Italian energy major Eni has taken a significant step forward in its commitment to industrial decarbonisation and the circular economy, officially launching the authorisation process for the massive transformation of its industrial site in Priolo, Sicily. The ambitious project, which includes a new biorefinery and a chemical recycling plant for plastics, recently secured approval from the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security to proceed with the Environmental Impact Assessment (VIA).
The plan involves the gradual decommissioning of Versalis’ existing ethylene plant, with the newly freed-up space and an adjacent service area repurposed for the innovative, new facilities.
At the heart of the transformation is the new biorefinery, designed to be a major producer of advanced, sustainable fuels. It will boast an impressive annual production capacity of 500,000 tonnes, primarily fed by biogenic raw materials such as residues and waste of vegetable origin, animal fats, and vegetable oils.
Leveraging the proprietary Ecofining™ technology, the plant will produce HVO diesel—a highly efficient biofuel for road, marine, and rail transport—as well as SAF-biojet for the aviation sector, offering maximum flexibility across transport modalities. The facility will also include a biogenic feedstock pre-treatment unit and a plant dedicated to hydrogen production. This will be Sicily’s second biorefinery, following the successful conversion of the Gela plant in 2019, reinforcing the region's role as a green energy hub. Completion of the Priolo biorefinery is targeted for the end of 2028.
Complementing the biorefinery will be a pioneering chemical recycling plant based on Versalis’ proprietary Hoop® technology. This state-of-the-art process utilises pyrolysis to recycle mixed plastic packaging waste that is currently unsuitable for conventional mechanical recycling.
The facility will be the first of its kind on an industrial scale, following the successful commissioning of a demonstration plant at the Versalis site in Mantua in June 2025. The Priolo plant will have a processing capacity of 40,000 tonnes per year of mixed plastic waste, yielding approximately 32,000 tonnes per year of pyrolysis oil. This pyrolysis oil acts as a valuable secondary raw material, which can be used to produce new plastic products with the same high-quality characteristics as virgin plastic, making them suitable even for demanding applications like food contact and pharmaceutical packaging.
The Hoop® technology, developed in collaboration with Italian engineering firm S.R.S. (Servizi di Ricerche e Sviluppo), integrates a high-performance pyrolysis reactor with advanced polymer analysis and Artificial Intelligence for process optimisation, ensuring high material recovery yields.
