Eni's Venice refinery to be 'biorefinery'

Italy’s Eni SPA will turn its 80,000-b/d Venice refinery at Porto Marghera, Italy, into a “biorefinery” based on proprietary technology for the production of biodiesel.

The company will begin the conversion in the second quarter of 2013 and start biofuel production at the beginning of 2014. It estimates the investment at €100 million.

Activities at what Eni calls the Green Refinery will be associated with construction of a logistics center.

The company didn’t specify capacity of the converted facility, which it said will be based on its Ecofining technology.

The technology, which Eni developed with UOP, hydrogenates the triglyceride content in lipid materials such as vegetable oil, cooking oils, and animals.

According to Oil & Gas Journal’s Worldwide Report, the Venice refinery’s main processing capacities are 13,500 b/d of thermal cracking, 15,000 b/d of continuous regenerative catalytic reforming, and 16,000 b/d of catalytic hydrotreating for naphtha desulfurization.

Eni cut the refinery’s throughput last year because of economic conditions.