Eni Diesel + and urban transport

Eni Diesel + is Eni’s new fuel, produced in Porto Marghera, 15 per cent of which derives from organic or renewable sources. Eni’s conversion of a conventional refinery into a bio-refinery is a world first and sees raw materials such as used vegetable oils and animal fats transformed into high-quality biofuels. Eni Diesel + was launched in 2016 and is now available at around 3,500 Eni service stations. This is Eni’s immediate response to the challenge of reducing the carbon footprint of traditional vehicles while waiting for the public transport fleet to be modernised. Venice is the latest example of a city that has chosen to use Eni Diesel + to power its public transport vehicles, following a successful trial in Turin, reaping both economic and environmental benefits. Mindful of the need to encourage the circular economy, Venice’s rubbish has been transformed into a source of energy thanks to an agreement with Veritas, the multi-utility company that collects, processes and treats waste from the area’s 41 municipalities. Then, in November 2018, Eni and Hera – two companies with a long-standing commitment to promoting a circular-economy model through continuing technological development and business restructuring – signed a partnership agreement to turn used vegetable oil into biofuel to power Hera’s waste-collection vehicles.

Eni and Hera: creating virtual circles together in the city

The used vegetable oil collected by the Italian multi-utility company Hera will be turned into biofuel to power the firm's waste-collection vehicles. Eni and Hera – both of which are committed to promoting a circular economy-model through continuing technological development and business restructuring – signed an agreement to turn used vegetable oil into biofuel. In the pilot phase, Enidiesel+ will power around 30 large vehicles in the Modena area, thereby optimising the environmental benefit. The partnership will allow the oil collected by Hera (800 tonnes in 2017) to be converted to Eni green diesel in Eni’s biorefinery in Venice. This will lead to significant environmental benefits, with a reduction in polluting emissions of up to 40 per cent.

Turning waste into energy in Venice

In Venice, the rubbish collected in the city is now being converted into energy thanks to an agreement signed by Eni and Veritas. Together they have set up a joint technical forum to investigate the feasibility of industrial projects in Porto Marghera to produce biomethane, bio-oil and hydrogen from waste. The agreement stipulates that vehicles used by the multi-utility company must be powered by Eni Diesel +. This fuel is produced in Eni’s Venice biorefinery and contains an ever-increasing percentage of used vegetable oil. Since April it has been tested in all of the city’s waterborne public transport.

Getting around the lagoon on chip oil

Venice is conducting an experiment in circular economy: instead of being thrown away, the oil used by the public to fry food is being converted into biofuel for the city’s waterborne transport system. From 1 April, the iconic vaporetti in the city’s AVM/Actv fleet, normally powered by traditional diesel, will be using Eni Diesel +. As an incentive for the production of high quality biofuel at the bio-refinery in Venice, as of June 2018 Eni has inaugurated the first collection of used cooking oil from the houses of its own employees. The project has been extended to the petrochemical plant in Porto Marghera and will gradually be extended to other sites owned by the Italian company, aims to make the production and use of energy efficient and sustainable, converting a pollutant like used cooking oil into a resource.

Benefits of a successful experiment in Turin

Between July and October 2017, 650 buses in the Gruppo Torinese Trasporti (GTT) public transport fleet, normally powered by conventional diesel, used the Eni Diesel + fuel. The experiment demonstrated to the City of Turin the economic and environmental benefits of using the new biofuel. Tests carried out on a Euro III vehicle belonging to Turin’s public transport company at Eni’s San Donato Milanese research centre, in conjunction with the Naples-based National Research Centre’s Engine Institute, showed a 2 per cent reduction in fuel consumption, a 40 per cent reduction in fine dusts, a 16 per cent reduction in particulates, a 10 per cent reduction in nitrogen oxides and a 7 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide.

The agreement with FCA: using technology to clean up transport

In November 2017, Eni and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) signed an agreement to research technology with the aim of reducing road-transport emissions. Eni and FCA are conducting new experiments into green diesel (hydrotreated vegetable oil or HVO) which, if used as a fuel in pure form, helps to lower CO₂ emissions. They also seek to encourage sustainable mobility, a positive step both for the environment and people's health. The mutually beneficial partnership offers a range of different solutions:

• devices and technologies developed in collaboration with MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) to capture and temporarily store some of the CO₂ produced
• new technologies that allow gas to be used in vehicles ­­– not just compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas, but also methanol. This is an alcohol that can reduce emissions when used in fuels. We have also developed a new petrol, now being jointly tested with FCA, comprising 20 per cent alternative fuels (15 per cent methanol and 5 per cent bioethanol) that guarantees reduced CO₂ emissions. One test will see the new fuel powering five Fiat 500s as part of Enjoy, Eni’s car-sharing scheme that grew out of the firm’s partnership with FCA. Using the new fuel provides a reduction in CO₂ emissions of at least 4 per cent
• developing adsorbed natural gas (ANG) technologies and materials, improving the current technology used for compressed natural gas in the automotive field, reducing the weight of tanks and increasing the mileage obtained from a full tank
• creating diesels with a higher hydrotreated vegetable oil content, petrols with added alcohols from renewable sources and the use of new ‘friction reducer’ additives.

Out of the frying pan… used vegetable oils converted to biofuel

From kitchen to city street – without causing pollution. All of these experiments have been made possible by an agreement between Eni and the National Consortium for the Collection and Processing of Used Vegetable and Animal Oils and Fats (CONOE) to create a virtuous circular economy. Oil used for cooking purposes is collected and delivered to the bio-refining plant in Venice to be transformed into a high-quality fuel.