle of the area where the sites producing the sludge are located. The municipal sludge, which consists of water for about 80%, will first be dried and then transferred into a furnace with fluidised bed technology that will valorise its organic component, making the plant self-sufficient. Possible energy surpluses will be fed into the power grid of the Porto Marghera industrial hub. The contribution of this process in terms of carbon dioxide emissions is to be considered zero, as the CO₂ associated with the mono-combustion of sludge would in any case be generated by the natural biodegradation of organic matter.

In 2022, Versalis, Eni's chemical company, started a transformation of its activities in Porto Marghera and the implementation of new industrial initiatives in the area. These initiatives complement Eni's plan in the areas of the petrochemical plant and bio-refinery and are aimed at accelerating the energy transition and the development of chemistry based on a circular economy model.

In Porto Marghera, Versalis has begun building the first centre for advanced post-consumer plastics mechanical recycling.
The first phase involves building a plant with a capacity of 20,000 tonnes/year to produce styrenic polymers from recycled raw material: expanded polystyrene (rEPS) and compact polystyrene (rGPPS) with a recycled content of up to 100% will be obtained from secondary raw material from selected expanded polystyrene waste from industry and commerce. These new additions to the Versalis Revive® range are intended for sectors where sustainability and circularity are essential requirements, such as packaging and construction.

The second phase involves building a plant for the advanced mechanical recycling of sorted plastic waste obtained from separate waste collection, in particular polystyrene and high-density polyethylene, with a processing capacity of about 50,000 tonnes/year.

Versalis will also build Italy's first plant for the production of isopropyl alcohol with an adjoining plant for the production of hydrogen to be used in several market sectors, including disinfectants and detergents, which is currently entirely imported from abroad. The new plant's planned capacity is 30,000 tonnes/year.

Finally, Versalis is investing in upgrading the logistics hub by further increasing its flexibility. 

Plenitude contributes to the transformation of Porto Marghera with two photovoltaic systems located within the Porto Marghera Site of National Priority (SIN) in the municipality of Venice. Sites of National Priority are contaminated areas that must undergo remediation in accordance with Decree No. 152 of 2006.

The first 3.55 MW photovoltaic system covers an area of about 6 hectares which is owned by Eni Rewind. A part of the area was previously used as a landfill site for non-hazardous waste. The site's closure process was completed in 2016, while the remaining part underwent a permanent soil clean-up in 2018. The photovoltaic system, which was authorised with a Single Authorisation in May 2021 by the Regional Government of Veneto, will generate an average of 4,725 MWh/year, saving approximately 2,017 tonnes of CO₂ emissions into the atmosphere per year.*

The second photovoltaic system, with a capacity of 2.7 MW, was authorised with a Single Authorisation in September 2020 by the Regional Government of Veneto and covers an area of about 6.5 hectares, also owned by Eni Rewind, which is undergoing permanent reclamation and safety works. This plant will generate an average of 3,420 MWh/year, saving approximately 1,460 tonnes of CO₂ emissions into the atmosphere per year.**

Plenitude is an Eni company with a unique business model integrating production from renewables, the sale of energy, energy solutions and a large network of charging points for electric vehicles.

In the renewable energy sector, Plenitude operates in Italy and abroad with a portfolio of 2.3 GW of renewable capacity in service and aims to reach more than 7 GW of installed capacity by 2026 and over 15 GW by 2030.

^{*(Emission factor 426.8 g CO₂/kWh - Source: ISPRA – Fattori di emissione atmosferica di gas a effetto serra e altri gas nel settore elettrico, 2020).}

^{** Emission factor 426.8 g CO₂/kWh - Source: ISPRA – Fattori di emissione atmosferica di gas a effetto serra e altri gas nel settore elettrico, 2020).}