Enilive begins SAF production at Sicily site

Enilive announced that it has started producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at the Gela refinery in Sicily.

The Gela refinery will have the capacity to produce 400,000 tonnes of SAF per annum with the capacity to process 736,000 tonnes of biomass, primarily derived from waste and residual feedstocks such as used cooking oils, animal fat and by-products from vegetable oil processing.

“The plants and technologies that we are developing position Enilive as a leader in the production of HVO biofuels and confirms the company’s strategy, distinguished by a strong growth in offering increasingly sustainable products”, said Stefano Ballista, Enilive’s chief executive officer.

“Eni started investing in this field over a decade ago and Enilive will be among the first companies in the world to produce significant quantities of SAF. By 2026, the SAF plant in Porto Marghera, in the Venice biorefinery, will also be operational, and by 2030 other plants will be commissioned in Italy and abroad.”

The company said that it made various modifications at the Gela plant to begin SAF production, in particular to the isomerisation unit, which has been equipped with a reactor and a product separation section, as well as upgrades to the tank farm and logistics infrastructure.

Investments to improve the feedstock pretreatment section, including the construction of a third degumming line, are nearing completion.

These improvements will further enable the diversification of waste and residues feedstocks that can be converted into Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) biofuels.

The company said that Gela site will have the capacity to produce almost a third of the expected European SAF demand in 2025 following the implementation of the ReFuelEU Aviation regulation.

The company also said that over the last two years, it has signed agreements with several airlines for the supply of SAF.

Enilive aims to increase its biorefining capacity to over 5m tonnes per year by 2030 and enhance its optionality for SAF production to 1m tonnes per year by 2026, with further potential to double production by 2030.

These targets will be supported by ongoing projects at the Venice biorefinery and the construction of new biorefineries in Malaysia and South Korea.