Eni provides Vatican City State with bio-oil fuel

Eni and the Governorate of the Vatican City State have signed an agreement to promote a circular economy. Global oil and gas company, Eni, is to provide Eni+ Diesel, an environmental impact diesel fuel which, according to the company, reduces polluting emissions by 40%.

Giuseppe Ricci, Eni’s Chief Refining & Marketing Officer, and S.E.R Mons. Fernadando Vérgez Alzaga, Secretary General of the Governorate, have signed a collaboration agreement for the use of high quality biodiesel that has a low environmental impact. 

Both Eni’s Venice and Gela biorefineries will soon be recycling used cooking oil from Vatican restaurants to turn into fuel. Once through a purification process, the cooking oil will be used to produce Eni+ Diesel that will power the Vatican’s vehicles. This renewable diesel will help limit atmospheric pollution from diesel vehicles.

Eni began operation at its pilot plant, the Gela refinery by transforming Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW) by recycling it into bio-oil, producing next-generation fuels.

The initiative in the Vatican City State will aim to create a “virtuous” circular economy cycle. The waste is to be re-used to produce biofuels in the Eni biorefinery in Porto Marghere, Venice, which has been producing biofuels since May 2014. It has been using animal fats, used cooking oils and other waste raw materials to produce biofuels. Eni’s Gela biorefinery plans to use a similar process after undergoing the same conversion that will be launched within the first few months of 2019.  

Eni states that the activity at the Gela plant will enable it to gather data helping the design of future plants The plant has a bio-oil capacity of around 70kg per day and is supplied with 700kg of organic waste by waste management company, SRR.

Waste-to-fuel technology converts biomass into energy and can be completed in a few hours with a low environmental impact. Eni plans to build waste-to-fuel plants on an industrial scale, hoping to eliminate a vast amount of organic waste through re-use.