Eni: Authorization for Biorefinery and Recycling Plant in Sicily initiated

The Italian oil and chemical group Eni has initiated the environmental impact assessment authorization procedure for the planned conversion of its petrochemical site in Priolo, Sicily.

According to a press release from the group, a corresponding application for the construction of a biorefinery and a plastic recycling plant was recently approved by the Italian Ministry of Environment and Energy Security. Eni plans to convert the Priolo site, located near Siracusa on the east coast of Sicily, as part of a strategic reorientation of its chemical business. A refinery for the production of biofuels and a plant for chemical plastic recycling are to be erected on the area of a previously decommissioned ethylene cracker of the group's subsidiary, Versalis.

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The biorefinery is planned to have capacities for the annual production of up to 500,000 tonnes of fuel from vegetable and animal waste, utilizing the Ecofining process developed by the US company Honeywell UOP.

In contrast, the new plastic recycling plant will use the "Hoop" pyrolysis process, which was developed by Versalis itself. The plan includes capacities for recycling 40,000 tonnes of mixed plastic waste and recovering around 32,000 tonnes of pyrolysis oil annually for the manufacture of new plastics. The Priolo plant will be the first industrial Hoop complex, following the initial commissioning of a demonstration plant with a recycling capacity of 5,000 tonnes by Versalis in Mantua, northern Italy, in June of this year (see also plasticker News of 23.06.2025).

According to the current announcement, the conversion of the Priolo site is scheduled for completion by the end of 2028. No precise details regarding the costs are available. However, last year Eni announced a total investment of around two billion euros for the restructuring of its chemical business over a five-year period.

More information: www.eni.com, www.versalis.eni.com

Versalis, San Donato nearby Milan, Italy